HP Unveils Vista-Ready PCsHP Unveils Vista-Ready PCs

Maybe the PC isn't a commodity after all. Hewlett-Packard today introduced new desktops, laptops, and workstations that aim to solve its customers' mobility, security, and management challenges and stimulate a new wave of hardware spending. HP is also priming the pump with "Vista-capable" computers that hit the market as Microsoft puts the finishing touches on its most significant operating system launch in more than a decade.

The HP Compaq dc7700, dc5700, and dc5750 desktop PCs feature HP ProtectTools security manager software and a Trusted Platform Module 1.2-embedded security chip. The dc7700, which is available now and starts at $643, can also be ordered with an Intel vPro microprocessor, chipset, and software designed to increase computer uptime, better secure PCs from viruses, and cut down on energy consumption while maintaining speed. Both the dc7700 and dc5700, coming this fall, are available with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, which enable faster interprocessor communication. The dc5750, which hits the market within the next few months, furthers HP's commitment to providing AMD-based alternatives to Intel PCs.

New HP notebooks announced Wednesday include the HP Compaq 9400, 8400, nx7400, nc6400, 6300, and 4400 series. The 9400 and 8400 series also feature Intel's Core 2 Duo processors for users who run multiple applications simultaneously on their desktops. Pricing for the new notebooks ranges from $849 for the nx7400 to $1,479 for the 4400 tablet.

HP's product launch was notably casual, a style also apparent in the company's latest advertising push, which focuses less on the hardware and more on the user. This is a calculated move as HP works to pry Dell's firm but loosening grip on the desktop market. Big businesses are incredibly loyal when it comes to their PCs. Unless a vendor really screws up, a customer is unlikely to drop them in favor of a competitor with a slightly different product. But that hasn't stopped Dell, HP, or Lenovo from trying to get computer buyers to stray.

When HP bought Compaq in 2002, it had its sites set on creating a tech juggernaut that could more easily tango with IBM. As it turns out, HP's biggest step forward has recently come in its fight with Dell for PC supremacy. Poor customer service, recalled batteries, and a hesitancy to embrace AMD chips have caught up with Dell, and HP has its knives sharpened with this latest wave of PCs.

Relatively new mobility and security features, combined with businesses' increasingly mobile workforces and concerns about malware and intruder attacks, are likely to fuel interest in new, improved PCs. Companies are looking for extended battery life, a durable chassis, and security features. The challenge for PC makers is convincing potential customers that their latest products tackle these challenges in innovative, not to mention cost-effective and easily manageable, ways.

All commercial HP notebooks, desktops, and workstations will now ship with a preloaded HP OpenView Configuration Management agent, designed to help improve operating system deployment and migration, patch management, software deployment, software usage metering, and configuration management capabilities. All new HP PCs are also Vista-capable, which means they have the minimum memory and processor capabilities required to run the 64-bit operating system, which will debut for businesses in November and for consumers in January.

HP's ProtectTools security manager software lets users create a single screen that consolidates management of all anti-malware and other security applications, regardless of vendor. Users see a listing of security software in their environment and can click on a link to software to pull up a management interface. "Think about all of the different types of security applications there are out there," Vali Ali, an HP distinguished technologist who specializes in commercial notebooks, said Wednesday. "HP has a responsibility to help end-user administrators manage these applications."

PC vendors are trying to use new security features to sell more of their products, but it's a tough sell, says Simon Yates, a research director with Forrester Research. Customers are hesitant to deploy any features that make PC management more complex, even though it's in their best interest to tackle security head on. "It becomes an operational issue" for IT departments, he says. "But something has to change."

Many companies are at the tail end of a PC refresh cycle that began in 2003, Yates says, adding that he expects a bit of a slowdown in PC sales for 2007 as companies prepare for Vista implementations that are still one or two years away. Research firm IDC, however, is bullish on sales of PCs, monitors, printers, and other peripherals, forecasting that they'll continue to make up more than half of the worldwide hardware spending through 2010, which amounts to $1.4 trillion between 2007 and 2010.