hp

HP Taps Android for SlateBook x2 and Windows 8 for Split x2 Hybrids

Paul Lilly — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:45:34 +0000

Why play favorites?

Microsoft is trying to make a play in mobile with its touch-tastic Windows 8 platform, while Android remains the popular choice among those who don't want an iPad. Rather than choose which one to roll with, Hewlett-Packard (HP) went and launched a pair of detachable PCs built around both platforms, essentially passing the buck onto you, Joe and Jane Consumer, as to which platform to invest in.

Starting with Android, HP's new SlateBook x2 is a surprise entry with plenty of promise. It boasts a 10.1-inch Full HD 1080p (1920x1200) touchscreen IPS display and is powered by Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 4 SoC (System-on-Chip) clocked at 1.8GHz, making it the the first Android detachable device with Tegra 4 inside, HP claims. It also has 2GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, DTS sound, 720p front-facing camera, 1080p rear-facing camera, a USB 2.0 port, SD card slot, HDMI output, combo audio jack, built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Over on the Windows side of the fence, HP introduced the Split x2 with a 13.3-inch HD (1366x768) IPS display. It's powered by 3rd Generation Intel Core i3 and i5 processor options and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include a 128GB mSATA SSD + 500GB HDD storage setup, Beats Audio, 1080p front-facing camera, 8MP rear-facing camera, microSD card reader, combo audio jack, one each USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, HDMI output, SD card slot, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and Windows 8.

"Customers want to access and share content anywhere, anytime, on any internet connected device—and they expect those connections to be seamless," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs, HP. "The HP SlateBook x2 and the HP Split x2 are next-generation devices and the latest examples of our continued commitment to evolving the computing experience by providing the flexibility necessary for customers to be productive at home, at the office or on the go."

The HP SlateBook x2 and Split x2 are expected to be available in August starting at $480 and $800, respectively. Both also come with a full-size keyboard with clickpad.

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HP Slate 7 Android Tablet Now Available, Sports $170 Price Tag

Pulkit Chandna — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:20:55 +0000

Hewlett-Packard re-enters the media tablet market with 7-inch Android Jelly Bean tablet

If you are a PC vendor mulling a foray into the world of smartphones and media tables, there is perhaps no other platform more convenient than Android for this purpose. That is not to say that it is an option that readily appeals to everyone, especially those who give priority to control over convenience. But, as tempting as it might be, to have your own OS, it does not guarantee success and can be a very costly exercise. Just ask HP, which has taken almost two years to recover from the unmitigated disaster that was the TouchPad and re-enter the tablet market.

The company has begun shipping the Jelly Bean-running Slate 7 Android tablet it unveiled back in February at the Mobile World Congress. The 7-inch Slate 7, which sports a $169.99 price tag, packs a 1024x600 display, 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage (up to 32GB external storage), VGA front camera, 3MP rear camera, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, micro USB port, and stereo speakers with Beats Audio. Its 3500mAh lithium polymer battery promises up to 5 hours of continuous video playback.

"To address the growing interest in tablets among consumers and businesses alike, HP will offer a range of form factors and leverage an array of operating systems," said Alberto Torres, senior vice president, Mobility Global Business Unit, HP. "Our new HP Slate7 on Android represents a compelling entry point for consumer tablets, while our ground-breaking, business-ready HP ElitePad on Windows® 8 is ideal for enterprises and governments. Both deliver the service and support people expect from HP."

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HP to Embed Leap Motion's 3D Gesture Control Into Select PCs

Paul Lilly — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:28:06 +0000

Let the inevitable comparisons to Minority Report begin.

How many technologies have you heard being compared to Minority Report style computing? More than you can count on one hand, most likely, and we have yet another candidate in Leap Motion with its 3D motion control technology. Hewlett-Packard (HP) will attempt to bring Leap Motion's technology to the mainstream by embedding it into select products as part of a new collaboration between these two companies.

"Customers want to go to the next level when creating and interacting with digital content," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs at HP. "Leap Motion's groundbreaking 3D motion control combined with HP technology and amazing developer apps will create incredible user experiences."

