HP Sets Sights on PC Replacement Cycle

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HP (NYSE:HPQ) today unveiled new PCs to help businesses of all sizes transition to new technology and get more from their IT investments.

“HP is well positioned for continuing domination of the product design category and potential leadership for hardware reliability satisfaction.”

The offerings include two affordable notebooks – the HP ProBook 6445b and HP ProBook 6545b – the HP Elite 7000 Business Desktop PC, new HP Docking Stations, and new power management and monitoring software.

These product introductions are the first in a series of business product launches HP has planned over the next few months to provide businesses the broadest mix of products to refresh their aging desktops and notebooks.

“The release of Windows 7 presents an ideal opportunity for businesses of all types to evaluate their aging fleet of client devices and build a plan to leverage the best solutions to meet their company’s needs,” said Stephen DeWitt, senior vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group – Americas, HP. “With a wide range of new products in the market, like the new ProBooks and Elite desktops, we have put the right pieces in place to ease the transition to new technology.”

Stay productive while on the go

Aimed at corporate customers who want an affordable combination of business-critical and innovative features in a full-function notebook PC, the new HP ProBook 6445b and HP ProBook 6545b offer flexible battery options and a range of wireless connectivity choices.^(1,2)

Utilizing new AMD processors and graphics solutions, the HP ProBook b-series notebooks show a marked increase in performance and battery life over previous AMD-based HP Compaq b-series notebooks. Battery life improved 60 percent for up to 8 hours and 15 minutes of use, while performance improved 39 percent.⁽³⁾

Available with 14-inch or 15.6-inch diagonal high-definition⁽⁴⁾ LED-backlit widescreen displays, the new HP ProBook b-series sports a smart new design that incorporates a spill-resistant keyboard with a drain.

As part of its commitment to protecting the environment, HP offers business notebook PCs that are designed with reduced or eliminated substances of concern, reduce energy consumption and are more easily recycled. In addition, the PCs are ENERGY STAR® 5.0 and EPEAT® Gold certified.⁽⁵⁾

HP Power Assistant⁽⁶⁾ provides total visibility over the notebook PC’s reported power consumption, with tools allowing users to conserve power, stretch battery run time and accurately monitor reported power needs. It uses dedicated hardware found in HP Business Notebooks to deliver a level of accuracy and environmental monitoring not found in other power management tools.

On the network level, HP Power Assistant measures, logs and reports platform energy use to give IT departments the information needed to help save businesses money and energy.

When equipped with HP Mobile Broadband,⁽²⁾ the new HP ProBook b-series can use global positioning system (GPS)⁽⁷⁾ to determine 3-D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). When running a separately purchased supporting application, GPS-enabled notebooks can help accurately identify locations around the world, permit personal navigation to guide users on where they need to go, and assist law enforcement in the tracking and recovery⁽⁸⁾ of lost or stolen notebooks.

New HP Docking Stations and HP Advanced Docking Stations offer up to six USB ports and eSata support. They also feature up to two video DisplayPort connectors, in addition to VGA and DVI ports, providing multiple choices for high-end digital video output now and in the future.

Featuring the proprietary HP Docking Station Cable Lock, in addition to an industry-standard notebook lock slot, the HP docking stations are dramatically simpler to use than previous locks and enhance security.

Style and performance for small business

The new HP Elite 7000 Business Desktop PC is the company’s highest-performance small business desktop to date, sporting a sleek exterior design with a metal surface and high-gloss black finish.

Ideal for small businesses that want the latest technology, select security features and easy setup, the HP Elite 7000 enables users to protect their assets, data and the company network:

• The HP Chassis Lock deters hardware theft in public areas.
• Credential Manager for HP ProtectTools provides single-sign-on functionality and automatically stores and protects passwords.
• Norton Online Backup from Symantec. HP has teamed up with Symantec to offer great deals on Norton Online Backup, which safeguards data stored on networked PCs by automatically backing up files to one secure, central location that can be recovered in case of hard drive crashes or file damage.⁽⁹⁾
• HP is extending the pre-install Linux offering with pre-installed Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (SLED).
• Efficient, low-energy processors and a sleep mode help reduce business costs.
• The HP Power Manager tool tracks energy usage to help businesses better meet their budgets by allowing users to preconfigure power settings without interfering with performance.

A high-performance workhorse, the HP Elite 7000 comes installed with the new Microsoft Windows® 7 operating system,⁽¹⁰⁾ DDR3 memory support, the Intel® P55 Express chipset and a choice of the latest Intel Core™ i5 and i7 processors.⁽¹¹⁾ Support for 8 gigabytes⁽¹²⁾ of memory, a 1 terabyte hard drive⁽¹³⁾ and an optional solid state drive provides opportunities for even more powerful computing. The series also includes an array of bays and ports for expandable flexibility and a RAID 1 mirroring array with two hard drives that mirror data in real-time for reliable data protection.

