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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