The bulk of those user experiences Coughlin references aren't yet known, though the companies did announce that certain HP systems will come pre-loaded with Airspace, Leap Motion's application store. Airspace is home to a variety of software across gaming, music, education, art, productivity, and other categories.

So, what exactly is Leap Motion's technology? Through the use of an external controller (which is what will be embedded into select HP systems), Leap Motion is able to create an interactive three-dimensional space that's 8 cubic feet. Leap Motion claims it can track all 10 fingers up to 1/100th of a millimeter, making it up to 200 times more sensitive than existing motion-control technology.

On paper, the technology seems limited only by what by developers can conceive. You can reach out and pick up virtual objects and pretty much interact as you normally would in the real world, only now your movement's being picked up by a highly sensitive controller that can tell an index finger apart from a pinky or thumb.

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HP Jumps Back Into Tablets With The $169 Slate 7

Justin Kerr — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:29:38 +0000

HP releases the first of many tablets planned for 2013.

HP’s mishandling of the Palm acquisition will go down in history as one of the worst mobile plays in the history of technology, but the company has licked its wounds and is finally ready to give it another shot. Today, HP has announced its very first Android product: the Slate 7. The price tag on the company’s new tablet certainly catches the eye, however the specs leave much to be desired.

The HP Slate 7 runs a mostly stock version of Jelly Bean 4.1, and its dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A9 processor is powering a fairly underwhelming 1024 x 600 FFS+ 7” LCD display. HP promises the panel will feature wide viewing angles, and great low light performance, but we will have to take a wait and see approach on that one. The Slate 7 also features 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), and support for 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, along with Bluetooth 2.1.

Unlike the Nexus 7, and most other low end Android tablet competitors, the Slate 7 features both front and rear facing cameras. The VGA quality front sensor will allow for SD quality video calls, and the back camera will capture 3MP images if you’re in a pinch. The stainless steel frame of the Slate 7 is 10.7mm thick (0.42 inches), and weighs about 362 grams (0.8 pounds). The Slate 7 also features stereo speakers powered by Beats Audio, however the quality of this feature isn’t always consistent.

HP claims this is the first of many tablets to be released by the company in 2013, but it also plans to focus its portfolio only on the form factors that make sense.

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HP Cracks Down on Student Labor in Chinese Factories

Paul Lilly — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:21:20 +0000

In China, it's not usual for factories to pluck students from nearby schools to help with increased orders.

Heweltt-Packard, the world's largest supplier of PCs (just ahead of Lenovo), is demanding that its Chinese suppliers follow a new set of guidelines as it pertains to student labor. Factories in China have come under heavy scrutiny during the past couple of years due to complaints of labor violations, underage workers, and employee suicides, all of which are at least partially related to the rabid demand for electronic products from the likes of Apple, HP, and others.

According to a report in The New York Times, it's not uncommon for Chinese factories to commission high school and vocational school students during peak production periods. Students end up working long, tedious hours in a field that has nothing to do with their studies, often times without any choice in the matter.

HP is hoping to change that. The PC maker issued a new set of rules to its suppliers in China that says all work must be voluntary, and that students and temporary workers must have the freedom to leave the workplace at any time, with reasonable notice, and without negative repercussions. The new rules also say that any work performed by students "must complement the primary area of study."

Complying with the new rules is another story, though it should be easier for Chinese factories to abide by HP's guidelines, given that demand for its products stays relatively steady throughout the year, as opposed to Apple, which sees a large spike in demand any time a new product is launched.

Image Credit: Flickr (vernieman)

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PC Makers See Potential in Convertible All-In-One Form Factor

Paul Lilly — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 18:13:47 +0000

Windows 8 sparked an evolution in PC design, and even all-in-one PCs are trying something new.

