HP's Envy 17 notebook lets you control apps with a wave of your hand

HP took the wraps off a raft of new Windows notebooks, tablets, and convertibles today, including the first computer to feature an embedded Leap Motion controller, which lets you manipulate interface elements with the wave of your hand. HP also announced new convertibles bearing its Pavilion and Spectre brands, and a new Bay Trail-powered tablet under the Omnibook brand.

The Leap Motion controller is embedded in the wrist rest on the right side of the computer, whose full name is the Envy 17 Leap Motion Special Edition. The controller was very responsive during a demo earlier this week, as Kevin Wentzel, HP’s technical marketing manager for consumer PCs, waved and twisted his hands over the sensor.

HP’s Envy 17 Leap Motion Special Edition has a sensor embedded in its wrist rest that allows you to control the computer using hand gestures.

The Envy 17 Leap Motion SE, which Wentzel described as a “power notebook” with a 17.3-inch display, will come with a handful of applications designed to take advantage of the controller, including a trippy animated drawing program, but it should also be compatible with any apps downloaded from Leap Motion’s Airspace store.

“We’re not suggesting it will replace your mouse or touchscreen,” said Wenztel, “but we’re looking forward to seeing where the technology takes us. It’s early days, but we’re enthusiastic.” Pricing for the Envy 17 will be start at $1050. It will be available for preorder October 16.

HP’s Kevin Wentzel demonstrates the accuracy of the Leap Motion controller.

Amy Barzdukas, HP’s VP of consumer PCs, showed off the new Spectre 13 x2 at the same briefing. The 4.3-pound, aluminum-clad, Haswell-powered convertible Ultrabook boasts entirely passive cooling—it has no fans. It will have a detachable 13-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels and two batteries, one in the display and the other in the keyboard. It will be priced at $1100 and available for preorder on October 16.

The Spectre 13 Ultrabook has a fixed display, but it features a new trackpad design that HP has dubbed the HP Control Zone and it’s optimized for navigating Windows 8. You stroke your finger in from the right edge of the trackpad to bring up the charm bar and stroke in from the left to switch between applications. Barzdukas said the new Ultrabook will weigh around three pounds and deliver nine hours of battery life. It becomes available for preorder on October 16 for $1000.

The new HP Spectre 13 x2 convertible runs completely silently, thanks to the absence of cooling fans.

HP is adding a pair of new tablets to its Pavilion line. The Pavilion 13 x2 and the Pavilion 11 x2 (which replaces the earlier Envy x2) will be available with either AMD A6 processors or Intel’s fourth-generation Core processors (aka Haswell). The touchscreens on both models will have a resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels, and both will be shipped with a keyboard dock that harbors a second battery.

The new Pavilion x2 convertibles will be powered by Intel’s new Bay Trail processor.

The Pavilion x2’s will be outfitted with 2GB of memory, 64GB of flash storage, a MicroSD card slot in the display, and a full-size SD card slot in the keyboard. The keyboard will also have a USB port and HDMI-out. Prices for both models will start at $599 when they go on sale November 17.

HP also announced a Windows 8 tablet, the Omni 10, that will be powered by an Intel Atom Z3000 processor (aka Bay Trail). Like the Pavilion x2 models, the Omni 10 will have 2GB of memory, 64GB of storage, a MicroSD card slot, and HDMI-out (at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels). The tablet’s display will have resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels.

HP will offer a charging stand and a Bluetooth keyboard, but HP has not announced pricing for the Omni or its optional accessories. The device is expected to ship in November.

HP’s Kevin Wentzel also demonstrated the previously announced Chromebook 14. The four-pound notebook is powered by an Intel Celeron processor (Haswell class) and comes with 2GB of memory and 16GB of storage. “It’s great if you just need something to browse the Web and read email,” said Wentzel, “You can also do light productivity tasks with Google Drive apps. It comes with 100GB of Google Drive storage for two years.”

The HP Chromebook 14 will be available in both Wi-Fi and 4G models, starting at $299 and $349, respectively

The HP Chromebook 14 has a 1366-by-768-pixel display, an SD card slot, HDMI-out, USB ports, and a headphone jack. It’s expected to provide 9.5 hours of battery life. The $299 model relies on Wi-Fi, but for another $50 you can get a 4G model with 200MB of bandwidth per month for 24 months (through T-Mobile).

