HP announce plans for projector-integrated laptop

HP laptops could be working on the ultimate laptop for mobile Powerpoint pros: a notebook with a mini-projector built straight in to the lid.

According to Monty Wong <snigger>, vice president of personal computing systems for HP Taiwan, HP is planning to produce a laptop with a mini-projector, similar to those seen in some phones recently, possibly built in on the lip of the screen in place of a webcam, so you can beam out presentations and video without any extra set up.

Intriguingly, the report also says that HP will push forward with tablet PCs this year, suggesting the slate concept seen at CES could become reality.

Sony Vaio takes best multimedia laptop gong

Sony Vaio VGN-AW31 – Best Multimedia Laptop of 2009

Designed to be Sony’s ‘ultimate multimedia experience’, the Sony Vaio AW31 is a great choice for entertainment use, professional photography and video editing. Combining top-of-the-range connectivity, SSD/HDD storage, a nonreflective 3LED screen and a comprehensive package of included software, its impressive levels of quality were hard to ignore.

Also nominated….

HP HDX16
HP laptops are consistently some of the more stylish and powerful on the market, combining semi-portable mobility with ample performance. The eye-catching design and great usability seal the deal, with it being voted second favourite of the year.

Toshiba Qosmio G50
Toshiba’s Qosmio range has long been known for its high-end multimedia machines, with the G50 heralding a new style and stunning performance. The slightly garish design did little to deter, as its power and features made it a compelling choice.

Samsung R710
As with its smaller R610, the Samsung R710 proved to be one of the most portable and affordable Blu-ray laptops on the market. Despite fairly average features, its low price, HD compatibility and great user interface impressed across the board.

Nominations from What Laptop.

First HP laptop with USB 3.0 arrives

HP laptops announced today that certain configurations of its Envy 15 range will come equipped with the new USB 3.0 spec. This makes HP one of the first computer companies to offer the incredibly fast technology on their machines.

We’ve been talking about USB 3.0 forever, it feels like—the news here at PC World started more than two years ago. USB 3.0 promises speeds more than 10x as fast as USB 2.0, making the transfer of even things like video files incredibly fast.

At CES last week, no fewer than 17 devices designed for USB 3.0 were introduced, coming from companies like ASUS, Fujistsu, Western Digital, and more. Thanks to speeds up to 5Gbps (compared to USB 2.0’s 480Mbps), 1GB of data can now be transferred in just 3.3 seconds, compared to at least 33 seconds with USB 2.0.

All USB 3.0 devices will be backwards compatible, meaning that they’ll work with USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices, but those devices won’t see the speed increase that USB 3.0-enabled devices will.

New HP laptops leaked ahead of grand unveiling

A shedload of new HP laptops have been leaked ahead of what we presume will be their formal announcement next week. Including desktop PCs, there are 14 new HP releases in total!

No full specs available at present but we do have pricing information, and here are some highlights…

The 14-inch HP Pavilion dv4i, a Windows 7 laptop with a flush display and fingerprint reader that should retail at £499. Up next is the 10-inch Mini 210 HD Edition, which will come in red, black, silver and blue, boast Intel’s brand new Pine Trail platform (a 1.66GHz N450 CPU), plus GMA 3150 graphics. Another goodie here is that this one is expected to ship with Broadcom’s Crystal HD video playback chip. The Mini 210 HD is expected to cost around £249. Logic Buy (the point of origin for all this info) is reporting that these models should ship on or around January 7th, though keep in mind that all of this information is extremely unofficial, so don’t blame us if it all changes!

HP laptops dubbed racist due to face recognition failure

A YouTube video succinctly titled “HP Computers Are Racist” received wide exposure earlier this week; Apparently, HP’s Media Smart webcam’s Face Tracking software has trouble tracking people with darker complexions.

The African American man, referred to as “Desi,” demonstrates on the video, titled “HP computers are racist,” how the tracking software won’t follow his face but will follow his co-worker’s.

“I think my blackness is interfering with the computer’s ability to, to follow me,” he says on the video. “I’m going on record and I’m saying it: Hewlett Packard computers are racist.

CBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid says the problem is with the lighting and is not racial. HP laptops responded in a blog post saying the problem occurs when there isn’t enough light in the foreground.

