To help schools offer affordable computing to every student, HP today introduced a full-function, mini-notebook PC priced starting under $500. Designed for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is flexible enough for students to use from the classroom to the family room. The HP Mini is packed with 8.9-inch WXGA LCD screen (1280x768 resolution), integrated VGA webcam, two battery solutions - three-cell for lightest-weight configurations or optional six-cell for longer battery life, Wi-Fi and optional Bluetooth. Calculations are done by a VIA C7-M processor from 1GHz to 1.6GHz with Chrome 9 graphics and VIA's CN896/8237S chipset combo. Hard drive options include a wide variety of 120/160GB (5400 rpm), 120/160GB (7200 rpm), 64GB SSD, and even an optional 4GB PATA flash module HDDs. The 2133 has one memory slot and can run up to 2GB of RAM (the basic version comes with 512MB RAM). Operating systems available for HP 2133 include Windows Vista Business, Vista Home Basic, FreeDOS, or SuSE Enterprise Desktop 10. The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is expected be available later this month.

HP and Tower Software today announced that they have signed a pre-bid agreement for HP to acquire Tower, a document and records management software company based in Canberra, Australia. The deal will enable HP to expand its offerings in the fast-growing electronic discovery and compliance software market.

Engadget has obtained pictures from Hewlett-Packard's first ultra-mobile try, the HP Compaq 2133 UMPC. The HP Compaq 2133 features 8.9-inch scratch resistant 1366x766 (WXGA) display, ExpressCard/54 slot, Wireless LAN, integrated webcam, and optional SSD running Windows Vista or Linux. Price and availability are still to be finalized.

A fire at one of Taiwan's Lite-On fabs could disrupt supplies to the PC industry, with Dell, HP and Lenovo particularly at risk, an industry researcher said on Tuesday. Lite-On's factory, located in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, caught fire after an electrical line short circuited, fortunately no one was hurt in the incident. However, the fire had caused initial damage of around T$2.266 billion ($71 million), and caused fourteen production lines of liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors to stop working. "This could have a major impact on the landscape of the desktop monitor industry in the first and second quarters of 2008, but most probably in regards to share shift rather than in overall supply and demand," said DisplaySearch analyst Chris Connery in a report. He added that Dell, HP and Lenovo - Lite-On's top contract partners - could suffer from supply distruption. But Connery added that if the Taiwan firm outsources its own production to local competitors or if the PC companies switch to Lite-On competitors the damage could be limited.

Hewlett-Packard has updated this week the HP Pavilion HDX entertainment and gaming notebook with a new graphic card option. The Pavilion HDX, which was available only with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB video card, is now also configurable with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB GPU. This large 15.3-pound laptop features a 20.1-inch display with up to 1920x1200 (1080p) resolution, and is based on the Intel "Santa Rosa" platform with an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme processor. The notebook features up to 4GB of system memory, up to 500GB hard drive storage capacity, HD DVD and Bly-Ray optical drive options, an integrated TV tuner, and four Altec Lansing speakers accompanied by a subwoofer. Along with regular laptop ports and slots, the HDX provides an HDMI output and an eSATA connector. The basic HP Pavilion HDX configuration is priced at $1,999.

Whilst HP may be the top global computer brand, Dell has retained its crown in the US market, accounting for 29.6% of sales. Dell managed to ship 5.5 million units, which represented a 15.2% year-on-year increase, with HP in second place selling 4.5 million units, a figure which gives it a 24.3% market share. Acer took third spot following its acquisitions of Packard Bell and Gateway last year, with sales of 1.5 million units - up 294.2%. Apple was fourth in the US with 1.06 million units, ahead of Toshiba in fifth. Global sales saw HP commanding a market share of 23.3%, with Dell on 14.6%. Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba came in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has begun selling systems based on the AMD quad-core Phenom processor at Wal-Mart, according to the retailer's website. HP becomes the first top-tier U.S. computer vendor to offer systems using the Phenom processor. Smaller vendors, such as Falcon Northwest and iBuypower, have been offering systems for a number of weeks. The HP M8330F Pavilion Desktop comes with the Phenom 9500 Quad-Core Processor (2.2GHz), a 640GB (2x 320GB) 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard drive, 3072MB of PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory, and Windows Vista Home Premium. The system is priced at $959.99. Other large retailers, such as Sears, are also offering the system. The Phenom 9500 and 9600 processors, generally available now, contain a bug that can cause system instability in certain rare overload situations. The bug can be fixed with a workaround. AMD is also in preparation of a new "B3" revision processors that should fix the TLB bug.

Laptop manufacturers Toshiba, Lenovo and HP Compaq are joining Sony's updated Penryn VAIOs. Up first is a pair from Toshiba (13-inch Satellite U300 / 17-inch Satellite X200), followed by a refreshed ThinkPad T61 and R61 from Lenovo and a trio of HP Compaq 6820, 6720 and 6520 laptops.

