HP today unveiled workstation offerings that include the first small form factor workstation to be available in every region of the world, multicore processor updates to its Z Workstation series and a mobile workstation with DreamColor display technology.

Adding to the award-winning HP Z Workstation series, the HP Z200 SFF Workstation delivers workstation performance and reliability in a sleek, ultracompact and affordable package, and is a great choice for space-constrained environments including the health care, engineering, education, financial and original equipment manufacturer markets.

Today, HP introduced its first multitouch-enabled tablet for business users as well as notebook PCs tailored for both enterprise and small and midsize businesses (SMBs). The HP EliteBook 2740p starts at 1.73kg and includes a 12.1-inch diagonal LED display or optional outdoor-view display with less reflection and a higher contrast for easier viewing in natural light. The touchscreen option allows users to get work done more intuitively and faster based on their choice of input methods. Multitouch gestures, finger taps and swipes across the screen allow users to navigate through applications and menus, as well provide access to information and websites.

The HP EliteBook 2740p offers a variety of battery solutions for lightweight configurations, including a six-cell li-ion prismatic battery, which provides up to 5 hours of uptime, and an optional HP 2700 Ultra-Slim Battery that provides up to 11 hours when combined with the standard battery.

Intel Corporation today unveiled its 2010 Intel Core vPro processor family to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes for PCs with greater, more flexible performance, theft prevention and cost savings in a rapidly changing business computing environment. These and several other capabilities are at the heart of many new Intel-based business laptop and desktop computers beginning to roll out from computer manufacturers worldwide.

The Intel Core vPro processors arrive as business computing evolves with the emergence of video, Internet telephony, social networking and other heavyweight applications - in many cases running at the same time - making a computer's performance an even bigger priority.

HP introduced a new range of powerful commercial notebook PCs designed to meet the performance and reliability demands of business users. Among the new products being announced are:

• The HP EliteBook 8440 p/w and 8540 p/w series notebooks incorporate the latest mobile technologies, are engineered to meet the tough MIL-STD 810G military-standard tests for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and high and low temperatures, and also are BFR/PVC-free.
• The HP ProBook 6440b and HP ProBook 6540b are aimed at corporate customers who want an affordable combination of business-critical and innovative features in a full-function notebook PC.
• The HP Notebook Projection Companion, a compact projector using a mercury-free LED light source that measures only 4 inches by 3 inches and weighs less than 0.45 kilos.

HP today added powerful and affordable new workstations and displays to its professional lineup, including the company's first 14-inch mobile workstation. Building on HP's award-winning Z series of workstations, the HP Z200 Workstation offers a new entry point to workstation-class performance at starting prices that rival those of traditional desktop computing systems, making it a great choice for government, education and small businesses. The HP Z200 is ideal for engineers and designers using Autodesk AutoCAD, photographers using Adobe Photoshop and power office users.

HP also introduced the HP ZR22w and HP ZR24w Performance Displays, providing exceptional visual quality with a new brushed aluminum industrial design, making them a great pairing with HP Z Workstations both in looks and performance. According to IDC, HP is currently the industry leader with 42.8 percent of the global mobile workstation market. Adding to its award-winning EliteBook notebook lineup, HP introduced the 15-inch diagonal display HP EliteBook 8540w and the 14-inch diagonal display HP EliteBook 8440w. The HP EliteBook 8540w and 8440w feature workstation-caliber graphics that are tested, optimized and certified to run the most demanding professional applications for mobile power users.

Convergence Technologies (USA) LLC, of Reston Virginia, today announces that it has filed a lawsuit (Docket No. 1:09cv1256) in the Eastern District of Virginia against Hewlett-Packard, Sapphire Technology Limited (a Hong Kong company) and Taiwan Microloops Corporation (a Taiwanese registered company, herein referred to as Microloops) for the infringement, contributory infringement, and/or inducement to infringe upon its U.S. patent #7,422,053. Joseph J. Zito of ZITO tlp has been appointed as its lead litigator.