“I think that it could possibly be explained by the lighting, and the fact that black skin obviously is darker, and probably needs better lighting (for the program to work), that’s true with any type of photography,” said Magid.

HP unveils Blu-ray integrated ProBook laptops

HP have launched two new laptops within their ProBook lineup, each powerful enough to act like a desktop machine, yet are compact enough to bring around the office or to travel with.  Let’s have a closer inspection at the new additions to the HP laptops range…

The HP ProBook 6445b is a 14-inch notebook operating on the Windows Vista platform as well as Windows 7. It can run on a powerful 2.4GHz AMD processor or a 2.0GHz AMD processor. In terms of RAM, it allows for as little as 1GB or it can expand to fit 8GB of RAM, allowing it to be a simple machine or a very powerful one. Remember 8GB of RAM is only powerful if the OS is the 64-bit version. In terms of hard disk space, it can go from 160GB to a large 500GB.

The HP ProBook 6545b is slightly larger than it’s brethrin, measuring in at 15.6-inches. Since it has a wider screen, it weighs slightly more – 5.9 pounds. Both models allow for the optional HP Mobile Gobi powered broadband access, but feature WLAN, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth for connectivity; it also uses HP’s native Connection Manager. Again, it has the same support for operating systems (both variants of Windows 7 and Windows Vista) as well as support for the same AMD processors. The dual channel DDR2 SDRAM RAM remains the same, it can go from 1GB to 8GB. Hard drive storage is still 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, or 500GB at 7200RPM.

Laptop users could help save 200m tonnes of carbon each year

If laptop users were willing to pay an extra pound to upgrade their power supply units, the world could save more than 200m tonnes of carbon a year, according to a leading component supplier in Taiwan.

Delta Electronics, which makes more than half of the boxes at the end of the world’s power cables, wants consumers to be informed of the carbon and energy efficiency of its products so that they can make a choice about whether to pay extra for greener computers.

The current energy efficiency standard for switching power supplies on laptops is 87%, though many firms fit devices that fall well below this level.

Delta says its best equipment could reach 93% for about a pound or two more. It is not yet widely adopted because computer firms such as HP laptops and Dell are reluctant to pass on the cost to consumers.

“The point is, consumers never know the efficiency of their computers,” said Delta Electronics’ founder and chairman, Bruce Cheng. “We are serious in our efforts to reduce global warming by our unrelenting research into ever more energy efficient products.”

Compaq Presario 4010f joins the cheap laptops market

The new Compaq Presario 4010f is to be launched next week. HP laptops is trying to position Compaq as a cost-effective laptop option, with their RRP of just £199.

It’s a boost for the laptop market, with such super cheap laptops expected to help revive people’s interest, rather than opting for cheap netbooks or tablets.

Expected onsale October 22.

Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it merged with Hewlett-Packard.

A first look at the HP Mini 311

The latest HP laptops arrival is the Ion-infused HP Mini 311, and early tests suggest is going to live up to the hype.

Engadget got their hands on the new Mini 311 which features Nvidia’s Ion LE graphics chip, and they found that Ion vastly improved graphics performance and provided a boost to overall performance.

In video editing tests, the HP Mini 311 converted an AVI file to MPEG-4 in 6 minutes and 14 seconds – approximately five times faster than a standard notebook.

Early trials indicate that Nvidia’s Ion graphics processor to the Atom CPU in netbooks makes a big difference, and the GPU could turn the category on its head. We’re all just waiting to find out about battery life now, hoping that the Ion power doesn’t drain the laptop in rapid time.

Dell rival HP with laptop and music offer

Dell has seen HP’s hand and raised it by offering access to free music with the purchase of a new laptop. Unlike the download-only tracks available with new HP laptops, Dell has decided to go down the subscription route and is teaming up with Napster for the promotion.

With selected Dell laptops customers will be given a complimentary subscription to the Napster Unlimited service, which includes access to 8 million music tracks, the ability to play them online from any PC, unlimited downloads on up to 3 PCs, and 60 DRM-free tracks to download and keep forever.

At the end of the year-long subscription, if you don’t continue with the paid subscription you don’t get to continue listening to any of the music you downloaded other than the 60 tracks.