In our current roundup of retail-specific laptops, we've divided our 25-plus systems into four price categories, from sub-$700 budget models to high-end ones that cost more than $1,000.
In the "high-end" category, we looked at four off-the-shelf models that all retail for $999 and above. While there's certainly a lot to like about the $2,000 HP Envy 15 (it sported the highest screen resolution and a new Core i7 processor), we thought the best bang for your buck was to be found in the Sony Vaio FW560, which has a big 500GB hard drive and Blu-ray, all for $999.
If you're looking for something even less expensive, the Sony Vaio NW270 offers no-frills Blu-ray for $699.
Note: For a roundup of retail laptops in all price ranges, check here.
Check out details of each system below:... Read more
Episode 58 of the Digital City, where we wrangle with the legal arguments over Apple vs. Psystar; show off the latest super-fancy laptop to hit our desks, the $2,000 HP Envy 15; and find the world's best laptop backpack in the Booq Boa.
Both Modern Warfare 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii get some praise, while PSP Go sales seem to hit a wall; and we compare the original God of War games to the new polished-up versions in the God of War collection for PS3.
Related links:
>>Booq Boa Squeeze review
>>Spend some time with New Super Mario Bros. Wii
>>Modern Warfare 2 arrives
>>Watch the Digital City live every Monday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!
Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video)
Sometimes a gadget comes along that sweeps you off your geeky feet. Also, it's not very often that a curiously upholstered SUV comes along and crashes into the podcast like a wrecking ball. Today we bring you all of the above in one episode.
Listen now: Download today's podcast
Subscribe with iTunes (audio)
Subscribe with iTunes (video)
Subscribe with RSS (audio)
Subscribe with RSS (video)
EPISODE 161
Dating habits of iPhone users: A profile
Molly’s new true love: HP Envy 15
Japan's NEC takes aim at interpreters with head mounted projection device
... Read more
Even a cursory glance will tell you the HP Envy 13 is a very nicely made premium 13-inch laptop. It's a solid slab of aluminum and magnesium, etched with interesting visual details, and filled with capable components, such as a dual-core low-voltage Intel CPU and discrete ATI graphics.
It's also clearly a shot across the bow of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, even if Hewlett-Packard leaves that challenge unstated. The edge-to-edge glass over the display and oversize multitouch touch pad all add to a Mac-like look and feel. Unfortunately, the Envy 13 is priced more comparably with ultrathin systems such as the Dell Adamo or even Apple's MacBook Air, starting at $1,699 (our test unit was $1,799, or $2,149 if you include the external Blu-ray drive and secondary battery).
With a better display (1,600x900-pixel resolution), newer CPU, and more options--the Envy 13 certainly makes a compelling case against the $1,199 13-inch MacBook Pro, but the $500-and-up price difference makes it a tough sell. That said, if price is no object, this is a great mix of power and portability, and sure to attract envious (no pun intended) stares in coffee shops and airport lounges.
The HP and Voodoo co-branded Envy notebook in 2008.
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)Hewlett-Packard is sending mixed signals on what exactly it plans to do with the Voodoo PC brand it acquired three years ago.
After purchasing the gaming and PC enthusiast brand in 2006, HP in 2008 began using the Voodoo name beyond powerful gaming PCs. It painted the name Voodoo and VoodooDNA on high-end HP notebooks and desktops, and talked up their premium engineering and design. They used the analogy that if the HP brand were a Smart Car and Compaq were a Chrysler, Voodoo would be their Maybach.
But a year later, HP's consumer PC lineup contains little trace of the Voodoo branding. HP had introduced the HP Blackbird with VoodooDNA and more recently HP Firebird with Voodoo DNA. Both are nowhere to be found on HP.com. In a more recent example, a new notebook, called the HP Envy was released last week. A year ago it was called the HP Voodoo Envy 133. Though the updated model takes some Voodoo ideas like the thin profile, quick booting, the power adapter, and packaging, you'd have to be a Voodoo fanboy to know Voodoo had any sort of influence at all on it.
So what gives? It seems the Voodoo team didn't have much to do with the Envy, despite its sharing the same name with older products.
