HP Blackbird 002 Dedication Edition goes on sale today

Let's hope you have a few dozen credit cards primed and waiting, because at 2PM EDT today, HP is letting loose its limited run of 518 HP Blackbird 002 Dedication Edition PCs. You can score one of the sexy / powerful / spendy machines for $5,500. That price gets you an overclocked Intel Core Exreme QX6850 processor, dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultras, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB 10,000rpm HDD and a 500GB 7200rpm drive, liquid cooling for the CPU and GPUs, a Voodoo Razer mouse and keyboard, and decent bundle of games to get you started. If this doesn't quite sound like your style, you can always hold out until october, when configurable machines will become available, ranging from $2,500 to $7,100 in price.

[JDizzle @ Sep 15th 2007 1:13PM]

OMG That's hardcore. Now lemme go on Newegg and see how much I can make it cost without the fancy schmacy case.

[Flyy (NDF - Earth Ring) @ Sep 15th 2007 2:05PM]

I just checked it out and using identical parts, and the Antec p182 (I'm assuming it to be similar, it rings up to just over $4k.

Now I don't know if this comes with that Blu-ray RW/HDDVD ROM, but that's not even on Newegg and would add at least another $500. Also, if the preconfigured comes with a monitor (I'd say at least a 24"), it cost just about $5k on Newegg.

Even if it doesn't have the Blu-Ray/HDDVD or the monitor, factor in the custom watercooling job and the factory-warrantied overclock and you can see why this is actually a decent deal for those who aren't so DIY inclined.

[paragraph @ Sep 17th 2007 1:07PM]

face it, it's a voodoo in hp clothing.

the only reason you buy a voodoo: street-cred/bling

it's like comparing an enzo ferarri to a vette. Both will hit 100 without any effort, but only one's a ferarri. Now image if ferarri and chevy were owned by the same parent company, and there was a chevy enzo, or something like that, would you buy the one with the horse, or the one with bow-tie.

Honestly, this is for the gamer with surplus cash, but not enough to buy a FNW or Voodoo... it's an alienware with not so many letters.

if the pricetag were reasonable, i still wouldn't jump on it. HP tech support may be good if you forgot where the power button is on your computer, but when your 8800gtfo blows up in your face, who ya' gunna call? (ghostbusters?)

anyway, if you're someone who wants a good computer, with a pretty case (and i really don't see anything sexy about it other than the gfx), but don't want to build it, and you have a lot of money laying around, i guess it's good... kinda

[Kal-El @ Sep 15th 2007 1:14PM]

DO WANT

[jroc @ Sep 15th 2007 1:17PM]

If it crashes will it say "blackbird/hawk down"?

[ethana2 @ Sep 15th 2007 6:07PM]

Crash? Wha--
Oh wait..

Hey, do those GPU's have good linux drivers?

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 15th 2007 1:31PM]

For that price make it 4GB of RAM and we'll talk.

[lordelesar @ Sep 15th 2007 1:49PM]

That's right...Plus another 160g raptor and raid 0.

[paul34 @ Sep 15th 2007 1:54PM]

Exactly. I was a little shocked to see they included "only" 2 GB of RAM. I have 2 GB on my current, definitely no longer good for modern games system.

I'd say that especially with Vista, 4 GB will be the minimum requirement for systems that want to do more than just check e-mail or get on myspace (although all those .gif animations and flash things people put on their profiles almost NEED 4 GB of ram... sheesh)

[PeterF @ Sep 15th 2007 1:31PM]

2GB? Thats it?

[TeddyN @ Sep 15th 2007 1:54PM]

Yeah, there was a time when 2Gb spelled luxurious, but nowadays it seems that it's the bare minimum for high-end gaming.

[Philometalist @ Sep 15th 2007 1:41PM]

WoW it's ridiculously overpriced.

[Ellianth @ Sep 15th 2007 3:34PM]

Kinda like apple products :p.

I Kid i kid!! I wish they would sell the case seperately. :'(

[Philometalist @ Sep 15th 2007 6:03PM]

Well considering I could buy 2 stock Mac Pro's with the money it takes to buy one of these I think it's pretty obvious this baby definitely has a super premium price tag.

It would be nice if they just sold the case though..

[Gene @ Sep 15th 2007 7:26PM]

I agree with Ellianth... That case is drop dead sexy! Wow... why can't case manufacturers do something like that.
GR

[Elisha Adeagbo @ Sep 15th 2007 1:43PM]

sweeeeet

[Evan Parker @ Sep 15th 2007 2:06PM]

You can build this cheaper yourself? No way! Good going, detective!

As boutique PCs go, this one actually isn't terrible. The Dell XPS series charges a bit more for a similiar system with a design that isn't as nice, in my opinion.

These PCs are good for people who want their Bentley. Sure, you can get a BMW with the same power for cheaper, but it's not a Bentley. You'd do the same thing if you had enough money, I know I would, I'm sick of throwing together systems myself.

[Keith Alan Landry @ Sep 15th 2007 2:21PM]

Uuuuugly!

[quahogian @ Sep 15th 2007 2:22PM]

it all looks great, but right after visualizing that as soon as I buy it the value of it goes down at least 20% right off with consecutive 10% monthly value drop, leaves a very bitter aftertaste.

