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."

In addition to the several new notebooks, HP today released the successor of the award-winning HP Blackbird 002, called HP Firebird. Designed for photo and video editing, music creation, gaming and other demanding tasks, the HP Firebird comes in an extremely sleek and original chassis, but that's not all. Inside this beautiful shell HP has integrated a complete watercooling system that cools the CPU, the two graphics cores and the motherboard's chipset. Speaking of CPUs and VGAs, the Firebird is partly customizable. It supports the latest Core 2 Quad processors (Q9400 - 2.66GHz or Q9550 - 2.83GHz), up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, and comes with dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S small form factor graphics cards in SLI configuration and two hot-swappable 320GB hard drives. Also, the Firebird ships with a 350W external power supply, to help keeping the system as cool as possible. The HP Firebird with Voodoo DNA will be available online at VoodooPC.com on January 9th starting at $1,799. Customers also can purchase the product in select retail stores nationwide starting on February 1st. Find more information here.

In a surprise move, HP announced the industry's first notebook based on AMD's upcoming Neo series processor. This is the first product to be based on the AMD Yukon mobile platform. It features an AMD Neo processor clocked at 1.60, which is a single-core CPU code-named Huron. HP seems to have tried hard to push this into the full-fledged notebook segment, keeping it away from the ULPC tag, to serve as a proper "launch vehicle" for the Yukon platform.

Talking about the notebook itself, called HP Pavilion dV2, it features a 12-inch LCD screen with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 px with LED backlit illumination. Apart from the AMD Neo, it features up to 4 GB of RAM, AMD discrete graphics and storage space of up to 500 GB (depending on the variant). Other features include gigabit Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, an external BluRay drive (optional) and an ExpressCard slot. All this enclosed in a durable magnesium-alloy based chassis. The Pavilion dV2 Neo will reach shelves only later this year in April, and will be priced at US $699.

HP continued with its "blue-shift" of incorporating Intel Atom processors across its ULPC lineup, this time with its Mini 2140 netbook, siblings of whom are based on VIA processors. The Mini 2140 comes with a 10.1-inch LCD with LED-backlit illumination. The screen provides a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 px. The chassis holds an almost complete QWERTY keyboard, a 1.3 MP webcam and a track-pad. Under the hood is an Atom CPU clocked at 1.60 GHz, up to 160 GB of hard-drive storage, with connectivity options including ethernet, WiFi, an ExpressCard slot and some USB 2.0 ports. Operating system options include Windows XP, Windows Vista, OpenSuSE Linux or FreeDOS. This notebook is equipped with hard-drive fall damage protection that senses a fall and quickly parks the hard-drive to try and minimise the damage. The unit tips the scales at 1.17 kg (around 2.58 lbs). It will start selling later this month at a price of US $499.

Having absorbed Voodoo PC, HP is going full-cylinders with its gaming PC lineup. It has not overlooked gaming notebooks either. In the works is the HP Firefly, a gaming notebook with exclusive features, driven by bleeding edge hardware in a stylish chassis. The Firefly is in a concept design phase, with working prototypes being readied for events such as the upcoming CES expo.

To run you through with the features, the top lid of the notebook holds a 17" main LCD with a native resolution of 1920x1200. The lid also holds a small 4" screen with a resolution of 800x400, which can be used as a HUD or a secondary utility display. Also mounted are front speakers and a night-vision webcam. The business end of the notebook holds an illuminated keyboard with a right-hand placed track-pad. The exterior of the notebook has some techno-themed motifs printed or engraved. Under the hood is a quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9xxx CPU clocked at 2.40 GHz, 4 GB of memory, and a graphics subsystem consisting of two ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs in CrossFire. Two 250GB hard-drives operate in RAID 0 for storage. There is a Blu-Ray drive provided. Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio handles 6-channel audio with game audio effects processing and Dolby Digital output capabilities. We will learn more about this notebook come CES.

Following the initial information and shots which we covered here, PCWorld has got further information on availability and pricing, whilst also discussing the new system with Rahul Sood, Chief Technology Officer for HP's Global Gaming Business. Sood mentioned that, "... the new systems use compact, power-sipping components usually found in notebook PCs, providing a reduced footprint and maximum energy usage -- 350 watts, or one-fifth the energy used by an average high-performance desktop PC... By pulling the power supply out of the case, the Firebird systems can get away with "way quieter" fans than other high-performance PCs... The high-performance PC space seems to have gone out of control when power supplies exceed 1.6 or 2 kilowatts, drawing more than the wall can handle, and people have 3-4 video cards and spend $5,000 to 6,000 on a machine just to play a videogame."
The HP Firebird, is said to start at $1,799 (excluding monitor) and will be available at voodoopc.com from January 9th, and at yet to be announced retail stores sometime in February.

