HP's Bold new PC Designs - some interesting takes on the modern PC
It's been amazing to watch the evolution of the PC over the last 30 years or so. From early consoles style devices like the Apple II and Commodore Amiga through the TRS-80, IBM-PC, Compaq Luggable, just to mention a few.
But as commodification of the components became the norm and standards like ATX, Mini-ATX, Micro ATX motherboards came out, we ended up with this pretty common theme. Full height Tower, Mini Tower, SFF. There was a little bit of a revolution with the All-in-one that tried to eliminate the CPU "box" all together and more recently we seen the micro-PCs like the Apple Mini and Intel NUC.
Well today, HP at the IFA announced 2 new takes on PC Design. The first is called the Elite Slice. The Slice starts with a NUC style CPU in a 6.5" x 6.5" x 2" stylish square. Versus the NUC it comes complete with CPU, RAM, SSD, etc - so more of a complete system than the DIY Kit approach of the NUC. It takes it's look from the most recent HP High end laptops with gold/copper accents and a black matte finish.
But the cool part is the expandability. Want cool sound add a B&O speaker module that automatically integrates via USB-C connector. Need an Optical Disc Drive - add that too in the same way - in fact stack them up.
There are also plans for wireless charging via the top plate, so you can just lay your phone on top of the CPU and there you go.
Its the first real change in design we've seen in years and it's about time. It makes the good old desktop PC look and feel cool and meets the needs of many a modern user.
There's even a more business oriented edition focused toward Skype for Business that provide a conference speaker and audio controls with 15 foot range.
The second take is called the Pavilion Wave PC. Shaped a little like an Amazon Echo with a 360 Speaker and Fabric covered chassis, the Wave PC is designed around Cortana interaction along with Bluetooth streaming.
Bottom line is HP took some bold design steps with the traditional PC and came up with some new models that may actually create some interest with people.
Good to see.
But as commodification of the components became the norm and standards like ATX, Mini-ATX, Micro ATX motherboards came out, we ended up with this pretty common theme. Full height Tower, Mini Tower, SFF. There was a little bit of a revolution with the All-in-one that tried to eliminate the CPU "box" all together and more recently we seen the micro-PCs like the Apple Mini and Intel NUC.
Well today, HP at the IFA announced 2 new takes on PC Design. The first is called the Elite Slice. The Slice starts with a NUC style CPU in a 6.5" x 6.5" x 2" stylish square. Versus the NUC it comes complete with CPU, RAM, SSD, etc - so more of a complete system than the DIY Kit approach of the NUC. It takes it's look from the most recent HP High end laptops with gold/copper accents and a black matte finish.
But the cool part is the expandability. Want cool sound add a B&O speaker module that automatically integrates via USB-C connector. Need an Optical Disc Drive - add that too in the same way - in fact stack them up.
There are also plans for wireless charging via the top plate, so you can just lay your phone on top of the CPU and there you go.
Its the first real change in design we've seen in years and it's about time. It makes the good old desktop PC look and feel cool and meets the needs of many a modern user.
There's even a more business oriented edition focused toward Skype for Business that provide a conference speaker and audio controls with 15 foot range.
The second take is called the Pavilion Wave PC. Shaped a little like an Amazon Echo with a 360 Speaker and Fabric covered chassis, the Wave PC is designed around Cortana interaction along with Bluetooth streaming.
Bottom line is HP took some bold design steps with the traditional PC and came up with some new models that may actually create some interest with people.
Good to see.
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