Not to detract from HP’s announcements, but at this point I have to ask: Just how many brands does one company need? On the consumer side alone, HP has ten brands: Envy, Omni, Pavilion, Phoenix, Recline, Rove, Slate, SlateBook, Spectre, and TouchSmart. Add in the apparently dormant Firebird and Voodoo, and you have a brand for every month of the year. Things really get confusing when HP combines them: Envy Rove, Envy Recline, Pavilion TouchSmart, Envy TouchSmart, and more.

Come on, HP, give us a break: Simplify your brand strategy!

Michael manages PCWorld's hardware product reviews and contributes to TechHive's coverage of home-control systems and sound bars.
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Toshiba intros new Satellites: The ND15t notebook, Encore tablet, and Click detachable

Toshiba took the wraps off a new Windows 8.1 tablet and two new Windows laptops at IFA Berlin today. Toshiba is tapping two CPUs from Intel's all-new Bay Trail family—the Celeron N2810 and an unspecified Atom processor—as well as a low-cost chip from AMD's new Temash family of APUs.

Toshiba’s Satellite Encore is an eight-inch touchscreen tablet with a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. It's powered by an Intel Bay Trail Atom processor, 2GB of memory, and 32GB of storage. It can support an additional 32GB of storage via its MicroSD slot.

Toshiba's new eight-inch Encore tablet uses a new Bay Trail Atom processor, which is based on Intel's Silvermont microarchitecture.

In a briefing with PCWorld last week, Toshiba’s group product marketing manager, Young Bae, described the Encore as “a hardware platform that can deliver the entertainment and productivity capabilities of Windows. It’s being developed closely with Microsoft, and will be one of Microsoft’s featured devices for the Windows 8.1 launch and Microsoft’s holiday marketing campaign.”

The Encore will feature a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a dual-array beam-forming microphone, and Dolby Digital audio technology with dialogue enhancement. It will be Skype certified and ship with the full version of Microsoft’s Office Home & Student 2013.

The Encore will support Windows 8.1’s InstantGo technology, so that the tablet will receive a constant data feed (email, app, and tile updates) even while asleep. It will resume from sleep in less than 300 milliseconds.

The Encore will run Microsoft's Windows 8.1 operating system.

The Encore can also operate as a secondary screen for the Xbox One, tapping Microsoft’s Xbox SmartGlass technology. The tablet measures 0.42 inches thick and weighs 16.9 ounces. According to Bae, the Satellite Encore “will be available in November, hot on the heels of Windows 8.1.” Toshiba has priced the tablet at $330.

Bae described the Satellite Click detachable PC as a “productivity machine when docked to its keyboard that behaves like a tablet when detached.” The two-piece unit runs Windows 8 and consists of an 13.3-inch, multi-touch IPS display that functions as a tablet on its own, or as a notebook when docked to its keyboard.

The new Satellite Click can operate as either a 13.3-inch tablet or a conventional notebook.

The Click is powered by a dual-core AMD A4 processor (from AMD’s new Temash family), 4GB of DDR3/1600 memory, and a 500GB mechanical hard drive. The tablet portion of the combo will also feature a built-in webcam, gyroscope, and accelerometer. The I/O ports include micro HDMI and micro USB.

The keyboard dock will have a full-size USB 3.0 port and its own battery. When the combo is plugged into an AC adapter, the tablet will be charged first. When the two units are docked and operating on battery power, the keyboard will continuously charge the tablet. The keyboard also offers Toshiba's USB Sleep & Charge technology and will be able to charge a USB device even when the system is otherwise sleeping.

The $599 Satellite Click will go on sale at Best Buy and Toshiba Direct later this month.

Could we be seeing the resurgence of the netbook? The $380 Satellite ND15t will use a new Celeron N2810 dual-core processor, which—like the Atom in the aforementioned Toshiba Encore—is a member of Intel’s new Bay Trail family of processors.

Toshiba is going after the Chromebook market with this very inexpensive Windows laptop.

During last week’s briefing, Bae said the new Celeron delivers 1.5 times the performance of performance of Intel’s older Cedar Trail processors, and 3 times better graphics performance.

The “clutch-sized,” 3.3-pound notebook will have an 11.6-inch touchscreen, HDMI, USB 3.0, and an 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter. “The ND15t is another option for value-minded consumers,” said Bae, “a more useful alternative to Chromebooks, with 500GB of local storage and Windows 8.” Toshiba expects the ND15t to be available in November.

Michael manages PCWorld's hardware product reviews and contributes to TechHive's coverage of home-control systems and sound bars.
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Dell adds consumer touches to Latitude notebook line

Dell’s latest revision of its Latitude notebooks borrows stylistic elements from its XPS consumer lineup, while retaining a traditional focus on the enterprise. The most important addition, however, is full touch capability.