[Flyy (NDF - Earth Ring) @ Sep 15th 2007 2:28PM]

Oh who in their right mind would buy something that depreciates as fast as that?

/sarcasm

[Kevin @ Sep 15th 2007 2:35PM]

Finally, a computer on the market that gets above a 4.8 on the Vista experience index.

[mike @ Sep 15th 2007 5:27PM]

The rig i built last week for 1,100 bucks gets a 5.6...

Asus Crosshair mobo
6400+ x2 black edition
4 Gigs xms
BFG OCed edition 8600
500 gig wd.

hells yea tis so sexy for the price.

[ethana2 @ Sep 15th 2007 6:08PM]

Well, Vista only gets an 0.6 on the Ubuntu experience index, but okay.

[Invisiblemoose @ Sep 15th 2007 2:38PM]

Am I silly to assume that the majority of Engadet readers build their own rigs...?

[granny down east @ Sep 15th 2007 3:37PM]

Nope! Some do. In 1999 I put together a rig that my husband still uses at the office.
But not being a total geek, it is a pain to maintain and prob'ly is costing more to keep it alive than it would be to just go get a Dell.

I don't consider myself a techie, just someone who can learn and enjoys the experience of using something I built. Is that typical of the readers here? Who knows.

[orlando2483 @ Sep 15th 2007 2:42PM]

Back off you MIDDLE CLASS people. If you can't afford luxury, go buy an E-machine or something.

[Flyy (NDF - Earth Ring) @ Sep 15th 2007 2:52PM]

Or if you asked Sony: Get a second job!

[Boris A @ Sep 15th 2007 2:43PM]

Actually the new 24" iMacs get a total of 5.0 on the Vista experience index. :)

[ethana2 @ Sep 15th 2007 6:13PM]

Like, running Vista? ..because any other OS has an immediate advantage...

'course, OSX doesn't count until it runs on hardware I can go out and put together myself.

[Murc @ Sep 15th 2007 3:45PM]

I love this pc.

If only I had the money.....

[szamot @ Sep 15th 2007 4:41PM]

apparently they will be on eBay in 2 years for about $999.00 that's a lot of money to waste to play err - video games.

[Wayne of Spades @ Sep 15th 2007 5:54PM]

I wish they would just sell that case. Wishful thinking, I know, but nonetheless...

[Jason @ Sep 15th 2007 7:50PM]

Wow... I'm a self-system builder, but that makes me drool. I wonder if there's a way to score the case, by itself...

[Joey Geraci @ Sep 15th 2007 9:21PM]

This is actually a very good deal compared to pretty much anybody, but it is absolutely insane that it only has 2 GB of RAM. 4 GB is so cheap nowadays, I can't even imagine not putting that on a system with 2 8800 ultra's. Don't know what their thinking.

[KiraXD @ Sep 15th 2007 9:21PM]

but will it be able to run Crysis.

[PineRoot @ Sep 15th 2007 10:35PM]

Beautiful.

[Chris @ Sep 15th 2007 10:56PM]

Pretty sweet

[moe @ Sep 16th 2007 2:04AM]

morons, they are not going to install vista 64 bit and there is not a single game or program that requires more then 2gb ram and there won't be for several years yet. what they failed to say was that the retail final version of this system coming in october will be 1000.00 more and that this is a steal unless you can build your own.

[Miguel @ Sep 16th 2007 3:40AM]

What is up with the "only 2 GB" complaints? Assuming they install a 32-bit copy of Vista, the system isn't capable of addressing more than 4 GB of memory. When you factor in the on-board memory of the video cards (768 MB each), the computer is addressing 3.5 GB of RAM. You want them to drop a 512 MB RAM chip in there for what purpose? The difference in throughput between that and the 2-GB DIMMMs would probably hurt performance more than help it. This machine is sexy, and really has nothing against it--save that two 8800 Ultras is overkill in its own right. Scrap one card and give me another GB of system memory.

[Ryhan @ Sep 16th 2007 1:44PM]

screw u spammer

[Rainsford @ Sep 16th 2007 5:35PM]

It doesn't seem to come with a monitor or a blu-ray drive. Let's also not forget that buying an 8800 ultra is a waste of money anyways, and a q6600 can OC to 3.6ghz on air, so seems like a lot of useless upgrades.

[Barry @ Sep 17th 2007 11:36AM]

Just so you guys know, the dedicated edition (only making 518 of these) of this puppy is way better looking, esthetically speaking. Hardware, wise? I don't think there is a difference...

check it out on hp's website.

[Joey Geraci @ Sep 18th 2007 8:59AM]

the "only 2 GB" comments come from the fact that a system with this level of hardware should come with 4 GB, guaranteed. It would be like pairing a 1.8 Ghz Core 2 Duo with those graphics cards, just doesn't make any sense.

[Brian Lorenzo @ Sep 18th 2007 4:16PM]

Yes, but can it run Crysis?....

[DaveG59 @ Sep 20th 2007 2:57PM]

I got a demonstration of Blackbird and it's an amazing (innovative) system in many ways...everything you would want in a machine.

Here's a couple of links to podcasts that discuss Blackbird in detail:

http://www.podtech.net/home/category/hp-technology-for-better-business-outcomes
http://www.podtech.net/home/4003/hps-mckinney-says-blackbird-002-will-soar-2