"The reason there's no 'Voodoo DNA' on the (most recent) product has to do with the overall design language, the target market, and the fact that we weren't directly involved in the design," Rahul Sood, the founder of VoodooPC and the chief technology officer of gaming PCs for HP, wrote on his personal blog.
In the same post, Sood that Voodoo is "transitioning from 'desktop and notebook' manufacturing to something beyond." While it's unclear what "something beyond" means, he hints that besides HP taking some design and engineering cues from Voodoo that the company he founded didn't quite fit into HP the way Sood had initially expected.
... Read more
HP's new Envy laptop: is this the MacBook clone you've been waiting for?
(Credit: HP)HP announced its fall lineup today, which included new Windows 7 laptops, an Ion-powered Netbook, SmartMedia network storage products, an all-in-one desktop, and an assortment of business-centric monitors.
HP gets an Ion-powered HD Netbook
With a Nvidia Ion processor and a 1,366x768 11.6-inch screen, the HP Mini 311 looks to be the type of souped-up HD Netbook we've been waiting for.
(Posted in Crave by Scott Stein)
September 14, 2009, 9:06 p.m. PDT
HP 13-inch laptops bring on aluminum and affordability
Just in time for Windows 7 comes HP's new Windows 7-preinstalled 13-inch thin-and-lights.
(Posted in Crave by Scott Stein)
September 14, 2009, 9:04 p.m. PDT
HP's new business monitors not bad for nonbusiness people
HP announces entertainment-supporting business monitors.
(Posted in Crave by Eric Franklin)
September 14, 2009, 9:01 p.m. PDT
HP launches new SmartMedia network storage servers
HP launches new home servers with larger storage, faster processors, and enhanced features for PCs and Macs.
(Posted in Crave by Dong Ngo)
September 14, 2009, 9:01 p.m. PDT
HP introduces first nontouch all-in-one
HP's Pavilion All-In-One MS214 is the company's first nontouch all-in-one.
(Posted in Crave by Rich Brown)
September 14, 2009, 9:01 p.m. PDT
HP goes high-end with two new Envy laptops
Ditching the Voodoo branding of the first Envy laptop, HP is aiming at the very upper ends of the market with its new Envy 13 and Envy 15 laptops, both announced today.
(Posted in Crave by Dan Ackerman)
September 14, 2009, 9 p.m. PDT
HP's slick new Envy 13.
(Credit: HP)Ditching the Voodoo branding of the first Envy laptop, HP is aiming at the very upper ends of the market with its new Envy 13 and Envy 15 laptops, both announced today.
HP calls the 15-inch version, "the company's fastest consumer notebook PC ever." The 1-inch-thick, 5.18-pound system will feature an Intel Core i7 CPU, four RAM slots for up to 16GB of memory, dual SSD hard drives, and ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics. The display resolution is 1,600x900.
If that sounds like a lot of laptop, you're right--and it has a price to match, starting at $1,799 (and the highest-end CPUs, graphics and SSD drives could push it well beyond that).
The Envy 13 will offer the Intel Core 2 Duo SL9400, a 1,366x768 display, ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics, and support an external DVD burner. At 3.7 pounds and a bit less than 1 inch thick, it starts at $1,699.
The 13-inch Envy starts at $1,699.
(Credit: HP)Both the Envy 13 and Envy 15 share a sleek new look, with aluminum and magnesium alloy bodies and a subtle etched pattern on the keyboard tray (and on the Envy 15, also on the back of the lid).
They also feature a large, clickable touchpad, similar to what you'd see on a MacBook. Unlike the Apple version, however, left and right mouse buttons, and a button to turn off the touchpad, are built into the pad itself. From our hands-on time with the system, tapping works fine, without the need to actually physically click the pad down.
The built-in audio, which we didn't get a chance to test when we saw the Envy laptops in person, is called Beats Audio, and was developed by the same team behind the popular Beats by Dre headphones, named after the music producer.
