Hewlett-Packard's decision to keep its PC business means the world's largest PC maker is here to stay. So, what makes HP so big? To get an idea, here's a quick overview of its marquee PC lines.

HP ships a lot of PCs. More than Apple, more than Dell. It does this by having a broad line of PCs blanketing the business and consumer markets.

EliteBook: This is the high-end of HP's business laptops. Most EliteBooks are designed to meet military standards (MIL-STD-810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and high temperature. And are typically clad in aluminum. … Read more

The humble hard disk drive may become a more precious commodity in the coming months, according to analysts and Apple.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made this very clear this week in the company's earnings conference call, referring to the impact of the floods in Thailand. "Like many others, we source many components from Thailand and have multiple factories that supply these components. There are several factories that are currently not operable, and the recovery timeline for these factories is not known at this point," he said.

Cook continued. "We would say that our primary exposure is … Read more

commentary One of Steve Jobs' most fitting broadsides from a soon-to-be-released biography is targeted at Hewlett-Packard's management.

So, without further ado: "Hewlett and Packard built a great company, and they thought they had left it in good hands," Jobs told Walter Isaacson in the book "Steve Jobs," which is set to be published Monday.

"But now it's being dismembered and destroyed," Jobs said. "I hope I've left a stronger legacy so that will never happen at Apple," he added.

That's the perfect rejoinder to Wall Street analysts and … Read more

Hewlett-Packard increased its share of global PC shipments in the third quarter, maintaining its No. 1 ranking, while Apple made sharp gains in the U.S. market.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 91.8 million units in the third quarter of 2011, a 3.2 percent increase from the third quarter of 2010, according to preliminary results by Gartner released today.

HP grew faster than the industry average globally, with its market share reaching 17.7 percent (see top chart)--despite announcing in the middle of the quarter that it may spin off its PC business, according to Gartner. HP also … Read more

Hewlett-Packard has a Rolodex of business PC customers that rivals would kill to have.

Fortunately, Tuesday's news that HP may not spin off its PC business means cooler, wiser heads are prevailing.

HP executives must know the obvious. That Dell, Lenovo, and increasingly Apple are happy to pick off its high-value Fortune 500 customers in the midst of uncertainty. Those are the customers who buy the pricier HP business PCs (EliteBooks, ProBooks etc.) and often purchase the even pricier servers that the PCs are tethered to.

And HP's fast fact page makes the nexus between business PCs and … Read more

Hewlett-Packard appears to have made the TouchPad available for sale a couple of times today--albeit, very briefly, according to a report. That would be the first time in more than a month that the tablet--liquidated back in August for $99--was offered for sale by HP.

The first instance happened this morning when the 32GB model was available for $249.99, according to a report at Precentral.net. And it went up again later in the day, Precentral said. In both instances it quickly became unavailable. Maybe more importantly, a number of commenters cited glitches when trying to purchase a TouchPad, … Read more

As Hewlett-Packard mulls the fate of its PC operations, this is a good opportunity to contrast HP's ultraportable workhorse with Apple's popular MacBook Air.

Just before the news broke about Hewlett-Packard considering a spin-off of its PC operations, I received an EliteBook 2560p from HP to try out. Call it uncanny. Or, better yet, call it an opportune time to take a high-end HP laptop for a spin and compare two competing design philosophies from two of the most successful--and biggest--computer companies in the world.

And, yes, I wondered for a moment if this was the last opportunity to handle a new HP-branded laptop. But that thought quickly vanished. HP Executive Chairman Ray Lane has said--as recently as Thursday--that the $40 billion PC operations will either be spun off as an "HP branded" company or kept inside.

With that preamble, let's get down to business. First, some quick notes about the EliteBook 2560p. Among the business models announced in the last six months or so, the 2560p is the closest that HP gets to the Air. (Some might argue that the ProBook 5330m or Pavilion dm1 are closer, but I'm sticking with the 2560p as the best point of comparison for reasons cited below--besides, that's all I've got to work with.)

(Note: this is not a formal review but general impressions of the 2560p after using it for about three weeks. And also note that I am not comparing it to the latest MacBook Air with Intel Sandy Bridge chips inside. I'm sure the MacBook faithful will cry foul on that account. My everyday machine is the MBA spec'd below.) … Read more

Hewlett-Packard is facing pressure to keep its PC business inside the company according to an Asia-based report.

Growing concern about the fate of HP's PC unit is pushing "channel operators" to switch their orders from HP to brands such as Dell, Acer, and Lenovo, according to a report in Digitimes, citing sources.

The report names Acer as a major beneficiary of the shift.

HP's Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) partners, including Quanta Computer, Inventec, Wistron, and Foxconn Electronics, will "regain...confidence" in HP if it decides not to spin off its PC business, the report … Read more

In a conference call Thursday, HP Chairman Ray Lane and newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman reaffirmed HP's commitment to hardware .

Ray Lane--who is now executive chairman, a more active position than his previous role as nonexecutive chairman--began the conference call by stating that "as an active member of HP's board of directors for the past 8 months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and our markets...as an executive chairman I will partner with Meg and support her as she leads the management team to improve execution and enhance accountability."

Whitman began by addressing … Read more