HP Taiwan reportedly reaffirms pre-October launch for webOS tablet

Don't mind us taking a few grains of salt on this one, but according Digitimes, HP Taiwan Vice President Monty Wong has confirmed a webOS-powered tablet is due out in the market before the fiscal year ending in October. This jibes with what we heard earlier this month, including the common sense caveat that more details will be forthcoming only after the Palm acquisition is completed near the end of July. Now, we won't be surprised one iota if this comes to fruition -- HP itself has gone on record numerous times as wanting to throw the onetime mobile-exclusive OS on everything from tablets (yay) to printers (huh). Still, everything we know about it so far comes via words and whispers to third-party sources, or the voice in our head dreaming up ideal product lines -- neither of which, unfortunately, we can put our complete trust in.

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HP Compaq Airlife 100 review roundup: a little too dumb for a smartbook

As of last month, there were still no solid plans to ever bring HP Compaq's Airlife 100 smartbook to US soil, and judging by the first reviews surfacing across the pond, the company should probably consider keeping it that way. In a land already saturated with increasingly powerful netbooks, highly capable smartphones and a blossoming selection of tablets, the actual need for a so-called smartbook is questionable at best. For those still interested in paying near-netbook prices for this (on contract with a carrier, no less), you should probably first take a gander at the reviews linked below. Put simply, the Airlife 100 just wasn't a contender, and it had issues handling basic tasks like playing back HD videos and loading the full Gmail experience. 'Course, Android 1.6 is looking severely dated right about now, so we can't say we're shocked to hear so much negativity. The design itself was universally praised, but when you can snag a Crystal HD-equipped netbook (sans a data plan agreement, to boot) for just a few Euros more, it's hard to justify locking yourself into something far less intelligent.

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HP Envy 15 said to be suffering from blank screen issues, lousy webcam

We can't say we experienced the problem during our time reviewing the HP Envy 15 (though we certainly had some other issues with it), but a sizable number of users have been reporting a persistent problem with the laptop's display randomly going blank. That's apparently so far gone unremedied by any number of driver updates, with the only "fix" being a forced reboot of the computer. Also problematic is an issue some folks are reporting with the laptop's webcam, which apparently has an odd tendency to only work properly under fluorescent lighting -- move under an incandescent light and everything takes on a distinct purple hue. Head on past the break for a vivid example of that problem, and hit up the source link below for all nineteen pages of complaints about the blank screen issue.


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HP Slate priced at €400 for June launch, Atom CPU confirmed?

Reputable Spanish publication Clipset has the first concrete report on pricing and internal specs for HP's Slate. Seemingly obtained from HP itself, the €400 ($546) price tag positions the Slate a notch above netbooks and bodes well for the expectation that it'll undercut the iPad's entry level pricing. Straight currency conversations are inadvisable in such situations, so we'll just have to wait until official stickers for the iPad in Europe are known or HP announces US prices for the Slate. Further info includes an Atom CPU, Flash support, USB connectivity, a memory card reader, and a back-mounted webcam (see it after the break). The launch of this Windows 7 device is slated for June, while retail availability in Europe is said to be expected at some point "before September." It's not clear what all that means for the US, but we doubt HP will be making its home turf wait longer than the rest of the world. Rest assured, we'll be reaching out to HP HQ before they've had their first cup of green tea to find out.

Update: HP's response to our queries has been typically tight-lipped. The company refused to discuss Clipset's specs and pricing, which would suggest that -- even though they may be spot on -- they are not yet official.

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HP Mini 210 updated with trippy lids, Pavilion dm1 with new AMD processors

Aww, HP, so nice of you guys to think of the little guys amidst your massive unleash of mainstream laptops. While the Mini 210 was just released at CES, the 10-inch netbook will be available starting June 15th for a couple extra bucks -- $355 to be exact -- with some "fashionable" new lids. We definitely prefer the "crystal white" to "preppy pink" covering, but both use a pretty cool in-mold layering technique -- when you look closely at the lid and matching underside there's a 3D-like effect where some colors and shades appear above or below others. HP's also expanding its netbook line with the Mini 110, which at $280 buys you a six-cell battery and standard Atom parts. The netbooks don't get any internal updates -- nope, all the new performance parts go to the 11.6-inch Pavilion dm1. Though it still sports the same chassis as the Mini 311, the dm1 will grab AMD's newest Turion II Neo dual core and Athlon Neo processors, which promise improved performance and battery life over the previous generation. We're hoping that's the case, because our experience with those chips haven't exactly been peaches and cream. That's all we got for you, but if you are in a pink mood head on down below for some hands-on pics, or after the break for the sort of "Pretty in Pink" we don't mind rocking.