HP is also proud of its packaging for these laptops, which will arrive in minimal paper-based cartons. Documentation is limited to a quick setup poster--the rest of the user manuals are on an included SD card (which could also help in keeping documentation updated, without having to reprint booklets or add addendums).
From our brief hands-on time with the Envy 13 and Envy 15, they certainly seemed like slick, desirable high-end systems--but in the era of $299 Netbooks and similarly discounted mainstream laptops, there may be very few people in the market for ultra-high-end machines, no matter how cool they look.
Amid reports of layoffs at Hewlett-Packard's Voodoo PC subsidiary, the company has decided to be slightly more clear about what exactly is going on--emphasis on "slightly."
Phil McKinney, an HP vice president and CTO of the Personal Systems Group, under which the Voodoo brand falls, weighed in on the official Voodoo blog Wednesday. The Voodoo brand is currently being integrated with the company's larger consumer PC line, which means that things at the little niche PC outfit from Calgary, Alberta, are also changing.
Voodoo co-founder Rahul Sood with Voodoo Envy notebook and minor injury.
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)"Voodoo's limited size and focus on North America had limited its scale. We can now extend Voodoo's reach and influence globally through HP's extensive go-to-market resources," he writes.
"Are there layoffs? At times, there are downsizing moves in HP's business units just as there are hiring moves. We're always adjusting the work force to meet business needs and market dynamics. Is Voodoo immune from this practice? No, it is not."
Last week, HP announced that it would cut nearly 25,000 jobs over the next three years--and simultaneously replace half of those positions--as it sorts out its acquisition of IT services giant EDS.
McKinney also notes that the Voodoo Envy 133 just started shipping, and the Omen desktop is soon to follow. That was part of the reason, as we noted on Monday, that the idea of Voodoo being "shut down" seemed bizarre.
Though McKinney doesn't shed any light on the mysterious new product Voodoo is developing, which Voodoo co-founder Rahul Sood teased last month, he does explain why Sood won't be blogging for a while (see picture above).
(Credit:
Hewlett-Packard)
It's HP's version of the Lenovo X300 or the MacBook Air: incredibly thin and pretty to look at. It was introduced as part of an elaborate product rollout at a high-profile event in Germany.
The Envy is a good example of the kind of design chops and credibility Voodoo brings to HP. When HP bought Voodoo a few years back, the enthusiast PC maker became HP's gaming PC unit, which made sense, especially after Dell bought Alienware.
But soon after the Envy was announced, HP said it was folding Voodoo into its consumer PC line. It doesn't seem like HP wants to draw a distinction between gaming PCs and regular PCs anymore, and we wondered what the future of the Voodoo brand was at HP.
But it's still hanging around, and Voodoo is also trying to stir up some buzz, if a post by Voodoo co-founder Rahul Sood to the company blog is any indication.
In a blog titled, "Good things happen in threes," Sood talks about the Envy shipping, and a new contributor to the blog, but gets all mysterious about the third "good thing."
"There's also this other thing we're working on right now. Actually, on second thought--forget it. I'll save it for another day. This week's good enough as it is," he writes.
Sooooo, dear readers, what could it be? Chime in with your guesses in the comments.
The world's largest PC maker has decided it doesn't need a separate gaming PC unit anymore. From now on, Voodoo will be just one of Hewlett-Packard's consumer PC brands.
The recently introduced Voodoo Envy gaming laptop.
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)Voodoo founder Rahul Sood said on his personal blog that this was "always" the intention when HP bought Voodoo PC in 2006, and "the plan is now being accelerated, ultimately making it a reality sooner than any of us ever imagined."
Sood repeats that this is a "good thing" for the Voodoo brand, and he's probably right. HP knows how to move PCs, and has a giant marketing machine that could help push Voodoo into the mainstream, making the new Envy and Omen notebooks and desktops available at retail.
What's not clear is what happens to Sood. He was named CTO of HP's Global Gaming Business Unit, which was responsible for the Voodoo business, when his company was acquired.
The future of the Blackbird gaming brand also seems up in the air. It was introduced last year as a hybrid of HP's consumer PC line with Voodoo-influenced technology inside. It appears unnecessary to have both.
HP couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