I walked into my local Best Buy the other day, and as I always do, I headed straight for the PC section. To my semi-surprise, the floor space that was once dominated by desktop towers had been overrun by Ultrabooks, ultra-thins, all-in-one PCs, and tablets...lots of tablets. There were still a handful of desktops to be found, but they were tucked away in the corner next the restroom entrance -- boo! Like it or not, mainstream America is totally infatuated with these space saving designs, and with the introduction of Windows 8, convertible form factors are all the rage. Even the all-in-one (AIO) market isn't immune.

Citing sources from within the upstream supply chain, DigiTimes reports that AIO PC makers including Asus, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo, and Sony are all preparing to release convertible AIOs this summer.

There will be two major types of convertible AIO PCs. One design will allow the screen to lay completely flat for tabletop computing, which we saw from Lenovo at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, and the other will sport detachable displays for use as a giant tablet. We saw one of these from Asus, also during CES, in which an 18.4-inch IPS display detaches from the main system. When functioning as a tablet, it fires up an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but as an all-in-one, it runs Windows 8 on top of an Intel Core processor foundation.

Do you think there's a market for converitble all-in-one PCs?

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Windows 8 Debut Marred by "Soft" PC Shipments, HP Retains Lead Over Lenovo

Paul Lilly — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 17:01:08 +0000

Windows PC shipments declined 6.4 percent in Q4 2012.

Even though the fourth quarter of 2012 kicked off a new era in computing with the launch of Windows 8, it wasn't enough to prop up the PC market and save it from sluggish demand. In fact, the most recent holiday shopping season was the first in five years to see a year-on-year decline in PC demand, according to the latest data from International Data Corporation (IDC).

Worldwide PC shipments came to 89.8 million units in Q4 of last year, down 6.4 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011. It wasn't really a surprise to IDC, which predicted a "difficult" second half of 2012 due to rising demand for tablets and smartphones, along with uncertainty about the use of touch on Windows PCs.

"Although the third quarter was focused on the clearing of Windows 7 inventory, preliminary research indicates the clearance did not significantly boost the uptake of Windows 8 systems in Q4," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. "Lost in the shuffle to promote a touch-centric PC, vendors have not forcefully stressed other features that promote a more secure, reliable and efficient user experience. As Windows 8 matures, and other corresponding variables such as Ultrabook pricing continue to drop, hopefully the PC market can see a reset in both messaging and demand in 2013."

Slagging sales may have benefited HP, at least as it pertains to holding onto the top spot in PC shipments. IDC's figures have HP sitting in first place with a 16.7 percent share of the market, even though the company's PC shipments declined 0.6 percent compared to 2011. Lenovo, meanwhile, shipped 8.2 percent more PCs than last year and is breathing down HP's neck with a 15.7 percent share of the PC market. The rest of the lineup looks like this:

Dell: 10.6 percent
Acer: 7.8 percent
Asus: 7.2 percent
Others: 42 percent

Only Lenovo seems to have found the secret sauce in its formula for shipping PCs. The OEM outpaced the market and reached a record-high of more than 14 million units.

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CES 2013: HP Readies Line of Affordable Touch Laptops and IPS Monitors [Video]

Paul Lilly — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:45:57 +0000

HP is putting together a line of cost friendly touch-enabled laptops built around AMD.

The name of the game is affordability, and Hewlett-Packard is trying to win with a line of touch-enabled laptops that won't break the bank. The same is true of a new family of IPS monitors. As for the laptops, HP has chosen AMD as its running mate in the low(er) cost touch arena, which is not the least bit surprising when you look at AMD's track record in competing on the budget end. We had a chance to speak with a couple of HP reps about their products.

David Conrad walked us through a pair of HP Pavilion Sleekbooks, one with touch (TouchSmart) and one without. Both models were introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and are built around AMD's A-Series APU architecture. The TouchSmart is HP's most affordable option with touch and will be available to purchase on February 3 for $649. The non-touch version will start at $479. Have look below:

Reporting superstar and Online Editor Jimmy Thang also had a chance to speak with HP about its new line of IPS monitors. HP just launched a Paviliion Series that "does IPS at a consumer price point." There are models ranging in size from 20 inches (1900x600) to 27 inches (Full HD 1080p). IPS panels offer better viewing angles than TN panels, and they usually boast better image quality, but it's always come at a price. HP is trying to remove the price barrier with a starting price of just $130 for the 20-inch model, and $340 for the 27-inch display.

