Q&A with HP Personal Systems Group CTO, Phil McKinney

[Shane Pitman]

A few weeks ago during CES we had the opportunity to sit in on a presentation at CNTRSTG by Chief Technology Officer of HP's Personal Systems Group, Phil McKinney. Phil spoke to us about several technologies that HP has developed and their advancement into the marketplace and how some of them continue to influence other products today. Upon concluding his presentation we got the opportunity to take a look at some examples that Phil brought with him, such as HP's Misto coffee table PC (a product that is very similar to the Microsoft Surface tables that we've all seen) which was developed by HP labs in 2002. We also spoke one on one with Phil (who as it turns out is as much of a tech junkie as the rest of us, and a genuinely nice guy to boot) and arranged for Phil to participate in a Q&A session with our readers. So, that being said, here's your opportunity. You ask the questions and Phil will provide the answers (within reason of course).

[ATGC]

My question:

Will HP be developing cheaper alternative to the ThinkPad W700ds dual-screen laptop in the near future?

[s0nic69]

Hp offers many products, for example: printers, desktops, laptops, scanners, cameras, gps's, and pocket pc's. they also have snapfish and skinit.

Will HP try a new market this year? mp3 players? music store? what new things should we be excited about? what are you excited about? anythng you cant wait to release?

[Scirwode]

HP has released a lot of products that were specifically marketed for Asia only such as the dv3000 and dv2800 Asia edition, I'm wondering what's in store for the future in Asia in regards to new products and services for HP? I know in Malaysia that although you can now buy products online, you still cannot customise your selection such as you can with Dell and I really wish you could as I do like the dv5t.

Scirwode

[simsie]

Do HP have any plans to go against the iPhone/Touch and if so how/with what?. What about the Macbook Air?

Just a note I am not that good on HP products so if they have got a competitor to these then sorry.

[Lechio]

Being HP a supporter of Open Source Software and Linux, with a vast number of solutions for the server/enterprise area all based on OSS, are there any plans from HP to increase the offer of Linux on solutions oriented towards the home user?

[Scirwode]

Another thing, on its consumer notebooks, it is very hard to find drivers for Windows XP unlike other companies such as Dell and Acer. I know Windows XP is old and not really relevant anymore but some of the software that I use can only be run on Windows XP and has a few problems running in Windows Vista. At the top of my head is Sound Forge so would HP be able to offer XP drivers, for a fee if it is too troublesome?

Another question is that each company is now making a gaming notebook such as Toshiba and Dell. With HP holding the Voodoo license, is there any plans for a gaming notebook and if so, what would make it unique against its competitors?

Scirwode

[Shane Pitman]

Another thing, on its consumer notebooks, it is very hard to find drivers for Windows XP unlike other companies such as Dell and Acer. I know Windows XP is old and not really relevant anymore but some of the software that I use can only be run on Windows XP and has a few problems running in Windows Vista. At the top of my head is Sound Forge so would HP be able to offer XP drivers, for a fee if it is too troublesome?

Another question is that each company is now making a gaming notebook such as Toshiba and Dell. With HP holding the Voodoo license, is there any plans for a gaming notebook and if so, what would make it unique against its competitors?

Scirwode

I agree, and it's a point I plan to bring up myself. Too many times I've needed to work on an HP system for a client/friend/family member only to find that they've lost their original discs, and find that many device drivers aren't available for download (however a link to buy a replacement driver CD is always present). I'm not talking about drivers for OS's other than what was shipped with a machine either. In comparison, I can go to support.dell.com and type in the service tag from a 10 year old Dell and get every driver ever made for it.

As for HP gaming notebooks, check here. Also, if you take a look at my Flickr link in the front page article comments you'll see a couple of photos of a new Voodoo prototype.

[Scirwode]

As for HP gaming notebooks, check here. Also, if you take a look at my Flickr link in the front page article comments you'll see a couple of photos of a new Voodoo prototype.

The Envy 133 only has an Intel GMA, which isn't exactly for gaming, that said the prototype notebook does look interesting. The only thing that has always let me down with HP is offering underpowered graphic cards for their high end notebooks. Only now do they offer something with enough power to run recent games. They could however do better though such as the HDX18 which should at least be fitted with a Nvidia GeForce Go 9700M GT.

Scirwode

[Unto Darkness]

My question:

Most competitors such as Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Sony have started to adopt DDR3 memory for their new notebook computer lines. It is surprising to see that none of HP's consumer or business notebook computers seem to offer this feature considering its lower power consumption, lower heat generation as well as higher bandwidth. Is there a reason for HP's neglect or can we expect to see future models incorporating DDR3 memory?

Also, can we expect to see a more affordable desktop gaming solution from HP comparable to the Dell XPS 600 series? I feel that there is a huge gap in the market between the HP Pavilion Elite series and the VoodooDNA series especially in the area of GPU performance.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Unto Darkness

[Shane Pitman]

Today will be the last day for submitting questions.

[s0nic69]

any idea on when these will all be answered? its been a month. jw. thanks.

[Shane Pitman]

I asked Phil that very question a few days ago. He's been researching the answers to some of the questions with various people throughout HP and he's just waiting to hear back from a couple of folks before we get his answers. We should have them soon!

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

@Shane Pitman: I just wanted to thank you, and anyone else involved, for arranging the Q&A session. It's a shame that I missed this opportunity to ask my question(s). In any case, it'd be greatly appreciated if you could try your best to arrange future Q&A sessions with prominent figures in the tech industry. Again, many thanks. I look forward to reading his answers! :)