Curious to find out the possible thinking behind HP’s recent actions, we began to look at the parallels in past behavior by tech giant HP. The most interesting example comes from VoodooPC, one of the first high-end gaming PCs for the mass market. Led by Rahul Sood, HP bought VoodooPC in 2006 and the last product to come out of that branch was launched in 2009.

In short, we wanted to know if HP really was where good ideas go to die.

Mr. Sood was kind enough to answer a few questions.

TC: We at TC have been talking about how great VoodooPC was. We all loved the hardware and I remember unpacking the boxes and hearing the drums. It was consumer done right. I also think there are a lot of parallels between Voodoo and Palm in this case. Do you agree?

Rahul Sood: I appreciate the kind words, and I know my friends at HP will also appreciate them as well. Let’s just say if you’re going to make a strategic acquisition, no matter how large, you need to have patience to blend cultures and allow the companies to mutually flourish.

It’s been less than a year since I left HP – and about 1 year since the Palm acquisition was announced. One year goes quickly in a large organization. It takes the average person 8 months to “on board” themselves into a new organization.

I think these acquisitions should be protected by people who can effectively blend cultures and who can curate a vision that people can rally around. …and did I mention patience? If you don’t have patience you risk blowing up the strategy.

Yes there are plenty of parallels between Palm and Voodoo that could be drawn. If future Rahul could go back to 2006 Rahul I would have some good advice for him — but believe it or not I still would have gone through with the deal, but I would have managed it differently.

TC: What could have HP done to save the TouchPad? Anything?

RS: I find it interesting that the TouchPad went from a total failure to selling out just by changing the price. It proves that there is a market, somewhere between $100-$300 for this product. It also brings up some fundamental business rules that go back to the days of Sun Tzu;

“When strong, avoid them. If of high morale, depress them. Seem humble to fill them with conceit. If at ease, exhaust them. If united, separate them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.”

In the case of the Touchpad HP tried to go head to head with Apple, probably not the right approach, especially since they launched it when it wasn’t fully baked. Either way, you should not go head to head with Apple, there’s no need to.

They could disrupt the market at a lower price to gain significant adoption of webOS, and then work to build some back-end recurring revenue via applications, partnerships, search, shopping, etc.

They could eventually turn up the heat and scale the business by open sourcing webOS and building a solid app model that caters to their enterprise customers.

There’s plenty of ways the TouchPad could have become a success – but it takes time, patience and vision to figure it out.

TC: Where is HP headed? Do you have any idea? Will they go the IBM route?

RS: By “IBM route” I assume you’re comparing HP PSG to Lenovo (or what once was IBM’s PC business). I disagree with this widely quoted comparison.
HP PSG is a giant with an insanely large footprint. Their biggest strength is the number of “ports” they have in the market The world needs hardware to make money on software. There is no bigger hardware company than HP. If only they could better leverage their footprint in a meaningful way they’d be almost unstoppable.

So if they choose to go “the IBM route” HP risks missing the winning formula of IBM and they could end up forgetting about the consumer and focusing on the enterprise. In my opinion catering to the “enterprise” is such an old school way of thinking.

Companies should cater to people, and the enterprise will follow, because real people run the enterprise. RIM is having a tough time because the competitor that displaced them is catering to real people.. not Wall Street… not the enterprise.

I also find it telling that an officer of the company was quoted on CNBC yesterday saying, “HP’s board of directors will make the final decision in the best interest of our shareholders”. I believe if you build beautiful products that excite your customers then shareholders will ultimately benefit. I believe if you cater to shareholders then customers will suffer.

So if you ask me where HP is heading, I would tell you listen to what the leaders are saying and try to make sense of it. I think they have giant problems to solve, lots of complex internal issues, and when you’re under stress you sometimes overlook things.

TC: It’s amazingly frustrating to see good products give up the ghost. How did you feel about Voodoo? Do you miss the brand?

