The most notable change from the larger Thrive is that of a DVD writer rather than Blu-ray drive, and there’s no option to upgrade. For most, this won’t be an issue.

Connectivity is a little light with only two USB ports; however, other areas are decently catered for with S-Video, VGA and HDMI out, FireWire, Express Card 54, and a built in 56Kbps modem port, the age of which is evidence of how far Australian broadband has to go. HP has opted to cut out gigabit Ethernet, opting for a 100Mbit port — although if you don’t operate a gigabit network at home or work, this is unlikely to fluster you. Finally, the front lip offers a manual switch for turning wireless on and off, an IR port (for the remote that’s designed to handily fit in the Express Card slot), microphone jack and dual-headphone jacks.

Following HP’s now classic chassis design, with the wave-like speaker grill rolling into the strong monitor hinge and the silky smooth touchpad, the Pavilion dv2840TX Artist Edition differs in a few not so subtle ways. The most glaringly obvious is the heavily Japanese-influenced illustration laid against a mustard-coloured lid, and the continuation of that illustration through to the wrist rest. While our first reaction was “eesh, that’s loud”, over time we’ve grown used to it, and taken a little pride in the stares it attracts as you pull it out of your bag. The fact that it was designed as part of an international competition by a Portuguese artist Joao Oliveira makes it that little bit cooler, although it makes us wonder if HP’s next step is true self-customisation, and the mess that would entail.

Product Features

• Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
• 14.1″ WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
• 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• NVIDIA 128MB 8400M GS Video Card
• HP Imprint (Artist Edition) Finish + Webcam + Microphone
• Integrated Altec Lansing stereo speakers
• Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
• 6-Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Dimensions (with 6-cell battery): 13.15″ (L) x 9.33″ (W) x 1.02″ (min H)/1.54″ (max H)
• Weight: 5lb 7.4oz
• 65W AC adapter

If you need more evidence that digital transmission high-profile residence in the fashion market, the world does need Hewlett-Packard, how about his HP Mini 210 Vivienne White Tam Edition netbook, would with a housing design and desktop theme from the designer Sprint Collection 2010 inspired by the Chinese “Butterfly Lovers” story. The netbook brands HP’s latest collaboration with Tam, who has done “digital connectors with HP since 2008.

The system sports a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB hard drive, and 10.1-inch widescreen LED-backlit display. The whole system is less than an inch thick and weighs only 2.7 pounds, HP says users should be able to get to five hours of operation from a single battery charge, and the integrated webcam allows users not only take snapshots and video Chats can, but as an instant mirror “can serve this way, users quickly check her make-up. The unit also features HP’s technology for QuickWeb enables users to check with social networking sites, chats, e-mail and calendar without booting into Windows completely. HP has rolled in Beats by Dr. Dre audio software to improve over to audio output speakers or headphones, having previously had the software only on high-end notebooks from HP Envy available. The systems will ship with Windows 7 Home Premium.

Product Features

• Intel Atom processor N450 (1.66 GHz, 512KB L2 cache)
• 2 GB of DDR2 system memory (1 DIMM) (Max 2 GB)
• 250GB (7200rpm) hard drive (SATA)
• 10.1? WSVGA LED diagonal HP BrightView Infinity Widescreen Display (1024 x 600)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 (shared) with up to 256 MB total available graphics memory
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Up to 4.25 hours of battery life

The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition comes in vibrant red with a peony-flower inspired design that reflects the globally acclaimed fashion designer’s Spring 2009 collection. It seeks to satisfy the highly mobile, Internet-centric fashionista woman and features a 10.2-inch diagonal Brightview widescreen Infinity display with 1024 x 600 resolution.

The Vivienne Tam Edition companion PC is powered by the Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor running Windows XP Home and has a 1GMm memory, making the Web, critical files and PC applications easily portable. It includes an Ethernet jack, 2 USB port, built-in webcam and microphone.

