Hewlett-Packard announced a new line of Pavilion notebooks and desktop PCs on Thursday, using them as a showcase for the companys DVD burners.
HPs ze5300 notebook series complement the new Pavilion 505n, 515n, 725n and 735n desktops, which the company is using to introduce its DVD burners into the value PC space. While the ze5300 runs about $1,750, all of the desktops standard configurations cost less than $1,000.
Although consumers might not think of using a notebook computer to edit video, reports from Iraq have been edited in the field, often by the reporters filing the stories. The ze5300 allows a user to use the camera to edit the video, writing it directly to the DVD.
“The new HP Pavilion lineup offers customers the ability to capture, create and share digital video and pictures, enjoy music and play games in the home or on the go,” said Sam Szteinbaum, vice president and general manager of the North American branch of HPs Personal Systems Group, in a statement. “By utilizing DVD+R/+RW drives, we provide consumers a platform that has high compatibility with DVD players and DVD-ROMs to create an awesome multimedia experience.”
The “desknote”-style ze5300 allows users to select between desktop versions of the Pentium 4 or Celeron inside the notebook, although HP has built in the Mobility Radeon graphics chip from ATI. The ze5300 series offers three USB 2.0 ports, up to a 80-GB hard drive, an optional IEEE port, plus the Sonic MyDVD video editing suite and MUSICMATCH Jukebox. An HP Pavilion ze5300 series notebook configured with a 2.66-GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 512 Mbytes of RAM, a 40-Gbyte hard drive, 802.11b integrated wireless, DVD+R/+RW optical drive and 15-inch SXGA+ display is $1,725, after a $100 rebate. A floppy disk drive is not included on the standard configuration.
The desktops, meanwhile, are all priced to attract budget-minded consumers interested in video editing.
HPs low-end desktop models do not include a DVD burner; for example, both the 505n and 515n include CD-RW drives instead. The $519 505n uses a 2.2-GHz Celeron, a 60-Gbyte hard drive, and 256 Mbytes of DDR memory to back up an Intel integrated graphics chipset. The 515n uses a slightly faster 2.3-GHz Celeron, an 80-Gbyte hard drive, and a separate 16X DVD-ROM.
The HP 725n also favors the CD-RW/DVD-ROM drives, building them around an Athlon XP 2400+ processor, 80-Gbyte hard drive, 512 Mbytes of memory, two IEEE1394 ports,a six-in-one-small form factor flash card reader, and a GeForce4MX graphics card. The base system retails for about $699, and will be available April 13.
All of HPs desktop configurations are priced without a monitor.
The 735n, however, bundles an AMD Athlon 2600+ processor with the DVD burner, creating a video editing PC for an estimated price of $899, without monitor. The DVD burner used here though is a DVD+RW/CD-RW combo drive; HP also includes a separate 48X CD-ROM drive. The 735n includes 512 Mbytes of memory, Nvidia GeForce4FX graphics, the card reader, a pair of IEEE 1394 ports, and video and CD editing software.
All new Pavilion models include a desktop icon to NetSmartz Workshop, an interactive educational resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The workshop provides parents and educators with 3-D activities to teach children how to safely surf the Internet, HP said.