HP today launched a home server designed for use with both Windows and Mac computers. Based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform, the HP MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487 is a central repository for automatically backing up and accessing digital music, videos, photos and documents from multiple computers on a home network.

The MediaSmart Server automatically organizes files across all PCs, streams media across a home network and the Internet, and publishes photos to popular social networking and photo sharing sites.

Due to show up at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in 2009, the new HP Firebird 803 designed by Voodoo has surfaced early with leaked photos and specifications. Unlike the previous firebird, this design is much smaller, however it does come with its draw backs. To get such a small design, the entire unit is custom built and appears to follow no standard layout or format, i.e ATX, BTX, etc. As such one would imagine that upgrading components would be very limited, so this is more like a laptop or games console in which what you buy is what your stuck with. The tower also appears to be watercooled, but to further reduce the size and heat output, the power supply has been made external and judging by the pictures it's roughly twice the size of a normal laptop power supply.

Computing giant HP has refreshed its workstation lineup with xw9400 series models running the new AMD Opteron "Shanghai" quad-core processors. Being workstations, they come with dual-socket configurations as options, and sport Opteron 2000 series processors. Options start at a 2.00 GHz processor, and go up to 2.50 GHz. Up to 32 GB of memory can be opted for. The motherboards use NVIDIA nForce Professional 3600 or 3050 chipsets. A variety of options with NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics cards are offered. The system comes with a three-year warranty that includes parts, labor, and on-site service. A set of pre-configured systems are available by HP on its product page. Prices start at US $2,399 and can go up to $6,299.

HP today brought some attention to its brand new TouchSmart tx2 Notebook PC - the industry's first convertible notebook with multi-touch technology designed specifically for consumers. Developed for people on the go, the tx2 boasts a 12.1-inch diagonal BrightView LED display with touch capabilities that allow multi-touch input. Using two-finger gestures your can pinch, rotate and do all kind of such things with various programs. The tx2 has even more advantages when compared to ordinary notebooks, its unique design allows for quick transform into a PC, display or a tablet. With the included digital ink pen, users can turn the tx2 into a tablet PC to write, sketch, draw, take notes or graph right onto the screen - and then automatically convert handwriting into typed text.
Moving on to the rest of the hardware, this thing is powered by AMD's Turion X2 dual-core mobile processors, has the option to work with up to 8GB of DDR2 memory, and store up to 500GB of information on a hard drive. Software is ensured from Microsoft, in the eyes of Windows Vista Home Premium. Other media features include an ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics, a built-in webcam, wireless LAN card, a VGA output, and an ethernet port. The TouchSmart tx2 Notebook PC is available now in the United States, starting at $1,149. For more information, please visit the HP TouchSmart tx2 microsite.

It appears that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Dell, HP and Toshiba, have issued another laptop battery recall for Sony branded batteries. It's very unfortunate that the Sony battery fiasco is still a problem. According to the new data, Lithium-Ion batteries used in about 35,000 Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell Notebook Computers can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. The information is based on 19 reports of laptop batteries still overheating, including 17 reports of flames/fire (10 resulting in minor property damage). Consumers should immediately remove the recalled battery from their notebook computer, and contact their computer manufacturer to determine if their battery is included in the recall and to request a free replacement battery. The bad battery packs are used in laptops from all kinds, including models retailing from $700 to models that cost around $3000. There's a list of the models in danger below, that might help.

It didn't take HP too long to officially releases its new Mini 1000 netbook, HP's Mini Note 2133 little brother. Starting at $399 as of today, Mini 1000 features a sleek, ultra-portable design, less than 1-inch thickness and weight that is a little more than 2 pounds. HP offers the Mini 1000 in various configuration choices that include a 8.9-inch or 10.2-inch diagonal BrightView display with flush glass and LED backlight (both displays have 1024x600 resolution) as well as the option to choose between a 8GB or 16GB SSD or 60GB 4200rpm mechanical hard-drive. Processor options will be limited to the Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU for now, but new models might become accessible later on. Except these few hardware options, all Mini shells will have the standard package of peripherals that include a built-in webcam and microphone, an Ethernet jack, two USB ports, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless capabilities. Versions with 3G support are expected to be available in December. OS options include pre-installed Microsoft Windows XP Home or a Linux distribution.
In addition, HP is launching a special Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition with the same specs as the piano-black Mini, but painted in vibrant red with a peony-flower inspired design.

HP has been showing off its latest creation, the Touchsmart IQ518, an all-in-one PC with a 22" widescreen multi-touch panel. The expected launch price is to be around $1800 (US) and HP has said Pegatron Technology will be handling its manufacture. There have been no other details in terms of specification as yet but it is likely that systems such as this are preparing for the launch of Windows 7, as it has already been said that Microsoft will be implementing touchscreen technology as a key aspect of the upcoming OS.

