HP EliteBook 8530w and 8730w
(Credit: CNET Networks)LOS ANGELES--This week's Siggraph conference attracted a diverse crowd of graphic designers, animators, and industrial designers, and both HP and Lenovo were on-site to show off their new mobile workstations for graphics professionals. I had a chance to meet with both companies at the show to talk about some of the key features of these new models.
HP started the week by announcing the 17-inch EliteBook 8730w and 15.4-inch EliteBook 8530w, both of which support Intel's not-yet-official quad-core Core 2 Extreme processors, 8GB of RAM, and Nvidia's next-generation Quadro FX cards with up to 1GB of VRAM. In addition, these latest EliteBooks feature a few small design enhancements, such as a new latch designed to reduce stress on the display and a special coating on the keys and touch pad to help prevent wear. Even cooler is the VGA camera on the display bezel, which pairs with included software to double as a business card reader.
The EliteBook 8730w is also the first workstation on the market to include an HP DreamColor display option. The RGB backlit-LED screen can display millions of colors and displays true color even when the screen is dimmed. I got a quick demo of the EliteBook 8730w and I was impressed with not only the stunning color quality but also the ease of switching back and forth between sRGB and Adobe RGB on the display.
Also remarkable: both the 15- and 17-inch EliteBooks were quite thin and sleek, especially for such high-powered machines.
The ThinkPad W700's built-in drawing tablet
(Credit: CNET Networks)After HP I moved on to get a glance at Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 workstation, which was announced Tuesday. The beast was even larger than I'd imagined; after all, Lenovo representatives have emphasized that it's a workstation first, and mobile computer second. It's obviously larger than HP's 17-inch workstation, but the ThinkPad W700 also packs some bonus features: a built-in color calibrator and an integrated digitizer pad next to the touch pad.
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Go ahead, use steel wool to clean that laptop.
(Credit: HP)As part of its massive product announcement on Tuesday, HP is introducing the semirugged EliteBook 6930p, a 14.1-inch laptop that's built to MIL-STD-810F specifications for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and temperature. That means the EliteBook's brushed anodized aluminum casing and magnesium-alloy chassis can withstand temperatures ranging from -20° F up to 140° F, humidity up to 95 percent, and altitudes up to 15,000 feet, among other feats.
Like most 14.1-inch laptops, the EliteBook 5930p will include a full-size spill-resistant keyboard that's as useful around the office as it is in extreme conditions. The keyboard deck includes a fingerprint reader and a row of touch-sensitive media controls. Buyers can opt for a backlit-LED display; every model includes a 2-megapixel Webcam in the display bezel.
Inside the case, you'll find Intel's Centrino 2 platform, with Penryn-class Intel Core 2 Duo 9000 and 8000 series CPUs, the Intel Mobile 45 chipset (with optional vPro support), and a choice of integrated Intel or discrete ATI graphics. Based on Intel's delayed release dates for the Centrino 2 components, we expect the ATI-based EliteBook to ship in July, with the integrated-graphics version to follow in August.
Pricing starts at $1,179; a full list of specs is after the jump.
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