RS: I still have a Voodoo tatt on my leg. I have Voodoo branding throughout my home. Voodoo will always be a part of me, it was once a huge part of HP’s strategy and I can’t help but feel bad about it. Yeah I miss the brand, the people, the culture. …but I made the right decision to move on, I was too emotionally attached to it. I love Microsoft’s entertainment business, it’s such a fun place to work. It reminds me of Voodoo in many ways.

TC: What does a company need to be successful in branding and consumer sales?

RS: A company needs to know who they are and where they came from. They need leaders who dream about their products and experiences creating the vision with people who dream about rows and columns supporting them. They need to establish a clear vision and strategy that people understand and can rally around.

They should live, eat, breath, sleep the brand – and they naturally become evangelists for it. The successful brands establish a soul, the brand becomes a living breathing entity within the DNA of the organization.

They also need great people. The best of the best… Finding and retaining these people is difficult — especially when you are in the Valley. Never has there ever been a better time for cool start-ups to get their juice. The acceleration for growth on tech start-ups is so slick that we’re seeing companies go from 0 to hundreds of millions or billions in valuation in less than 5 years. It’s unbelievable.

So the talent pool for great “Tech DNA” is getting smaller and smaller – and the Valley is easily the most competitive area on earth for attracting and retaining great talent. Think about it, you’ve got Facebook, Google, Apple, Zynga, then you’ve got companies who haven’t upgraded their facility in decades. As a college grad you can go to Facebook or Google and work in a beautiful inspirational environment — it’s hard to compete.

As companies mature, people start to look elsewhere to expand their horizons. HR and Recruiting could be one of the most important strategic functions of any business in the tech space….and yet in some cases they are probably the area that get the least investment because they are setup with the wrong charter.

This is why I find Microsoft fascinating. Microsoft is the oldest, most established tech company, they have done a great job of keeping up with the times. You should check out our facility in Seattle… It’s pretty sick…

TC: Can you buy Palm and run it for all of us? You have that kind of cash, right?

RS: I think HP should open source webOS. I think the vision of breaking up HP is cloudy at best. I did ask HP many times to sell Voodoo back to me, even came up with a couple of proposals. If they open sourced webOS and gave me back Voodoo then we might have something. Maybe Arrington can pull some strings and we can go into business together?

I would like to end by saying that HP treated me with the utmost respect. I was super stoked when we were building cool products like Voodoo ENVY and HP Blackbird and helping to shape HP’s overall strategy. I was sad to leave the company, but I was left with little choice. I’m very happy where I am now. Microsoft’s entertainment business is such a cool place to work — I mean really cool.

I would encourage your readers to check my latest post on HP, I’m going to write a series of them in the next week or so.

There is simply no denying that the new HP Envy 13 and 15 look like an HP-ified Apple unibody MacBook Pro. Even the trackpad is a single, large glass button that supports gestures thanks to 3rd party software. I’m not saying they don’t look great, but seriously, someone copied off of Steve Jobs’ test. Good thing that these notebooks seem to have the power and poise to stand as HP’s flagship line.

While the Apple MacBook Pros are milled out of a single block of alumium, the HP Envy line takes a similar, but different approach. These notebooks are constructed out of magnesium and then coated with aluminum, which provides a very MBP look and feel, but it’s technically not as solid.

The Envy 13 rocks a Radeon HD 4330 discrete GPU that powers the 13.1-inch WXGA display. An Intel Core 2 Duo powers the rest while the optional Slim Fit Extended-Life battery can provide up to 18-hours of life while the standard kicks the can around 7 hours. (wow) However, the small size does come with some compromises. The Envy 13 doesn’t have an optical drive or an Ethernet port. Both are of course available as an extra accessory.

The Envy 15 however doesn’t lack anything. In fact, it has pretty much everything a user would want in a high-end notebook: a Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, room for two SSDs, a 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 GPU, 15.6-inch LED backlit display, a VGA webcam with nightvision, and all of this in a package that’s 1-inch thin and only weighs 5.18-pounds.

Let’s hope you weren’t thinking that these high-end HP notebooks wouldn’t command a MacBook Pro type price. They do. The Envy 13 and 14 will be available on October 18 starting at $1,699 and $1,799, respectively.

