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 Voodoo Envy 133
(Credit: HP/Voodoo)We've previously taken notice of Voodoo founder (and current chief technology officer of HP's Global Gaming Business) Rahul Sood's playful birthday video, where he cut a cake with a MacBook Air and said, "Well, I wouldn't be needing this notebook for long anyways." Now we know exactly what he was talking about, with the new announcement of the Voodoo Envy 133.
We actually got to take a peek at one of these in person a few weeks ago, and we were impressed with the slim, attractive design. At around 3.4 pounds, it falls somewhere between the traditional MacBook and the lighter MacBook Air (it's nearly as thin, at 0.7 inch)--it might be best compared with Lenovo's 13-inch X300.
Voodoo is not into soft, rounded corners.
(Credit: HP/Voodoo)One particularly smart innovation we hope other laptop makers will adopt is what the company calls "Voodoo Aura PowerConnect." That simply means the Ethernet jack is located on the power brick, so you don't have to fit the jack into the system itself. Plus, the power brick will act as a point-to-point Wi-Fi connection, so you can unplug and move around without being tethered to your Ethernet cable in those rare situations where you have wired Internet access, but no Wi-Fi router (which actually happened to us in a hotel recently). There's also an Instant-On menu that gives you access to a Web browser and even Skype, without booting into Windows.
Unlike the Air, the system has HDMI and multiple USB ports, but it does have a few Mac-like touchpad gesture controls (such as pinching to zoom in on photos). We saw it in white, but the Envy 133 will be available in a variety of colors and custom graphic finishes.
The Envy 133 will start at $2,099, and be available "starting this summer," according to HP. Other highlights include:
- Starts at 3.4 pounds, 0.70 inch thin, 9.04 inches deep, and 12.65 inches wide.
- A carbon fibre casing with custom microweave design. The 13.3-inch backlit LED screen is covered with a durable fused composite glass.
- Voodoo IOS - gives road warriors instant access to Skype and an Internet browser.
- Voodoo Aura PowerConnect - users can plug an Ethernet cable into the jack located on the power brick. A point-to-point Wi-Fi connection is automatically established, between the RJ45 and the notebook.
- Multiple gesture touchpad - features scroll and pinch options.
- Standard integrated Webcam
- Wireless connectivity - includes integrated wireless 802.11 ABGN + Bluetooth.
- Ports - headphone/microphone, HDMI, USB 2.0 (1x) and a shared e-SATA/USB (1x).
- Backlit keyboard
- Proximity sensor - This system recognizes when fingers are on the keyboard and turns off the touchpad to avoid any accidental movement of the cursor.
- LED display - 13.3-inch LED WXGA (1,280x800) screen covered in high-quality fused composite glass that runs from edge to edge.
- Ambient sensors - adjusts the display brightness according to its surrounding environment.
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