At its Shanghai Expo Center event May 9, Hewlett-Packard introduced a number of colorful, powerful, music- and design-centric PCs for consumers. However, HP is also keeping business customers in mind with a range of enterprise PCs and other hardware designed for a mix of vertical markets.
All these offerings are an attempt to balance an exceptional user experience with cost-sensitive pricing, according to HP.
Cloud computing deployments are a particular focus for HP, which has added the HP t410 All-in-One (AiO) Smart Zero Client to its lineup of Smart and Thin Clients.
Featuring an 18.5-inch display, the t410 AiO saves space (with a small footprint), saves power (it runs on just 13 watts and a single wire), and saves headaches. It is also able to support multiple protocols and reprogram in a snap. Once inside a company network, this all-in-one PC can search on its own for existing client virtualization environments and play nicely with different types of software, whether its Microsoft, Citrix or VMware.
The t410 uses a system-on-chip (SoC) design and features ARM processor technology with an integrated digital signal processorwhich, according to HP, makes it possible to display full-screen, high-definition video, complex graphical content and rich media while running at “optimum performance levels.”
Another new addition is the HP RP7, an AiO retail system with an “intuitive touch interface. It’s Energy Star-qualified, runs quad-core second-generation Intel Core processors, and can be customized to a retailer’s needs with various mounting and screen-size options.
HP also introduced the L6015tm and L6017tm, 15- and 17-inch Retail Touch Monitors with multi-touch projected capacitive displays. Where touch capabilities aren’t needed, HP hopes you’ll consider instead the L6010 non-touch Retail Monitor, which can be used by retail employees or on the customer-facing side of things. Hospitality environments could also be a fit.
But that’s not all!
There’s also a new HP Z220 workstation, which HP believes sets a new standard for entry-level workstations. For a variety of demanding tasks, like computer-aided design and architectural/engineering construction, the Z220 comes in two form factors. There’s a convertible mini towerrendered even smaller with a CMT acronymor a still more compact small form factor (SFF) for supremely space-constricted work environments.
Finally, for those in need of a mobile workstation, there are three new EliteBooks to choose from, the 17.3-inch 8870w, the 15.6-inch 8570w and the 14-inch (that’s on the diagonal, of course) 8470w.
From the 8870w, says HP, expect extreme processing power and the highest-performing professional graphics. From the 8570w, “high-end” professional graphics and robust processing power. And, from the baby bear of this lot, workstation-caliber graphics in a “business-rugged” design.
All of the above will arrive in the United States sometime this summer, when it will become clear how well HP delivered on the pricing component of its balancing act. (No prices have yet been shared.)
In a statement introducing HP’s extensive full new lineup, HP Executive Vice President Todd Bradley described it all as inspired by HP’s customers and confirming HP’s passion for fusing “form, function, style and reliability into great computers and printers.”
HP is positioned, he added, to “continue delivering innovation in the future for customers in China and everywhere else around the globe.”
During the first quarter of the year, HP, growing 3.5 percent year-on-year, held onto its position as the world’s No. 1 PC vendor by shipments, according to Gartner. Lenovo, however, in second place with a 28.1 percent growth rate, is coming up quickly behind it.