Precision-Crafted, High-Performance Notebooks Are Bright, Thin, Deliver Superb Experience

HP today redefines the premium notebook PC experience with the introduction of the HP ENVY sub-brand, which offers customers precision-crafted, high-performance models featuring HP Metal Etching and concierge service and support.

The new HP ENVY 13 boasts the brightest display in its class, and the HP ENVY 15 is the company’s fastest consumer notebook PC ever.

“HP ENVY includes the latest in materials and technology inside and out and pushes the technological and performance boundaries of what can be done in sleek, powerful and lightweightnotebook PCs,” said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. “Discerning consumers will get a premium experience and performance.”

With HP ENVY, the focus is on designing an entire premium experience to satisfy the most demanding customers — from the products to the packaging to the service and support.

Breakthrough HP Metal Etching on the lid and palmrest of the ENVY 15, and on the palmrest of the ENVY 13, subtly signals luxury. The combination of materials provides exceptional mobility and a compelling metal look and feel, while using energy-responsible manufacturing methods.

The HP ENVY line — building upon the Voodoo ENVY legacy — includes leading-edge components optimized to yield power and performance. To offer consumers the best audio experience available on a notebook PC, HP partnered with Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ to develop a unique, high-performance audio software solution. Available exclusively on the HP Envy, Beats Audio offers users playing music or audio through headphones or external speakers the optimal sound experience — the way the artist intended it.

The lightweight heavyweight: ENVY 13
The ENVY 13 balances style and substance. Carefully crafted details inside and out will satisfy the cravings of demanding mobile customers.

The HP Radiance display is twice as bright as other notebook displays in its class — 410 nit (a measurement of display brightness) — and provides an exceptional movie and photo experience, even in high ambient light conditions. With 82 percent color gamut (versus standard 45-60 percent), photos appear richer with amazing color depth. Additionally, with fast 8-millisecond response time, customers can view movies with TV-like performance.

The ENVY 13′s strong performance is delivered in a small frame — less than an inch thin and weighing 3.74 pounds.¹ The exterior’s aluminum and magnesium construction provides durability in a sleek design. An etched-metal palmrest further sets the PC apart from others, and a VGA webcam³ optimized for low light also is included.

HP placed the same focus on design into its optional Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery. Taking the form of a “slice,” it preserves the sleek look of the ENVY 13 while giving users up to 18 hours of battery life with the extended-life battery.² The standard battery is user-replaceable.

ATI Switchable Graphics technology dynamically switches between ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330 discrete graphics and the Intel® integrated graphics processor for either high-powered graphics processing or low power consumption for long battery life without booting the notebook. The Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor provides the power of dual processor cores while delivering extended battery life when the notebook is unplugged.

Designed with the most demanding mobile user in mind, the ENVY 13 notebook’s premium AC adapter is small and light. It draws minimal power, has built-in surge protection and includes a rubberized strap that keeps the cables organized and the adapter from slipping off a slick surface. An optional HP USB Ethernet Adapter also is available.

The performance powerhouse: ENVY 15
This lean, mean, dream machine is HP’s fastest consumer notebook. The full metal case features a sleek, subtly crafted, laser-etched metal design on the lid that is repeated on the palmrest. The magnesium alloy casing provides lightweight durability in a 1-inch thin, 5.18-pound package.¹

Customers have maximum speed and mobility with the future Intel Core i7 processor⁴ and up to 16 gigabytes (GB) of DDR3 1,066-MHz system memory in four SODIMM memory slots. Versatile storage options include the ability to add two solid-state drives in a RAID-0 configuration to improve the overall speed of the ENVY 15 while providing excellent disk performance. Creative users will appreciate the ENVY 15 notebook’s performance and full versions of Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 and Corel VideoStudio® Pro X2 for creating photo and video content.

Power users and gamers can take advantage of premium graphics performance via ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 graphics with 1 GB of dedicated video memory for visually intense applications, DirectX® 10.1 games and high-definition video playback.

