HP preparing Pavilion HDX 20-inch gaming laptop?

It looks very much like HP is planning to release its first gaming laptop in the form of the 20-inch Pavilion HDX: the evidence being renderings which have appeared on electronista.com. Even though we've seen 20-inch monster laptops before, the HDX is quite a sight, with the extra width apparently being used to contain a Windows Media Center remote and a full size number pad. The launch date and pricing of the HDX isn't known, but the source suggests that it may be timed to coincide with the launch of the Santa Rosa Core 2 Duos which will be included in the HDX at 2.4GHz speeds, and possibly at an "factory-unclocked" frequency of 2.6GHz. This behemoth weighs in at a rather lean -- consider the competition -- 12-pounds, and "may" come with an 8800-series GeForce Go graphics card to grab those oh-so-elusive gaming PC credentials. Of course, this could all be one humongous fake, although with HP leaking like crazy in recent days, we're leaning on this being legit.

[Thanks, Jonathon]

[Dustin Frazier @ May 5th 2007 1:35PM]

Nope try again HP. You shifted the keyboard to the right when you should have left it on the far left for using w,s,a,d commands more comfortably. The mouse depression is also right under where part of your hand would need to rest for w,s,a,d. That too would make for uncomfortable gaming.

[Conrad Quilty-Harper @ May 5th 2007 1:38PM]

Seriously, who uses a trackpad for (serious) gaming?

[Neil @ May 5th 2007 1:49PM]

I agree with Conrad Quilty-Harper and as far as the WASD keys, I own a Dell M1710 gaming notebook and I would never dream of using the notebooks keyboard for gaming as notebook keyboards are so easy to damage. I use Ideazon's Fang for WASD controls, I can't imagine anyone who's serious enough about gaming to pay $3000 on a gaming notebook using the notebooks keyboard for FPS games.

[nizzy1115 @ May 5th 2007 2:02PM]

Why would it matter if you damaged your laptop's keyboard. They are very cheap to buy a replacement, and very easy to install. You make it sound like its worth its weight in gold...

[Neil @ May 5th 2007 2:16PM]

I guess I'd rather spend 25 bucks on a good feeling gaming controller rather risk damaging my notebook keyboard and have to wait for a new one to be shipped to me....to each his own I guess.

[Deezee @ May 5th 2007 2:24PM]

I want this laptop. NOW!

[Neil @ May 5th 2007 2:29PM]

I guess I'd rather spend 25 bucks on a good feeling gaming controller rather risk damaging my notebook keyboard and having to wait for a new one to be shipped to me....to each his own I guess.

Also my point was not about how much this cost, but if you're willing to pay $3000+ for a gaming notebook it means you want the best experience that you can get, and a notebook keyboard will never be the best keyboard a user can use.

[Michael La Framboise @ May 5th 2007 2:45PM]

I just don't get these "gaming" laptops... you need to constantly have an external keyboard, a mouse, speakers etc... Anyone who actually buys these laptops and expects to be taken as a serious/professional gamer is a complete fool, plus at 20" it stops being a laptop and just turns into a portable monitor w/ a pathetic battery life...

Instead of this constant rat race between companies for who will be the first to stick in a faster processor or a better video card they should just focus on cleaning up their existing lineup of dozens of useless models with no difference between one another... It seems like to them its quantity over quality... sigh... all the stupid fools who are responsible for all the crap thats coming from Dell/hp and a dozen other companies should be fired...

Oh and another thing; how in hell are you supposed to play games on this if it starts lagging the moment to turn it on for the first time because of all the adware/shitware/crapware/spyware/malware/dosware? :p

[Chris M @ May 5th 2007 3:06PM]

Michael La Framboise - most all of your points are moot excepting the last one.

Anyone worth his weight on an FPS uses headphones - firstly, but more importantly, you mean to tell me you don't need a keyboard and mouse for your desktop system? I'd much rather lug around a 12 pound powerhouse than my fully-fledged (much more than 12 pound) desktop system. LAN parties and such help cultivate this theory. The idea behind this isn't the usability of a laptop, it's just the portability. A gaming system you can take anywhere (as long as you have power and internet access).

Granted, as soon as I got one of these systems (assuming I ever did) I'd format it, install XP, and find and install all the drivers. Goes for a clean setup.

Chris

[Gus Gus the Great @ May 5th 2007 7:24PM]

You just pointed it out to be what it's meant to be. A portable keyboard and monitor with a computer's components inside. :P Silly.

[aStopperBy @ May 5th 2007 9:30PM]

Hmmm...it doesn't seem to me that hp has a lineup of dozens of useless models.

[andy @ May 5th 2007 4:20PM]

haha geeky pc gamers 'lan parties' for people that never go to actual parties

[Jedi Smurf @ Jul 19th 2007 6:05PM]

We might be geeks and whatnot, but don't dis our parties as being anything less than your own types of parties that you'd attend. Just because I don't get your type of prefered social gathering and you don't get ours doesn't mean either is any more or less pathetic than the other!!!

And, you can call us geeks, nerds, or whatever technically-advanced fun-making name you want - it's only offensive if we take offense, and usually we're more proud to be geeks and nerds and the like than that!

Now, commenting about the laptop, which is - I believe - the purpose of this article:

Why I'd buy it: "ultra-portable, high-end all in one machine." Add Gamer's input device(s) of choice and audio output device(s) of choice, set up network connection, and you're done!

Why I'd not buy it: too bloody much money! This might be a great price for the components, OS, etc. involved, but if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. The only other thing about this laptop (or any new computer purchase actually) that keeps me from buying a new (branded) system is, as another commenter put it, all the spyware and other malware previously installed from factory that runs in the background by default.

That's what I don't get about computer companies - they want to make a golly-gee-whiz computer and it might be the fastest, slickest thing out there at the time, but they install all this CRAPware on it sucking 30% or more of it's performance right off the bat.

That's what people should be complaining about - stop calling names!

[Muu @ May 5th 2007 4:21PM]

I don't understand the whole "add keyboard, monitor and mouse etc etc" to the desktop replacement idea, either. Might as well buy a desktop PC eh?

That's what I do anyways, got a relatively inexpensive (but media capable) Dell 9400 for trips where I can take a bigger notebook, a 700m for when I can't, and a desktop @ home.

[Zeus the God @ May 5th 2007 5:35PM]

@andy:

Yeah, and you sit here trolling the forums. At least we have friends.

Besides, LAN parties are great fun, and really aren't "geeky". I go to LAN parties quite a bit, but if you met me in real life, you wouldn't think that I'm that type of person. Those "computer nerd" stereotyping days are over.

On a final note, get a life.

[Michael La Framboise @ May 5th 2007 9:54PM]

ok, maybe not a dozen, but a good half of their laptops; ie all the t/z retardation - why not just make 1 (one) laptop, and let the owner pick the cpu speed after he picked the computer; and not try to present the same PoS laptop in multiple different views where there's almost no difference at all between the models...

[Scott @ May 6th 2007 8:40PM]

OK, close to Monday. :)

[Scott @ May 6th 2007 8:40PM]

Seems to have more audio specs posted on the HP Ireland site where it's already Monday: http://h41131.www4.hp.com/ie/en/feature_stories/story5270.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_IEEN

[Motel_Cowboy @ May 14th 2007 11:56AM]

The HDX is HP leveraging the synergy of the VoodooPC acquisition. VoodooPC continues, well funded, in isolation developing and retaining the high-ground of gaming technology,(note Envy W201), and HP makes Chinese knockoff(s) that blow everybody's mind at about 40% of the cost. Nice job Mr. Hurd!