Monday, May 4th 2015

HP Announces the Next Wave of 2015 Back to School PCs

HP today announced a new family of all-in-one desktop and tower PCs designed to fit beautifully in the home for back to school. The new desktop lineup offers customers power and flexibility to scale for next-level productivity and entertainment.

"The desktop PC continues to be an important form factor for customers who want to get things done and be entertained, but lack style and as a result are often hidden in basements and dens," said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, Consumer Personal Systems, HP. "With our 2015 desktop family, we are breathing new life into the category by giving customers more capabilities wrapped in colorful and premium designs that they will be proud to place in kitchens, living rooms and other public spaces in their homes."
Specifically, HP announced:
  • The HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs offer customers power in a sleek design with a pedestal floating display to make it a focal point in the home.
  • The HP Pavilion Tower brings a splash of color to traditionally black tower designs with a wide range of configuration options.
  • The HP ENVY Tower gives content creators premium power in a brushed metal chassis featuring a signature vertical design now spanning the new tower portfolio.
  • The HP ENVY Phoenix Tower gives gamers speed and power with discrete graphics options for performance to take down the competition.
  • The HP Spectre Studio Display presents customers with a cinematic experience with advanced Ultra High Definition (UDH) 4k resolution.
New All-in-One PCs with Modern Design and Powerful Hardware
For customers who want a desktop PC as a focal point in the home to create, share and be entertained, the HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs merge design with functionality offering the right features for immersive and powerful experiences.

The HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs are thin and look beautiful from every angle with an edge-to-edge full high-definition (HD) flush glass display. White iridescent color with a white dot pattern on the back allows the HP Pavilion All-in-One PC to fit in any kitchen, living room or home office.

The HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs have HDMI Out for customers to connect to a second display for multi-tasking or TV for maximum entertainment. HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs come with and two USB 3.0 ports and a 3-in-1 media card reader located on the display chin for easy access. On the back, four USB 2.0 ports are placed with the HDMI and LAN for easy routing of cables to keep the workspace clean and organized.

For power and performance, customers have the choice of fourth generation Intel Celeron processors, Intel Core i3 through i7 processors,(2) next generation AMD A10 and A8 processors or AMD next generation mainstream A4 through A8 processors. While integrate graphics are standard, customers have the option to choose AMD Radeon R7 A330 or A360 discrete graphics for video editing or gaming. With up to 3TB of storage options, customers have the space to store all of their precious family photos and videos, movies and music.

For immersive experiences to enjoy movies or for families to gather around to share videos and photos, the 21.5-, 23- and 27-inch diagonal IPS full HD displays have a new adjustable hinge on the pedestal floating display to bring it closer to eye level for a comfortable viewing experience. The HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs feature B&O Play audio to give customers bold, crisp and accurate sound through its dual speakers.

HP Pavilion Tower Gets Makeover with New Colorful Designs
For the customer looking for the latest in power to replace their older tower without compromise, the HP Pavilion Tower offers flexible configuration choices for everyday productivity and entertainment.

Taking cues from HP's colorful notebooks, the HP Pavilion Tower offers a distinctive new look with a vertical orientated design coming in Blizzard White, Natural Silver, Nobel Blue and Sunset Red. The HP Pavilion Tower supports fourth generation Intel Celeron processors, Intel Core i3 through i7 processors and next generation AMD A-Series A4 through A10 processors. Customers have graphics options from integrated graphics up to NVIDIA GTX 745 for better performance. For storing videos and photos the HP Pavilion Tower PC offers customers a selection to choose up to 3TB hard disk drive (HDD).

With dual-display support, the HP Pavilion Tower includes at least two USB 2.0 ports, up to four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DVI (Intel), VGA (AMD) and 7-in-1 media card reader. The new vertical design allows customers to easily access ports placed in the front of device. The HP Pavilion Tower includes B&O Play Audio Control for customers to customize their listening experience for movies, music and voice.

New Premium Tower PCs Elevate Design and Performance
For customers who want powerful hardware choices in a premium design, the HP ENVY and HP ENVY Phoenix Towers have a brushed metal chassis with a new vertical design offering customers a high-end look and feel.

Powerful and stylish, the HP ENVY Tower is designed for content creators who need high-performance processors and strong graphics capabilities for editing videos and photos. For performance, customers have the choice of up to NVIDIA GTX 980 or AMD Radeon R9 380 discrete graphics with support for fourth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors or next generation AMD A-Series A8 through FX processors.

For ultimate power and performance, the HP ENVY Phoenix Tower is built for the customer who needs the best graphics frame rates and performance for gaming or hardcore tasks. HP ENVY Phoenix Tower has a dark aluminum chassis finished in brushed metal with a radiant red LED accent on the front. To support the power necessary for a solid gaming experience, especially on a 4K display, customers have the choice of up to NVIDIA GTX 980 or AMD Radeon discrete graphics with a choice of fourth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

HP is offering die hard gamers Intel K-series processors to enable overclocking with the HP ENVY Phoenix Tower Overclocking Control to boost gaming performance. The optional advanced thermal system using Closed Loop Liquid Cooling protects sensitive components while eliminating the need for throttling and keeps the HP ENVY Phoenix Tower cool and quiet. The NVIDIA GeForce Experience and AMD Gaming Evolved software are included for seamless gaming. Connect to a display, download a game and the clients optimize customer settings for the most immersive gaming experience.

