With Hewlett Packard‘s (NYSE: HPQ) newly-launched HP ProBook series of notebooks, channel partners will have a new value-offering to take to the lower-end of the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market – and a more fashionable one too.
The HP ProBook joins the HP EliteBook series in the vendor’s commercial notebook line-up, and is targeted towards the “S” end of SMB said Darren Leroux, product manager, commercial notebooks, HP Canada. Both series mark a conscious move by the vendor away from the traditional utilitarian design of business notebooks. The ProBook models, for example, will be available in either merlot or glossy noir finishes.
“It’s definitely a movement towards a more “pro-sumer” type of look, a blend of business features and functionality but with a consumer look and feel,” said Leroux. “We’re trying to make it a little for hip and cool for the business user.”
That’s a particularly important consideration for SMB users, for whom a notebook is more than just a business tool, and is often used at home and on the road as well.
The ProBook series consists of five different models offering a choice of 14”, 15.6” and 17.3” diagonal widescreen, high definition displays. They keyboard has been redesigned to be more spacious and easier to clean, and the 15.6” and 17.3” models also feature an integrated numeric keyboard. It’s a feature you don’t often find on a notebook that small, but Leroux said size hasn’t been sacrificed to accommodate it.
“We find a lot of business users love having that numeric keypad and could only get it on a 17” notebook before,” said Leroux. “Business users love it for spreadsheets.”
The ProBook 4410s and 4415s feature a 14”, 16:9 HD display and a choice of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 or Intel GMA X4500 HD graphics controller. Customers can also choose between Intel or AMD processors.
The 4510s and 4515s feature a 15.6”, 16”9 HD display with optional HP Mobile Broadband with built-in Gobi technology. Intel or AMD processors are available, as is a choice of discrete or UMA graphics.
Finally, the 4710s features a 17.3” display and packs more graphics power with an Mobility Radeon HD 4330 with up to 512MB of GDDR2 for video memory, and is powered by the latest Intel Core 3 Duo processors.
On the environmental side, HP’s design has gone mercury-free, is designed for recyclability, and has achieved EPEAT’s silver rating and Energy Star qualification.
Leroux said HP sees a strong opportunity in the SMB space for a value notebook that combines consumer style with business functionality. Particularly in an economic climate where he says people just aren’t looking for high-end products as much as they once did.
“We really recognize there’s a great opportunity in retail to target the SMB customer that comes into the store looking to buy a business notebook,” said Leroux “Too often they’d leave with a consumer notebook, which raises security issues.”
HP’s previous business value offering was reserved for the retail channel, but Leroux said the ProBook will also be available to the channel through distribution, filling a hole in HP’s channel lineup with an offering for the value-conscious business user.
“We think this really addresses a gap we had in distribution,” said Leroux. “Partners needed a more competitive product in the value-range.”
Margins tend to be tight in the value-market, but Leroux said HP has worked hard to ensure partners can maintain their margins with the ProBook series. He adds partners can also gain or recover margin on the backend through attach, building bundles for SMB users by adding USB docking stations, monitors, external hard drives for backup, mice and other offerings. A three-year extended warranty can also be added for $150 or less.
All add margin for the customer, and with the low price of the notebook, he said an attractive SMB bundle can be built in the $1000 range, still significantly less than a higher-end notebook would cost.
The ProBook series notebooks are becoming available this month, crying by region, with pricing starting at US$529.
