Hasta La Gadget!

While we pine for the days of large 16:10 panels, we have to admit Hewlett-Packard knows how to craft a sleek-looking 16:9. This week, the electronics manufacturer launched four new no-nonsense LCD screens at the movie-friendly aspect ratio, the HP 2010i, 2210m, 2310m and 2710m. While the first two digits of each alphanumeric reflect its diagonal screen size (except for the 2210m, which is apparently 21.5 inches across), the ‘i’ designation apparently reflects the fact that you’re getting a sub-par 1600 x 900 resolution and DVI / VGA inputs, when the other three monitors also display HDMI content in full 1080p. All four panels have reasonably low response times, embedded 2W speakers and 1000:1 contrast ratios, and at their current prices ($180, $220, $260 and a likely $350-$400, respectively) all will likely make suitable choices if you’re in the market for an above-average computer screen. Us? We’ll make do with old Dell products while we wait for the company’s wallpaper model.

HP rolls out four new LCD monitors, three are 1080p originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 04:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm and HP seem like the happiest of corporate couples right now, but theirs was a heated courtship: according to Palm’s latest statement to shareholders, a total of 16 companies were contacted about a deal, and HP was the winner of a month-long bidding war that involved serious offers from five companies — a bidding war that involved Jon Rubinstein personally warning HP that it had to “significantly and immediately” increase its offer to remain in the game. What’s more, HP’s winning bid came in at just 20 cents a share more than its primary rival. Yeah, it’s juicy — read on for the full blow-by-blow.

Continue reading HP bought Palm after a five-company bidding war

HP bought Palm after a five-company bidding war originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 16:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adding even more drama to an pivotal and transformative year in tech, last week HP announced it will buy Palm for the nice round sum of 1.2 billion dollars — a move that will position it as a major player in the crowded mobile market. HP is no stranger to mobility — the iPaq was once a defining mobile product — but over the years the company has been unable to replicate that success with similar efforts in as the dynamic shifted from PDAs to phones. Buying Palm is a quick way of getting back in the game.

This deal underscores the velocity of mobile and how that speed is affecting long term winners and losers. Many had written off Palm’s relevance in the market, which might have been a correct assessment if Palm had ended up elsewhere. But I think Palm found a good home. In addition to Todd Bradley, the former CEO of Palm who now leads HP’s Personal Systems Group, there are many Palm alumni at HP. This means that there should be a relatively smooth transition and overall good cultural fit. That’s important because time is of the essence — the market won’t wait around for HP to integrate Palm.

Continue reading Entelligence: Meet H/Pre

Entelligence: Meet H/Pre originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feelings about the leaked HP Slate notwithstanding, the company’s already considering its tablet PC successors — and if The New York Times‘ sources are right, they may be of Android and Linux varieties. Where the forthcoming HP Slate is, erm, slated to run Windows 7, The Grey Lady reported last week that a six-inch Android tablet was also on the way. Now, a prominent magazine editor reportedly tells the paper a Linux version may also be in development. For its part, HP isn’t denying the claims. “I’m certain that we will be announcing new Slates in the future as they are a very interesting area for us,” said media relations director Marlene Somsak, whose only added caveat was that HP isn’t currently announcing an Android slate.

HP takes chisel in hand, mulls over Android and Linux slates originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, well — what’s this? We just got our hands on what looks like an internal HP Slate presentation given to cool down some of the iPad hype amongst HP employees, and it just happens to have specs and pricing details on the elusive Windows 7 tablet. As we’d heard, the Slate will run $549 in its base configuration, which has a 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 capacitive multitouch display, a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor with UMA graphics and an accelerator for 1080p video playback (we’re assuming it’s a Broadcom Crystal HD chip), 32GB of flash storage and 1GB of non-upgradeable RAM. There’s also a $599 version with 64GB of storage, and both models will have a five-hour battery, an SDHC slot, two camera, a USB port, a SIM card slot for the optional 3G modem, and a dock connector for power, audio, and HDMI out. Of course, what this spec list doesn’t cover is software, and we still haven’t seen much of how HP plans to make Windows 7 on a full slate device with netbook-class internals perform as smoothly or as intuitively as its demo videos. That’s not a small challenge, especially since the iPad is out now and setting some pretty high expectations for how this new breed of tablets should work. We’ve got our fingers crossed — show us something good, HP.

HP Slate to cost $549, have 1.6GHz Atom Z530, 5 hour battery? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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