Bill Hewett and Dave Packard formed the company 75 years ago – a US start-up from a garage. It has been an innovative company, sometimes brilliant and innovative and sometimes dogged by poor CEO choices and intransigence. It is brilliant again.

I am trying not to make this sound like an advertisement – it is not – but HP are a dominant global player that are either number one to Lenovo or vice versa. Right now, it is nipping at the heels of Lenovo – the Chinese giant that bought IBM’s PC business – both are a long way ahead of Dell, Acer, and Asus, all make excellent products.

Its seems that Envy is the word for their consumer line – two new x2 ‘detachables’ with 13.3 and 15.6” screens – just think of a larger Microsoft Surface Pro 3 to get the detachable idea.

These are powered by Intel Core M (Haswell mobile fan-less) processor; have multi-touch 1080p screens; a fabric covered, backlit, Bluetooth keyboard; adjustable back hinge, active stylus; Beats audio, and all the usual ports and functionality that Windows 8.1 provides.

The 13.3” version will start at A$1099 for the 128GB SSD and has 256/512GB options. The 15.6” version costs $1299 and up to a 500GB hybrid drive. The 15” version has a unique half fold keyboard and a side trackpad that is not made for lefties.

I don’t want to compare them with the Surface Pro 3 because they are designed for very different markets but they are a good, if heavier and larger alternative for home, student and small office user where the ‘finesse’ of the Surface may put it out of the price reach of these groups.

The name Pavilion x2 has been retained for a smaller 10” tablet using an Intel Atom Bay Trail processor. It has a detachable keyboard cover and should give up to 11.45 hours use. It will sell for $499 and competes head on with the popular Asus Transformer T-100.

I am not a big fan of Chromebooks – I have yet to find a school or commercial user that really has embraced them but an Orange Sherbet coloured 14” with pretty good specifications for $399 seems great value – until you read on about the new Windows 8.1 driven Stream range.

The Stream range is so new HP could only show journalists a wooden mock-up. It’s the new range powered by Windows 8.1 Bing version where essentially Microsoft is giving it away on devices with Chromebook like specifications (Atom processor/32/64GB storage, USB, SD Slot) to combat Chrome. Its war and enables HP to undercut Chromebooks by about $100 – the RRP will start at $299 for the 11” model and slightly more for the 13” version. As these can run Chrome apps etc., expect Google to fight back in a bloody battle.

HP is using its Envy brand on a new printer. Called the 7640 e-All-in-One Printer it’s a 14 page per minute (mono) and 9ppm colour, wireless, Ethernet or NFC connected (mopria standard), inkjet printer with scanner, fax, photo print, air-print (from Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Windows and others), email print and more. At $229 it is at the top end of the home budget and uses new HP Black and Tri-colour cartridges. There are lower specified models – the 5640 and 5530 at $149 and $119 to cover all bases.

  The other is an OfficeJet Pro 6830 e-All-in-one aimed at small workgroups that want internet connectivity and eprint compatibility. It is an 18 ppm (mono) and 10 ppm (colour) inkjet printer with a 15,000 monthly duty cycle. It uses four separate ink cartridges for better economy. It too is $229.

HP proudly announced that it had recycled eight million printer cartridges in Australia in conjunction with Cartridges 4 Planet Ark.

Finally HP released the Roar series (mini, Roar and Roar+) speakers that compete squarely with Ultimate Ears Boom – except these are triangular instead of stubbie cooler shape. It also has a low cost Bluetooth headphone, battery saver and a range of carry cases in .

Opinion

I seem to be thinking a lot lately that ‘HP got its mojo back’ in relation to its commercial and now consumer range – it deserves to be placed on your shopping list.