HP unveils laptop with Leap Motion alongside fanless Haswell tablet

Scorpus

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HP is claiming two 'firsts' here today with two new devices in familiar form factors. The first is a special edition of their 17-inch Envy 17 laptops, which features the first integrated Leap Motion gesture sensor, and the second is a 13-inch tablet that's the first to use a fanless Haswell-powered design.

leap motion haswell tablet laptop hp pc sensor

The HP Envy 17 Leap Motion Edition is essentially the same as the Envy 17s that are already on the market, although this time HP has integrated a Leap Motion sensor below the keyboard, allowing you to control the system using just gestures. After the sensor has been calibrated, it can be turned on using the spacebar plus Fn key, and Leap Motion's Airspace Store has been included so you can discover cool apps to use.

When we reviewed the Leap Motion we found it to work well for hand tracking, although at times it could be frustrating to use, and apps weren't well designed for the control scheme. It'll be interesting to see how well the sensor works in laptop, as opposed to a standalone peripheral, especially as HP warns it may suck a lot of battery when being used.

Other than the Leap Motion sensor, HP's new Envy 17 also features an aluminium body, backlit keyboard, 17-inch HD+ display with touchscreen, and a choice of specs including Intel processors and Nvidia graphics. The laptop will be available on October 16th starting at $1049.99.

leap motion haswell tablet laptop hp pc sensor

Alongside the gesture-enabled laptop, HP has also revealed a 13-inch tablet, the Spectre 13 x2, that uses Intel's new ultra-low-power Y-series 'Haswell' processors for fanless designs. Although the system is large and heavier than a typical 13-inch Ultrabook, it operates as either a tablet or as a laptop when docked into its keyboard accessory.

Like the Envy 17, the Spectre 13 x2 is encased in aluminium, and has a choice of specs that includes various Haswell CPUs, 4 to 8 GB of RAM and up to 128 GB of storage. HP claims that, despite the 13-inch display, the system will deliver around 7.5 hours of battery life, but declined to mention how hot the system would run without a fan. The dockable tablet will be available on October 16th, with prices starting at $1099.99.

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I wonder if inbuilt leap motion will be tha in thing in future. Guess onli tym will tell..
 
That Spectre is quite overpriced. 4-8GB RAM, 138GB storage, and a 7.5 hour battery for $1100? It should be more like $800.
 
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