HP resets its style

HP flew 600 journalists to Berlin for the biggest and slickest launch in its history today when it unveiled 16 new notebooks, a PC with an iPod-style touch-screen interface, a new iPaq, and a billion-colour LED-backlit display.

Also launched was an innovative PC and the first notebook designed by Voodoo, the extreme gaming specialist HP bought just short of two years ago.

But the emphasis was on style as much as technology, with both the products and the presentation showing that HP has been looking very closely at Apple.

Todd Bradley, HP vice-president for Europe, Asia and Africa, was trumpeted into the Berlin Congress Centre by a jazz band. HP executives and products were ushered onto stage like new acts by Chero Jobatey, was described as Germany’s ‘Mr Breakfast TV’.

HP’s marketing head honcho Satjiv Chahil declared: “We are resetting the HP brand.”

Centrepiece of the new launch was the TouchSmart All-in-one, a combined PC and monitor with a touch interface that looks remarkably like that on Apple’s iTouch.

You get the same ability to flick through documents and photos almost as if they are paper pages though there is not the same use of two-finger gestures. This is not much of a loss because (to this user at least) these can be quite hard work and on a large screen there are easier ways to perform actions such as rotate or resize.
Moreover the Touchsmart can be tilted to different angles but it is not designed to be used flat, a position in which intricate gestures are easier. The US price is around $1400 (roughly £700) or $1600 with a TV tuner; UK prices start at 1099 inc Vat.

HP spent an entire day telling us about these products without once mentioning specifications, which is a sign of the times in itself. People are taking performance for granted and want products that look good.

See Voodoo turns PC innards upside down