You’ve seen the HP ProLiant MicroServer by now. It’s taken a grip of the home and small business server market for sure this year, courtesy of the original N36L in 2010 and refreshed N40L model this year. But look carefully at HP’s Maintenance and Service Guide for the MicroServer, and you’ll see the company has apparently been testing a much more powerful version of the model.

Detailing the MicroServer’s BIOS configuration, HP unwittingly included a screenshot of a prototype model, running AMD’s Turion II Neo N54L processor – a dual-core chip, clocking in at 2.2GHz and, according to AMD, more than a match for Intel’s Core i5 processor.

The current MicroServer, the N40L, ships with a 1.5 GHz version of the same processor whilst it’s predecessor coped with AMD’s Athlon II NEO chip, running at 1.3GHz. HP’s prototype shows the same meagre 1GB RAM.

At this point, no updates to the MicroServer line have been announced, and the screenshots may well have been taken from an engineering sample that would not see the light of day. But the prospect of a more powerful MicroServer is tantalising for advanced users, providing a mid-point offer between the entry-level N40L, and HP’s ProLiant ML 115 which is most definitely a business-class device.

Does the world need a more powerful MicroServer? Would you buy one, and how much should it cost? Let us know your thoughts.

(Thanks to Arie for the tip.)

If you were upset at missing out on last weekend’s Black Friday deal from Newegg, where $100 was lopped of the price of the new HP ProLiant N40L MicroServer with a free copy of Windows Home Server 2011 thrown in to boot, then get your clicking fingers ready. Looks like the deal is back today, for a limited time,  as part of Newegg’s Shell Shockers promo.

No pricing is currently listed, but Newegg have confirmed the combo will be available for a very limited time from 1pm Pacific, today.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Update: Price is $249.99

Grab the Deal: Newegg.com

If you’re in the US, you may well have been enviously eyeing up the recent cashback deal that HP have been offering to prospective ProLiant MicroServer owners in Europe.

The good news is that Newegg are offering a big discount this weekend on just that model. Save $100 on the HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L – $249.99, rather than the usual $349.99. Check the small print, and you’ll see that a copy of Windows Home Server 2011 is being thrown in for free. Looks like a great deal!

Update: Amazon have matched the price of the hardware – no freebie software, though.

More: Newegg | Amazon

New from San Diego’s InteliSAN is their iBrick range of home servers which combine customised home server hardware with the company’s LDisk iSCSI storage pooling add-in.

First up is the iBrick IB100, which regular readers will otherwise recognise as LaCie’s 5big Backup Server. Running Windows Home Server v1 with LDisk pre-installed, InteliSAN are offering 5TB and 10TB storage options, priced at $1395 and $1695 respectively.

Specs:

Capacities 

• 5TB (5x1000GB Drive) Raw Capacity
• 10TB (5x2000GB Drive) Raw Capacity

Disk Drives

• 5 Hot Swap SATAII Drives

IP Network Storage

• File level access through NAS
• Block data transfer over any distance using iSCSI
• Use of existing Ethernet cabling

Backup, Restore (Data Recovery)

• Effortlessly backs up your computers daily, and automatically
• Full back up: system, data, applications of up to 10 PCs and 25 Macs
• Scheduling options with automatic turn on/off of computers
• Data recovery with backup history (incremental)
• Backup of client’s local disks or iSCSI attached disk
• Easy restore of lost files or entire hard drive contents in a few steps

Data Protection

• RAID for drives, Local, and cloud backup

Block level interface protocol

• iSCSI

File/NAS Protocols

• SMB, AFP, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, DHCP client

Host Interface

• Gigabit Ethernet, 10/100/1000 Base-TX

Storage Expansion Interfaces

• 1 eSATA, 4 USB 2.0, 1 iSCSI/GigE Ethernet

Scalability

• Easy expandability using eSATA , USB, or iSCSI

Snapshot

• Scheduled, automatic, simplify backup

Easy to use

• User Interface Manage your storage anywhere on the networks, locally or remotely

# of Client support

• Unlimited iSCSI Initiators/ NAS Clients
• Up to 10 PCs or 25 Macs Backup clients

Special Features

• UPnP media streaming

Install-and-Use

• Quicker integration in existing infrastructure

A few weeks back we posted the news of HP’s all new ProLiant MicroServer and followed up with even better news that the small footprint server was now certified  for use with Windows Home Server 2011. We know hundreds of you have already picked up the MicroServer, thanks in part to a wildly successful cashback promotion that HP ran for a number of months. The good news is that it’s back, and the brand new model is now eligible.