HP has fixed flaws in a patch-management program bundled with its computers, printers and other hardware that could be used by hackers to 'brick' HP or Compaq PCs. In an alert sent to customers who subscribe to its security warning service, HP said users should run Software Update to patch the flaws disclosed last week by a Polish researcher known only by his alias, 'porkythepig'. A pair of bugs in the update service's ActiveX control can be used to execute remote code or gain additional access rights, porkythepig said then. He also posted proof-of-concept exploit code that showed how to use one of the vulnerabilities to overwrite and corrupt crucial Windows' system files, an attack that would leave any affected PC unbootable. That would essentially 'brick' the system, since many HP and Compaq PCs do not include a restore CD or DVD, but instead place operating system and application restore files on the hard drive. HP's advisory on Friday instructed users to run Software Update on any machine that has the application, even if the update service is never used. Running Update presumably disables the flawed ActiveX control by fixing the Windows registry.

HP has quietly updated its range of notebooks just in time for Christmas. The new models feature improvements such as more video memory, Blu-ray drives and a few minor design changes. Buyers can now choose up to a 512 MB 8600 GS graphics processor with certain models, and have the option of a Blu-ray multi-drive which doubles up as a DVD burner. The new notebooks, all part of the Pavilion range, are the 14.1" dv2700t, dv2700tbw and dv2700tse, the 15.4" dv6700z, dv6700zt and dv6700ztse and the 17" dv9700t and dv9700tz. To see more information about each of these laptops take a look at HP's website.

A California man filed suit against printer manufacturer HP and office-supply retailer Staples Inc. in federal court on Monday, alleging the two companies broke antitrust law in a price-fixing collaboration on ink cartridge sales. Ranjit Bedi of Pacific Palisades, California accused HP of approaching Staples Inc. in 2006 with at least $100 million in "market development funds" and incentives, in exchange for an agreement to stop selling third-party HP-compatible ink cartridges. According to the lawsuit, Staples then used HP's exclusivity to raise prices on the HP cartridges it offered. Staples is the largest retailer of aftermarket ink in the United States, with profits from HP-compatible ink sales exceeding $300 million in 2006. Of that total, $75 million came from the sale of third party ink.

HP has released an update for 82 different notebook models that could potentially be affected by a security hole linked to the HP Info Center software. The update, which you can download here, deactivates the vulnerable software until a proper patch is released. Anyone with a HP or Compaq notebook listed on this page could potentially be affected by the problem and should download the patch as soon as possible. The vulnerability can be exploited by attackers when certain websites are visited using Internet Explorer 6 or 7, and is not resolved by uninstalling the software - you must use the patch from HP.

HP yesterday announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NUR Macroprinters Ltd., a manufacturer of industrial wide-format digital inkjet printers. Based in Lod, Israel, NUR is a leading supplier of UV-curable and solvent inkjet printers for display graphics, serving commercial printing companies, sign printers, screen printers, billboard and media companies, photo labs and digital print service providers.

HP today announced that it placed two systems in the top five of the TOP500 Supercomputer list, which catalogs the world's 500 most powerful installed technical and commercial computer systems. Computational Research Laboratories (CRL), a division of TATA, India's largest conglomerate, has deployed the largest supercomputer in Asia Pacific for use in the computational sciences space. The system will enable the organization to advance the state of modeling and simulation on a wide range of scientific fields, including life sciences and computer-aided engineering. The implementation has a peak performance of 175Tflop/s. The TATA system, an HP Cluster Platform 3000BL, has 114 HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosures, each with 16 dual-socket HP ProLiant BL460c compute nodes, all connected via 4X DDR Infiniband switches. HP's second system in the top five is a 182 peak Tflop/s HP Cluster Platform 3000BL based on 2,128 HP ProLiant BL460c blade servers used by a Swedish government agency. The implementation, which has been measured for the list with 1,716 blade servers, was built to enable the organization to dramatically improve the performance of its operations.

Hewlett-Packard has launched two new workstations powered by two next-generation Quad-Core and Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors. The xw6600 and xw8600 desktops are upgrade to xw series workstations. The workstations boast whopping 128GB 667MHz DDR2 memory (16 DIMM slots), up to 5TB storage capacity, and dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics slots. HP says, both of them are 90 percent recyclable by weight and now come standard with more than 80 percent efficient power supplies, saving businesses money by reducing power requirements. The quad-core HP xw6600 and xw8600 Workstations are expected to begin shipping in mid-December with starting prices around $1,200.