"With the recent Taiwan court's ruling and Microloops' predatory pricing practice, we have no choice but to now turn to the U.S. court for protection," said Dr. Steven H. Lee, Founding President & CEO of Convergence Technologies Limited. Dr. Lee further adds that "It is unfortunate that venture capital was scarce in Hong Kong, which gave other companies the opportunity to exploit our weakness, but we have the best vapor chamber technology in the world, and Joe Zito will help us ensure this technology reaches the market place.

HP today redefines the premium notebook PC experience with the introduction of the HP ENVY sub-brand, which offers customers precision-crafted, high-performance models featuring HP Metal Etching and concierge service and support.

The new HP ENVY 13 boasts the brightest display in its class, and the HP ENVY 15 is the company's fastest consumer notebook PC ever.

"HP ENVY includes the latest in materials and technology inside and out and pushes the technological and performance boundaries of what can be done in sleek, powerful and lightweight notebook PCs," said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. "Discerning consumers will get a premium experience and performance."

NVIDIA today announced that HP's most powerful and expandable workstation-the HP Z800 Workstation-is now configurable with up to two NVIDIA Tesla graphics processing units (GPUs), another key indicator of the demand being seen for GPUs in the high performance computing (HPC) space.

Enterprises that rely on HP workstations to accelerate their work in fields ranging from scientific research and industrial design, to 3D animation and seismic exploration, can now reap the benefits of NVIDIA Tesla GPUs and tackle demanding computational workloads right at the desktop.

HP's flagship netbook, the Mini 110 XP-edition now comes with an optional 1366x768 pixel, 10.1 inch LCD screen. The new screen makes it suitable for 720p HD video, and comes at US $30 over the base-price of $330. The screen is LED-backlit, and comes with an anti-glare coating. The rest of the netbook's base and optional feature remain unchanged. The netbook has to be configured to come with the new screen, and is not really part of a sub-variant. Configuration options for the Mini 110 can be viewed here.

A day into its announcement, Google's ambitious new venture, the Chrome operating system, is receiving support from some of the biggest players in the IT industry. The company also confirmed that Chrome OS will be a free of charge software, requiring no purchase of license to use it. To ensure the OS gets adequate momentum, Google is working with the likes of HP, Acer, Lenovo, ASUS, Toshiba, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm (some of the most relevant names in the netbook industry). The company also detailed about the developer support it plans to spread, with possible pre-release versions towards the end of the year. To the consumer, this means that major computer manufacturers could sell netbooks with Chrome OS preinstalled, with seamless support for their hardware. Early community software development will ensure a good selection of software for the netbook by the time the OS becomes release-grade, ready to be shipped with millions of netbooks.

HP today announced the immediate integration of the highly anticipated Six-Core AMD Opteron 2400 Series processor into the award-winning family of HP Workstations. Ideal for high-end workstation applications in fields such as engineering, 3-D digital content creation, oil and gas, and science, the HP xw9400 Workstation taps the power of the new AMD Opteron processors to deliver higher productivity, especially for multi-threaded applications, multi-tasking and mega-tasking environments.
With the built-in engineering advantages of HP's highly tuned workstations, the HP xw9400 Workstation can accommodate up to two Six-Core AMD Opteron processors - for a total of 12 cores - each of which offers up to 34 percent more performance per watt over the previous-generation quad-core processors.

HP today announced it will offer the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system on consumer and business PCs beginning Oct. 22.

To meet customers' computing needs while protecting their investments, the company is participating in the Windows Upgrade Option Program to help customers transition easily to Windows 7. The program will enable customers who purchase qualifying HP PCs to enjoy the benefits of a new Windows-based PC immediately and receive a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it becomes available in October.

HP today unveiled the world's first web-connected home printer: The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web. HP is bringing the power of the web directly to the printer and combining it with HP's TouchSmart technology to give people quick, easy, touchscreen access to popular digital content.

Designed for the digital generation and connected households, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web features an entirely new web-based printing platform with HP applications (apps). Similar to other Internet-connected devices, these apps, which are viewable on an extra-large, intuitive-to-use TouchSmart panel, allow people to connect instantly with fun, informative and personal content.

In addition to receiving apps preloaded on the printer, people can download new ones as they become available at the HP Apps Studio to suit their interests and needs. With the sweep of a finger, users will be able to browse and view popular web destinations and simply touch the app of their choice to launch a web page where they can customize and print content on demand in an easy-to-read format.