Have a look at HP's new monitors below, and be sure to check back often for more CES coverage and videos. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel (MaximumPCMag).

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Atom Powered Windows 8 Tablets Delayed Due to Driver Issue

Paul Lilly — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:19:25 +0000

The majority of Windows 8 tablets won't start shipping until 2013.

Wondering where all the Windows 8 tablets that were supposed to ship before the end of the year are hiding? It seems they've all been bitten by a driver bug, or at least the ones built around Intel's Atom Z2760 processor. The "Clover Trail" part is an energy efficient CPU that promises all-day battery life, but it's reportedly been challenging trying to code drivers that are stable enough to pass Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) testing.

That information comes courtesy of InformationWeek, which claims that Dell and other vendors have pushed the launch of Atom-based Windows 8 tablets until January, 2013. One of those tablets is Dell's Latitude 10, a 10.1-inch device that starts at $650. It' rocks the above mentioned processor, along with 2GB of memory, 64GB solid state drive (SSD), IPS display, and various other odds and ends. You can order one today, but the estimated ship date isn't for another month (January 22, 2013).

A similar situation exists for HP's x2 Envy. Pricing starts at $850 for the 11.6-inch tablet, which ships with a keyboard accessory that allows it to pull double-duty as a laptop. Like Dell's Windows 8 device, HP isn't planning to ship the device until next month, albeit a little sooner than Dell (January 9, 2013).

Microsoft's own Surface Pro tablet is also slated for January. The 16GB model will run $899 and the 128GB will start at $999.

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On the Surface, Microsoft's "Kludgey" Tablet is Hardly Competition, Says HP

Paul Lilly — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:42:41 +0000

Microsoft's hardware partners continue to take potshots at the company's Surface tablet. Last week, Acer warned Microsoft that delving into hardware is like "hard rice and "is not so easy to eat" (no joke, though something may have been lost in translation), and now HP is piling on the criticism, calling Surface a "slow" and "kludgey" solution. HP credited the press for hyping up a tablet that otherwise isn't very competitive.

"I'd hardly call Surface competition," Todd Bradley, head of HP's PC business, told IDG Enterprise in an interview, according to CiteWorld.com. "[Reason] one, very limited distribution. It tends to be slow and a little kludgey as you use it. It's expensive. Holistically, the press has made a bigger deal out of Surface than what the world has chosen to believe."

HP's last real attempt at the consumer tablet market was the ill-fated TouchPad, a promising webOS tablet that was perhaps priced too high to woo buyers away from the iPad. These days, HP is more focused on enterprise slates, and that isn't about to change.

"We're not entering the consumer tablet fray any time soon," Bradley added. "We'll be doing something next year, but you won't see a consumer tablet from HP before Christmas. You'll see convertibles that are focused on how you use the device, keyboard, clamshell."

Bradley also expressed interest in getting into the highly competive phone business, but hasn't yet formulated a strategy.

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HP Upgrades Linux Foundation Membership to Platinum, To Cough Up $500,000 Annually

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:05:26 +0000

Over the weekend, just as the crème de la crème of the Linux community were getting ready for the start of LinuxCon Europe 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, the Linux Foundation was busy securing a greater commitment to its cause from Hewlett-Packard. Hitherto a Gold member, the Palo Alto-based tech company, which boasts a number of Linux-based products in its portfolio, has decided to take its involvement with the Linux Foundation to the next level.

Hewlett-Packard has upgraded its Linux Foundation membership level to Platinum from Gold, the non-profit consortium dedicated to the promotion, protection, and improvement of Linux announced over the weekend. As a Platinum member, HP will have to part with $500,000 annually — until now it was paying $100,000 as a Gold member — in return for the right to sit on the Foundation’s board of directors alongside Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm Innovation Center, and Samsung.

