Lunch at Panera and ….

I’ve taken a little time off this week to catch up on some long overdue projects.  So Friday I took a break to have lunch with Steve Hughes from Boston Pocket PC at Panera Bread  and I ended up having a very special treat.   So what was it?  Well read on and you will see….

 Jack

I like Panera!  Great food, excellent coffee, wonderful pastry and FREE Wi-Fi.

So I arrived early and grabbed a great table by the window but when Steve arrived, he said the table was too small and we needed to move.  Too small?  Yup, too small because the laptop computer he was about to show me was bigger than I could have possibly imagined.

HP has a brand new PC that promises to offer a first class home theatre experience coupled with high performance computing.  This is one HUGE notebook that is HP’s first 20.1-inch display.  There is no question that it is stylish, innovative, and it has this very slick imprint pattern for a case.  Called the “Dragon”, this very sleek, powerhouse of a notebook is quite incredible.  I spent a little time catching some of my favorite sites and it was an amazing experience.

 Panera1

After lunch, there was enough time to catch part of a movie in incredible high definition quality.  The Dragon has an integrated HP Digital TV Tuner and will also act as a portable TV and PVR.  A feature I liked and thought was a touch of class was an integrated dockable Media Center remote right next to the keyboard.  It clipped easily in and out.  Look at the picture below and you can see it in the lower left. 

The sound was simply amazing!  Not only is there four Altec Lansing speakers but there is a HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer that absolutely rocks!  Even with a low setting for the sound so we would not disturb too many of Panera’s customers, the table was resonating as the movie played.  I can imagine how cool it will be playing some of the great games out there  listening to booming life-like sound.  The graphics …. it is most definitely a new level of visual effects enjoyment on this machine!

Panera2

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Imagine having a “portable PC” that has more power than any PC you have used …. this is it!

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So during this month, there are 31 websites having contests with one winner a day for 31 days.  Imagine, 31 people are going to win a laptop valued at over $5000.  What do you think?  Some one has to win and it could be you.

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Take some time and visit the following websites, read the rules for their contest and enter…..

So here is the list of participating sites.  Start checking them out and enter!!

02 May - 09 May www.absolutevista.com
03 May - 10 May www.arstechnica.com
04 May - 11 May www.osnn.net
05 May - 12 May www.jkontherun.com
06 May - 13 May digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com
07 May - 14 May www.bostonpocketpc.com and www.techronical.com
08 May - 15 May www.the-gadgeteer.com
09 May - 16 May www.thedigitallifestyle.com
10 May - 17 May www.digitalhomethoughts.com
11 May - 18 May www.windows-now.com
12 May - 19 May www.windowsconnected.com
13 May - 20 May www.geekstogo.com
14 May - 21 May bink.nu
15 May - 22 May www.mediablab.com
16 May - 23 May www.last100.com
17 May - 24 May www.labnol.org
18 May - 25 May www.notebooks.com
19 May - 26 May www.slashdotreview.com
20 May - 27 May www.neowin.net
21 May - 28 May www.geek.com
22 May - 29 Mau www.lockergnome.com
23 May - 30 May www.planetx64.com
24 May - 31 May www.thegreenbutton.com
25 May - 01 Jun www.istartedsomething.com
26 May - 02 Jun www.bleepingcomputer.com
27 May - 03 Jun www.hardwaregeeks.com
28 May - 04 Jun www.geeknewscentral.com
29 May - 05 Jun www.geekzone.co.nz
30 May - 06 Jun www.thetabletpc.net
31 May - 07 Jun www.gearlive.com
01 Jun - 08 Jun www.gottabemobile.com

A special thanks to HP for making this happen.  It is good for community and great for 31 lucky people!!

Thanks Steve!  It was a terrific lunch and a neat opportunity to see this unbelievable machine!

Steve

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11 Responses to “Lunch at Panera and ….”


  1. Wow. That thing is HUGE!!!!

  2. Wow Jack! Did people stop and gape when Steve walked in with that beast? If I had one, it would probably never leave my desktop. :shock:

  3. Huge is truly an understatement! It is an awesome machine … incredible screen quality and awsome performance It is a 64 bit machine and can recognize and utilizes the 4 gig of memory that is installed. Memory and processor …. whew, very fast!

    It is truly a desktop replacement!

  4. That is one big honking laptop! How much does it weigh? Not exactly portable, is it?

  5. Yes, you’ll need to replace your desktop if you put this on it!

    Looks like a great machine. Too big for my taste, though.

  6. Yes the laptop is huge, but its a beauty!!!

    I have several “gadget bags” - currently down to just 3 plastic storage bins. I only found 1 bag in my possession short of a suitcase that could fit this behemoth of a laptop and it barely fit with the extra acoustic packing foam and plastic bag I had sealed it in to protect it in my travels.

    The laptop weighs in at 16 lbs. The power brick weighs 2.5lbs. Total weight just shy of 21 lbs if you include the weight of the bag.

    Running it through some usage tests now and I should have “brief” review up this weekend. ;)

    31 people are going to be very happy with their prize!!

  7. … but will it play on the xBox?

  8. More of a luggable than a portable.

    But with the obesity epidemic in the US/UK soon these may be considered laptops… eek!

  9. Did Steve wheel that Dragon in on a dolly?

    When FedEx showed up with the unit I gave away, I couldn’t believe how big the box was…until I opened it up!

  10. No, he didn’t need dolly John. HP supplies a mini-forklift as an accessory…..

  11. John,

    The winner of the HDX that BPPC gave away is still on the hunt for a suitable gear bag. When he brought it into Circuit City the workers cracked out their digital cameras and camera phones to take pictures of the laptop and themselves with the laptop. However, Duane(our winner) didn’t find a suitable bag, yet…

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