HP unveils Ultrabook targeting the Enterprise

Today HP has unveiled its first business-class ultrabook - the EliteBook Folio 9470m, at HP’s Global Influencer Summit 2012 in Shanghai, since the company intends to associate style and substance with it. The ultrabook has a smart and light design which targets to hit into the current market trend though still equipped with enterprise as well as security features.

The Folio 9470m, runs on Intel’s 3rd generation Ivy Bridge processors with a 14-inch screen and is 19mm thick, weighing around 1.58 kg. It contains

16GB of RAM with an option of 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD. It offers a bunch of ports and connectivity choices for business customers, comprising optional built-in wireless WAN, full-sized Ethernet, VGA, DisplayPort and USB 3.0 connections. It comes pre-loaded with MS Windows 7 Professional, with an option to upgrade to Windows 8 later.

According to HP, the Folio 9470m has a battery life of up to 20 hours and also comes with a secondary battery that attaches to the base for extended power usage making it ideal for mobile professionals who spend much of time away from their desks.

From the security viewpoint, the ultrabook has an integrated smart card reader, fingerprint reader, embedded TPM security chip along with an option of management tools. With the inclusion of HP Bios Protection, it provides enterprise-class manageability and multilevel security like features.

In a keynote address, James Mouton - SVP of personal computing at HP’s Global Business Unit, said that: 

“We are looking to bring out designs that deliberately push on the idea of classic consumer and enterprise needs”.

“The new HP Elitebook Folio has a more compelling, sleeker design, but security is still the utmost thing. We think this is a nice way to sexy-up the core.”

The product is likely to be available by Q4, this year, along with a shipment of HP Premier Image business software and antivirus protection.

The Folio was amongst a selection of ultrabooks publicized at HP’s Global Influencer Summit. The HP Spectre ultrabook, focused mainly at the consumer and executive market, targets to appeal style-conscious consumers, because of its slimmer design and all-metal case. It has got a 13.3-inch HD screen with just 14.5mm thickness and weighs around 1.39kg.

At the same time, the HP ENVY ultrabook is available in 14-inch and 15.6-inch versions, and  provides features like soft-touch, slip-resistant base, dual speakers and a subwoofer for movies and music lovers.

Both the ultrabooks use Intel’s Rapid Start Technology (RST) for quick boot and resume times as well as Intel’s Smart Connect Technology (SCT), which automatically updates the email when the device is in sleep mode. They also comprise HP Beats Audio, CoolSense technology to optimize performance and cooling, Imagepad for multi-finger touch and gesture navigation and TrueVision HD Webcam to produce true bright HD images.