A choice of two 15.6-inch HP Brightview high-resolution LED backlit displays, including the Full High Definition LED HP Ultra BrightView Widescreen Display with up to 300-nits brightness, provides a superb display experience for a notebook in this class. A Nightvision VGA webcam that is optimized for low-light or zero-light conditions is standard on the HP ENVY 15, incorporating an infrared LED that assists the webcam³ by providing the necessary illumination in dark environments.

The ENVY 15 has an optional Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery, giving users up to seven hours of battery life.²

Designing the ENVY experience
The HP ENVY line includes a 360-degree approach to product design — from the products to the packaging:

• Building upon HP’s success with instant-on technology, HP QuickWeb allows customers to access key applications without booting the PC. In less than 30 seconds, users can access the Internet, music, videos and photos, and email.³
• HP Clickpad integrates the buttons into the touchpad and allows for fluid movements, while also allowing users to disable the clickpad if desired.
• The keyboard’s direct-action keys (versus typical function keys) allow users to quickly access often-used commands such as print and volume adjustment.
• Minimal desktop clutter and trial software adds to notebooks’ simplicity.
• An optional external optical drive complements the ENVY design and gives users the flexibility to carry the extra weight only when necessary. Two USB ports also transform the drive into a dock for additional capability.
• The ENVY 13 and 15 are presented in streamlined paper carton boxes using minimal ink. Included in the packaging is a simplified setup poster and documentation contained within an SD card.

Concierge service and support
The ENVY experience extends to premium service and support via the award-winning HP Total Care program. This includes expert agents dedicated to addressing ENVY customers’ questions via phone, online chat and email as well as next-day shipping for hardware customer service.

Pricing and availability
The HP ENVY 13 and ENVY 15 are expected to be available in the United States on Oct. 18 with a starting price of $1,699 and $1,799, respectively.⁵

The unannounced HP Envy 13 and 15 popped up today on a couple of foreign sites just as Rahul Sood, Voodoo founder, Twittered about something new coming. Let’s just assume that the HP Envy 13 and 15 is what he’s talking about. They seem like solid performing notebooks, but what’s the Envy naming doing there?

HP’s high performance line, Voodoo, also uses the Envy product name for its mobile computers but this notebook isn’t branded a Voodoo product. So what the hell is going on here? Has HP changed its product focus and showing the Voodoo brand the door? Or is the HP Envy 13 the first product in a line that will take cues from Voodoo products? It could be both.

There is still a certain degree of esteem with owning a computer from a boutique manufacture like Voodoo or Alienware. It’s somewhat like driving a BMW 5 Series verses a Pontiac G8 because while the G8 might technically be a better performer at a lower price, the BMW is put together so much better.

But both Voodoo and Alienware are owned by HP and Dell respectively. It’s tough times in the consumer electronic world and we’ve already seen the Alienware brand become more mainstream with the recent announcement of an Alienware-branded keyboard, mouse, headset, and LCD. What’s happening is that Dell is trying to milk the highly-regarded brand. The same thing might be happening in a different way with Voodoo and HP.

Voodoo has always been known for killer looking, high performance systems and that didn’t change once HP bought the company. In fact, its rigs only got better. The Voodoo Envy 133 is one of the best looking notebooks I have ever seen and is wildly different than anything else in the HP lineup. It has sharp lines, no fluff, and is very clean.

But while the new model maintains the naming scheme, the look has been very HP-ified for the new notebook even though you can still kind of see the Voodoo influence. The HP Envy 13 now has a rounded-off and a more mainstream look. I wouldn’t be surprised if this notebook will eventually be available in a wide range of colors. The HP Envy 13 might have taken notes off the Voodoo Envy 133, but it doesn’t have the same sex appeal at all.  HP hasn’t even announced the specs on the new Envy 13 but it doesn’t matter. Even if the notebook runs a quad-core in the tiny package, it will still will not be the same as an HP product.

But then again, perhaps the HP Envy 13 is just another notebook and has nothing to do with the Voodoo brand. Maybe the product designers just liked the Voodoo Envy 133 enough that they carried over the name. Even though HP hasn’t announced anything about the new notebook, chances are that this model will sport everything that the Voodoo Envy 133 had months ago, but at a much lower price when it eventually launches.

