Hardware Geeks

The 6930, the unit where we get the 24 hours with the extended battery in neither an ultraportable or ultralight. It’s a 5 pound Notebook without the extended battery you need for the 24 hours. . We don’t classify it as ultraportable or ultralight. In HP terminology it’s a balance mobility category. For the rest of the world, it’s probably called mainstream. It’s your corporate 14” notebook

I apologize to HP if this communique was under NDA, because the email did not say it was. But HP has told me that one of their new Elitebook has up to 24 hours of battery life. That is 27% more than Dells 19 hour battery life claim which was 27% more of the 15 hour battery life claim by HP.

What is different about HP’s 24 hour claim is that they are going to send me a system to put the battery life to the test for my self so that I can see with my very own eyes. So I will let you know as soon as I get it.

HP today introduced two new Elitebook one a 12.1 inch Notebook PC the other a 12.1 inch tablet PC an upgrade to the popular 2710 which was the first Notebook from HP with a built in Business Card Reader and Lamp.

Some of the improvements on the 2730 when compared to the 2710 is the stylus holder, on the 2710 the thing would shoot out and would land in another zip code if you weren’t careful, that has been fixed on the 2730, the newer 2730 also supports larger hard drives, and of course has a faster processor (Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage or Low Voltage) and a bit of a better video chipset (Intel GMA X4500 HD). Oh and let’s not forget the name change, the 2710 was under the Compaq brand but the 2730 is under the HP Elitebook brand.

HP today announced three new elegent business notebooks. The three systems are 8530p notebook PC, 8430w and the 8730w mobile workstation and are part of HP’s stylish Eltebook line.

HP Is making an effort to give business users a system that has a stylish yet professional look to them, and also a system that you could use as as both a work notebook and personal notebook and with the 8730w the power to even game on it! The three systems all have a Shiney black and a brushed metal finish which HP calls the “DuraFinish” because it’s durable and won’t ware on you over time The keyboard also has the HP “DuraKeys”. The letters on DuraKeys do not ware as fast as the letter’s on traditional keyboards. These systems are meant to last a long time.

HP was so excited about this new Compaq 2330s that they announced it a whole 14 days ahead of schedule. It was originally set to be announced on the 19th but better early than late I guess.

The 2330s is a budget notebook PC for small business, it weighs only 4 pounds and has a nice little look to it. Kind of reminded me of the look the old ThinkPads had, a lot of people thought that look was ugly but I actually like that old look.

I received the HP’s DV5 on Friday but yesterday I finally opened it.  I was excited when I received it because I didn’t know they were sending it to me, but I’m glad because I fell in lust w/ it last week.  This computer is soooo aesthetically pleasing.  Whoever designed it must’ve had the ‘conscious consumer’ in mind because why else would you put a mirror on the laptop.  The keyboard is silver and the touch pad is a mirror. 

Mike has told me 1000+ times about how he almost got blinded by it, and although I agree that it could cause some disruption if the light hits it at a wrong angle the computer looks great.  This computer is great for people who don’t like having chapped lips, food in between their teeth, or messy hair days...I’m kidding, but in all honesty, I was able to put my lipstick on and I did a great job I just hope the surface stays as clear as it is, I wonder how it’ll be a couple of months from now....

It felt like my birthday today.  I woke up to the FedEx guy dropping off three packages before 10 am.  The biggest one of course was the one I was the most eager to see—mainly because the box was huge, heavy and bright yellow.  I couldn’t resist, it was like an enlarged Starburst.  I received it this morning but had to go to work, and ran around all day until I got home at about 2 am.  I then unboxed it.

I got home so late because I was desk hunting specifically for this PC, but unfortunately had no luck.  The desk I wanted was out of stock, so you’ll have to deal w/ it being on one of my nightstands – sorry.  I couldn’t wait til tomorrow, so its now about 3 am in the morning and I’m not sure what time I’ll be going to sleep because this thing is the bomb.  I was fortunate enough to have my bestfriend at my apartment, so she took plenty of pics to show you all…

Last week Microsoft released a patch or some have called it a service pack of sorts for Windows Home Server. The patch fixed a corruption bug and added 64-bit support and some other things to help improve the stability of the OS.

HP also released their version of the patch and then some. HP has basically added two new add-ons to their homeserver (McAfee Total Protection Service and PacketVideo’s PVConnect Media Server) which are giving a lot of people issues. Rafael from withinwindows.com is having major issues.

I have pinged HP for comment, and will let you know what they say. But from my experience and as I told Rafael, I would suspect that Mcafee paid HP to add their trial and Packet video was paid by HP to be included in the update.

Everyone has some form of digital media—be it music, pictures or video.  We all have some form of it and if you don’t then you’re stuck in 1995.

With all our digital media, many of us have had a desire to bring that media to our televisions, so we make it happen by burning DVD’s and CD’s and now we’re stuck with stacks of DVD’s.  This can get expensive considering a pack of 20 blank DVD’s will run you about 25 dollars USD at Staples.

Well HP has brought us the HP MediaSmart Connect a device that will help us bring that Media to our Television, easily and with little to no hassle.

Intended for the educational market, the HP mini-note is a sleek looking tiny notebook pc built to withstand the day to day bump and grind of the public school system, but it’s appearance and form factor appeal to the masses, as I have spotted it in Starbucks and Airports around the county being used by young professionals to executives.

Weighing in at 3 pounds 4 ounces with its extended battery (6 Cell about 4.5 hours of battery life in our test), the Mini note 2133 is very light weight, and while it is not as thin as the HP Voodoo Envy it’s has one of the smallest form factors around.