Over the last year or so, there have been a disturbingly high number of manufacturers reporting defects with NVIDIA graphics processors, on the mobile front. Up until recently, even some Macbooks have been diagnosed with problems related to NVIDIA GPUs. The latest victim of this, is a desktop line: HP's Pavilion Slimline series. The PC major is reporting as many as 38 models of desktop PCs under the Slimline series.

HP on its part has implemented a Limited Warranty Service Enhancement that provides for a motherboard replacement at no charge for 12 months from the date your one-year Hardware Limited Warranty expires or until December 31, 2009 (whichever comes first). Owners who may have paid for repairs relating to this issue, could contact HP for reimbursement. Repairs on HP's part could include a complete replacement of the systems' motherboards, since the graphics processor (read: IGP) is embedded on to the motherboard. NVIDIA's Director of Public Relations EMEAI, Luciano Alibrandi told PC Pro, that they were working closely with HP to determine if/how the failures were related to NVIDIA chipsets.

HP Announced two gaming mice based on the Voodoo DNA design methodology. The first one being HDX Laser Mouse and the other, Laser Gaming Mouse VoodooDNA. The HDX model has five programmable buttons, a somewhat ambidextrous design and 2400 dpi scan resolution (sensitivity). It stores up to five user profiles for button and sensitivity settings.

The VoodooDNA mouse comes with the kind of design you would expect from VoodooPC, a company acquired by HP about two years ago, that specializes in building gaming PCs. It comes with HP VoodooDNA software that gives gamers control over the mouse along with options to tweak and tune it, which also allows storage of up to 25 button profiles that gamers can switch to, specific to their games. It has a resolution of 3200 dpi. The HDX Laser Mouse will be priced at US $39.99, while the VoodooDNA mouse will carry a price tag of $59.99. Images (in order) of VoodooDNA Laser Mouse and HDX Laser are provided.

HP today announced an unprecedented milestone in mobile computing: up to 24 hours of continuous notebook operation on a single battery charge. As measured by an industry-standard benchmark, the new HP EliteBook 6930p configured with an optional ultra-capacity battery delivered up to 24 hours of battery runtime.

HP today introduced three ultra-portable notebook computers, including a three-pound EliteBook, the smallest and lightest HP notebook with a built-in optical drive. Inspired by aircraft construction and designed for style-conscious mobile professionals, the HP EliteBook 2530p features the sleek and durable HP DuraCase - a brushed, anodized aluminum exterior casing combined with a magnesium alloy chassis that is engineered to pass several military-standard durability tests such as extreme temperature, dust and humidity.

HP said today that it is bringing the latest HP TouchSmart PCs to customers all around the world. Debuted at last month's HP Connecting Your World event in Berlin, the new TouchSmart family of PCs have earned the privilege to be the only touch-enabled, all-in-one PCs in the market. The HP TouchSmart PCs combine a 22-inch diagonal, high-definition widescreen display and a variety of options when choosing the right hardware for your needs. You can select either the base IQ504 model for $1,299 with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of memory, and 320GB hard drive or the deluxe IQ506 model for $1,499 and equip yourself with a 2.16GHz processor, a TV tuner, dedicated GeForce 9300M GS graphics, and a 500GB hard disk. To give the TouchSmart just the right finish, HP has also integrated a DVD burner, WLAN module, some stereo speakers, a webcam and a microphone. A low-profile wireless HP keyboard that lights in the dark, as well as a wireless mouse are also supplied just in case there's something you can't do using the touchscreen display.

HP has just announced its new color-loving 24-inch computer professional display, the DreamColor LP2480ZX. Proud to be the world's first to provide more than 1 billion colors in a 30-bit LED-backlit display, HP's latest work of art delivers more than 64 times the colors available on today's mainstream LCDs. The display is result of a collaboration with DreamWorks Animation SKG and addresses the need for affordable and consistent color accuracy in the animation, game development, film/video post, broadcast, product design and graphic arts segments. Moreover, the LP2480zx has native widescreen resolution of 1920x1200. HP also claims that the display's white luminance range is from 40cd/m2 up to 250cd/m2. The contrast ratio is 1000:1, the response time: 12ms black-to-white or 6ms gray-to-gray. Inputs include two DVI-I, one DisplayPort 1.1, one HDMI 1.3, one component (YPbPr), one S-Video, and one Composite. The display is also HDCP compliant. The new LP2480xz can already be found on the market for the reasonable price of $3,499.

HP today marked the broadest and most innovative notebook rollout in its history with the introduction of 16 new models designed with new materials and software features that enrich the user experience. Unveiled at its Connecting Your World event, the newly redesigned notebook families are available in an array of sizes and configurations - including the all-new HP EliteBook premium series - providing a broad selection of mobile computing options to meet the personal style and performance needs of most anyone.