HP goes wide with new notebook

HP today launched its Compaq Presario Widescreen Notebook X1000, which includes a 15.4-inch wide aspect ratio display. HP says its widescreen display is 20% brighter and 33% wider (as well as an improved contrast ratio) than regular notebook displays. The display supports WUXGA (1,920 by 1,200 resolution), WSXGA+ (1,680 by 1,050) and WXGA (1,280 by 800).

The X1000 includes Intel Pentium M processors up to 1.6GHz, combined with the Intel 855PM chipset, HP says. Also included is the Intel PRO wireless 2100 802.11b mini-PCI card, with Bluetooth connectivity as an option. The notebook has up to 2G-bytes of DDR RAM, hard drives up to 80G-bytes and a choice of optical drives, including a 24x-speed CD-ROM, 8x-speed DVD, 24x-speed CD-RW/DVD combination drive or a DVD+RW drive. The notebook comes with a choice of the ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 with 64M-bytes (or 32M-bytes) of DDR dedicated memory, or an ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 32M-bytes of DDR memory.

The notebook includes three USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE 1394 port, an S-video out port, integrated 10/100 Ethernet, a 56K bit/sec. V.92 modem port, a Secure Digital / MultiMedia Card slot, and an eight-cell lithium-ion battery. It weighs 6.5-lbs. And measures only 1.3-inches thick. The notebook starts at $1,299 (after $100 rebate) and will be in stores in June, HP says. Go to the Compaq Web site for other ordering information.