HP draws Sydney crowd for launch of AI PC portfolio

HP pitched the need for more PC compute power to handle generative AI (GenAI) workloads at the Australian launch of its AI PC portfolio in Sydney yesterday.

The event, which drew around 200 customers, partners and media to Machine Hall in the Sydney CBD, saw HP unveil its portfolio of commercial and consumer AI PCs, including new additions to its Pavilion, EliteBook, ZBook and HP Spectre lines.

The new HP devices “are equipped with AI capabilities” provided by Intel Core Ultra 5 and 7 processors with dedicated Neural Processing Units (NPU).

The vendor’s HP and Intel AI compute evangelist Mark Fenson talked up the need for increased compute power for GenAI workloads.

Referring to tasks such as image generation, Fenson said “You can’t do that in the cloud. The networks are just not there yet…you need that compute now on the edge and [to] use a PC, and you’ll see more and more of that when AI starts ramping…”

“We've gone from that age of we're all on the device to now we're in the cloud, and we're now coming back to ‘Hey, guess what, we're back to the edge and the cloud and the device again.’”

“And how are we doing this? It's all being driven by the Intel Core Ultra processor. This is what's driving a brand new AI experience. These processors have been built to unlock AI experiences.”

Longer battery life via NPUs

By processing GenAI workloads, NPUs increase power efficiency, according to Fenson. An NPU “is where your AI goes into a low power state,” he said.

“We all go into Teams and Zoom and have day long presentations and meetings, and our battery just dwindles down to nothing very quickly.”

“When you start turning on your Windows Studio Effects, it's going to use this NPU and it's going to be low power and you can go on all day.”

“We're going to ratchet this thing up”

HP’s Australia and New Zealand head of personal systems Rachael Williams said this week’s AI PC launch was “just the beginning.”

“In a couple of months, we're going to ratchet this thing up and we're going to have increased compute power. What does this mean? This means you'll be able to run LLMs locally,” she said, also referring to “speed”, security and cost efficiency.

“You can expect in the next two to three years 40 to 60 percent of PC devices shipped being AI enabled.”

New Elite and Pavilion AI PCs

HP unveiled a range of Pavilion and Elite AI PC featuring Intel vPro and Intel Core Ultra processers:

• HP Elite 1040 Series Notebook PCs: Offer up to 80 percent better graphics performance, up to 38 percent less power for AI-enhanced collaboration, and up to 132 percent faster AI video editing compared to the previous generation, HP claimed.
• HP EliteBook 840 Notebook PCs: Designed for enterprise workers taking on daily workloads that demand performance and collaboration features.
• HP EliteBook 640 Notebook PCs: Designed for “organisations that need to maximise value and flexibility to equip a range of users in hybrid environments,” HP said.
• HP Pavilion PCs: These laptops are “equipped with built-in AI engines” providing a balance of “performance, mobility and quality.”

New ZBook and Spectre PCs

Other new additions to the HP range launched yesterday include:

• HP ZBook Power G11: Featuring up to an NVIDIA RTX 3000 Ada Laptop GPU and a 16-inch screen, this laptop is designed to handle 3D modelling, AI-powered content creation and heavy multitasking.
• HP ZBook Firefly G11: Designed for project management, featuring an NVIDIA RTX A500 Laptop GPU and offering an “exceptional battery life.”
• HP Spectre x360: A two-in-one laptop and PC that features either a 14-inch or 16-inch 2.8K OLED screen, 9 mega pixel camera and Intel Core Ultra processor.