Hopefully the HP Envy 13 isn’t a sign that the Voodoo brand is being absorbed by HP entirely. The Voodoo brand used to be something special. Hopefully HP knows that.

HP’s latest Voodoo rig, the HP Firebird, is a fine machine for gaming and video/photo buffs. With two SKUs to appease all sides the Firebird is sure to give PC users everything they want or even need in a relatively small and extremely quiet high performance package.

The 802 features an Intel Core 2 Quad Core 2.66GHz processor while the 803 packs a 2.83GHz processor. Both come with Vista Home Premium 64-bit editions. Graphics are taken care of with dual Nvidia GeForce 9800S cards in an SLI config. To keep the rigs cool under pressure, the Voodoo team equipped the Firebird with a liquid cooling system to ensure the proc, chipset (Nvidia nForce 760S) and graphics cards don’t have a major meltdown while you’re fragging or editing. Both come with 4GB of DDR2 RAM.

The 802 comes with two hot swappable 250GB hard drives for half a terabyte of whatever you want to store. The 803 bumps up to 640GB total and comes with a Blu-ray player and SuperMulti DVD burner. The 802 settles for a DVD optical drive. There’s an external 350W power supply that is extremely quiet.

The Firebird is somewhat modular and having seen it in person I walked away very, very impressed. For example, the fans are removable to make cleaning extremely easy and the hard drives can be removed effortlessly (which can be seen in the images). Despite the high price tag, I’d say these are some mighty fine PCs. The 802 starts at $1,799 with the 803 starting at $2,099.

HP and the Voodoo team also announced a new keyboard, the NC730AA. More details on this coming soon.

The HP Gaming Keyboard with Voodoo DNA has backlit illumination with cluster lighting options so gamers never miss a shot. Fully programmable keys have macro capabilities, while the gaming cluster has anti-ghosting capability.

[PSGallery=1iinf852nx]

Laptop Magazine’s gotten their grubby little hands on a new concept notebook from Voodoo (HP) called "Firefly." It’s one beefy flying insect, too, at 17.1 inches and 13 pounds.

After the big 17.1-inch, 1920×1200 screen, the machine sports a secondary 4.3-inch screen at 800×480, handy for checking e-mail, various widgets, and even full web pages. Under the hood, there’s a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 250GB 7,200 RPM hard drive, and two ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs set up in CrossFire mode.

Other features include a side-mounted multi-touch trackpad, backlit keyboard, Creative X-Fi audio, and a built-in webcam with night vision features. Yes, night vision.

The Firefly apparently blasted through Far Cry 2 with all the settings on "Very High," which is mighty impressive for a laptop. It should be noted that this specific rig might not ever make it to market, as it’s just to show off what’s possible, although we’ll likely see similar offerings from HP/Voodoo in the near future.

The Blackbird 002 that launched last year may be impressive, but the design is nothing special and the price range isn’t very attractive at $1,799-$4,999. Now, HP with VoodooDNA has given us something to look at. The HP Firebird 803 gaming tower flips the disc drive and most other components on their sides to allow for this sleek looking design. The Firebird doesn’t leave much room for modification or expandability, but the standard features sure do give me chills inside:

• NVIDIA nForce 760i SLI chipset
• Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz processor
• 4GB of RAM
• Dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S cards
• Two 320GB SATA drives
• Blu-ray
• 5-in-1 card reader
• 6 USB, 1 FireWire, 2 eSATA, 1 S/PDIF and 1 DVA dual-link
• Bluetooth
• 802.11n WiFi

The Firebird unusually uses an external power supply to save on space and heat. It also comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Hopefully we’ll see this at CES next month and get some pricing and availability info.

via Engadget

Now that we’ve had our history lesson, it’s time for the news: it seems 3dfx has randomly decided to release a unified driver architecture for the Voodoo cards and has updated them with a set applicable to any of the Voodoo series. I confess I haven’t been following 3dfx news these last few years, so if they’ve been doing this all along let me know. I think it’s great no matter what, though, that this old hardware is still supported. It’s be like getting a patch for Warcraft 2.
[via the Inquirer]

The integration of Voodoo into the HP fold is all done, so HP has gone ahead and discounted two of its more pricey offerings. The Voodoo Envy 133′s starting price has dropped $200 from $2,099 to $1,899 and ships with a free secondary battery if you order before November 30th. The Blackbird 002’s price has dropped to $1,799.

