I'm astounded you guys [analysts] tolerate their [Intel's] margin collapse - W.J. Sanders III
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HP puts out a multi-touch tablet
FLOGGER OF EXPENSIVE PRINTER INK HP has added a number of devices to its notebook lineup including a multi-touch enabled tablet device.
After receiving significant attention for its slate device that was heaved aloft by the Vole's CEO Steve Ballmer at CES, HP has launched the Elitebook 2740p device, which is a 12-inch, 32mm thick convertible tablet providing what HP terms an "interactive experience" to businesses. A 'convertible tablet' is marketing speak for being able to flip the screen around and lay it flat on the keyboard.
The device, which appears on HP's website alongside a coming soon sign supports multi-touch with both pen and finger at the same time. The design doesn't look all that different from current HP tablet offerings and weighs in at 1.72kg with the standard six cell battery. Underneath the familiar plastic exterior, the 2740p seems pretty high spec.
With the three processor options consisting of Intel Core i5 and Core i7 units coupled to 2GB or 4GB of RAM and SSD options available it seems like a major letdown that graphics are handled by an Intel GPU.
HP says that the six-cell battery unit is good for five hours and should you use an optional ultra slim battery, you'll get 11 hours, but as usual it's best to take those figures with more than the recommended daily allowance of salt.
The second debutant in HP's Elitebook range is the 2540p, which has similar specifications to the 2740p but lacks tablet capabilities. For that omission the weight drops to 1.53kg.
Both the 2540p and the 2740p come with Windows 7 pre-installed.
HP also announced four models in its middle of the road Probook series, which it says comes in "sophisticated" colours. Colour choice aside, the most interesting feature of these is that they can be pre-installed with SuSE Enterprise Linux.
All the models HP launched today feature Daystarter, a preboot screen that allows you to view things like your calendar and battery life while booting into Windows. However with SSDs and the option of Linux it isn't the time taken to get past the splash screen that HP should look to reduce but rather the time taken to load all the pre-installed junk once you've made it into Windows. µ
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What about the Touchsmart tx2? Its a multi (2 touch points) touch tablet by HP, although it only has a Amd turion dual core in it, with an ATI3200 it is infinitely better for any graphics than this one.
Oh, and be wary when HP say "can take up to 8GB ram", their 4GB sticks for those laptops, last time I looked (yesterday) are 10x more expensive than their 2GB sticks ;)
i also find it confusing yet wierdly amusing when a laptop has a high price and only an intel cheesy graphics system
even the lowest spec ATI or NVidia graphics is at least 61.78 million times better
for the sake of vacant comsumers' bank accounts, laptops with intel graphics should only occupy the £400 or less price-bracket