RSSProfile: HP's Blackbird 002 and the Ideal of the PC
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published September 21, 2007, 9:00 AM
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It looks, even from a distance, strangely like something Hewlett-Packard might build. Just like a Chrysler through the years has something about it that identifies it as Chrysler, the HP Blackbird 002 has the certain grille markings, shapes, and substance of the basic brand - the archetype of HP design, even the less attractive culminations.
But it is not something HP has ever built before. It's taking off, or at least it looks that way, by virtue of a shiny, single cast aluminum foot that spreads its cyan lighting like a rocket trail. Its side panel is made of deep draw aluminum - a tempered sheet that's stretched and drawn to shape over a plug, the same process used to make aircraft wing panels. It opens like a car door, and can be snapped off its hinge with a thumb lever.
Inside is a machined aluminum chassis. Its hard drives fit into plastic, glove-like mountings that snap them into individual sockets, held in place with a firm, metal lever. Its optical drives slide into a metal bay that loads in from the front panel and snaps into place. Never is a screwdriver picked up during this entire process; this is a machine built intentionally not just to be admired, but to be accessed.
The bottom line is, when we created Blackbird, we had a totally different mindset, and it was exciting for everybody because we weren't worried about saving 20 cents on a type of finish, or something, you know what I mean? We were more worried about...making sure this thing sells like a high-end car. When you open the door and you go inside and you remove a hard drive, you want to be able to feel the quality. You don't want a big hunk of plastic on your desk. This is the original mandate when we started to create it.
It may be the first HP computer produced not just simply for the joy of owning it or having it. In fact, its internal components are almost parenthetical. Its limited-run Signature Edition features Intel's Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor, overclocked to 3.69 GHz on an Asus Striker Extreme motherboard. Although nVidia's nForce 680i chipset drives that motherboard, an ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT card powers its graphics (though some models pictured clearly show an nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra). The Voodoo liquid cooling system is there to keep the thing from exploding.
But that's just for the limited run. When HP's configurator goes online in November, customers will be able to choose between the Core 2 Extreme buildout and one featuring an AMD Athlon X2 6000+.
RAHUL SOOD: I hear what you're saying, and I agree with what you're saying. It would've been easy for us to just pick components and put them in the machine, and go with that. But then there's the issue of customer choice, and in many cases, our customers do want a choice of what goes inside the machine. In some cases - though in most cases, actually, customers don't understand what's inside the machine and they're going to go with a recommendation based on their usage.
In the case of ATI vs. nVidia, there's benefits and drawbacks to one or the other. But in the case of the motherboard, for example, we chose the best motherboard we could find, and that has an nVidia chipset on it. We're not going to put five different chipsets on the motherboard just because we want to offer customers choice. We don't want to offer choice for the sake of offering choice. We want to offer choice because it makes a difference to the customer experience.
Yes, we are using an nForce chipset, but we're also offering Crossfire integration and SLI configurations on that same motherboard - which is, again, an industry first. No one's ever done it, but we're doing it because we get a much better competitive advantage that way. Not only does it help the customer with their gaming experience, but it gives them a choice that they need.
Because the customer will be able to choose the buildout for the Blackbird 002, it ceases to be about the specific brands or components or performance benchmarks that a high-end PC typically relies upon for its raison d'être. That might not seem logical on the surface, since for many, owning a Jaguar is about revving that V-12 engine, and owning a Harley-Davidson means somewhat more to its rider than merely being able to shine and polish its chrome.
For a PC that currently sells for about $5,600, and whose varying buildouts will eventually hover at or around that amount, you might think it needs to make a powerful statement about what's "inside." But as any enthusiast knows all too well, performance-grade processors, graphics cards, and motherboards have at best a 16-month shelf life before they get shoved over into the "mainstream" column. By that time, it would seem such a PC would sell for around a thousand, maybe less, most likely on eBay.
But here is where, by acquiring VoodooPC, HP stumbled upon an extraordinary formula: "Voodoo DNA," it's called - the modern-day equivalent of "Body by Fisher." It's Hewlett-Packard's opportunity to offer the customer something of lasting value, in a market that has suffered greatly from commoditization. And this is something Dell's competing XPS system may have missed: By offering an ordinary ATX form factor for housing the motherboard, and not only providing access to but literally encouraging the act of getting one's hands inside the system and changing things around, Blackbird 002 offers the customer a lasting component whose value transcends its contents. Sixteen months from now, supposing there are octal-core central processors and hyper-pipelined graphics processors and 1.5 TB hard drives, the Blackbird 002 owner can simply swap the inside parts out for new ones, probably with just a few hours' work.
