As HP takes on the world in Shanghai,
unveiling new innovations as it comes, we takes up some seats and let ourselves
be immersed with their latest products.
HP
Global Influencer Summit 2012
The HP global influence summit (2012) was
held in Shanghai, and it was about HP and the newest products that they’ll be
releasing to the world. It was also about understanding HP; delving deeper into
the way their goals and histories and dreams. It was two days of discovery and
learning, from which we came back with many exciting things to share.
Opening note
The event kicked off to the sound of beat
boxing, and we watched as a traditional Chinese dragon dance flow into the
stage and introduce Steve Hoffman, HP’s vice president and chief of staff,
printing and personal systems.
“As you probably know, this is the year of
the dragon,” he started. “You may also know that the dragon is known for power.
For creativity. And the year of the dragon is often marked with change.
In
March, HP’s imaging and printing group (IPG) and its personal systems group
(PSG) had been realigned and joined to create the printing and personal systems
group (PPS).
“And I believe that what you see HP share
with you today will demonstrate how we’re ready to change the market through
our printing and personal computers portfolio in the way we’ve never done
before.”
In March, HP’s imaging and printing group
(IPG) and its personal systems group (PSG) had been realigned and joined to
create the printing and personal systems group (PPS). This combination, Steve
said, brought together the best in breed. Together, they’re seeing tremendous
opportunity to develop more products and their efficiency with business
partners and consumers.
Steve began to share some numbers. He said
that PC penetration will be reaching 2.3 billion units of installed PCs
globally; that’s a USD300 million market, which is a significant operating. The
new PPS organization is operating on a tremendous scale; they have a combined
revenue of USD65 billion. On a shipment basis, HP has shipped 100 million
devices; that’s at a rate of 4 devices per second.
Steve then explained that in throughout the
course of the summit, we will be hearing some essential themes that HP will be
talking about, which are quality, value and their commercial portfolio.
“We’re about making technology work for our
customers,” he said, which sums up what HP has meant to most of us.
A world of HP products
There
are more than 80 HP products involved in the summit, most of them under public
eyes for the first time.
There are more than 80 HP products involved
in the summit, most of them under public eyes for the first time. These product
range from different consumer targets to devices targeting segments of each
industry. There are notebooks and Ultrabooks and commercial printers; there are
also workstations and servers and enterprise systems. Regardless, each segment
is rife with its own exciting and innovative offerings, which we’ll be taking
about separately:
The Ultra and the sleek
Perhaps the most eye catching and
undeniably exciting product of the entire summit is the HP Envy Spectre XT
Ultrabook. The Spectre XT joins the HP folio 13 and its predecessor, the HP
Envy 14 Spectre, as a part of HP’s Ultrabook line up.
The HP Envy Spectre XT feature an all metal
design, and measures a mere 14.5mm in thickness, weighing about 1.4kg. It has a
13.3 inch HD display with a slim bezel line. We know that it runs on 3rd
general Intel core processors, which works alongside 128GB of SSD storage.
It’ll have Gigabit ethernet, USB 3.0 and HDMI connectivity, and HP states that
it has up to eight hours of battery life.
The HP Envy Spectre XT
The one other thing we’ve heard constantly
over the summit is the term “Sleekbook”. Sleekbook are best classified as
something with the form factor of an Ultrabook, but without every
Intel-generalised classifications that will technically make it an Ultrabook.
This could mean a number of things, but it may really just boil down to specifications.
An Ultrabook, by Intel’s definition, would have to have an Intel core processor
– the Sleekbook can choose to fit an Intel pentium processor, or maybe an AMD
CPU. We see the Sleekbook falling more into the mid-range, affordable market;
for people who’d really like the Ultrabook’s portability but can’t afford the
premium price, or could simply do with less specs. Either way, it’s an
interesting segment, and an interesting product.
The HP Envy Sleekbook is available with
either a 14 inch display and the latest Intel Core processors, or in a 15.6
inch display with AMD’s Accelerated Processing Units (APU) – both which boasts
up to eight or nine hours of battery file, respectively. They can fit with
discrete graphics as well.
The HP Envy Sleekbook
Finding another market segment, the HP
Elitebook Folio 9470m is the first HP Ultrabook to stay slim and maintain its
enterprise features. The 14 inch display machine is 19mm in thickness, and has
those more business centric steup like optional 4G wireless WAN, Displayport
and USB 3.0 connectivity. It’ll be running on 3rd-gen Intel core
Vpro processors, will be packed full with enterprise class manageability and
security features.
The Pavilions
Of course, you can’t expect HP to forget
about their non Ultrabook notebooks line up, no? HP also introduced new
consumer notebooks, which is said to reflect a new design philosophy.
The new HP Mosaic design approach is an
extension of the company’s MUSE (Materials, Usability, Sensory appeal and
Experience) design philosophy, fusing them together. The result is something
that includes “rich colors”, premium materials and purposeful shapes”. Each
notebook series represents a small piece will build into the whole picture of
the HP family. Like a mosaic.
“Featuring precise lines and tapered
profiles, the new HP Pavilion notebook portfolio evokes dynamic energy and
movement,” said Stacy Wolff, vice president, design, personal systems group,
HP.” “These notebooks utilize premium material that is rich to the eye and to
the touch, delivering unique sensory experiences.”
Stacy Wolff, vice president, design, personal systems group, HP,
talking about HP's notebook design philosophies
Among the notebooks launched is the HP
Pavilion m6, which has a 15.6 incher with beats audio, 8 hours of battery life
and builds that can be turned to the latest Intel or AMD processors, as well as
discrete graphics. It’ll also be loaded with features like HP CoolSense, which
automatically adjusts performance and internal fan settings, and HP ProtectSmart,
which locks the HDD during an accidental drop.
The HP Pavilion dv6 and dv7, on the other
hand, sports a “tapered chassis, slim top view and infinity waterfall edges”
design, with a soft touch panel at the base of the display cover.
They do look very nice.