For high-quality data and image support, the HP Elite 7000 offers a SATA DVD-ROM drive, SATA SuperMulti LightScribe DVD writer drive and optional HP SATA Blu-ray Writer for professional-quality DVD burning and labeling.⁽¹⁴⁾ It also offers a 22-in-1 Media Card Reader that enables easy transfer of photos, files and videos to a PC from various types of memory cards.

Buy with confidence

Technology Business Research Inc. released its latest quarterly corporate notebook and desktop notebook satisfaction reports last month.⁽¹⁵⁾ HP was the No. 1 ranked PC vendor in customer satisfaction across both the commercial notebook and desktop categories.

For the seventh consecutive quarter, HP led the desktop category. The current report calls out that “HP’s hardware reliability satisfaction rating gained some strength and its performance during the quarter reveals no vulnerabilities.”

On the notebook side, HP continued satisfaction gains across most areas of the report, which stated “HP is well positioned for continuing domination of the product design category and potential leadership for hardware reliability satisfaction.”

Pricing and availability⁽¹⁶⁾

The HP ProBook b-series and docking stations are expected to be available worldwide on Oct. 22 and in the United States in mid-November for a starting price of $799. The Elite desktop is expected to be available Oct. 22 for a starting price of $789.

More information about the HP ProBook b-series, HP notebook docking solutions and HP Elite desktop, including product specifications and images, is available at www.hp.com/personal.

About HP

HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

Note to editors: More news from HP, including links to RSS feeds, is available at http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/.

⁽¹⁾ Wireless access points and Internet service required and not included. Availability of public wireless access points limited.

⁽²⁾ Gobi and broadband technologies require separately purchased wireless data service contracts. Check with local service provider for coverage and availability.

⁽³⁾ Battery life will vary depending on the product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, use, wireless functionality and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. Additional details are available at www.bapco.com/products/mobilemark2007.

⁽⁴⁾ HD content required to view HD images.

⁽⁵⁾ Registration status by country is available at epeat.net.

⁽⁶⁾ Power calculations and cost calculations are estimates. Results will vary based on variables, which include information provided by the user, time PC is in different power states (on, standby, hibernate, off), time PC is on battery or AC, hardware configuration, variable electricity rates and utilities provider. HP advises customers to use information reported by HP Power Assistant for reference only and to validate impact in their environment. Environmental calculations were based on U.S. EPA eGrid 2007 data found at www.epa.gov/egrid/. Regional results will vary.

⁽⁷⁾ GPS access requires an unobstructed path to multiple satellites. Performance may be affected if/when used inside of buildings, bridges or heavily congested metropolitan areas. Requires separately purchased GPS navigation software available from multiple GPS applications.

⁽⁸⁾ Tracking and recovery is supported by an embedded BIOS agent on HP business notebooks, which is shipped turned off, and must be activated by the purchase of a subscription for terms ranging from one to five years via HP LoJack Pro service to be offered later this year. Service is limited; certain conditions apply. Full details, including availability outside the United States, are available at www.absolute.com

⁽⁹⁾ Internet access required; sold separately.

⁽¹⁰⁾ Systems may require upgraded and/or separately purchased hardware and/or a DVD drive to install the Windows 7 software and take full advantage of Windows 7 functionality. Details are available at www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/.

⁽¹¹⁾ 64-bit computing on Intel architecture requires a computer system with a processor, chipset, BIOS, operating system, device drivers and applications enabled for Intel 64 architecture. Processors will not operate (including 32-bit operation) without an Intel 64 architecture-enabled BIOS. Performance will vary depending on hardware and software configurations. More information is available at www.intel.com/info/em64t. Dual Core is designed to improve performance of certain software products. Not all customers will necessarily benefit from the use of this technology. Maximum memory capacities assume 64-bit operating systems.

⁽¹²⁾ Maximum memory capacities assume Windows 64-bit operating systems or Linux. With Windows 32-bit operating systems, memory above 3GB may not all be available due to system resource requirements.

⁽¹³⁾ For hard drives, GB = 1 billion bytes; TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less. Up to 16GB of system disk (for Windows 7) is reserved for system recovery software.

⁽¹⁴⁾ Actual speeds may vary. Don’t copy copyright-protected materials. Note that DVD-RAM cannot read or write to 2.6GB Single Sided/5.2 GB Double Sided – Version 1.0 media. LightScribe creates a monochrome image. LightScribe media required and sold separately.

⁽¹⁵⁾ The official names of the studies are “TBR Notebooks: Corporate IT Buying Behavior & Customer Satisfaction Study – Second Calendar Quarter 2009” and “TBR Desktops: Corporate IT Buying Behavior & Customer Satisfaction Study – Second Calendar Quarter 2009.”

⁽¹⁶⁾ Estimated street prices, actual pricing may vary.

AMD is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Intel and Intel Core are trademarks of Intel Corp. in the United States and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. ENERGY STAR is a registered mark owned by the U.S. government.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance or market share relating to products and services; any statements regarding anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its customers, suppliers and partners; the achievement of expected operational and financial results; and other risks that are described in HP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2009 and HP’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

© 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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