HP has cooked up three brand new Windows 8 PCs to show off what you can do using Microsoft's touch-friendly OS -- the HP Envy x2 hybrid laptop-tablet, the HP SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook and the TouchSmart Ultrabook 4. Here's a run-down of each new system.
HP Envy x2
The HP Envy x2 joins the league of 11.6-inch combination laptop-tablets we've seen this week from Samsung, Sony and Toshiba. Whereas some of the previous machines transformed from laptop to tablet modes via a slide-out keyboard, the Envy x2 uses a magnetic hinge design to to dock the 11-inch tablet into a keyboard dock, effectively turning the device into a traditional clamshell notebook.
HP expects the Envy x2's display to be a standout feature. The tiny transformer's IPS screen has a standard 1366 x 768-pixel resolution that kicks out a rated brightness of 400 nits. Intel's Clover Trail Atom processor runs the full Windows 8 inside this convertible, and you get 64GB of memory standard. Other specs include an SD Card slot, an HDMI port, an 8-MP back-facing camera and a front-facer that's listed as high-definition.
HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook
HP's new 15-inch Ultrabook sizes things up a bit with a full HD display with IPS technology that's ready for your swipes. The big news here is that the Spectre XT is packing a Thunderbolt port. That's a much welcome addition because it offers transfer rates up to 10 Gb/s and the ability to daisy-chain other Thunderbolt devices to a single PC port. According to HP, this heavyweight Ultrabook packs an mSATA SSD for storage, an HDMI port, USB 3.0 ports, Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics and an Intel third-generation Core CPU.
HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4
Rounding out the new line is the HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4. Like the others, this 14-inch system packs a multitouch ready display, plus it adds some other luxe perks. There's a backlit keyboard, a battery rated for 8 hours of juice (we can't wait to test that out) and a sub-woofer complemented by Beats Audio. HP is scant on this system's details, but we know it measures 23mm thick and weighs a little less than 5 pounds. This smaller Ultrabook will definitely pack Intel internals, but it will also be available with AMD graphics.
Stay tuned for more details.