HP today unveiled a versatile laptop computer featuring a unique and award-winning design that takes individual style and entertainment performance to new limits. Featuring the young Japanese designer Hisako Sakihama's winning submission from the HP and MTV Engine Room Laptop Design Contest, the new HP Pavilion dv6 Artist Edition Laptop PC comes wrapped in an exceptional design inspired by the Okinawa sea and sky.

For tech-savvy youth looking to stand out from the crowd, this special edition laptop is the perfect stylish technology companion and also comes with a matching imprinted sleeve and mouse in the same one-of-a-kind Sea and Sky design.

HP added two more netbooks to its growing lineup, the Mini 1101 and Mini 110. The latter has two variants: Mini 110 XP and Mini 110 Mi. Both these models feature 10.1 inch LED screens. Users can choose between Atom N270 and N280, with as much as 1 GB of memory, 160 GB HDD, and Intel GMA 950 graphics.

The Mini 110 XP offers a few exclusive features. Users can opt for a 32 GB SSD and WLAN. It comes with Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Video Accelerator, that provides smooth playback of HD video at resolutions of 1080p. It comes with Windows XP Home SP3 pre-installed. The Mini 110 Mi is physically identical, except for that it comes with a popular Linux distribution pre-installed, and allows users to opt for a 250 GB HDD or 2 GB of system memory. The Mini 1101 will retail in June with a base price of US $329. The Mini 110 Mi, with Linux, will be priced significantly lower, at $279.

At Interop Las Vegas 2009, HP and Microsoft today announced a four-year strategic global initiative to deliver an end-to-end unified communications and collaboration solution.

As part of their Frontline Partnership, the two companies expect to invest up to an additional $180 million in product development, professional services, as well as joint sales and marketing, to help organizations lower costs and improve productivity.

The solution, which is planned to span software, hardware, networking and services, would enable customers to improve business output and reduce travel, telecom and IT operating costs. This would be accomplished by streamlining communications across messaging, video and voice with connected applications and devices. HP and Microsoft also plan to provide the flexibility and control customers need to manage their communications infrastructure efficiently.

Important, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with HP, are starting recall of the Lithium-Ion batteries used in some Hewlett-Packard and Compaq notebook computers, due to fire hazard. Around 70 000 batteries are reported as dangerous, due to overheating and rupture problems, that may cause fire. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Models that can contain a recalled battery include:

• HP Pavilion: dv2000, dv2500, dv2700, dv6000, dv6500, dv6700, dv9000, dv9500, dv9700
• Compaq Presario: A900, C700, F700, V3000, V3500, V3700, V6000, V6500, V6700
• HP: G6000, G7000
• HP Compaq: 6720s

HP today unveils a new brand of affordable notebook PCs that merge business functionality with sophisticated design to stand out from the crowd. The ProBook series joins HP's EliteBook series with a total of five new notebook models which incorporate a choice of merlot or glossy noir finishes, and feature high-definition (HD) LED backlit wide displays ranging from 14-inch to 17.3-inch diagonal sizes. The cheapest offering starts at $529. Please read the full story for more information.

HP's flagman gaming rig, Firebird 802, just got $500 cheaper. That includes a $150 cut to the $1,799 base price and a $350 instant rebate that brings the final price down to $1,299. For that money you get a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Quad 9400 processor (6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB), 4 GB of PC2-6400 RAM, 2x 250 GB hard drives, and dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S MXM 3.0 graphics cards with 512 MB DDR3 memory on each card, working in SLI mode. The system also includes a DVD burner, a 350W external power supply, an unique vertical HP casing and a factory-sealed liquid cooling system for almost noiseless operation. Visit HP for more information.

AMD today announced that its top-to-bottom line of industry-leading ATI FirePro graphics accelerators are now featured in the new HP Z Workstations. Graphics professionals who use and demand interactivity with complex 3D models in engineering, digital content creation and scientific fields now can take advantage of the new ATI FirePro V7750, as well as the ATI FirePro V3700 and ATI FirePro V5700 graphics accelerators in the new HP Z400, Z600 and Z800 Workstations.
Designed and engineered to operate in a wide range of professional operating environments, including Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux, ATI FirePro 3D graphics accelerators are thoroughly tested and certified based on industry standards at AMD test labs. HP Z Workstations with ATI FirePro graphics already have more than 35 application certifications by major applications such as SolidWorks 2009, 3ds Max 2009, and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, and previous versions with many more certifications pending.

