Hewlett-Packard is adding more mobile processors from Advanced Micro Devices to its laptop repertoire in an effort to expand its build-to-order business and put sales pressure on rival computer maker Dell.

HP announced five new HP Pavilion notebooks and four Compaq Presario notebooks for sale on its Web site on Tuesday. Prices for the mobile-consumer PCs start at $699 before any upgrades or rebates.

Each computer comes with the option to run on AMD's mobile Turion or Sempron chips, as well as the option to install Intel's mobile Pentium or Celeron chips. The baseline notebooks will ship with either an 80GB or 100GB hard drive, HP's signature 6-in-1 digital media reader and three USB 2.0 ports on some models.

The HP Pavilion list price includes the company's entertainment-focused dv1000, and its smaller-size ze2000, zv6000, dv4000 and zd8000 models. The Compaq Presario laptops with the new AMD processors include the M2000, R4000, V4000 and V2000 series mobile PCs.

The Turion is essentially an energy-efficient version of AMD's Athlon 64 chips for desktops. Turion and mobile Sempron chips generally run at slower speeds than their desktop counterparts and don't need as much power.
HP first rallied around AMD's Turion processors with the help of six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong to promote its Special Edition HP L2000 Notebook. The laptop, expected to hit the market later this month, sports the Livestrong logo, along with a copy of Armstrong's autograph on the keyboard.

HP has been quick to adopt AMD's processors in direct response to Dell's persistence in offering only Intel processors in its PCs.

With Intel-based products--desktops, laptops and lower-end servers--HP has long faced a steady loss of market share to Dell, which has traditionally been lauded for its efficient manufacturing and delivery processes. HP is hoping to improve its fortunes with the help of AMD.

In May, HP unveiled plans to reduce inventory, move products to customers faster, boost the number of products built by outside contractors and increase the number of products sold directly to customers instead of through sales partners.


Source : ZDNET