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HP buys Palm

HP has just announced that it's acquiring Palm to the tune of $1.2 billion, which works out to $5.70 per share of Palm common stock. The deal is planned to close by July 31, which marks the end of HP's third fiscal quarter of the year. Current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein is "expected to remain with the company," though it's not said in what capacity. Press release after the break. There'll be a call to discuss the acquisition in more detail (well, we hope in more detail) at 5PM ET, so we'll keep you abreast as we learn more.

Update: PreCentral's managed to grab a copy of Rubinstein's letter to Palm employees.

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HP adds EliteBook 2540p and 2740p to the lineup, brings the power and the touch

Thought HP was done unleashing its new line of semi-rugged EliteBooks at CES? So did we, but apparently it needed just a little bit more time to pull the 12.1-inch 2540p and 2740p out of the oven. An update to the 2530p, the 3.8-pound 2540p still has the same magnesium alloy chassis that's met all those super-tough MIL-STD 810G military standard tests, but its innards have been freshened up with the alluring scent of Intel's 2010 Core processors. Prices start at $1,099, but in typical HP fashion it will be configurable online with tons of juicy options, including standard and low voltage Core i5 and i7 processors and a range of 7,200RPM and SSD drives.

Up next is the 2740p which packs much of the same internal spec options as the 2540p (sans the low-voltage CPUs), but puts them into a convertible tablet form factor. Starting at $1,599, its capacitive multitouch 12.1-inch display now supports both pen and finger input and thus pits it head-to-head with Lenovo's ThinkPad X201t, though from our hands-on we found the 3.8-pound 2740p to be much slimmer and lighter. A lot of that has to do with its flush battery, but if adding some juice (and thickness) is your thing, you can add a slate battery (or two!) to the bottom of the system. Both the 2540p and 2740p will be available later this month, but hit the hands-on gallery below to get a look at these magnesium puppies up close.

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HP EliteBook 8740w pumped up with Intel Core 2010 CPUs, ATI / NVIDIA graphics

Fear not mobile workstation lovers, it may have taken HP a bit more time to refresh its 17-inch EliteBook 8740w, but it's officially here now and ready to champ at the bit with a combo of cutting edge features / specs. We'll start with the externals first -- the 7.8-pound, magnesium-alloy chassis is covered in the same gunmetal finish as the other recently-announced Elitebooks, and the 17-inch HP Dreamcolor screen is nothing short of stunning. It has 64 times the colors of other displays and can be ordered with HP's Mobile Display Assistant color calibrator. Inside the workstation is rather frightful -- it can be configured with a choice of Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and [either] ATI 's newest FirePro M7820 or NVIDIA Quadro FX GPUs. While the 8740w starts at $1,999, the $3,899 spec'd version happens to be HP's most powerful mobile workstation ever with a quad-core Core i7 processor, 7,200rpm 320GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadtro FX 3800M graphics with 1GB of DDR3 RAM. We were told that the 8740w would be shipping in early April, but it appears that you can order them up right now at the source link.

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Keepin' it real fake: HP Mini 5101 knockoff is almost as good, almost as expensive as the real thing

Coveting a beautiful new netbook but can't quite manage the $399 for a new HP Mini 5101/5102? Maybe this knock-off would fit your budget, looking more or less indistinguishable from the real thing. The ports have a slightly different layout (with some of them looking a wee bit askew) and the red hue here doesn't have quite the same lustre of the real thing -- but it is awfully close, right down to the chrome HP logo on the lid. How much would you pay for this piece of impressioned gadgetry? How about $337? Sure, the difference is enough to cover a copy of Heavy Rain, but could you live with yourself typing your e-mail every day on a lie? Beyond that, we have a suspicion this thing wouldn't last much longer than the Origami Killer's victims.

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