Rumor: HP is Working on a Gaming Laptop
Softpedia reports that Hewlett Packard is getting ready to launch a gaming laptop that will compete with Dell's lineup of Alienware gaming notebooks. The news arrives by way of @evleaks, who provides screenshots and hardware specs of an unannounced HP laptop that's slated to arrive this fall.
According to the report, the machine will include an Intel Core i7-4712MQ "Haswell" processor and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 860M GPU. Speakers will run up the sides of the keyboard, and the laptop's lighting will be controlled by built-in software. Unfortunately, that's it for details, although the screenshots appear to reveal a 17-inch screen.
Taking a quick look at Alienware's site, the HP gaming notebook may compete with the Alienware 17 and Alienware 18. Both of these laptops have options for Intel's Core i7-4710MQ processor, while the Alienware 17 uses Nvidia's GeForce GTX 860M with 2 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.
Alienware was established in 1996, and stood on its own two feet until Dell acquired the company back in 2006. Since its inception, the Alienware brand has become the flagship name for premium gaming desktops and laptops. The M17x was the first Alienware/Dell branded system, launched in 2009.
HP's venture into the gaming space, however, is unexpected. Of course, so was the company's move to redesign how computers are built -- a project the company calls The Machine that won't be ready until the end of the decade. The machine is the size of a refrigerator, and aims to store and analyze data that's currently digested by an entire data center. The company has also produced Android tablets, a move that would have been unheard of just five years ago.
"Our industry is undergoing one the biggest shifts I've seen in my career," HP CEO Meg Whitman told CBS earlier this month.
Will HP be able to compete with the likes of Alienware and MSI in the gaming space?
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Acquisition by HP[edit]
On September 28, 2006, Rahul Sood announced on his blog that HP would be acquiring VoodooPC for an undisclosed amount. Rahul Sood will be assuming the position of Chief Technology Officer for HP's Global Voodoo Business Unit.
In August 2007, HP announced the HP Blackbird 002 gaming PC with the label VoodooDNA inside the case. The HP Blackbird can have its hard drive replaced in just 12 seconds[citation needed] due to the tools-free entrance design, and was released on September 15, 2007.
New direction[edit]
Since the acquisition of Voodoo in 2006, the business has been re-developing the brand of Voodoo. This was culminated on the 10th June 2008 with the revelation that Voodoo will focus on high-end, top spec computers rather than gaming machines. Voodoo will also continue with Voodoo DNA machines with HP.
For the launch of their new brand direction they used the tag line of 'Blending Art, Innovation and Performance;' confirming the businesses future as a HP brand.
The Envy 133 laptop has been announced as generally available, while the Omen will (initially) be purchasable by invitation only.
Current products[edit]
As of October 18, 2009, both the HP Firebird and Voodoo Envy 133 are no longer available for purchase on HP's website. The HP Envy line of notebook PCs is touted by HP as "building upon the Voodoo ENVY legacy".
Other available products:
HP Gaming Mouse with VooDooDNA
HP Gaming Surface with VooDooDNA
It might be a good idea for HP to stop flooding the market with useless junk. Majority of their laptops still come equipped with hideous 768p TN panels, suffer from poor thermal management - they should really thank Intel for Haswell ULV series that allow them to install the same useless "cooling" as always and get away with it due to low heat production of those chips. (Meanwhile companies like Asus that get cooling right cram dedicated GPUs and ULV Haswells into an ultrabook case...) I do not believe that HP can make a good laptop, let alone a gaming one. I kind of like their business and workstation series, but even those are overpriced and boast of "HD" (768p) screen as a default option - disgusting, I don't accepted less than IPS FHD in a modern laptop.
No sane gamer will buy an HP laptop or anything HP, for that matter. That company can't even get mainstream laptops right - why buy whatever garbage they call a "gaming" one when we have, say, Asus ROG?
It might be a good idea for HP to stop flooding the market with useless junk. Majority of their laptops still come equipped with hideous 768p TN panels, suffer from poor thermal management - they should really thank Intel for Haswell ULV series that allow them to install the same useless "cooling" as always and get away with it due to low heat production of those chips. (Meanwhile companies like Asus that get cooling right cram dedicated GPUs and ULV Haswells into an ultrabook case...) I do not believe that HP can make a good laptop, let alone a gaming one. I kind of like their business and workstation series, but even those are overpriced and boast of "HD" (768p) screen as a default option - disgusting, I don't accepted less than IPS FHD in a modern laptop.
No sane gamer will buy an HP laptop or anything HP, for that matter. That company can't even get mainstream laptops right - why buy whatever garbage they call a "gaming" one when we have, say, Asus ROG?
That's a pretty damning (and convincing) indictment, ouch.