Late last week, a rumor broke that HP might be giving its gamer enthusiast brand, Voodoo, the boot. Turns out, that wasn’t entirely true as it sounds like Voodoo is going to be brought in under the HP umbrella similarly like Compaq. In fact, this was first announced a few months ago, proving that the Internet rumor mill is a crazy, crazy bastard. 

This means that the brand will still be there, along with the bad-ass Envy laptop and Omen desktop, just integrated into HPs global marketing. Who knows what this will mean farther down the road. Will we still see bleeding edge technology wrapped in a sexy package? Hopefully so. Maybe the prices can drop a bit too.

Voodoo, which had been a stand-alone unit in HP’s portfolio, will no longer continue to sell its products independently. What was once known as high-end gaming PC’s will now be sold alongside consumer brands such as the Compaq Presario and HP Pavilion.

Raul Sood, original founder of VoodooPC and now HP’s CTO, looks upon the merge as a positive move.

Ultimately it means that Voodoo and Voodoo-influenced products will be easier to buy, faster to get, they will feature local service, and they will have the full power of HP’s marketing and sales channel behind them.

It will be interesting to see if the high-end machines, such as the recently released Envy 133 laptop and Omen desktop, work their way into mainstream success.

My excitement for the Voodoo Envy 133 has been supplanted by the outrageous prices they expect one to shell out for the MacBook Air competitor. There are nine different configurations you can choose from that start out at $2,099 and ends with an astronomical $3, 999 price tag. If you really want an SSD the pricing starts at $3,099. Frankly, I’m shocked and appalled by this, but then again, Voodoo has been pricing their PCs at a high premium since the beginning, so the price of this laptop shouldn’t shock me that much. But it does. The lackluster MacBook Air is starting to look a little more appealing. What do you think?

Today in Berlin HP announced the Voodoo Envy 133 notebook that was hinted at last week in the video teaser I posted. Voodoo is aiming to take on the MacBook Air and the Envy is ready for the bout. The Envy 133 has an LED backlit 13.3-inch screen, carbon fiber body (super lightweight), multi-touch trackpad (I just tried it out and it stinks. I’ll get a full demo later on, but there’s a short video after the jump. It pinches but doesn’t do the rotation.), built-in ethernet port into the power brick, removable battery, HDMI port, two USB ports, and an express card slot. The Envy’s starting price of $2,099 is less desirable, though. Another unique and cool feature for the Envy is Voodoo InstantOn, which allows the user to boot to a Linux screen with seconds of starting up while Vista boots in the background. Check out the video.

The Omen starts out at $7,000 and features a 7-inch auxiliary LCD on the front of the case and copper liquid cooling pipes. You can also add a touch of your own flair by picking from Voodoo’s Allure paint color choices, Ink designs and Iconograph patterns. Also worth noting is that the Omen will only be available to current Voodoo customers until production is in full swing.

The head-turning ultra-mobile notebook
Measuring just over half an inch thin and weighing less than 3.4 pounds,(2) the Voodoo Envy 133 is a showcase of ultra-mobility and thermal engineering in a tiny, sophisticated chassis. Its Voodoo IOS (Instant-On Solution) makes it one of the fastest-loading systems ever launched by HP, giving mobile users near-instant access to the Internet and Skype.(3)

The Voodoo Envy 133 was developed using the smallest available Intel® Centrino® technology. Despite its small size and elegant design, the notebook offers a wide range of functionality typically associated with larger notebooks, and includes Ethernet and wireless connectivity,(4) a wide selection of ports, a replaceable battery and more.(5)

“We worked with HP to enable the Voodoo Envy 133 to be as small as possible without losing key features such as performance and battery life,” said Mooly Eden, corporate vice president and general manager, Mobile Platforms Group, Intel. “The final outcome is a terrific notebook that showcases the benefits of our Intel Centrino platform, which retains a high level of performance and low-energy consumption even after we shrunk it by more than 50 percent using our expertise in packaging technology.”

