HP Hits Gaming, Multimedia With Product Launch

04:00 | Catherine Girardeau | Sep 17th, 2007 12:01am |

The HP Personal Systems Group recently unveiled its 2008 product line at a celebrity-studded event at Skylight Studios, in Manhattan (and yes, that’s “personal” as in, The Computer is Personal Again). In addition to HP’s new iPAQ handheld communications devices, its MediaSmart PC and MediaSmart Server, and a new line of laptops optimized for multimedia use — already enough newsworthy stuff to keep customers, bloggers and investors talking for awhile — the announcement included HP’s entry into the gaming enthusiast market, with the Blackbird 002.

In September 2006, when HP acquired VoodooPC and brought VoodooPC Founder Rahul Sood on as chief technology officer for HP’s Global Gaming Business, the wheels were set in motion for HP to make bold statement in the gaming space. Sood explains what’s been going on behind the curtain for the last 12 months here, but the bottom line is that the “symbolic” partnership between Voodoo and HP has, by many accounts, not only marked HP’s entry into gaming with a splash, but raised the bar for the gaming PC industry, from the Blackbird 002’s high-performance engineering to the kind of design that has some comparing it with some stylish competitors.

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