HP re-entering the gaming laptop market?

According to softpedia.com HP is rumored to be working on a Gaming laptops.

Article:

According to a new tip provided by @evleaks, "HP is gearing up to launch a gaming laptop that aims to compete with Dell’s Alienware lineup.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the device will come equipped with an Intel Core i7-4712MQ CPU and boasting one of NVIDIA’s latest GeForce GTX 860M graphic cards.
So far, details about the device have been quite scarce, but I can also tell you that the speakers will run up sides of the keyboard and there’s going to be configurable lighting controlled by built-in software.
The leak mentions HP should be ready to launch the product on the market this fall and if priced right it could stand a chance at stirring customers away from the Alienware bunch.
A few months ago, Dell updated the Alienware 17-inch and 18-inch models, adding NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M / 860M and Radeon R9 M290X GPU options. The gaming notebooks also bring about Intel Core “Haswell” i7 processor, 1080p displays, up to 32GB of RAM memory and traditional drives plus optional mSATA solid state storage."

HP Gaming Laptop with Intel Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M in the Works

I was a bit skeptical at first. But I did more research, and I saw that Computer upgrade king who has a working relationship with HP posted this on their website:

Upcoming HP 17" Gaming notebook:

Product info: HP is set to release a brand new 17" Gaming Laptop with the latest Intel and NVIDIA technology. This new powerful gaming laptop will be released later this year

Specs
Item Condition New
Handling Time (Days) 2
Display 17.3" Full HD
CPU / Processor Intel Core i7 Quad Core Processor
Graphics Card nVIDIA 800 Series Dedicated Graphics Card
Weight 10 pounds

Estimated Availability: October 01, 2014

Starting at: $1,600.00

http://cukusa.com/upcoming-hp-17-inch-gaming-laptop.html

 

Hm.. I hope it has something unique to it.

 

HP have a lot of work to do, they have let their standards slip over the last few years. The quality control is just not there, I have opened multi products of the same model only the find several faults. Depending on model some of HP keyboards are really poorly designed. Display panels uses are mostly sub-par.

Dells Alienware are pretty solid design, pretty much we'll thought out for a main stream consumer releases.

HP really have to step it up. I know they have some good parts in their inventory that are used on various models, they may need to combine some to these. Most critically they need to build a chassis that works, looks good, cools well, and a keyboard worth gaming on.

Btw. Using a 860M in a 17" notebook is a waste of time, good for 15" notebooks although.

 

Well said.

HP refuses to offer a top tier GPU in anything they make. This has been their way for years. So unless they up their game in this department, they really wouldn't be competing with Alienware.

 

860m? gaming? alienware? eh....

Just bring the real envy back. ~

The zbook does have the highest tier GPU , with a cute list price.

 

If they are using an i7 4712mq and 860m they probably should have gone with thin and slim instead of a 10 lb tank. As far as I know there is currently no thin laptop with the combo of the 4712 and a maxwell 860m, probably the most ideal combo to keep heat as low as possible while keeping performance comprobable. A 10 lb tank doesn't care about having the 4710mq+ and 870m+ though, so those cooler parts are wasted IMO.

 

... with quality control...

LOL. Granted. Their business lines tend to be top of class in many regards with a commensurate price.

Consumer lines? Not so much. The best consumer notebook they ever made was the HDX 9000. But even that didn't have the top GPU. They went with an 8800M GTS instead of the 8800M GTX. All the while the HDX had a cooling system that could have handled the 8800M GTX.

 

The new Envy 15-q for 2014 (i7-4712HQ and 850M) which is just a slight refresh of the Envy 15-j from 2013.

With the 15-q the processor which is a i7-4712HQ and a 850M with DDR3 (4GB), taking that into account and the news available, this is what I think HP are doing. Good chance they are grabbing the above motherboard and BIOS, modifying it slightly, and sticking GDDR5 on it.
The 850M and the 860M are the exact same core, the later uses GDDR5 exclusively.

 

Except the ddr3 version of the 850m is actually 35% weaker than the 860m while the Gddr5 850m is only by around 10%

 

They are identical chips, only difference is clock speed and memory type.

In any case what I am pointing out the so called gaming notebook will not be much better than an Envy 15-q which uses 850M. All that HP has to do is change the core clock speed and slap on some GDDR5 memory.

Maxwell is no slouch, but is a pretty dismal effort never the less, for the class they are claiming to aim for.

 

If only some other companies simply "slapped on" some GDDR5 memory on their 850ms instead of using crappy ddr3, they would probably have my business already (Asus, Acer).

 

I agree HP does have a lot of work to do. The only way that this will work to try and compete with Alienware is if HP will have other version like the 870M/880M versions or an MXM version where users can upgrade the graphics card. Who knows A Maxwell GTX 860M MXM version could be released in October with all the new leaks and rumors that are being posted over the last two weeks in this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...4-new-details-about-nvidia-s-maxwell-245.html But I don't expect much with HP when it comes to top o premium parts. If HP is going to SLI the 860M's then a 17' and 10 pounds makes sense. Although Asus uses the GTX 860M Maxwell in their 17" version which also ways around 10 pounds and overclocking potential is quite high. http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/751352-860m-beast.html With a 10 pound Laptop HP will have no excuses for not having good cooling and keeping temps on the cooler side of things.

 

That is sad that pretty much almost every company out their decided to go with the DDR3 version of the GTX 850M. The only companies I have come across that uses the GDDR5 version of the GTX 850M are MSI with their GE60 and GE70 Apache series and the Acer V3 17" laptop. Dell more than likely will uses the GDDR5 version of the 850M with their Inspiron and XPS series, but we will probably have to wait until Fall to find that out for sure.

 

The boat has already sailed HP.
With so many newer choices like AORUS,RAZER,GIGABYTE and the old mainstays with AW,CLEVO,ASUS,MSI etc,etc......it's going to be tough to break into the market again unless they do something unique or come out at a much cheaper price point than the other competitors.
Now if the can get second gen Maxwell cards out like first like 870MX/880MX then it may change things but is seriously doubt that's going to happen.
HP makes some decent laptops but build quality must be improved also.

 

I don't believe it, HP just isn't the gaming type of computer manufacturer. Their thermal designs have always been subpar and they are more orientated towards business and corporate sales than the gaming market. If they research the market they will see it just isn't worth pursuing being part of "gaming laptops". The same thing that will happen is what happened when they released the HP Touchpad. They made them, released them and then said "well the market is already flooded with better tablets, let's just scrap the whole project. We will blame it on WebOS, yeah that sounds good".

I would bet even if they did make a comparable gaming laptop the gpu would still be soldered on the motherboard, thus preventing any future upgrades. The laptop would be like an Elitebook 8570w but with a back-lit keyboard or other cosmetic upgrade. I'm not completely against the idea, but I know I wouldn't buy one.