14 DAY TRIAL // With the arrival of Intel's Santa Rosa Mobile CPU, notebook integrators understood the great potential of the next-gen architecture and are now releasing swarms of systems based on the wonder processor. Asus was quick enough to present a host of five business-oriented/all purpose notebooks and an additional two gaming notebooks several days ago. Curiously enough, HP has not mentioned anything about a Santa Rosa notebook line-up yet, but the guys from "Notebook Italia" know better. They dug up a bit and are now able to supply us with spicy details on the outstanding Hewlett-Packard Pavilion HDX.
I tell you, this is no ordinary notebook. In fact, it isn't the size of the usual notebooks found on the market at all, as it features a huge pivoting 20" wide-screen display. Moreover, the notebook seems to be more of a gaming rig, integrating a powerful Santa Rosa dual core CPU backed up by a blazing fast GeFore Go 8800 mobile graphics card. The sheer size of this system allows for the addition of four integrated speakers along with an HP Bass Reflex subwoofer. The notebook colossus is able to accommodate a spiffy media remote control and an over-sized keyboard for your fingers' delight.
The Pavilion HDX isn't just for hardcore gamers. The system is also rumored to include an ATSC/NTSC tuner and HDMI output for a complete multimedia experience. However, the Italian guys couldn't find out what optical drive will be provided, but my guess is that HP will surely go for either Blu-ray or HD DVD drives. The communications segment will be strongly supported through Intel's latest Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN Draft-N network adapter, integrated Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Gigabit Ethernet links, a webcam and the superior Turbo Memory 2.0 architecture. HP will ship its latest notebook line-up with pre-installed Windows Vista Ultimate operating systems.
No price information on this 12-pound behemoth for now, but considering that Pavilion HDX is rumored to be the first offspring from the HP/Voodoo PC alliance, this piece of information alone could be translated into an unfriendly price tag.