Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday plans to announce new laptops, including its fastest netbook and first 3D laptop, which combines cutting-edge technologies to raise the bar in performance.
The Envy 17 3D comes with a 17.3-inch 3D display, speakers and a subwoofer, which combine to provide a cinema-style entertainment experience, said Cameron Duncan, an Envy product manager at HP.
The laptop will be able to play Blu-ray 3D movies and broadcast high-definition video, Duncan said. Storing high-definition content requires plenty of disk space, and the laptop will offer up to 2TB of storage capacity.
The laptop will run on quad-core Intel Core i7 processors and include a 3D package powered by Advanced Micro Devices’ ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 graphics card. HP supplies 3D active shutter glasses, which wirelessly communicate with the laptop for users to view 3D content. The laptop can be switched to a 2D mode for users to view normal content.
The laptop is a desktop replacement and provides two-and-a-half hours of battery life. The company is aiming to price the laptop under US$2,000 and hopes to make the device available by “the holiday season,” Duncan said.
The company also launched its first netbook with Intel’s latest N550 dual-core processor, which runs at a speed of 1.5GHz.
HP until now has offered single-core netbooks, and the Mini 5103 is about 20 percent faster than its predecessors, an HP spokesman said. It offers between 10 and 11 hours of battery life on a six-cell battery.
The netbook is also capable of better graphics and can play back 720p video, Wentzel said. To get full 1080p video, HP offers a separate video acceleration card as an option.
The netbook comes with a 10.1-inch display and weight starts at 2.64 pounds (1.2 kilograms). It is also available with single-core processors, like Intel’s Atom N455 and N475 processors, the company said. It is priced starting at US$399 and is available in the U.S.
The company also announced the Wireless TV Connect kit, which will allow TVs to function as monitors. The kit comes with two adapters — one for a TV, the other for a laptop — that wirelessly communicate to display PC content on a TV.
The technology, for example, will allow full 1080p high-definition movies stored on PCs to be viewed on TVs, said Cara Baez, product manager at HP. The adapters can wirelessly communicate over a range of 7 feet or even more, though results may vary depending on the location, Baez said.
The device will be available in the U.S. next month for $199.