HP goes for touch design

In a move designed to throw down a challenge to Apple, PC industry leader HP has unveiled a new touch-screen driven home PC, new business notebooks, and a laptop that, at under 0.7 inches thick, will challenge the MacBook Air head on.

At a global launch event in Berlin today, HP demonstrated the new TouchSmart IQ500, an all-in-one design based around a 22-inch screen and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. The computer also comes with a high-speed hard drive and 4GB of RAM.

The touch interface, as well as media software for managing photos, movies and music, was developed by HP on top of Microsoft Windows. The TouchSmart will cost €1,399 (£1,200) when it ships later this summer.

HP’s gaming-oriented brand, Voodoo, announced a new, carbon-fibre laptop that is less than 0.7 inches thick and weighs under 1.6kg.

The Envy 133 has a 13.3 inch screen and is built around an Intel Centrino chipset. To keep the size down, the laptop’s Ethernet connector is on the power brick, rather than the body of the machine. Unlike many ultra-thin laptops, the Envy has a removable battery pack, as a result of space savings made through the use of carbon fibre. The Envy will cost $2,099 (£1,050) although European and UK pricing has not yet been confirmed.

HP has also updated its business notebook range. A new family, the HP EliteBook, is designed to meet the needs of heavy users. The EliteBooks are based around magnesium alloy chassis and anodised aluminium casings, and include other protection technologies, such as shock-resistant hard drives and spill-resistant keyboards. The notebooks’ displays are also 80 per cent more resistant to damage by twisting than previous designs.

The first EliteBook, the 6930p, has a 14.1 inch screen, up to 15 hours’ battery life using an extended battery, and a built-in Qualcomm Gobi chipset for 3G mobile connections. The machine will be available with either AMD Turion 64 X2 processors or Intel Centrino 2 processors. The 6930p will cost from €1,219 (£1,000) ex VAT.

However, HP executives added that touch technology would be added to a wider range of devices, including portable PCs. “This is a new paradigm in natural user interfaces,” said Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president for marketing at HP’s Personal Systems Group. “We have made the computer as easy to use as an ATM, with the touch of a finger.

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