With a 10.2 inch WSVGA LCD LED HP Brightview Infinity Display, HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition comes with integrated graphics subsystem, webcam, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. The operating system is Windows XP, while the autonomy of the netbook is ensured by a 3 cell battery.

The $300 HP Photosmart C6180 is a photo printer by name but has office-printer tendencies by function. The inclusion of an automatic document feeder, built-in networking (including wireless), and fax functionality make it attractive as an office printer, but its task speeds are too slow for all but the smallest offices. It offers great print quality, but it lacks photo features. While it excels in neither role, it’s a decent all-around all-in-one for a home user who wants a machine that can do everything. If your needs tend to the office functions and you have to have faster task speeds, the comparably priced Canon Pixma MP830 is a good choice, though you lose fax functionality and a bit of print quality. If you’re leaning toward a truly photocentric all-in-one, check out the $200 Canon Pixma MP600.

All-in-one office machines are all the rage at the moment, as they hold out the promise (especially for small businesses) of combining many tasks at a high standard for remarkably low costs. HP is one of the leaders in this area and has been eagerly trumpeting the virtues of the Photosmart 6180, especially for its supposed ‘ultimate’ printing speeds of 32ppm for mono documents and 31ppm for colour.

Well, it certainly won’t take up too much space as it’s a conveniently compact 17.5 x 15.2 x 9.2 inches, weighs a comparatively featherlight 10.6kg and unites the roles of fax, copier, scanner and printer. The optical scanner has a top resolution of 4,800 x 4,800dpi and directly above the scanner lid is an automatic document feeder (ADF) which will hold 50 sheets of A4 or Letter and up to 35 Legal length sheets. The scanner itself cannot duplicate any greater size than A4.

The C6180 is not only chock full of special features and options, it helps save you time and money by working quickly to accommodate different jobs and paper types. First, the intuitive control panel and convenient one-touch buttons are easy to use, so you’ll never struggle to program a job. And thanks to the automated 4 x 6-inch tray for dedicated photo printing, you can effortlessly print landscapes or other panoramic images with HP panorama photo printing in any size up to 8.5 x 24 inches, with or without borders. At the same time, you can make the most of your new prints by taking advantage of the HP Document Viewer to easily view, manage, and annotate photos and documents. When it comes to copying, the HP auto paper-type sensor optimizes print and copy quality by adjusting to various papers, which means you won’t have to worry about wasted paper and poor-quality copies costing you money.

The HP Photosmart C4180 is exactly the sort of multi-function device that you might consider for the home or small office. It’s a twin-cartridge inkjet printer with a scanner on top that also gives copy features.

In addition it has four card reader slots which support Compact Flash, Memory Stick, MMC and SD cards. That should suit the owners of most digital cameras and mobile phones, although you’re left high and dry if you use xD media. Once you’ve inserted a memory card you flip up the colour LCD display, which turns the backlight on, and then use HP Photosmart Express to print off your photos.

You’ll need to swap back to the black cartridge for a decent rendition of mono prints, but speeds are disappointing at 4ppm. Draft mode offers some relief, with pages being hurled out at 20ppm, but text appears blurred. At least costs are low, with 4.6p per page using the standard-sized cartridge and 2p per page using the high-yield 336 cartridge. We prefer the Lexmark for office-based work, though, as it’s faster and offers nearly as low running costs.

t wouldn’t be so bad if the print quality was worth the wait. In Best mode, we found obvious linear print patterns and even on the printer’s top dpi setting, they are still all too visible.

On the upside, colour rendition is excellent making this a printer great for printing graphics over top quality photos.

As with most AIO models, the C4180 offers direct printing from a range of memory cards including CF, SD/MMC, xD, Memory Stick (and Duo) cards and everything can be viewed on the units 6cm colour screen. You can also apply basic edits to prints without a PC, which is a nice touch. On-screen instructions provide simple steps to getting your photos printed and, if connected to a PC, the C4180 acts as a memory card reader so that you can upload your images as well if required.