My Blog: HP twirls out TouchSmart 610 and 9300 all-in-one PCs

Monday, February 7, 2011

HP twirls out TouchSmart 610 and 9300 all-in-one PCs

When almost every other computer manufacturer has copied its touchscreen all-in-one, what's a company like HP to do? Create a totally crazy pivoting and reclining one, of course! Yep, HP's newest TouchSmart 610 and 9300 Elite Business PC may look like typical 1920 x 1080-resolution, 23-inch all-in-ones when positioned upright, but that all changes when their screens recline up to 60 degrees or the entire body of the rig swivels around to do a 180. It's one seriously flexible AIO, but the new design isn't just about yoga-like tricks -- it aims to make touch interaction more comfortable and ergonomic, and on that vein HP has also updated its TouchSmart 610 consumer model with its latest TouchSmart software layer, which includes finger-friendly Hulu, Netflix, and Twitter apps as well as a TouchSmart Apps Center. The 9300 Elite Business all-in-one, as you may have caught from its name, is meant for enterprise and "customer spaces" (aka kiosks, counters, etc.), and thus only comes loaded with Windows 7.

Spec-wise, the 610 can be configured with Intel and AMD desktop processors, up to 16GB of RAM, a terabyte of storage, a Blu-ray drive, while its 1.3 megapixel camera and Beats Audio speakers come standard. Naturally, the 9300 has to keep up its professional reputation, and though it cuts out the Beats, it gains Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processors, a 160GB SSD option, and a higher quality two megapixel cam with facial recognition software. You know, for "enhanced security." So, when can you pick up one of these monsters? The $900 610 is expected to start shipping on February 9th, while the 9300 will hit in May for an undetermined price. We're hoping to bring you a full review of the 610 soon, but we can tell you from our early look at it that the viewing angles were sufficiently wide and the tilting mechanism fairly rigid. Man, it's already turning out to be quite a week for HP -- that webOS event is coming up on Wednesday, but in the meantime you'll want to hit the break for the full TouchSmart press release and a short video of the reclining mechanism in action.

Gallery: HP TouchSmart 610 and TouchSmart 9300 hands-on