You can now get £100 cashback on the HP ProLiant MicroServer N40L – considering the server is listed on Amazon at around £260, that’s a fantastic deal.

The promotion is running through to the end of November – if you’re in the market for a new server, then jump in.

Thanks to Ric for the tip.

More: HP ProLiant MicroServer | Cashback Deal

As reported by Terry in August, the HP ProLiant MicroServer can be purchased with Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials.  This comes with an assumption of Driver and Support Certification.

Not only has this been verified by HP, but the MicroServer is now officially Driver and Support Certified for use Windows Home Server 2011.

Per the Legend noted above: the MicroServer is “HP Supported & OS Partner Certified/Logo”.  It is nice to know that if you use WHS 2011 on a MicroServer, you will be able to obtain support from HP with this combination.

Lights Management for Windows Home Server 2011 is a driver that powers the LED drive indicator lights on legacy (WHS v1) OEM hardware that has been upgraded to Windows Home Server 2011.

Compatible hardware includes the HP MediaSmart Server EX48x and EX49x series as well as the HP Data Vault X510 and Lenovo D400, Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server H340, H341 and H342.

What’s new in v1.06?

• Support for Acer H341 and H342. Please do some tests and report any issues.
• Disk light status can be changed in the configuration file. This is particularly useful for users of DrivePool, DriveBender, RAID arrays and drives without shares when the user does not want a blinking aqua LED.
• Removed some unnecessary DLL’s from the setup.

Say what you like about HP’s basket case consumer PC and Tablet strategy, when it comes to servers, the company’s ducks remain in a row. As proof, take a look at the 2011 HP ProLiant MicroServer, which has been announced this week.

The chassis remains the same compact, 4-bay model treasured by many a home server enthusiast, but on the inside, the company have opted for a more powerful processor in the shape of the 1.5 GHz AMD Turion II Neo. That replaces the 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II Neo chip in last year’s model, giving the MicroServer a decent performance boost.

As predicted on this very site, HP have selected the MicroServer as their entry level Windows SBS 2011 Essentials server for small business, offering the operating system as a pre-installed option (there’s no Windows Home Server option on the cards, so you’ll have to do a WHS install yourself).

Stuffed with Microsoft’s small business operating system, expect to pay around $899 for the standard 4GB RAM model with 2 x 500GB hard drives. HP are also offering a cheaper 2GB RAM model with a 250GB hard drive for $349, which is the one to go for a Windows Home Server install – upgrade the RAM for a little extra headroom.

Here in Europe, HP have offered an ongoing £100 cashback deal on the MicroServer which has seen thousands of units flying off the shelves – no word on whether that will continue on the new model, but fingers crossed.

So, that’s a new HP ProLiant MicroServer, a replacement for one of our favourite small servers of the last 12 months – expandable, more powerful than ever and very attractively priced. No fire sale required.

More: HP

Expertise Level: Medium

Lights Management for Windows Home Server 2011 is a driver that powers the LED drive indicator lights on legacy (WHS v1) OEM hardware that has been upgraded to Windows Home Server 2011.

Compatible hardware includes the HP MediaSmart Server EX48x and EX49x series as well as the HP Data Vault X510 and Lenovo D400, Acer Aspire easyStore Home Server H340, H341 and H342.

Developer: Louis

Download: Lights Management for Windows Home Server 2011

Release History

v1.06 (September 2011)

• Support for Acer H341 and H342. Please do some tests and report any issues.
• Disk light status can be changed in the configuration file. This is particularly useful for users of DrivePool, DriveBender, RAID arrays and drives without shares when the user does not want a blinking aqua LED.
• Removed some uncessary DLL’s from the setup.

v1.05 (July 2011)

• Modified LightsTester to be able to force a specific driver family to test on unsupported hardware.
• The application now works with Lights-Out

One of the first HP TouchPad tablets designed for the UK and/or EU markets landed at today, alongside a host of accessories. That’s a full ten days ahead of the official release to retail on July 15th.

We brought you launch day unboxing shots of the North American model last week. Now it’s time for Europe to take a turn.

Aside from the obvious differences in power adaptors, there’s one small difference in the packaging. Whereas the US model’s manuals are wrapped in a sleeve that cutely states “Now for the fun part.” the UK model replaces the line with a HP logo. Hey, maybe translating the line into multiple European languages was just a step too far!

