With their 2015 portfolio of devices Hewlett-Packard has endeavored to have them all ready for Windows 10 when the new OS releases next month.
Even hardware that has been released prior to the Windows 10 availability date on 29 July 2015 has been engineered to work with Windows 10.
The HP Spectre x360 is a great example of a device that shows exactly what is possible when the hardware and software sides come together to combine form and functionality.
Today’s announcement introduces new devices that are further examples of that type of collaboration between HP and Microsoft.
One of them, the detachable HP Pavilion X2, was displayed on stage at COMPUTEX 2015 very briefly by Microsoft but now we can give you more details about the hybrid PC.
The X2 uses a magnetic hinge that allows the screen to convert easily to tablet mode, including recognition of that change for Windows 10 Continuum, without sliding any switches or latches to do so.
Besides enabling productivity as a notebook the device can be used in the aforementioned tablet mode as well as stand and tent modes for other activities such as gaming and movie watching.
Since the battery and all the internals of the device are in the screen HP has counter-balanced the center of gravity towards the front of the keyboard which allows it to open at an angle of 135 degrees and not be off balance even when touching the screen.
The X2 comes in Blizzard White, Sunset Red and Turbo Silver color options
Here are the hardware specs on the HP Pavilion X2:
- Weight: 1.29 pounds (2.48 pounds with keyboard attached)
- 9.65 mm thin (16.75 mm with keyboard attached)
- Keyboard (near full size) keys have 1.5 mm of travel
- Large touchpad
- Dual front facing Bang & Olufsen speakers
- Front facing HP Truevision Webcam (not Windows Hello compatible)
- 10 inch HD IPS display
- USB Type C connector for charging, power and data transfers
- Full size USB 2.0 port
- Micro HDMI for connection to an external display or television
- Up to 10.75 hours of battery life
- Up to 64GB storage (32GB/64GB options)
- Micro SD card reader for increasing storage options
- 2GB System RAM
- Quad-Core Intel Atom Processor
- Includes one year of Office 365 Personal which comes with 60 minutes of Skype Premium each month and 1TB of OneDrive storage
The HP X2 is expected to be available on 21 July in the US online and in certain retailers. Pricing begins at $299.99.
Next up in today’s announcement from HP are their new ENVY notebooks that focus on improving battery life without sacrificing functionality.
The 14 and 15.6 inch ENVY notebooks get a new design this year with not only a new case but a unique elevated lift hinge that angles the keyboard as you push the screen back to provide better typing and viewing angles.
This also has the side benefit of increasing air follow for system cooling under the device.
These systems are very configurable and have many options for perspective buyers. Here are the hardware specs on the 14 and 15.6 ENVY devices:
- Choice of 5th generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. On the 15.6 inch ENVY you can also choose the 6th generation AMD FX and A10 processors are an additional option on the 15.6 inch ENVY.
- Nvidia GeForce 940M or GTX 950M discrete graphics. On the 15.6 inch ENVY you can also select AMD Radeon R7 or R6 graphics.
- Up to 2TB of storage with options for a hybrid hard drive or SSD. The 15.6 inch ENVY with AMD has a 1TB storage option.
- Up to 16GB of system memory on Intel devices and a maximum of 8GB of system memory on the 15.6 with an AMD processor.
- The 14 inch ENVY comes with either HD or Full HD non touch displays and the 15.6 inch device can be HD, Full HD or Quad HD with optional touch. Devices which have AMD processors are available with HD touch or non-touch displays.
- Both devices have a backlit keyboard and the 15.6 inch model includes a number pad.
- Intel based devices include a finger print reader and Bang & Olufsen audio, quad speakers and subwoofers. The AMD based 15.6 ENVY has dual speakers and a subwoofer.
- The 14 inch device has three USB 3.0 ports and the 15.6 inch Intel based device has four USB 3.0 ports while the AMD version has three USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 ports. All 2015 HP ENVY notebooks have one HP Sleep and Charge USB 3.0 port that allows you to charge a phone or tablet while the notebook is in sleep mode.
- The 15.6 inch ENVY has an optional optical disk drive available.
Both the 14 and 15.6 inch devices use prismatic batteries which allows for thinner batteries while delivering improved battery performance compared to past ENVY devices.
On the 14 inch ENVY that means the device is 3.7 mm thinner while delivering up to 10.25 hours of battery life in a 55.5 watt-hour battery. The entire device weighs just 4.28 pounds.
For the 15.6 inch ENVY with Intel the battery was bumped up from 48 watt-hours to 55.5 which increased battery life to 9.5 hours. The AMD version has a 48 watt-hour battery for up to 7.5 hours of battery life. On this device HP was able to reduce the weight to 5.03 pounds – a savings of over half a pound.
The final device announced today is the 17.3 inch HP ENVY notebook.
This beast is your desktop on the go which will allow you to take on processor intensive applications such as photo/video editing and gaming.
As you might expect the hardware specs on this 17.3 inch device get cranked up a bit from its smaller siblings:
- 5th generation Intel Core i7
- Nvidia 940M or GTX 950M discrete graphics
- Full HD IPS display with optional touch
- Bang & Olufsen audio, quad speakers and subwoofers
- Option of dual hard drives for up to 4TB’s of storage. Can choose between standard hard drives, hybrids or SSDs.
- Four USB 3.0 ports (including one that supports HP Sleep and Charge).
- Full sized HDMI port for external video
- RJ45 network
- Optional Blu-ray or DVD optical disk
- Backlit keyboard, numeric keypad and finger print reader
With a 62 watt-hour battery the 17.3 inch ENVY gets up to 10 hours of battery life.
All of the new HP ENVY devices described above are expected to be available online from HP beginning in July.
Some configurations of the 15.6 and 17.3 inch devices will be available at Best Buy beginning on 30 August and 05 July respectively.
Pricing begins at $699.99 for the 14 inch; $629.99 (AMD) and $799.99 (Intel) for the 15.6 inch and $999.99 for the 17.3 inch ENVY.
We are looking forward to getting our review units to put these devices through their paces and give you a hands on look at them.