Last-generation products like the Dell Latitude 3330 offered either Windows 7 or Windows 8, but not a touchscreen to take full advantage of the new Windows 8 operating system. That’s been fixed in the current generation, with Corning’s Gorilla Glass NBT to boot. Larger operations may be slower to roll out Windows 8, however, so while customers can opt for a touch display, a Windows 7 option is still there, as is Ubuntu.

As Dell has done before, the Latitude line is offered in three families—the basic 3000 series, the midrange 5000 series, and the premium 7000 series. Dell’s 3000 series will be priced at $599 and higher, with the option of either 14-inch or 15.6-inch displays. Dell will offer both 14.1-inch and 15.6-inch options in the 5000 series, though it did not disclose a base price. Dell classifies the 7000 series as ultrabooks, with 12.5-inch and 14.0-inch options, beginning at $1049. Both the 3000 and 7000 systems are available immediately; the 5000 series arrives in October, Dell said. All use Intel’s fourth-generation Core or “Haswell” processor.

According to Kirk Schell, executive director and general manager for Dell’s Business Client Product Group, businesses loved the Inspiron innards, but asked Dell why only the XPS lineup should look like a premium device. Dell obliged, taking the carbon weave from the XPS and applying it to the Inspiron line.

Dell executives said that the notebooks would launch with Windows 8, upgradeable to Windows 8.1 when the OS update is released on Oct. 17.

At press time, Dell only made available the spec sheet for the Latitude 7000 series. The Inspiron 7000s can be configured with Core i3, i5, or i7 processors and up to 16GB of RAM. Both only use Intel’s 4400 integrated graphics. Dell offers a range of connectivity options, from 802.11g/n Wi-Fi and WiGig, plus three USB 3.0 slots, an HDMI output, and a mini DisplayPort connector. Dell’s spec sheet does not mention SD card storage.

Both ultrabooks are backward-compatible with Dell’s existing E-series docks, and can be configured to dock wirelessly, using WiGig. In addition to the Gorilla Glass, both have been ruggedized to MIL-STD 810G specs.

The E7240 uses either a 12.5-inch 1366 x 768 non-touch display or a 1920 x 1080 touch display, with only SSD options, up to 256GB, available as storage. The battery options are a trifle smaller, with either a 3-cell (31Whr) or a 4-cell (42 Whr) available. (Both batteries are user-swappable.) The E7440 provides a larger, 14.5-inch display, with the choice of the cheaper 1366 x 768 display, or the 1920 x 1080 display in either touch or non-touch options.

The E7240 measures 12.2 inches wide by 8.3 inches deep by 0.79 inches thick, weighing 2.99 pounds, while the E7440 measures 13.2 inches wide by 9.1 inches deep by 0.8 inches thick, and 3.6 pounds.

The 3000 series is available in two models: the Latitude 15 3000, with a 15.6-inch display; and the Latitude 14 3000, with a 14.0-inch display. Both ship with either 1366 x 768, 1920 x 1080, or 1366 x 768 touch options.

The Latitude 15 measures 14.8 inches wide, 10.2 inches deep, and between 0.99 inches and 1.33 inches high depending on the battery selected and the display chosen. The weight of the Latitude 15 ranges from 4.8 to 5.1 pounds. The Latitude 14 measures 13.62 inches wide, 9.65 inches deep, and from 0.98 inches to 1.3 inches deep. The Latitude 14 weighs between 4.3 pounds to 4.6 pounds, depending on the configuration.

Detailed specifications for the Latitude 5000 series were not available. The 5000 series adds an ultra-low-voltage Core processor for extended battery, and both the 3000 and the 5000 series provide a discrete graphics option.

A few years back, “99 percent of the story would have been the hardware, and the rest software and services,” Schell said. Now, Dell, like other hardware makers, would like to bundle up its hardware with related software and services, selling them to customers as a complete package.

As such, Dell didn’t disclose what it would charge customers for services like Dell ProSupport, which offers unlimited repair, plus support for third-party software; if your tax software breaks, Dell can fix it, Schell said. Dell’s DDP Protected Workspace also “sandboxes” the OS and many applications, so if a user clicks on an infected document, it will just poison the sandbox, where it can be isolated and eradicated. The technology, first announced in June, will be offered free for a year, then for an annual subscription fee after that. Like an antimalware subscription, customers can let that subscription lapse and then later renew it, Schell said.

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