Overall, the packaging is beautifully designed – better than I’ve seen from any HP product I’ve reviewed previously. Sure, there are more than a few nods towards Cupertino (and why not? Apple has led the way for years on the unboxing experience), but if you’ve plumped for the HP TouchPad and a few accessories, you’ll certainly enjoy unpacking the product – the first step in any great product experience.

Does the device itself stack up to the packaging promise? We’ll see…

Walt Mossberg at All Things D (Wall Street Journal) published his review of the HP TouchPad today. Whilst stating the TouchPad’s user interface was “a joy to use”, Mossberg pointed out a wide range of issues with the device – some more obvious than others. Kicking off the review, he states, “despite its attractive and different user interface, this first version is simply no match for the iPad. It suffers from poor battery life, a paucity of apps and other deficits.”

On the plus side, the TouchPad’s user interface is praised, not only for for its visual design, but also for its ability to pull in and synthesise content from online services such as Facebook and others. The ability to host video calls via Skype using the device’s front webcam, and smart integration with HP SmartPhones were also praised.

The lack of available apps at launch (compared to the iPad) is an expected criticism of the HP TouchPad. However, Mossberg also criticises the TouchPad’s battery life, clocking in under stress testing at 6 hours and 5 minutes, compared with 10 hours and 9 minutes for the iPad 2. The hardware’s industrial design is also attacked as “heavy and bulbous”.

More worryingly, the review highlights a number of bugs which exist in the shipping version of the product, including problems with displaying email, Flash rendering in the web browser, repeated crashing in “Angry Birds” and what looks like a memory leak issue which causes the device to become sluggish during use, requiring a reboot.

Summing up, the review concludes:

HP stresses that webOS is a platform and that the TouchPad is just one iteration of it. The company plans to add the operating system to numerous devices, including laptops, and hopes that this scale will attract many more apps. And it pledges continuous updates to fix the current shortcomings.

But, at least for now, I can’t recommend the TouchPad over the iPad 2.

More: All Things D

The HP TouchPad’s email application makes heavy use of a design concept the company are calling “Synergy” – in short, it’s about bringing together the disparate elements of your digital life in to one simple view. Synergy extends across the revised webOS platform on the TouchPad, but with specific regard to the email application, the big difference HP has over its competitors is that is brings together all of your various email accounts in to converged view.

By all of your email accounts, I mean all of your email accounts – work (Microsoft Exchange is fully supported) and home, webmail or otherwise, simply slot the accounts in and let the TouchPad take care of the rest.

Care has been taken to design the new email application so it can benefit from every inch of real estate available on the 9.7″ screen. You can switch between panel views of your email accounts through to inboxes, through to a single email simply by clicking a handle (icon) and swiping left to right and back again with a finger. Swiping seems like too much effort? Tap that same icon to toggle between views. Simple.

Also novel (in the tablet world anyway) is multiselect. Want to delete a bunch of mail? Toggle the multiselect button with a tap, select all of the emails you want to ditch, then hit delete. A concept borrowd from the regular computing experience for sure (ok, it’s a glorified Shift Lock, let’s just say it), but it enables a feature that you really need whether you’re on a handheld or PC/Mac. Great experiences are about the little things, not just the blockbusters, right?

For those who have trouble typing on a touchscreen keyboard, another interesting usibility feature is sure to turn your head. The onscreen keyboard is resizable – hold down the bottom right key, and a range of size options are available from XS to L, so whether you’ve got delicate fingers or you’re more of an Edward Sausagehands, there’s a size that’ll work for you. Refreshingly, all keyboards include number keys, so there’s no need to juggle keyboard views for typing digits.

As a true multi-tasking device, email junkies are going to love the fact that each email is configured as its own “card” (open applications and other usable assets are described as “cards” in the webOS world). That means you can open multiple emails at once (as many as you wish), relocate them in a different order in the TouchPad’s card view, switch to a different app and come back to the email very easily indeed. When you’re finished with a mail, just flick the card upwards to move it out of the horizontal line of cards to close.

It’s a tough job to reinvent email, and certainly HP’s implementation of email on the TouchPad represents an evolutionary step forward. But what the designers have very cleverly done is to take a detailed look at a wide range of usability issues that make email communications tougher on touchscreen devices than they really should be and have attacked each of them with gusto. The result, email that simply works better.