The HP ENVY and HP ENVY Phoenix Towers give customers a selection to choose up to 3TB HDD with the option to add more speed with up to a 512GB SSD for storing games, videos and photos. Both premium towers offer a RAID storage option for customers to mirror content to a second hard drive and include Bang & Olufsen Audio

Control for a customizable audio experience.
HP ENVY and HP ENVY Phoenix Towers includes at least two USB 2.0 ports, up to four USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DVI (Intel), VGA (AMD) and 7-in-1 media card reader. Each tower also comes with dual monitor support and wireless keyboard and mouse.
Cinematic Experience with 4K Display

To complement the HP desktop PC portfolio, the HP Spectre Studio Display gives customers a fully immersive experience. Have two spreadsheets open side-by-side or watch a movie while checking social media updates, customers will have a premium experience on the 32 inch diagonal UHD 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) display. With a 178 degree ultra-wide viewing angle, customers get a consistent color and image clarity at any angle. To ensure lower resolution content still looks crisp and vibrant, the display is optimized to up-scale HD, Full HD and Quad HD.

The visually stunning HP Spectre Studio Display offers customers great audio with 6-watt speakers firing from dual front speakers with two rear passive radiators to enhance the bass.

To seamlessly connect to any device, the HP Spectre Studio Display comes with HDMI 2.0, HDMI 1.4 with MHL, Display Port and a USB port. For versatile viewing experiences, multi-source picture-in-picture (PiP) and picture-by-picture (PbP) technology allows customers to easily view two separate media inputs simultaneously.

Pricing and Availability
The 21.5 and 23 inch HP Pavilion All-in-One PCs are expected to be available on June 28, 2015 in the United States at www.hpshopping.com and select retailers starting at $649.99 and $699.99 respectively.

The HP Pavilion, HP ENVY and HP ENVY Phoenix Towers are expected to be available in the United States on June 10, 2015 at www.hpshopping.com. With a starting price at $699.99 is the HP ENVY Tower and $899.99 is the HP ENVY Phoenix Tower. HP Pavilion Desktop Tower will also be available in select retailers on June 26, 2015 with a starting price at $449.99.

The HP Spectre Studio Display is expected to be available in the United States on May 24, 2015 at www.hpshopping.com with a starting price at $999.99.
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9 Comments on HP Announces the Next Wave of 2015 Back to School PCs

#1
ZeppMan217
Can't we get a straight spec list somewhere instead of going through the whole article?
Posted on Reply
#2
Prima.Vera
Best desktop PC = PC you build yourself...
Posted on Reply
#3
Uplink10
No thanks, I rather build it myself and since you can build one for the same price/performance as you can buy one there is no point in buying these PCs where you a lot of times have to phone and ask around to know which components it has.
Posted on Reply
#4
micropage7
Prima.VeraBest desktop PC = PC you build yourself...
yeah thats true but for some its easier buying branded pc since all get covered and one more the brand itself
Posted on Reply
#5
Uplink10
micropage7yeah thats true but for some its easier buying branded pc since all get covered and one more the brand itself
If you expect that you are going to get latest drivers and updates on manufacturers website you wrong. You will get BIOS/UEFI updates and updates that concern the BIOS/UEFI software in OS but you will not get latest drivers for graphic card, card readers, USB devices...
Posted on Reply
#6
swaaye
Uplink10If you expect that you are going to get latest drivers and updates on manufacturers website you wrong. You will get BIOS/UEFI updates and updates that concern the BIOS/UEFI software in OS but you will not get latest drivers for graphic card, card readers, USB devices...
That doesn't really matter. Drivers and BIOSs usually don't need frequent updates anyway. Most people just want to buy a thoroughly tested, solid PC for a decent price that has a service guarantee and warranty. The whole package. They don't care about the minutiae that really doesn't matter for their needs anyway.
Posted on Reply
#7
Uplink10
swaayeThat doesn't really matter.
I personally do not care about drivers other than for BIOS/UEFI, I use drivers for GPU from GPU manufacturer website and maybe USB 3.0 driver from USB chipset manufacturer, for everything else I use Snappy Driver Installer.

But if they support the product they could at least have a complete list of updated drivers even the ones that you usually get somewhere else (mostly drivers for GPU and USB devices). Currently they do not have updated list of these drivers which really sucks and they must decide to keep updated driver page or to not keep updated driver page and inform the consumers of their bad support (meaning "We are not updating drivers reguraly for some components (usually everything except drivers for BIOS/UEFI)".
Posted on Reply
#8
Warrgarbl
As someone who works at a company that sells their own PCs and notebooks I can tell you that we also do not supply up to date drivers. We evaluate a system with the current set of drivers, and if it works well we leave it at that. We have already had a fair number of ugly problems with people who went to the component manufacturer's site and installed the newest drivers.

This is especially true for notebooks. Barebone manufacturers often modify the component in some way and release the according modified drivers, and the drivers directly from the component manufacturer are sometimes not fully compatible.

Personally, all I ever update are graphics card drivers and SSD firmwares (ONLY if there is a performance /reliability increase to be had). Otherwise, you should stick to the old maxim of "never change a running system".
Posted on Reply
#9
Caring1
Another write off at Tax time for parents, only reason to buy one.
Posted on Reply
Nov 14th, 2024 12:24 EST change timezone

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