HP brings Voodoo into the consumer PC fold

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.

[JonTitor]

the picture says the Envy is a gaming notebook, which it is not, there isn't even a discrete graphics option, with Voodoo breaking ties with Clevo to build their laptops, they have never designed their own, HP's best gaming laptop is their own dv5t

[sellis16]

I see conflicting reports -- all but one citing Dell as the largest. The one citing HP as the leader is from Cnet itself.

One of many posts says this kind of thing:

Both firms ranked Dell the U.S. market leader, however, with about 31 percent of the market to HP's nearly 25 percent.

http://www.wral.com/news/technology/story/2746515/

[ericaatnews]

Hey, so Dell is the leader in the U.S., but HP leads worldwide. That's been the case for almost two years now.

[sonymaster101]

even if i could afford to buy it, i would never buy it to play games, despite how the picture describes it as a "gaming laptop". there is only a cheap integrated graphics chip from intel in there, nothing near powerful enough to play any big fps made in the last 3 1/2 + years. and imagine the heat problems..... geez it would be like a 'lil frying pan. Plus the fact that real GAMERS will never associate with it again because now it is just another laptop.

ummmm the whole reason why voodoo charges what they want for machines is specifically because they were geared towards gaming. They are charging an arm and a leg for the envy but its far from being a gaming caliber machine. Thats a ridiculous move. Plenty of other gaming gear out there. Gamerz won't be fooled and voodoo's market share in that area will quickly move on. Though I think that already has happened since hp's buyout.