Hardware Geeks

Last month HP announced the new HDX 16 and HDX 18, and since then I have been itching to get one for review, well we got one and are proud to bring you a review on the HDX 18.

I first saw the HDX 18 at a private press event.  “Nice 17 inch screen”, I told Kevin Wentzel, HP’s Technical Marketing Manager.  He looked at me and sternly said, “Michael, it’s an 18.4 inch full HD screen, 16:9, 1080p”. I was taken back; I didn’t believe the screen was 18.4 inches.  I thought at most it was a 17 inch screen, and what blew my mind even more was how light it was. I lifted it with one hand-easily.

The 18.4 number couldn’t stick in my head.  For some odd reason, I kept on thinking it was only 17 inches, even after Kevin reminded me many times during the meeting.  I even wrote that it was 17 inches in the unboxing post (again, thanks Kevin for correcting me It is in fact 18.4 inches, and on a side note, the HDX16 has a 16 inch screen.

There have been rumors that HP planned on shutting down Voodoo yesterday, well the rumores simply aren’t true as Marlene Somsak told C|net.

I also spoke with Ann Finnie the coolest PR person at HP because she works directly with Voodoo, and via email she told me"We can assure you that Voodoo employees and champions of the brand will continue to work on the conceptualization, design and development of Voodoo products.” She also had some bad news, she informed me that the founder of Voodoo Rahul broke his hand in an cycling accident. We here at HardwareGeeks.com hope he recovers soon.

Ann Finnie did speak with Rahul today and he told her “HP is working on a plan to better leverage its existing resources to bring Voodoo products to market faster and make them more accessible to consumers.” which I think is a great thing, because honestly products like the “envy” take too long to get to consumers.

HP and Vivienne Tam have teamed up to design a new notebook PC during Fashion week here in NYC. The new system which will be called the Digital Clutch will be available in October. Right now I can not tell you what system it is or it’s specs (I know what they are) but I can show you the design. Also if you look at the picture of the system and have read our past reviews you can probably guess which it is.

But before I show you a picture, I was told that Vivienne Tam made HP work extreamly hard on the color, specifically the red which I am told took weeks for HP to perfect and I have to say HP did a great job in perfecting the color.

HP what are you doing to me? Did you put something in the computers you sent me? Like is there invisible, addicting gases oozing out of them? If there is, please tell me, because weird things are happening.

Well, it’s not that weird, but why are you making special appearances in my dreams? Huh?? They’re MY dreams; I’m supposed to be the star – at all times (hence my pillow case) and they’re supposed to be nice.

When HP asked me if I was interested in reviewing one of their work stations, I said sure. When they told me it was on its way I expected a huge box, but what arrived was a small one.  I immediately thought it was something else, maybe some accessories to go along with it.  I was quite surprised when I opened the box though.  It was indeed the HP Ultra Slim dc7800, a workstation that measures 9.90 x 10.00 x 2.60 inches and weighs only 7 pounds.

I was immediately impressed by its size, or lack of. While the size surprised me I was a bit concerned that a machine this small could not handle the same day to day workings as a traditional work station. (But) I was always told great things come in small packages so the fact that it was being powered by Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33 Ghz CPU and 2 Gigs of ram reassured me.  The dc7800 could probably deliver the same results as a traditional work station.

Earlier today HP told me that their new Elitebook 6930 was showing 24 hours of runtime with in benchmarks. I was surprised because yesterday I found out Dell had a notebook with a 19 hour battery life but showed no proof, and gave sketchy detail’s on the system.

HP’s Worldwide Public Relations Manager (Business Notebooks) Mike Hockey said the following in an email to me “Micheal,, it is confirmed. HP can now achieve up to 24 hour battery runtime! This is achieved with the HP EliteBook 6930p, configured with a 6-cell primary battery, HP Illumi-Lite LED backlit display, the new 80GB Intel SSD, and the optional HP Ultra-Capacity Battery.”

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.