To appeal to everyone’s unique tastes, customers can personalize their Voodoo Envy with Voodoo Allure paint colors and a selection of Voodoo Ink designs and Voodoo Iconograph patterns. A high-quality, backlit keyboard, full 13.3-inch LED display and coordinated peripherals add to the overall styling and sophistication of the notebook.

The Voodoo Envy 133 will be available for a starting price of $2,099.(1) Other key features include:
• Voodoo Aura PowerConnect – establishes a one-to-one wireless connection between the Envy 133 notebook and an Ethernet connector located on the power supply, allowing users to roam free from the wired connection.(3)
• Multiple gesture touchpad – more than a standard touchpad, the Envy 133 also provides capabilities such as a circular gesture called chiral scroll and pinch options.
• Durability – the carbon fibre casing and fused composite glass covering the display provide surprising strength and durability.
• External optical disk drive – an ID-coordinated external eSATA optical drive is included with every unit.
• Professional backlit keyboard – reminiscent of old-school tactile desktop keyboards with just enough “click” to get even the most die-hard tech enthusiast smiling.
• Ports – extensive usability via a variety of I/O ports, including headphone/microphone, HDMI, USB 2.0 (1x) and a shared e-SATA/USB (1x).

The Omen features integrated copper liquid cooling pipes and a built-in, fully functional LCD auxiliary screen. Its advanced thermal engineering with liquid cooling makes it run quietly, even when performing at high levels.
Customers can add the finishing touches to their Voodoo Omen via an extensive palette of Voodoo Allure paint color choices and a selection of Voodoo Ink designs and Voodoo Iconograph patterns.
The new Voodoo Omen will be available for a starting price of $7,000.(1) Other key features include:
• Vertical diffusion thermals – the power of natural convection currents is harnessed for advanced cooling and quiet acoustics.
• Auxiliary LCD – a 7-inch (diagonal) built-in auxiliary LCD is a full-function secondary display.
• Advanced liquid cooling – copper cooling pipes embedded in the chassis, aircraft-quality quick-release hose connectors, and more combine in one of the most advanced liquid cooling systems on the planet.
• Tool-less architecture – side panels, hard drives, video cards and other critical components can be removed without tools.
• Top-loading cables – cables plug into the system under a removable top panel, improving access to the cable connections and contributing to the clean exterior design.
• Interior lighting – battery-powered interior lighting gives users visibility to upgrade components when the system is powered off.

Looks like it. We’ll find out next week when I’m in Berlin.

Lo and behold, I had the answer right under my nose the whole time. It’s actually been sitting in my inbox for a couple months, but it wasn’t until I came across this Fortune article that I put the two together.

HP will more than likely announce a hybrid HP/Voodoo rig that shows off Voodoo’s taste for flair with HP’s gaggle of robust…whatever in Berlin next week. I’ll be there to cover the event, so we’ll be sure to have plenty of pictures and video. I’d assume they’re going after the likes of Apple, Dell and Gateway with something aesthetically pleasing.

Now, if I were rich, I would buy these products, but I just put together my own PC and it runs Crysis, so I’m not feeling the heat yet from these hardware artists. See the Blackbird and an old guy playing in a huge racing rig after the click.

The Voodoo M:152 Envy was officially announced today and it’s sort of, kind of worth looking at. It features the latest Intel Centrino Duo processor aka Santa Rosa, a 15.4-inch WSXGA+ 1680×1050 resolution screen, and a fingerprint reader. It’s also sporting a 2-megapixel camera and weighs a mere seven pounds with an NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 512MB graphics card and 2GB of DDR2-667 RAM (upgradeable to 4GB). It’s supposedly the quietest Voodoo notebook so far. Pricing starts at $3,308, but that doesn’t include the super cool paint jobs and tattoos you can get.

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