HP has just announced a new business laptop. But judging on looks alone, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's just a Macbook Air with a sticker over the Apple logo. Thankfully, there's a few tricks inside to differentiate things.
For starters, the Folio 1020 technically two laptops — there's a standard edition, which weighs 2.6 pounds (and can be specced with a touchscreen), and a 'special' edition, which weighs in at 2.2 pounds without any touchiness. Guts-wise, it's what you'd expect from a modern high-end laptop: 8GB of RAM and a SSD doing the storing. However, it's packing Intel's Core M processor, which is power-wise a step down from the Core iSomething chips that are standard in thin-and-light laptops these days. That means less processing oomph, but also less heat — meaning the Folio 1020 doesn't have a fan.
Since this is a business laptop, there's also a fingerprint sensor and proprietary HP 'enterprise port', and the whole thing meets military standards for drop-tests. If all that piques your interest, the standard edition will be landing in February, with the special edition soon to follow in April. Although notionally aimed at businesses, a light laptop with good battery life and solid build should be useful for almost anyone who spends time on the road — regardless of their affinity for PowerPoint. [Engadget]