The Zone

Howdy folks. HWM was recently invited to a regional product launch in Beijing courtesy of HP Malaysia and we sure liked what we saw

Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of being invited by HP Malaysia to attend its recent Consumer Fall Launch '06 in Beijing, China. Quite a number of products were launched, but I came away most impressed with these two. Check them out.

HP iPAQ RX4000 Mobile Media Companion

One of the two new iPAQs from HP (unfortunately, the other new iPAQ is under a NDA and we can't talk about it yet), the RX4000 Mobile Media Companion is quite a departure from the norm of PDA design. Trust me, its not the iPAQ you've grown to love/hate.

Looking more like a PMP than a PDA, the RX4000 is designed to be used predominantly in landscape mode with a useful scroll wheel on the top right corner for easy navigation. There are also no face buttons on the RX4000 if you're wondering.

Just like its Mobile Media Companion moniker suggests, the RX4000 is not really meant for power users or the business road warrior. I personally like to think of it as a PMP with Wi-Fi and Windows Mobile 5.0, except that it doesn't have a built-in HDD.

Key Features

• Samsung 400MHz processor
• 2.8" QVGA display
• 128 + 1GB (for RX4540) flash ROM, 64MB SDRAM
• 802.11b/g WLAN, Bluetooth 2.0

HP Pavilion Slimline S7500 PC

If you loved the idea of a Media Center PC but hated the look and size of one, you'll like the HP Pavilion Slimline S7500 PC which is about 1/3 the size of a conventional tower PC, and infinitely much better looking!

The reason HP managed to reduce the size of the S7500 is mostly because of the notebook components employed. It uses either a Celeron M 1.6Ghz or a Core Duo 1.6GHz with a 80GB/160GB 2.5" SATA HDD and integrated ATI Radeon Express 200M HyperMemory graphics. Windows XP Media Center is the default OS.

If you've also noticed, the S7500 can be customized with "skins" (reusable stickers) that you buy off the HP website. For just a bit more, HP said that you can even design your own graphics from the website, and have it printed and and delivered to your home. Nice.

For detailed coverage of these two products and more from HP's Consumer Fall '06 Launch, do check out the October issue of HWM when it comes out.