Laptops and desktops to remain first choice – HP

Tablet computers will remain a second or even a third choice for the computing needs of people but then again, the specifications sought in today’s computers have changed in recent years. The new emphasis for laptops and desktops is on design, reliability and support.

This is the opinion of HP’s Igor Fiolic, Country Personal Systems Group (PSG) Manager for the Country Development Group (CDG) cluster of countries and Croatia. The CDG cluster consists of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Malta and Moldova.

“The tablet will be mainly used as a second or third device. There are some customers who will replace notebooks with tablets but the majority of customers will use it partially and for specific tasks. For content creation notebooks and desktops will still be the main choice,” he told i-Tech in an interview about current trends in personal and business computing and HP’s presence in this market.

“At the moment HP has the commercial tablet HP Slate 500 with Windows 7 and other tablets among other new form factors will be part of our portfolio in the future.”

HP continues to launch Windows-based tablet computers after it decided to stop the development of its TouchPad tablet based on the webOS mobile operating system. The company just announced that webOS will continue to be developed with the support of the open source community and there is a possibility it will find itself on some HP hardware, maybe printers.

The rise of the tablets has influenced the trends in the use of desktop and laptop computers, and with high-end specifications becoming standard and affordable, users have turned to appreciate different aspects of these machines.

“Performance (processor, disk, memory etc.) is still very important but there are no big differences here between vendors. Customers are now requesting better design, portability, reliability and support. Security has become one of the top requested features in the last few years, especially on notebooks. With more and more private and business data stored on notebooks, it has become very important that this data is not accessed by unauthorised persons or by someone who comes in possession of your notebook.

“Before these features were available on top class notebooks only, but today they are available also on our low-end models. For example our HP ProtectTools security system is available on the complete range of HP ProBook and EliteBook notebooks and all desktops.”

HP is the largest personal and business computer manufacturer in the world and the news that it would retain its Personal System Group, rather than spin it off as suggested by HP’s previous chief executive officer, was a very important announcement in this industry.

“HP is the only IT brand which includes all products from notebooks to servers, both consumer and commercial products. Many partners and customers need that type of vendor and by retaining PSG, HP will continue to be first choice for them. It is good for customers and partners to have all products from one place with top quality and reliability across a complete range. I believe that that decision will further strengthen HP leading position on the market,” insisted HP’s top executive responsible for Malta.

HP estimates a market share of between 25 and 30 per cent in the Maltese desktop and notebook market, but it is especially strong in the local business sector. It has two distributors, 11 partners in its preferred partner programme and more than 100 re-sellers. However authorised distributors in Malta cannot order HP consumer notebooks as they are not available to our country.

“HP, as a global leader in desktop and notebook provision, will continue to invest in all three customer segments: commercial, consumer premium and consumer volume. New products in all three segments are coming out every month. The recently-announced all-in-one desktops have become top sellers in many countries and I hope we will have them soon in Malta. New form factors such as the ultrabooks are also expected soon. HP will be faster than ever in providing new technologies and will continue to insist on high quality and best support for its customers,” concluded Mr Fiolic.