“Linux is a strategic asset for all major technology companies. With our Linux Foundation Platinum membership, we will have a variety of ways to maximize our investment in Linux and collaborative development that advances our own business as well as greater industry innovation,” said Eileen Evans, Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Cloud Computing and Open Source at HP, in a press release.

Lenovo Wrestles PC Crown from HP; IDC Says Hold the Boat

Paul Lilly — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:04:59 +0000

If you've been paying attention to the PC wars, you've known for awhile it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Lenovo at some point would leapfrog Hewlett-Packard (HP) to become the world's top PC supplier. Well, one major research firm claims that's exactly what happened in the third quarter of 2012, while a second firm still has HP ranked No. 1. Sadly, one thing all the major bean counters agree on is that the PC market in general is looking pretty pathetic. Let's take a look.

According to Gartner's data, Lenovo took a slight lead over HP in Q3, shipping over 13.7 million PCs for a 15.7 share of the overall PC market. HP shipped more than 13.5 million PCs and dropped into second place with a 15.5 percent share. Dell (10.5 percent), Acer (9.9 percent), and Asus (7.3 percent) round out the top 5 spots.

Looking at the market as a whole, Gartner says PC sales are in a slump leading up to the release of Windows 8.

"A continuing slowdown in consumer PC shipments played a big part in the overall PC market decline," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The third quarter was also a transitional quarter before Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system release, so shipments were less vigorous as vendors and their channel partners liquidated inventory.

"Retailers were conservative in placing orders as they responded to weak back-to-school sales. By the end of September, retailers were focused on clearing out inventory in advance of the Windows 8 launch later this month," Kitagawa added. "On the professional side, there was minimum impact from Windows 8 in the quarter because the professional market will not adopt Windows 8 PCs immediately after the release."

IHS iSuppli's outlook on the PC market was even more grim, saying that even the normally busy back-to-school shopping season was a bust.

"There was great hope through the first half that 2012 would prove to be a rebound year for the PC market," said Craig Stice, senior principal analyst for computer systems at IHS. "Now three quarters through the year, the usual boost from the back-to-school season appears to be a bust, and both AMD and Intel’s third-quarter outlooks appear to be flat to down. Optimism has vanished and turned to doubt, and the industry is now training its sights on 2013 to deliver the hoped-for rebound. All this is setting the PC market up for its first annual decline since the dot-com bust year of 2001."

Yikes! As to the topic of Lenovo versus HP, IHS iSuppli didn't weigh in on the matter, but International Data Corporation (IDC) did. According to IDC's data, Lenovo does indeed own a 15.7 percent share of the market, just as Gartner reported, but said that still ranks No. 2 behind HP, which edged out its rival with a 15.9 percent share. HP may wish to cling to IDC's numbers so that it can still wave around its "We're No. 1!" flag, but for how long? In the third quarter of 2011, IDC had HP ahead of Lenovo by 4.3 percentage points (17.4 percent versus 13.1 percent), a lead that has now been reduced to two-tenths of a percent.

It's splitting hairs to argue over a fraction of a percent, especially when sales are so bad all around, even for Apple, which has seen its shipments erode in recent months.

"PCs are going through a severe slump," said Jay Chou, senior research analyst, Worldwide PC Tracker. "The industry had already weathered a rough second quarter, and now the third quarter was even worse. A weak global economy as well as questions about PC market saturation and delayed replacement cycles are certainly a factor, but the hard question of what is the 'it' product for PCs remain unanswered. While ultrabook prices have come down a little, there are still some significant challenges that will greet Windows 8 in the coming quarter."

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HP Struggles To Maintain its Hold Over PC Market: CEO Warns Investors 2013 Will Be Another Challenging Year

Justin Kerr — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 16:27:18 +0000

My favorite CEO adage by far is the tale of three envelopes. It is rumored that a new chief executive is presented with three envelopes by his predecessor. These notes of wisdom are designed to be opened in sequence in response to any serious crisis. The first letter directs the new leader to shift blame to the last CEO. The second envelope directs the CEO to re-organize and fire people. The last and final piece of advice on the third letter is to prepare three identical envelopes for the next guy. This urban legend may elicit a few snickers from the readers, but unfortunately for HP CEO Meg Whitman, it looks like she’s already cracked open two of her three envelopes.

