HP to launch new brand this year

According to engadget

"We were at an HP gaming event today, presented by Rahul Sood (former CEO of Voodoo, before HP bought 'em). Rahul wanted to let the world know what HP had all their peoples working on, since not much has changed around Voodoo's business since the acquisition. The answer? HP's launching a new high-to-mid tier PC brand in 2007, which will sit beneath the Voodoo brand and above HP brand in terms of price / performance. They didn't go into much more detail than that, but it's obvious HP thinks the PC gaming space will continue to be a money-maker. Let's just hope they don't resurrect, say, Packard Bell in that slot, or some other flagging PC business. We think it's about time for some fresh blood up in here, don't you?"

what do you guys think?

linK: http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/04/hp-to-launch-new-pc-brand-this-year/

 

Thats awesome, they needed to fill that gap.

 

I din even noticed they had tat gap...

 

Well they dont have a laptop with anything better than a 7600. And voodoos cost way too much.

 

That's great news...and to echo link's sentiment HP doesn't really have a gaming class NB right now. Imagine a mobile 8800 17" HP with Imprint finish and Ultra Brightview screens...

 

HP will want to go for a notebook design that is still slim and looks good next to the current DV range. A high power graphics card like a Go 8800 will be too powerful and inneficient with energy, and will be hot. A better card would be the Go 8600 which should still be a very good gaming card, and it would be quite a step up from the Go 7600. I agree with others, that Hp does need to get this market filled in. They don't offer a great deal for the gaming community, who want very good performance.

 

I see the the Hp acquisition of Voodoo but Dell purchasing Alienware puzzles me. Unless they just want to eliminate some of the competition. Dell already makes a gaming machine with the XPS. Finally Clevo will be an ODM for some of the Dell products.

 

To me it makes sense--Dell has Inspiron > XPS > Alienware, and HP will have HP > New Company > Voodoo. You have the budget line, the high end line, and the bleeding edge/eye candy line.

 

i agree with stella who knows what will be bought out next

 

I'm interested to see what HP has on the table. Affordable high-powered computers (8400 in a 12", 8600 in a 15", 8800 in a 17") from this new line would definitely spark my interest in this new line of notebooks.

Imprint finish + power? Sweet.

 

I think it's a slot they definitely need to move into, but why launch a new brand? Heck, since it's HP they could just bring back some of their older notebook designations- Omnibook for example sounds great and they were wonderful machines.

I guess there's nothing inherently wrong with launching a new brand, but anytime I see something like this I think that some bright light over in marketing has come up with another way to blow tons of cash on a new campaign that won't do anything but annoy people and raise the cost of the units.