HP Pavilion dv8 Notebook
At the top end of HP’s notebook range sits the new dv8 – an 18.4 inch beast of a laptop with a high-definition, ultra widescreen display, TV tuner, Blu-ray disk reader and sub woofer, promising home theatre quality audio and video. The power comes from a Core i7 processor, and NVIDIA GeForce GT230M video card and 4GB RAM (expandable to 8GB). Available October 22nd at a wallet-busting £1300 – more info here.
HP TouchSmart Range
Finally, HP announced updates to its range of TouchSmart PCs, as well as the release of an updated version of its TouchSmart software.
HP TouchSmart 3.0 Software
A wide range of new features will be available in the TouchSmart software suite (particularly for US owners) including:
- Hulu Desktop to provide quick access to Hulu’s vast library of hit TV shows, movies and video clips. Users can browse, search and watch their favorite comedies, dramas, sci-fi and web-original shows from nearly 200 leading content companies. Users with Hulu.com accounts also can access their queue, subscriptions and viewing history.
- A touch-enabled Netflix application delivers thousands of full-screen TV episodes and movies that are streamed from Netflix over the Internet. Using HP’s signature fan view, Netflix members can instantly watch a move from their Instant Queue on the PC or remove a movie from their Queue via touch. Netflix members also can rent DVD and Blu-ray discs as well as edit and manage their Netflix accounts using the application. A two-week free Netflix trial is available to all TouchSmart users in the United States.
- Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service, makes it easy to catch up with family, friends and colleagues with the touch of a finger.
- With Rhapsody as the engine, the new HP Music Store gives users streaming, on-demand access to 8 million songs delivered to the new TouchSmart PC. Customers who subscribe to Rhapsody can enjoy favorite artists, create playlists or just sit back and listen. Non-members can enjoy a free 14-day trial.
- Pandora Internet radio is now touch enabled for a free personalized music experience to find new music based on old and current favorites.
- TouchSmart RecipeBox lets aspiring chefs discover, explore and keep track of recipes saved from multiple websites and cook with a hands-free experience via voice commands.
- TouchSmart Live TV allows quick access for watching and recording live, local TV. Customers can set recordings in advance of their airing via an electronic programming guide.
- TouchSmart Canvas allows customers to organize their photos on a virtual canvas to quickly and easily create photo collages using touch to edit and rotate photos.
- TouchSmart Link allows the transfer of photos and images taken by a mobile device to the TouchSmart PC via Bluetooth® wireless technology.Source: TouchSmart Community
HP TouchSmart 600 & 300
Two new TouchSmart All in Ones are heading to stores, with Windows 7 along with the new TouchSmart software suite. The TouchSmart 600 is £1199.99 and offers:
- 23-inch 16:9 1080p full HD widescreen display
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor
- NVIDIA® GeForce® graphics processor
- Up to 4GB memory and up to 1TB HDD
- Microsoft Windows® 7
- TV tuner, remote and Blu-ray drive on select models
- Game console connectivity (PlayStation, Wii, Xbox ) on select models
- Wi-fi and Bluetooth
- Wireless keyboard and mouse
It’s little brother, the 300 series comes with a scaled down list of features:
- 20-inch 16:9 720p widescreen display
- AMD Athlon™ dual- or triple-core processors
- ATI Radeon™ HD graphics
- Up to 4GB memory and up to 500GB HDD
- Microsoft Windows® 7
- Wi-fi
So, if you’ve been struggling to think of ideas for your gift list, there’s inspiration-a-plenty in stores soon.
