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The HP Pavilion Wave is a desktop PC masquerading as a speaker

By Koh Wanzi - on 6 Sep 2016, 11:09am

The HP Pavilion Wave is a desktop PC masquerading as a speaker

HP Pavilion Wave

HP has announced two new desktop PCs for homes and businesses, continuing a creative streak this year that is perhaps best epitomized by the ultra-thin HP Spectre. The HP Pavilion Wave and Elite Slice are far from your regular lumbering tower PC, and instead come packaged in novel designs and form factors that belie their actual function.

 

HP Pavilion Wave

There's still plenty of ports and connectors on the Pavilion Wave. (Image Source: HP)

The Pavilion Wave looks much like a desktop speaker and you could be forgiven for mistaking it as such. It is targeted at home users who want a stylish entertainment and productivity machine, and yes, it functions as a speaker as well. The entire PC is also wrapped in a thick fabric of the sort usually found on subwoofers or other speaker systems.

The Pavilion Wave is actually vaguely reminiscent of Apple’s Mac Pro, but it can do a lot more. For starters, it is built around an audio system that supports Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant, and lets you quickly play music, movies, or even web chats. In addition, a parabolic reflector at the top helps reflect sound from the speaker grillers in parallel from all directions for better 360-degree audio.

That said, this isn’t intended to be some super powerful workstation. You can equip it with up to a sixth-generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 2TB HDD. For speedier storage, there’s also an optional dual drive for up to a 128GB SSD.

The most powerful graphics chip you can outfit it with is an AMD Radeon R9 M470, which should work for some photo or video editing or light gaming. Finally, it supports up to two 4K displays, further bolstering its credentials as an entertainment and multimedia machine.

The Pavilion Wave starts at S$1,499 and is expected to be available locally this month.

 

HP Elite Slice

Note the use of HP's new logo, which first debuted on the Spectre. (Image Source: HP)

Next up is the Elite Slice, a compact modular PC that measures just 165 x 165 x 35mm and weighs only 1.05kg. Clad in matte black and polished copper, it lets users stack various modules to add functions like wireless charging or an optical disk drive.

This facilitates a cleaner set up as users need only work with what they need, and it doesn’t even require cables to be plugged into a wall outlet for power. In fact, the Elite Slice can actually draw power from just a USB 3.1 Type-C cable (taking advantage of the higher power draw specifications) that is plugged into a Type-C compatible display, for instance the just-announced HP EliteDisplay S240uj.

HP Elite Slice modules

Other modules that can be stacked onto the Elite Slice include the following:

  • HP Collaboration Cover; transforms the desktop into a Microsoft Skype for Business phone
  • HP Audio Module; dual-microphone array and 360-degree speaker tuned by Bang & Olufsen provides crisper and clearer audio

The Elite Slice can be outfitted with up to an Intel Core i7-6700T processor (2.8GHz, 8MB cache), 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

Pricing for the Elite Slice starts at S$1,099. It is slated to arrive here in October.

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