HP unleashes range of business machines

HP has been busy in Las Vegas unveiling a range of new products

HP has used the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to announce a new range of notebooks, workstations and displays.

Looking to find a place on consumer laps in the coming year, the firm announced a new TouchSmart notebook along with an array of brightly coloured netbooks, including one which, like the notebook, boasts a touchscreen.

"HP continues to exceed customer expectations with a range of business products designed with the environment and productivity in mind," said Stephen DeWitt, senior vice president and general manager of HP's Personal Systems Group, Americas.

"With great designs, energy-saving features and efficient, faster-performing products, customers can feel confident choosing HP products to better position themselves in the ever-competitive business world."

The new models are the the TouchSmart tm2, a convertible, touch-enabled notebook PC which comes in a flashy case with an aluminum design and engraved illustration.

The netbooks are the HP Mini 5102 and 2102, which HP describes as companion PCs for business travellers. Features include face recognition tools, high-definition video playback, GPS and mobile broadband connections.

The HP Mini 5102 is the touchscreen netbook option, and is built on the Intel Atom processor. Its keyboard is 95 per cent the size of a normal one, and comes with a built-in pen for writing on the screen. The 5102 and 2102 models come with up to 1GB of memory and hard drive options of up to 320GB.

Also on the agenda were new workstations and displays, including new additions to the HP z-series and mobile workstations.

The Z200 workstation is an entry point unit aimed at small businesses and designers using autoCAD. HP said that the Z200 is ideally suited for running Autodesk and Photoshop applications. Two new displays were also announced, the ZR22w and ZR24w, and HP explained that these "excel" in looks and performance.

The 14in Elitebook 8440w and the 15in Elitebook 8540w, meanwhile, offer workstation-calibre graphics, and can run the most demanding of applications, according to HP. The units come with backlit, anti-glare screens and scratch resisting cases.

"As professional applications move into 3D, more and more people are upgrading to the power of multi-core workstations to fuel their creativity," said Jeff Wood, director of worldwide marketing for workstations at HP.

"Customers around the world choose HP workstations for the best in performance, and for reliability that adds up to a surprisingly short return on investment."

Other announcements included the HP Compaq 8000f Elite Ultra Slim Desktop PC, which HP said is the first PC of its kind to be free of brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride from the wall to the mouse.

So far only US prices and release information have been published, and HP expects the majority to be available in the next couple of months.