I once posted a news story on how well computer manufacturers are treating the environment according to the Greenpeace organization. Well I'm going to give you a little update on that story today. Last time Nintendo was the worst among worst when talking "green" and this year it is strengthening its position even more. From zero to eleven in being "green" (zero means worst) Nintendo scores the whooping 0. HP, Microsoft, Lenovo and Dell are next to have poor scores when it comes to preserving the world we live in. According to Greenpeace only Apple is "truly kicking the habit", maybe that's because they have an apple as their logo. Philips learned a lesson from last Greenpeace research and the company jumps from 15th to 4th place this year, well done Philips. The two best "green" manufacturers as of March 31st 2009 are Samsung and Nokia.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Monday began offering as an accessory to its consumer laptops batteries that can hold their capacity for up to three years. The new batteries are the work of Boston-Power, and use updated lithium-ion technology that is said to be better than other similar solutions. Boston-Power's Sonata battery will be available as optional choice for 18 existing notebook models representing approximately 70 percent of HP's consumer notebook PC portfolio. Boston-Power claims its batteries won't give up their capacity for three years, that's roughly three times longer than most other notebook batteries offered to date. In addition, the Sonata accumulators can recharge faster, reaching 80% of capacity in 30 minutes. Lastly, HP will give a three year warranty for each Sonata battery. Available now at HP, the $149.99 accessory Sonata battery fits models in the HP Pavilion, HP HDX, Compaq Presario and HP G series. A complete list of compatible individual models is available here. More information on the battery itself can also be found on Boston-Power's site here.

DigiTimes recently reported that four out of the top-five branded PC vendors - Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo and Acer - have been listed as branded PC products eligible for subsidies under the China government's rural stimulus program, and as a result are expected to enjoy increased sales in the China market in 2009. However, the number five ASUS did not gain the government's approval. According to ASUS that's because the company market their PC products under multiple tradenames. BenQ was another company not to find favor with the Chinese government. Exact details concerning the deal between the listed manufacturers and the Chinese government are still unclear.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd announced last week that all of its workers or around 100,000 employees will have their month payments reduced for an indefinite period of time. Also some of the bonuses the workers receive will be reduced. HP thinks that's the only right decission in order to survive the global economic drop, without throwing roughly 20% of its employees on the street. Mark Hurd will have his base pay reduced by 20 percent. The base pay of Executive Council members will be reduced by 15 percent, while other executives will have their month payments reduced by 10 percent. The base pay of all other exempt employees will be reduced by 5 percent. For non-exempt employees, base pay will be reduced by two-and-a-half percent. Below is the memo sent to employees that announces the "good news".

Empowering consumers to get elite-level computing performance for under $900 U.S. dollars, AMD today launched "Dragon" platform technology for desktop PCs featuring the new AMD Phenom II X4 processor. Even the most demanding users such as enthusiasts and high-end gamers desire affordable systems capable of delivering HD entertainment, graphic-intensive game play at the highest settings their monitors can handle, as well as quick and easy transfer of video entertainment to and from mobile devices. Dragon platform technology provides the power to do it all by combining AMD's highest-performing CPU, the AMD Phenom II X4 processor, with award winning ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series graphics and AMD 7-Series chipsets. And it's offered at an incredible value with Dragon-based systems available for up to $1,200 U.S. dollars less than competing systems that deliver comparable performance.

Leading global PC manufacturers HP, Dell and Alienware plan to offer Dragon platform technology-based desktop systems in the first quarter of 2009, with Dell offering immediate availability in its Dell XPS desktop line. "The XPS 625 desktop powered by AMD's Dragon platform technology features new AMD Phenom II processors to enable a significant boost in speed for enhanced gaming, as well as the flexibility to enable multi-tasking and HD video capabilities free from delays, stalls and lags," said Arthur Lewis, general manager of Dell Gaming Group. "The XPS 625 gives gamers the unbelievable experience they expect at a price point that won't break the bank."