HP Unveils Mobile Workstation Portfolio for Ultimate Performance, Design, Durability

[btarunr]

HP today announced a new lineup of powerful mobile workstations, ideal for engineering, power-computing and content-creation customers who need the performance of a workstation with the portability and convenience of a notebook. HP also unveiled the HP Z210 Workstation, demonstrating its continued investment in the desktop and mobile workstations market, where it holds leading market share.

Building on HP's "FORGE"#8221; design framework, the HP EliteBook w-series embodies a timeless construction, with precision-engineered durability features that are designed for maximum reliability and with the environment in mind. The new products showcase HP's first-ever industrial design specific to mobile workstations, with distinctive features including a radial-brushed gunmetal finish, backlit jewel logo and orange-colored accents.



The mobile workstations also are certified by independent software vendors to run the most demanding professional applications, helping ensure reliable performance for mobile power users.

• HP's most powerful mobile workstation, the HP EliteBook 8760w offers a 17.3-inch diagonal, high-definition (HD) screen, a choice of high-performing AMD FirePro or NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics and up to 4 gigabytes (GB) of video memory. The EliteBook 8760w also can be configured with three hard drives and RAID 5 support – a first for HP mobile workstations.
• The HP EliteBook 8560w features a15.6-inch diagonal HD display and supports AMD FirePro graphics for 1 GB of video memory or NVIDIA Quadro graphics for 2 GB of video memory. The optional HP DreamColor display on the EliteBook 8560w and 8760w also allows for more than 1 billion active color possibilities.
• HP's smallest and lightest mobile workstation, the HP EliteBook 8460w, starts at only 4.9 pounds and includes a 14.0-inch diagonal HD panel, in addition to an AMD FirePro 1 GB video memory professional graphics card for true on-the-road video performance.

"As the fastest growing segment of the workstation market, mobile workstations continue to provide value to our most demanding design, animation and engineering customers," said Efrain Rovira, director, Mobile Workstations, Notebook Business Unit, HP. "The new EliteBook mobile workstations announced today combine innovative design with trusted, workstation-class technology to fuel creativity."

Durable design and color-critical display
The HP EliteBook 8760w, 8560w and 8460w include precision aluminum-alloy hinges and cast titanium-alloy display latches for enhanced durability. Sporting a radial-brushed display cover in a new gunmetal color, the portfolio boasts an aerospace design inspired HP DuraCase and is MIL STD 810G tested for drop, vibration, dust and altitude that might arise during on-the-go computing. The HP EliteBook 8760w and 8560w also feature a backlit keyboard for workstation-caliber productivity, day or night.

Additionally, the HP DreamColor display option on the HP EliteBook 8760w and 8560w allows for more than 1 billion active color combinations – 64 times the capabilities of a traditional display – and uses a 30-bit notebook LCD panel to provide a level of color control exclusive to the EliteBook w-series for consistent color appearance from concept, to design, to production. The HP Mobile Display Assistant and optional HP Advanced Profiling Solution enable more precise control, adjustment and alignment of the DreamColor notebook display to ensure predictable color.

On-the-go workstation-caliber computing
Built to deliver optimized workstation-class processing and support migration to 3-D professional applications, the HP EliteBook 8760w, 8560w and 8460w feature second-generation Intel® Core™ i7 and i5 dual- and quad-core processors, offer premium performance and responsiveness with vPro compatibility, and support up to 32 GB of RAM.

With video memory options from 1 GB to 4 GB, the new w-series delivers superior, ISV-certified professional graphics solutions from NVIDIA and AMD for the 8760w and 8560w and from AMD for the 8460w. When equipped with an AMD discrete graphics solution and an optional HP Advanced Docking Station, the HP mobile workstations support AMD Eyefinity Technology for simultaneous support for up to five independent displays.

HP EliteBook mobile workstations also offer a variety of storage capacity options, including SMART SATA, Self Encrypting or Solid State Drives, with up to RAID 5 capability. The mobile workstations are also equipped with a variety of ports, including USB 3.0, eSATA and USB 2.0 charging ports.

Now available on HP mobile workstations, HP Performance Advisor, an intuitive user interface, helps keep applications running smoothly, while optimizing configuration and graphics performance.

The HP EliteBook 8760w and 8560w offer an 8-cell primary battery, while the HP EliteBook 8460w offers 6- and 9-cell options for extended battery run time. All models include an HP Long Life Battery option. The mobile workstations also are compatible with the new HP Extended Life Notebook Battery and HP Ultra-Capacity Notebook Battery, which offer external battery supplies for additional run time.

Productivity tools and components
The new mobile workstations offer HP Professional Innovations, including HP QuickWeb 3, HP Power Assistant, HP Connection Manager and HP ProtectTools, which includes standard drive encryption for data protection. SRS Premium Sound also provides optimized audio settings for voice and multimedia applications and delivers an audio experience for digital content creators or users listening to media-rich content and presenting multimedia-heavy presentations.

Pricing and availability
The HP EliteBook 8760w, 8560w and 8460w start at $1,899, $1,349 and $1,299 respectively, and are expected to be available in the United States in May.

[aj28]

These look to be quite an improvement over the old models. Not entirely convinced of the need for six mouse buttons on a laptop though...