If all the restaurants in a food court make excellent fish soup, how can one restaurant differentiate its soup from the crowd? Can they win the competition by lowering their price?
In most cases, it is not feasible, as restaurants have to earn some profit. They have to pay their chefs, their cooks, their waiters and waitresses. They also have to pay the rent.
So, if everybody has access to the best ingredients, the freshest fish on the market and more or less the same recipe, what can be done to make one soup stand out? Well, it can be the way the soup is served. It can be the bowl that is used by the restaurant, the additional aroma of lemon leaves, etc.
Similarly, with every computer maker churning out notebooks with state-of-the-art technology nowadays, how can one vendor differentiate its products from the rest?
One way is to apply delightful design touches to the otherwise boring notebooks. That is exactly what HP has done to the latest generation of their notebooks, and it seems that they have done a great job.
The new HP notebooks were first launched at HP's Connecting Your World event in Berlin last June. Last week, HP introduced some of them to the press in Jakarta: HP Compaq Presario CQ20, CQ40 and CQ45, HP Pavilion dv4 and dv7 and the brand new line of HP HDX Premium Series 16 inch and 18.4 inch.
Frankly, in the recent past I had not found the designs of HP notebooks terribly appealing. Most were in black with some decoration here and there.
Of course, the more expensive ones had something admirable in terms of design, but they were targeted more to users with deep pockets. The new HP generation is different: Subtle design enhancements can be found across the entire range of new notebooks.
The Compaq Presario line is HP's offering for those who want affordability and good value. The Pavilion series, which range in price from US$1,000 to $2,000, have more entertainment features and have more overall capability.
The new HP HDXes, priced at $2,000 and up, are the premium notebooks that incorporate technologies we would expect from a top-class notebook.
Missing from the product launch were two premium lines, the brand new EliteBooks and the highly personalizable Voodoo lines. HP claims that the workstation-class EliteBook can achieve a full 24 hours' working time on its battery, and it demonstrates how the company is once again very serious in its R&D activities.
Also missing was the announcement of HP's fresh-from-the-oven notebook products, the HP Mini 1000 series. HP Indonesia promises the new notebooks will be brought into the country in the near future.
What is so special about HP's new generation of notebooks that has made them a pleasure to look at and use? First, there is the flushed Infinity Glass that covers the screen. HP uses a piece of glass to cover the entire TFT screen and its frame from edge to edge, making it appear as though the screen has no frame at all.
Next is the liquid metal sensation that all the keys in the keyboard have. I tried out the keyboards on the prototypes -- they only had mostly prototypes on display during the launch -- and found the keyboard was quite good for touch-typing.
Mesh imprints are also used to enhance the look of the notebooks. This results in a glossy surface that lasts quite a long time.
Actually, HP did in the past apply artistic touches to its products, but their re-emphasis on artistry pinnacled last year with a competition that it ran together with MTV. In the contest, young designers were invited to produce art for the skin of a limited edition 14-inch notebook.
Clearly, with the new focus on design, HP notebooks are no longer boring and gaudy. Even the Mini 1000 has a Vivienne Tam Edition with an art skin in bold red colors.
But this computer maker is not skimping on advanced features. For example, the Pavilions have HP ProtectSmart to protect the hard disk in case of a fall. They also have the latest Intel Centrino 2, large hard disks, lots of memory and a TV tuner.
The mid and high-end notebooks also feature discreet graphics from NVidia. If you prefer AMD ATI, the company will customize one for you. The HDX has additional features such as HP Triple Bass Subwoofer, a ScrollSmart remote control, a Blu-Ray drive -- the list can go on and on.
I am looking forward to the chance to review a demo unit soon so I can provide you with more details.
Earlier this year, FastCompany, one of my favorite tech and innovation magazines, put HP in its list of the world's 50 most innovative companies.
The freshness of the notebook designs provides good evidence of this. It is a much-needed accomplishment, as the company -- which ranks second after Acer in Indonesia -- has to face growing competition from other vendors such as Dell and Lenovo, who are also coming up with great notebooks with looks that please the eye.
Just be ready to be enthralled by them during the IndoComtech 2008 computer exhibition in JCC, Jakarta, from Nov. 12 to 16.
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