The printer
This year sees no shortage of printer tech
as well. Our sights fell on the two most fascinating entries. The first is the
HP Officejet 150 Mobile all–in-one, which holds the honor of being the world’s
first mobile all-in-one printer, made for people who need that AIO goodness on
the go. It uses a 2.36 inch touchscreen for its functionalities, and from what
we read, the printing performance – 22ppm for colored prints -- is very
impressive for its size. As if it’s not impressive fitting AIO functionality in
its mobile form already.
Next is the HP Photosmarts 5520e
all-in-one, which enables users to print from wireless enabled mobile devices,
without ever the need of a network. It uses HP wireless direct printing, and
also offers web connected printing technologies, meaning you can print from
virtually anywhere. Four individual ink cartridges promise to provide lab
quality photos, something which we won’t dispute, considering HP’s history.
HP Photosmart 5520 e All-in-One
There are others too, of course, like the
HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401 and the Pro 400 MFP M425, the latter being the
company’s first web-connected mono laser MFP. Both include support for all HP
ePrint solution, with support for Apple AirPrint and Google CloudPrint.
The Enterprise side get to see the HP
LaserJet Enterprise 500 color MFP M575 (and its monochrome variation, the
Enterprise 500 MFP M525), which feature a larger 8 inch touchscreen with HP
quick sets, giving you one touch workflows.
The business solution
Away from the more consumer part of things,
we take a look at HP’s solutions for the business and enterprise segment.
Heading the pack is the HP t410 AIO that operates within 13 watts of power
envelope over POE – that’s right, it only requires a single Ethernet cable to
power. It has an 18.5 inch display and is powered by energy efficient ARM
processor technology with an integrated digital signal processor, which gives
the t410 AIO the capability to display in HD.
HP t410 AIO
The workstation line up now include the HP
Z220 workstations, which is an affordable, entry level system is available in
either an expandable, convertible mini tower (CMT), or as a compact small form
factor (SFF) to save up space.
On the subject of mobility, the HP
EliteBook 8770w is touted as HP's most powerful mobile workstation, offering
the highest-performing professional graphics and processors that can fit into
its 17.3- inch form factor.
We also found out about the HP Spectre XT
Pro Ultrabook, a professional edition which HP defines as "an answer to
the consumerisation of IT”. Spectre XT Pro comes with Windows 7 Professional
and an embedded TPM security chip that protects data in email and its SSDs.
The HP EliteBook 2170p, on the other hand,
is HP's smallest and lightest business notebook. The 11.6-inch screen may sound a lot like a netbook, but the specs definitely says
otherwise, as it features an ivy bridge processor.
Ryan Friedlinghaus, Founder and CEO, West Coast Customs (left) talking to James
Mouton, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Personal Computer Global
Business Unit, HP, about HP's workstations and business solutions
The Future
After witnessing HP in the 'Now', we start
to ask, "What's next?" In the closing note, John Apostolopulos,
director, mobile and immersive experience lab of HP labs, talked about the
memristor component, which is a resistor with memory that will be able to
reduce power consumptions on future devices, which means smaller batteries and
even lighter designs without compromising on productivity.
Apostolopulos also talked about their
on-going research on their Self-Aligned Imprint Lithography, or SAIL, which is
a process for creating thin-film transistor backplanes like those used for flat
panel TV monitors. This can significantly reduce cost of active matrix
backplane manufacturing.
Todd Bradley, executive vice president of
printing and personal systems group, HP, had a final surprise for us, by
introducing president and CEO of HP, Meg Whitman, on stage.
She addressed HP's decision in joining the
PSG with the IPG into the printers and personal systems group, saying that it
has simplified business and removed complexity from HP. "Importantly,
we're going to make it easier for partners and customers to do business with
HP. And we're going to make it easier for HP to provide the best customer
experience and customer support in the business," she added.
(From left) Meg Whitman, president and CEO of HP, making a surprise appearance
alongside Todd Bradley, executive vice president of printing and personal
systems
"So we're developing a much more
coordinated approach to the market. Today's unified product launch shows
exactly where we're headed.
"I hope that you can see that from our
strategy, our commitment to hardware is strong. And our commitment to printing
and PC is 100%," she said, in closing the event. "And I am thrilled
that we can come to Shanghai to launch our new PC and printer line-up, and to
highlight the power of HP's innovation and engineering."
And with that, the Summit closes.
From what we saw, experienced and learned,
HP is certainly on the right track in things. Merging their PSG and IPG into a
single entity has opened up to more opportunities that we're getting more
excited to see. And with that, we thank HP for their wonderful hosting and a
pleasant, fascinating Summit to return from. www.hp.com