It wouldn't be too hard - there already plenty of brands that price better than Alienware - Asus, Gigabyte, Lenovo, MSI, Sager/Clevo...Admittedly, Alienware does high-end SLI that not many other brands attempt, but in single-GPU laptops, they're notoriously overpriced for the level of hardware provided.
There is a newer Asus G551 that will have GTX 860M GDDR5 (and potentially Broadwell). There is a real difficulty stuffing a 870M or higher into a 15.6'' enclosure and keeping it cool, the tech is just not there! MSI tried: http://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GS70-2PEi71611-Notebook-Review.119833.0.html and has FAILED with thermals! It's physically impossible at this point, I reckon, these chips just run way too hot.
Now, why U-series Haswell might not be a good idea for gaming: most of them (i3-4010U, i5-4200U, i7-4500U) have a 15W TDP, it's ridiculous, they die in prolonged workloads in most laptops and they suck at multithread due to lower amount of cores. Apple, and Asus in some Zenbooks, use ULV Haswells with higher TDP (like this one with 28W: http://ark.intel.com/products/75992/Intel-Core-i7-4558U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz), it's a much better compromise, but these chips are RIDICULOUSLY costly compared to normal i5/i7s.
Most modern games will run very well at 1080p with high settings on a GDDR5 860M (and even GDDR5 850M, and even DDR3 850M). I have a DDR3 750M in my Asus N550JV and STILL I can play BF3 multiplayer at 1080p on medium-high (mostly high) settings. So you CAN game on light laptops. Hell, Asus even has a "gaming ultrabook", UX32LN (ULV Haswell of your choice plus GT 840M), though of course it has to drop to 768p on most games to run them smooth at adequate settings. You can game on many laptops with modern nVIDIA cards! (Really don't know about AMD, my knowledge of their stuff is outdated by now.) Especially Maxwell. They solved the issue of low memory bandwidth by adding extra cache to the GPU, even a 850M is a very powerful mobile card.
Wait for Maxwell 870M and 880M if you want top settings in a 15.6'' laptop. Current 870M and 880M are still Kepler and thus run hotter/consume more power. Maxwell is amazing and it's a pity nVIDIA didn't release their top cards based on it right away. I hope they'll appear along with Broadwell!
There is a newer Asus G551 that will have GTX 860M GDDR5 (and potentially Broadwell). There is a real difficulty stuffing a 870M or higher into a 15.6'' enclosure and keeping it cool, the tech is just not there! MSI tried: http://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GS70-2PEi71611-Notebook-Review.119833.0.html and has FAILED with thermals! It's physically impossible at this point, I reckon, these chips just run way too hot.
Now, why U-series Haswell might not be a good idea for gaming: most of them (i3-4010U, i5-4200U, i7-4500U) have a 15W TDP, it's ridiculous, they die in prolonged workloads in most laptops and they suck at multithread due to lower amount of cores. Apple, and Asus in some Zenbooks, use ULV Haswells with higher TDP (like this one with 28W: http://ark.intel.com/products/75992/Intel-Core-i7-4558U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_30-GHz), it's a much better compromise, but these chips are RIDICULOUSLY costly compared to normal i5/i7s.
Most modern games will run very well at 1080p with high settings on a GDDR5 860M (and even GDDR5 850M, and even DDR3 850M). I have a DDR3 750M in my Asus N550JV and STILL I can play BF3 multiplayer at 1080p on medium-high (mostly high) settings. So you CAN game on light laptops. Hell, Asus even has a "gaming ultrabook", UX32LN (ULV Haswell of your choice plus GT 840M), though of course it has to drop to 768p on most games to run them smooth at adequate settings. You can game on many laptops with modern nVIDIA cards! (Really don't know about AMD, my knowledge of their stuff is outdated by now.) Especially Maxwell. They solved the issue of low memory bandwidth by adding extra cache to the GPU, even a 850M is a very powerful mobile card.
Wait for Maxwell 870M and 880M if you want top settings in a 15.6'' laptop. Current 870M and 880M are still Kepler and thus run hotter/consume more power. Maxwell is amazing and it's a pity nVIDIA didn't release their top cards based on it right away. I hope they'll appear along with Broadwell!
well, i did notice that ASUS ROG recently released a 15.6" on the 850M GPU and i don't actually know much of mobile GPUs, but when i looked over on some reviews here and even GPUBoss, it was showing that if you wanted at least 30fps across the board even the 860M was lacking, but i guess that could be the Kepler-based one based on what you're saying? It seems like they're the only laptops with SERIOUS thermal solutions too, though some people talking about the MSI Dominator series shows they have some "turbo fan" button setup to play in gaming mode. I guess i originally made the assumption that the new 850/60/70/80 were the maxwell parts just starting to come out. Maybe if i wait around til Christmas they'll have an 870M Maxwell on a 15.6" that seems to be my only real hope. I really don't feel like chancing $1300 on an 850M for the time being especially if i have to order it online.