In a battle between two of the largest PC manufacturers in the world, Acer is again suing Hewlett-Packard over alleged patent violations. The suit, filed on October 30, 2007 in a District Court in Wisconsin and the United States International Trade Commission, accuses HP of violating seven patents related to PCs, servers and peripheral devices.

With or without a legal proceeding, Acer persists to take all necessary steps to protect and enforce its patented technologies.

, the company said. Further details regarding the latest suit has not been made public by Acer.

HP on Friday quietly updated its Pavilion media center PCs with the option of mixed-format Blu-Ray and HD DVD drives that let the towers read either format without fear of their becoming obsolete. The d4995t, as well as the system builder's m9000z and m9000t Pavilion Elite models, all have the option of two HD-ready optical drives. A basic version of the drive is capable of full Blu-Ray burning but will only read its rival HD DVD format. A top-end drive will write both formats. Both drives also incorporate HP's LightScribe feature for burning a label graphic directly to each disc; each also records to legacy CD and DVDs. The cost of the upgrade varies depending on the system, but typically adds $250 for the more limited combo drive and $400 for the dual-format burner.

Hewlett-Packard plans to offer solid-state drives (SSDs) as an option in all professional series laptop PCs starting from next month because the drives operate faster, conserve battery life, have less weight, and are more durable than conventional hard disk drives. HP will first offer the option of 64GB NAND flash memory drives in products it announced earlier this month, the HP Compaq 2710p, 2510p, 6910p, and 8000 series, and will continue to offer it in future models. Choosing the SSD option will add around $1,000 to the cost of a laptop, but HP expects the cost to come down as SSDs gain acceptance in the marketplace and volumes increase, said Dan Forlenza, vice president of business notebooks at HP, during a news conference in Taipei.

Intel has announced the formation of the USB 3.0 promoters group, a consortium that aims to create a "super speed personal USB interconnect."

The first members of the promoter group (HP, Intel, Microsoft, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments) said that USB 3.0 will deliver more than ten times the data transfer bandwidth of USB 2.0, which tops out at 480 Mb/s. The new interface will be designed to be used in consumer electronics and mobile applications and able to deal with digital media file sizes that are likely to exceed 25 GB.

Intel stated that USB 3.0 will be based on current USB technology and ports and cabling will be backwards compatible; however version 3.0 will offer enhancements for better protocol efficiency and lower power consumption. The development group will also integrate an upgrade path to optical capabilities for USB. A completed USB 3.0 specification is expected to be released in the first half of 2008.

HP plans to launch a new desktop called the HP Blackbird 002 some time this week. The new Blackbird PC plans to target gamers and PC enthusiasts and will feature:

• BIOS-based overclocks
• Heat-optimized aluminum chassis and foot
• Liquid cooling system for CPUs and GPUs
• Tool-free upgrades for CPU, GPU, drives
• Pricing between $2500 and $6500

HP, one of the leading manufacturers for desktops and notebooks, is preparing their new w2408 24-inch LCD display. The monitor is HDCP compliant with a 92% wide color gamut and 160 degrees vertical and horizontal viewing angles. HP also equips the w2408 with rotational capabilities and includes software that automatically adjusts the screen orientation as the display is rotated. Like most other 24-inch monitors, the HP w2408 features a 16:10 aspect ratio with a 1920x1200 native resolution at 60Hz. The display features a 400 nits brightness rating, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a response time of 5ms.

More information can be found here.

Engadget has leaked photos of HP's upcoming desktop PC, dubbed Virtus. There is no reliable information on Virtus's specs, but only three pictures showing its case.

HP just launched its special edition notebook named Pavilion dv6500 influx that features high glossy ceramic finish and pure white color. It is currently available only in Korea for the price of 1.490.000KRW or 1.600$. Availability and price in the EU and US has yet to be announced.

Today HP officially announced two new Santa Rosa based mobile workstations in Compaq series which were leaked about two months back. The 15.4-inch 8510w ($2600) features Core 2 Duo T7100/T7300T7500/T7700 processor, up to 4GB RAM, 120GB 7200 rpm hard drive, 1920x1200 resolution, NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M graphics card with 256MB memory or ATI Mobility FireGL V5600 256MB graphics, dual layer DVD burner or Blu-Ray, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth, fingerprint reader, and Microsoft Windows Vista OS. The 17-inch 8710w ($2500) model comes with similar specifications except the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M graphics which now utilizes up to 512MB of dedicated video memory.

Acer Inc said Friday that it has filed a counterclaim of patent infringement against Hewlett-Packard Development Co before the Eastern District of Texas Court in the United States. The latest counterclaim is part of Acer's response to HP's patent infringement suit against the company filed at the same court earlier this year, Acer said in a statement. Acer claimed that HP has infringed its patents on dual-frequency antenna and DVD-ROM head technologies.