HP ZBook: a complete portable workstation, even in an Ultrabook

Starting from an innovative portable workstation concept, this line is made up of 15 and 17-inch screen units, as well as an innovative design in 14-inch Ultrabook format (just 1.6 kilos) with Thunderbolt connectivity.

Practically at the same time as HP It presented its new all-in-one desktop tablet, HP Recline, at IFA Berlin, and in New York it unveiled the new ZBook range.

Starting from an innovative portable workstation concept, this line is made up of units with 15 and 17 inch screens, as well as an innovative design in 14-inch Ultrabook format and just 1.6 kilos.

These “mobile workstations” integrate Intel Haswell processors and can opt for graphics processing from Nvidia or AMD.

Jim Zafarana, vice president and general director of the commercial solutions unit at HP, highlighted in the official presentation that "high performance, quality, innovation, reliability and operational excellence have been the hallmarks of HP in the last three decades. Our engineers have helped solve the greatest challenges in numerous industries such as media and entertainment, finance, health, education, government... In 2009 HP reinvented the workstation concept, in 2010 it launched the first SFF, and two years later the first AiO workstation. Now we reinvent again with the first mobile workstation”

Es de destacar que con este lanzamiento, HP traslada a entornos de portabilidad total sus potentes workstations y es la compañía es número 1 en desktop & Mobile Workstation en todas las regiones del mundo, en un mercado que continúa creciendo pese al parón que sufrió en 2012. Ahora en el Q2 de 2013 crece a un ritmo del 6% lo que contrasta con el decrecimiento del -9% que llegó a experimental en el Q2 de 2012.

With a light and thin design, the new ZBooks maintain the DNA that has characterized the popular Z series workstations, now including Thunderbolt connection, HP Remote Graphics software, HP Performance Advisor, ISV Certified and the powerful DreamColor color manager. In addition, the 14” HP ZBook offers an FHD or touch panel as an option.

The new HP ZBooks have two USB 3.0 ports on each side, a headphone/microphone combo jack output, DisplayPort, media card reader, Ethernet, security lock slot, VGA port and a Smart Card reader. In addition, easy access to all the internal components of these peculiar laptops stands out. Its components are arranged in such a way that even end users could apply updates without the need for any tools. They have two DIMM slots (up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM), space for mini SSD (up to 120GB) and up to 2.5-inch disk (reaching 1TB, 7,200 rpm HDD, 500GB SATA SSD), and three battery cells.

Dessert Workstations

As for the desktop workstations, Z230, Z420, Z620 and Z820 (their latest release), HP towers now incorporate Intel's Ivy Bridge Xeon processor (in Z420, Z620 and Z820), IPS gen 2, ISV certification, Thunderbolt and memory with much faster access.

The Z family has considerably increased its storage possibilities and has preloaded software (RGS/HPPA).

But perhaps what is most striking is the adoption of Thunderbolt 2 connectivity, up to 4 times faster than USB 3.0, which means the possibility of supporting workflows with 4K material.

As for Intel's Ivy Bridge Xeon processor, it is capable of increasing up to 50% in cores and 16% in memory bandwidth, thus raising the performance of these stations to hitherto unknown levels.

The biprocessor capability of the HP Z820 Workstation provides exceptional performance, and it features an award-winning design and tool-free chassis. The HP Z820 Workstation offers up to 24 processing cores, 512 GB of ECC memory, 15 TB of high-speed storage and up to two NVIDIA K6000 graphics cards.

The HP Z620 Workstation is the most versatile HP Workstation, with up to 24 processing cores, 192 GB of ECC memory, 12 TB of high-speed storage, and an Nvidia K6000 or dual Nvidia k5000 graphics card for high-speed graphics performance.

HP's most popular workstation, the HP Z420 includes up to 8 processing cores using the latest Intel The HP Z420 provides new levels of performance and expandability in an affordable mini tower with tool-free service.

Users

Mark Russell, effects supervisor on numerous films such as Doubt, Hellboy, Minority Report, Artificial Intelligence or more recently The Wolf of Wall Street, shared his experiences with HP's Z workstations on the occasion of the presentation of the new products in New York.

Russel highlighted the reliability, performance and high speed of HP workstations, even when working with 4K RAW material. “In processes as complex as digital intermediation, the machine you work with is very important and HP has demonstrated great value in film finishing”

Another example of the performance that HP Z workstations can achieve is found in Chimney, an audiovisual services and post-production company with offices in Berlin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Warsaw... author of countless video clips, spots and films that are characterized by an abundance of style in the treatment of the image.

Its CEO, Henric Larsson, drew attention to the fact that "twenty years ago, the hardware was very expensive, with very slow rendering, and many limitations in the software for complex work such as liquid simulations, for example. Today the hardware cost is minimal, the rendering is in real time, GPU processing, and we also have HP monitors that allow a great advance in calibration."

Monitors

HP has added the new Z27i and Z30i IPS to its line of monitors, perfect for designers, content creators and professionals who need excellent image quality and exceptional adjustments.

The new monitor provides excellent coverage of the RGB color space (the color standard for websites, and most engineering, creative and professional applications) with the new HP Z27i and Z30i offering 100% coverage. The HP Z30i covers 100% of the Adobe RGB color space, commonly used in photography and digital printing workflows.

Built with IPS Gen 2 panels, HP Z Monitors provide up to 37% energy savings over first-generation HP IPS products, yet offer the same level of color accuracy across all viewing angles compared to IPS Gen 1. HP Z Monitors are Energy Star and EPEAT certified, as well as four-position adjustable stands, including the HP QR2 Quick Release to enable quick mounting, both are TCO certified. To free up desktop space, the HP Mounting Kit is available for the HP Z27i and Z30i monitors, allowing users to mount an HP Thin Client or ultra-slim desktop behind the monitor.