HP brings "sexy" back into business notebooks

HP seems to be making an effort to design business class computers that are more attractive. It's a decent way to set your machines apart from the crowd in a market where pretty much everyone uses the same components and software.

HP introduced the arguably attractive Z-Series workstations early this month and now the world's largest computer maker has announced a new class of business notebooks that are designed to look good and offer affordable business performance.

The new machines are called the HP ProBook series and HP says they are inspired by minimalist design. Sounds like HP is looking for a bit of the Apple design mojo. The notebooks will be available in a merlot or glossy finish and will come in multiple screen sizes.


_{Above: HP ProBook Bites at the Forbidden Fruit}

The standard series being launched will include ProBook models with 14-inch, 15.6-inch, and 17.3-inch screens. They will all use the same keyboard design that HP describes as visually open and spacious. The keyboard is intended to reduce the places for dust to hide, but it looks more to me like another attempt to grab some of the Mac appeal since the HP keyboard looks much like what Apple has used on MacBooks for a long time.

Among the models being introduced are the ProBook 4410s and 4415s with 14-inch screens. The 15.6-inch ProBook 4510s and 4515s will likely be the mainstream systems. The largest screen comes on the 17.3-inch 4710 offering discrete graphics and more. The 15.6 and 14-inch models can be had with AMD or Intel processors and some machines can be optioned with HP Mobile Broadband featuring Gobi technology that allows a single modem to function on several different carrier networks.

HP says that the estimated street price for the machines in the U.S. will start at $US529 ($AU741) and availability will vary by region. ProBook models with the merlot finish are expected to hit the market in June, though there hsa been no specific announcement about Australian availability yet. HP will also offer a USB docking station along with the ProBook notebooks for $US139 ($AU192), which is available now.