The HP CEO had lots to say when she confronted shareholders last week, and in her most reassuring tone possible, was forced to report quarterly results that would drop the stock to a nine year low. To top it off, HP announced 2013 would be another restructuring year, and it would struggle to be profitable until 2014 at the earliest. So who’s to blame you ask? Well, according to Whitman: "The single biggest challenge facing Hewlett-Packard has been changes in CEOs and executive leadership, which has caused multiple inconsistent strategic choices, and frankly some significant executional miscues. This is important because as a result it is going to take longer to right this ship than any of us would like," she added.

HP is already at risk of losing its title as the world’s largest PC manufacturer to Lenovo, but could it get even worse? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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HP Intros ElitePad 900 Windows 8 Tablet, Touts Unique 'Smart Jackets'

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 05:38:35 +0000

Following the unmitigated disaster that was the TouchPad, Hewlett-Packard has kept a low profile in the tablet market, with the Windows 7-powered Slate 2 tablet PC being the only HP-branded tablet device to have hit the market since then. In August, John Solomon, senior VP of HP's Americas printing and personal systems division, said that the company’s Windows 8 tablet would pack “some unique intellectual property.” We now know what Solomon was talking about back then.

Hewlett-Packard is now all set to enter the Windows 8 tablet fray, having announced a 10.1-inch enterprise tablet on Monday. The ElitePad 900, as the upcoming Windows 8 tablet is called, is built around Intel’s “Clover trail” Atom SoC. The 1.5-pound Elitepad 900 has a CNC-machined aluminum frame and a Gorilla Glass 2-covered display.

But what really sets the ElitePad 900 apart from the competition, as per the company, is the “unique, productivity-enhancing ecosystem of HP Smart Jackets and additional accessories designed specifically for the HP ElitePad.” Smart Jackets are essentially snap-on cases designed to supplement ElitePad’s built-in capabilities; for instance, the ElitePad Expansion Jacket not only adds two USB ports, one HDMI port and an SD card slot, but also extends the device’s battery life well beyond the usual 10 hours to around 18 hours.

The ElitePad 900 packs a 1280x800 (16:10) display, 2GB of RAM, 32 or 64GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 8MP rear camera, 1080p front camera, card reader, NFC, GPS, and 3G/4G connectivity. With this Windows 8 tablet not scheduled to hit the market until January 2013, it’s no surprise that the company isn’t interested in revealing its price at the moment.

DisplayLink Adapters Demoed at IDF 2012. HDMI & DVI Over USB Becomes A Reality

Justin Kerr — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:55:31 +0000

PC Manufacturers are working day and night to shrink Ultrabooks into impossibly thin new form factors, and one of the casualties of this push has been output display options. VGA and DVI made way for mini display port and HDMI, however even these smaller connectors take up precious space. Even if your laptop sports one, what if you want more than one external display? The answer my friends is DisplayLink. The proliferation of USB 3 on Intel’s new chipsets is making outputting to multiple monitors over USB much more than a hack, this could well be the future.

Engadget snapped off some pictures of new offerings from EVGA, HP, Lenovo, and even Targus. Here is a quick run-down on each of the offerings.

EVGA UV Plus +39: HDMI or DVI at resolutions up to 2048 x 1152 for $85.

Lenovo: DVI only, support for resolutions up to 2048x1152 for $80

HP 3005pr: This bad boy turns one USB 3 port into four USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, along with one HDMI, and a DisplayPort. Amazingly it also offers an Ethernet jack, along with audio in and out connections for a mere $150.

Targus: Offers specs much the same as the HP model listed above, but swaps the DisplayPort for DVI. The $250 price tag is justified by adding the ability to charge 90w laptops using packed in universal adapters. This might be useful if you leave your power brick at the office.

The last two options come pretty close to being the ultimate docking station for a notebook, but these DisplayLink adapters could also come in handy for desktop users looking to add additional display’s without cracking open the case.

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