“I don’t know what’s HP.”

You’d probably think that this statement is from an Apple fanboi being all snobbish and insisting that they’re the only gadget brand in existence worth bothering about.  But in actual fact, this very line was uttered by none other than HP’s CEO Meg Whitman.

So is Whitman belittling her company?  No.  That statement was allegedly made while looking through HP’s laptop portfolio and the CEO noticed that there’s no unifying look in the company’s offerings.  Nothing that jumps up to consumers and say “I’m an HP laptop,” apart from the logo on the lid of course.  So what Whitman wants is something that differentiates the company’s laptops from the rest of the horde.  Thus, the company’s redesigning of its flagship Envy and Pavillion laptops.

Last year, HP decided to reinvent its thin and light line with a slimmer, more wedge-like look, with recessed hinges, and revamped touchpads.  Now, Whitman wants the slim and wedge look to be the unifying design of all HP laptops, from the cheap ones to its most expensive offerings.

The idea is good.  HP wants something that would immediately identify its laptops as their own, even if you don’t see the brand.  The problem is, if everything looks the same, would this entice consumers to purchase an expensive laptop that looks a lot like the cheaper model?  Also, how could the devices stand out from the rest when they all look the same?

Revamped HP Laptops

HP Envy Series

The Envy TouchSmart 14 Ultrabook will be offered in three versions, one with a 3,200 x 1,600 display that could compete with the Chromebook Pixel or the Retina Display MacBook Pro; a low-end version with a 1,366 x 768 panel; and something that falls in the middle with a 1,600 x 900 display.  Its starting price is $699, we presme for the low resolution version.

The Envy TouchSmart 15 is priced starting at $529 and will come with a 15.6-inch 1080p screen with AMD and Intel processors powering it.  It also comes with four speakers instead of two and a subwoofer for impecable audio quality.  The device will be arriving on June 5.

The Envy 17 features a 17.3-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 screen, Haswell processors, NVIDIA graphics, 2TB of storage, Beats Audio, four speakers and a dual-drive subwoofer.  Pricing starts at $699 and these will also go on sale on June 5.

Pavilion series

The Pavilion 11 TouchSmart features an 11-inch, 1,366 x 768 display, a choice of A4 or A6 AMD processors, has a 10-point capacitive touchscreen (though buyers can opt out of the touchscreen craze if they want), an aluminum palm rest, replaceable battery, VGA and HDMI output, SD reader, Ethernet jack and three USB ports.  IT will go on sale  on June 16 with a $399 price tag – a pretty cheap for a device with a huge touchscreen.

The HP Pavilion 14, 15 and 17 Notebooks come with either a AMD or Intel processor, 1TB of storage, 1,366 x 768 , and at launch, only the 15 will be available with a touchscreen.  The Notebooks will be available on June 5 with the 14 priced at $479, the 15 at $429 and the 17 at $449.

New Intel PCs

Aside from unveiling redesigned laptops, HP also announced a new all-in-one desktop/table/tablet PC-type gizmo (whatever it is) dubbed the “HP Rove 20”. This whopping great slab of a device features a mammoth 20-inch touchscreen that supports 10-finger multi-touch, Intel integrated graphics and Haswell processors, a built-in battery that lasts up to three hours when unplugged, Beats audio, runs Windows 8, and be fixed to a stand at a variety of angles that suits your needs.  Basically it’s HP’s answer to Lenovo’s equally enormous Ideacenter Horizon tablet PC, and should be available to buy in July.  The price of this monstrosity has not yet been disclosed.

The HP Pavilion TouchSmart 20 and 23 all-in-one PCs were also introduced and feature five-point optical touchscreens, widescreen displays, new processors from both Intel and AMD, 2TB of storage, comes with HP TrueVision WebCams, and come with free 25GB Box cloud storage for US consumers.  The 20 will be available on June 23 for $620 while the 23 will sell for $750 on June 5.

Other desktop PCs arriving on June 5 are the HP Envy Phoenix 800 priced at $1,100, HP Envy 700 for $600, HP Pavilion 500 priced at $490, and the low-end HP Pavilion Slimline 400 costing $400, and the HP 110 for just $290.