Four weeks ago, HP
announced a bevy of new products that were arriving for the fall season. It turns out, that announcement was just part one of HP's fall lineup, with part two arriving today. Today, HP is announcing a number of new laptops, docking stations, all-in-one desktop PCs, a few more-traditional form-factor desktop PCs, and a 42-inch touch-screen LCD. An HP spokesperson told us that HP is calling this "
the year of the refresh." What make this set of announcements different from the previous one, is that these products include a number of models that carry the Compaq brand name, and more of these products are designed for the SMB (small and medium business) market; HP claims that one-third of its revenue comes from SMB customers.
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The HP TouchSmart tx2 (tablet mode on the right).
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The first product that caught our eye was HP's refresh of its HP TouchSmart tx2 laptop. The TouchSmart tx2 features a capacitive multi-touch display that can swivel 180-degrees, and can be used in traditional clamshell mode or as true tablet--the 12.1-inch display has a native resolution of 1280x800. The model with the starting price of $799 weighs 4.64-pounds and has a 2.2GHz AMD Turion X2 RM-75 processor, 4GB DDR2 SDRAM, ATI Radeon HD 3200 GPU, 320GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive, 8x LightScribe DL DVD±R/RW drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The TouchSmart tx2 will be available on October 22.
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| Compaq Presario CQ61-310US |
Another laptop that shows lots of potential is the midsize Compaq Presario CQ61-310US--which HP says is ideal for students and SMB users. With a budget-friendly starting-price of $399.99, the CQ61 has a 15.6-inch (1366x768) display that uses HP's BrightView display technology. The unit even includes a full-sized keyboard and comes with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The CQ61 weighs in at 5.9-pounds and it includes a 2.0GHz AMD Sempron M100 processor, 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, ATI RADEON HD 4200 GPU, 160GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive, and an 8x LightScribe DL DVD±R/RW drive. The Compaq CQ61-310US will be available on October 22.
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HP ProBook 6545b with the Advanced Docking Station (left) and a closeup
of the Advanced Docking Station's ports (right).
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HP also revamped its ProBook business laptop series with the 6445b and the 6545b models. The 6545b has a 15.6-inch display, is made with a sturdy magnesium alloy support structure, and includes a full-sized spill-resistant keyboard that includes a drain. HP claims that the 6545b has a battery life of up to 5 hours with the standard 6-cell battery, and up to 8 hours with the optional 9-cell battery. The price for the 6545b starts at $799 (the 6445b is not available in the U.S.). HP also has four new docking station models that work with the new ProBook laptops, including its Advanced Docking Station that includes nearly every possible port you could think of--including two PS/2 ports, parallel and serial ports, a VGA port, two DVI-D ports, a DisplayPort connector, six USB 2.0 ports (several of which are "always on"), an eSATA port, and even a SATA drive bay. The 6545b and docking stations will be available in November.
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HP TouchSmart 600-1055.
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On the desktop side, HP is launching the third-generation of its multi-touch capable, TouchSmart, all-in-one desktop series. There are two 20-inch (720p) and two 23-inch (1080p) consumer models, and a 23-inch version meant for business use. The two 20-inch models are the HP TouchSmart 300-1020 ($899.99
) and 300-1025 ($999.99
); the 23-inch models are the HP TouchSmart 600-1050 ($1,199.99
) and 600-1055 ($1,599.99); and the highly-configurable, 23-inch business version is the HP TouchSmart 9100 Busines PC (starting price: $1,299). The TouchSmart 600-1055 has the most impressive features of the bunch, which includes a built-in HDTV tuner, slot-loading Blu-ray player, and a set of inputs (HDMI, Composite Video, analog audio) meant for connecting a game console so you can use TouchSmart's screen with your console. The 600-1055 also includes a number of HP touch-enabled apps for watching TV, importing photos via Bluetooth, managing recipes, and making photo collages. Third party touch-enabled apps include Rhapsody, Pandora, Netflix, Hulu, and Twitter. The TouchSmart 600-1055's specs include:
- 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450
- 4GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM
- 750GB 7200RPM SATA HDD
- Nvidia GeForce GT230M (1GB) GPU
The 600-series models will be available on October 22; the 300-series models will be available a few weeks later; the 9100 will be available in December
.
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Compaq CQ400 (left), Compaq 500B
(middle), and Compaq 505B (right).
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Three additional Compaq business desktops and one new HP business desktop are also making their debut today. The Compaq 500-series uses a micro-tower design, with the 500B using Intel Pentium dual-core and Celeron processors (starting price $359), and the 505B using AMD Athlon II processors (starting price $409). The small-form-factor Compaq CQ4000 uses an AMD Sempron processor (starting price $309.99); the HP Elite 7000 uses Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors (starting price $789). All foue business desktops will be available October 22.
Last but not least, is HP's third generation widescreen digital signage display, the 42-inch HP LD4200tm. What makes the LD4200tm unique is its support for multi-touch via an "
array of infrared (IR) light-emitting diodes (LEDs), along with photo sensors." The LD4200tm has a native resolution of 1920x1080, 500 nits brightness, and a 1000:1 contrast ratio (3000:1 dynamic contrast ratio). HP envisions the LD4200tm to be used by businesses for "
quick and easy onscreen interactivity in environments, such as point-of-sale (POS), hospitality, education, banking, manufacturing, and kiosks." While the LD4200tm's hardware supports multi-touch, the driver needed to take advantage of it has yet to be WHQL certified; HP estimates that the driver will be ready by the time the display starts shipping in December. The LD4200tm will have a starting price of $2,799.
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