The holiday shopping season is a big one for pretty much any company with a product to sell. With all that consumer cash flowing freely, it's no surprise that many companies choose to refresh their products just in time for the busiest shopping period of the year. HP today unleashed a frightening number of new products, covering everything from tablets to Chromebooks and full-fledged notebooks.
First up is the HP Chromebook, which was announced last week at IDF. The HP Chromebook 14 is based on Intel's 4th generation Core i-series of CPUs and boasts 100 GB of Google Drive storage, 16 GB of onboard storage, HDMI, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, a 14-inch 1366 x 768 display, and optional 4G. It'll be priced at $300 when it is launched later this year.
Next in line is the HP Spectre 13 X2, a Windows 8 laptop with a detachable keyboard and Intel's Haswell processor in a completely fanless chassis. The laptop packs a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080p display, up to 8 GB of RAM, and either 64 GB or 128 GB of SSD storage. The keyboard contains a spare battery that will bring you up to ten hours docked (users can expect seven and a half hours in tablet mode) but no additional storage. HP is bragging that this one is the thinnest and lightest hybrid PC it's ever produced. The Spectre 13 X2 weighs in at 4.5 lbs (or just over 2 lbs without the keyboard). It's up for pre-order on October 16 and will be priced at $1099.99. HP is also offering a non-hybrid edition HP Spectre 13 ultrabook, which packs Intel's Core i5 processor and packs a 13.3-inch display. It's a little lighter than the hybrid X2 model, weighing in at 3.25 lbs, and it's cheaper, starting at $999.99.
Next is a smaller machine dubbed the HP Pavilion 11 X2. This is a tablet/laptop hybrid with an 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 IPS display, one of Intel's new Bay Trail processors, up to 4 GB of RAM and a max of 128 GB of SSD storage. Our friends at LAPTOP Magazine report that the keyboard contains 500 GB HDD storage, and an additional battery. The Pavilion 11 X2 is available in white, red or black, and starts at $599.99. It will be available on November 17. There's also a 13-inch model that comes with the option for either Haswell or AMD's A6, the same options for storage and RAM, and the same pricing and release date.
If hybrids aren't your bag, HP has a whole host of new tablets too. The company today announced four Android tablets, which range in size from 7 to 10 inches. The HP Slate 7 Extreme packs Nvidia's Tegra 4 processor, a 7-inch display, 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage (expandable to 32 GB via microSD), a 5 MP camera around back and a front-facing lens for video chat, and Android 4.2. Pricing for the Slate 7 Extreme hasn't yet been discussed but availability is expected in November.
The Slate 7 HD and Slate 10 HD are 7- and 10-inch tablets with 1280 x 800 IPS displays, and dual-core processors (HP didn't go into detail on which processor these tablets use). They also come with optional LTE, though we don't know how much extra that will cost because HP didn't discuss pricing for these tablets at all.
HP's Slate 8 Pro is an 8-inch slate that, like the Slate 7 Extreme, is based on Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 4 CPU. Its 7.98-inch display packs a resolution of 1600 x 1200 (4:3 ratio), and the tablet also packs support for microHDMI, microUSB, and microSD. No word on pricing but availability is expected in November for those in the United States.
The Omni 10 is a Windows 8.1 tablet. Like the Pavilion 11 X2, it runs on Intel's Bay Trail processor, packs a 10-inch 1920 x 1080 display, 2 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage. There's a 2 MP camera on the front and an 8 MP camera on the back, as well as support for microHDMI and microUSB and a microSD slot for expansion of up to 32 GB of memory. Availability is set for November (given the presence of Windows 8.1, that makes sense), but no word on pricing.
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