Those in the market for a business laptop (or, more likely, their IT departments) will hopefully notice a trend, starting with last week's new brushed-metal-look Dell Latitudesystems and this week's just-announced HP EliteBook 2530p and EliteBook 2730p, both of which feature a brushed, anodized aluminum exterior. HP calls it the DuraCase, and claims the combination of an aluminum lid and magnesium alloy chassis can meet military spec tests for extreme temperature, dust and humidity.
The EliteBook 2530p is a 12-inch laptop (although how "2530" relates to 12-inches is beyond us) that weighs as little as 3.19 pounds, with an LED display and a choice of either 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch hard drives, depending on a capacity you want. The EliteBook 2730p is a thin convertible tablet, also with a 12-inch LED display, and starts at 3.74 pounds.
Both systems support Intel's updated Centrino 2 platform, and include HP's QuickLook 2 software, which is a quick-booting pre-OS environment for checking your e-mail, calendar, and contacts, along with HP's standard business security tools, such as Drive Encryption, a built-in File Sanitizer, and a custom security management software interface.
Even though they're being announced on August 18, both the HP EliteBook 2530p and 2730p won't be available until early September. The 2530p will start at $1,499 and the 2730p at $1,670.
Discuss: New biz systems from HP's EliteBook line follow the 'lightweight' trend
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