So perhaps even ten years from now, "classic" Blackbird 002 chasses will be housing modern computers, while still gracing modern desktops. In a market where HP has already grown too accustomed to being disposable, once again it will have built something to last.
Next: How HP and Voodoo Began with Dell
[All photography courtesy HP Gaming Division]
Blackbird may be a good idea but I feel the concept is 'too little, too late' Has anyone noticed that notebooks are starting to outsell desktops? Or that the newer tech really is not much better that the old tech. Here's where I hole-heartily agree with horsecharles. A older P4 (non-HT) is just as good as a dual-core 64bit system. My Athlon XP system works just sweet on 512MB RAM. Me not being a gamer these days actually helps my bank account. Which is also why i'll buy an older 4G iPod for $80 than a new one for $250! Many computer users also want slim, less instrusive, less cabling, simple, combined easy to move around package... Myself included. This type of system will only be selling to the uber-geeks of computer users. The users that have the cash to spend for something like this. maybe it's my older age talking but these days, 5 grand for an aesthetically pleasing system is just not worth it. Which is why i applaud AMD for taking a different road than Intel for CPUs.
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|Rahul has proven himself as a capable judge on gaming technology, even better than alienware. I have always loved mods and gaming machines even if I have been unable to be at the top of the specs and i end up building a machine just capable do play what I want and investing further on in upgrades. This machine promises the best of custom made PC´s with the prestige of both voodoo and HP and they allow for future expansion and an amazing design. You can build something similar and can mod it to your hearts content, but it wont be a voodoo or a HP unless you buy it. ;-D
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|Join the HP Blackbird Facebook for more info and discussion...
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4869167697
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|Big deal, so they can paint a system different-- even lay out innards in different fashion... that's more cosmetic--Richard Simmons / This Old House-- rather than truly genius / inventive.
True visionaries would attempt to port both unused inventions gathering dust, and elements of high end workstations and servers-- to the masses.
For instance:
a system including any of the following: Cell Processor(or with 2-4 other processors, each w/ eight cores), Sun's grid array technology that allows dozens & dozens of processors and ram modules to be utilized AND no bus needed, etc.
Even something as simple as a system with only a flash drive-- i'd pay the premium... whether for gaming or advanced work.
Something revolutionary in performance is needed-- i can do things not much better or faster on today's systems than on Pentium 3's from the 90's...
the only noticeable advantage nowadays is that i can now run more useless crap simultaneously w/o compromising system stability as much: 1. hog OS'es with tons of unnecessary background services running, 2. handfuls of redundant security apps that each target a different sub-niche, 3. scads of installed oem crapware- each needing to: A. auto-start w/ windows, B. check for an update every 10 minutes, C. send helpful statistics back to their home base on a constant basis, D. pre-load themselves in memory/cache... ready at a nanosecond's notice.
But yet, i still can't meaningfully multi-task several commercial-grade apps no matter how powerful system/os/processor/ram w/o experiencing slowdowns / needing reboots.
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|Blame the apps then. No application should ever require a reboot of the OS: period.
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|"Performance is important, it's a factor, but it shouldn't be about 100% performance."
i think the point was more about beauty, uniqueness, and art.
in that sense, it is VERY inventive.
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|Here's a video and audio podcast that you might be interested in:
http://www.podtech.net/h...-massive-product-launch
http://www.podtech.net/h...ackbird-002-will-soar-2
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|Nice to see the pricing on this reflect close-to-par CDN/USD:
$5,500.00 (USD)
$5,507.15 (CAD)
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|Thanks to the devaluation of the US dollars, you will soon see it will cost more in USD than in CAD. That's not far away, I would say by the end of the year.
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|I made a bet with someone on here about the dollar reaching parity before the years' end (can't remember who though). I want my cookie.
But yes, it's great to see pricing adjustments made.
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|Aethetics in computer design?
Apple has done this since the 1980's.
Get with the program BN.
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|Mr Skinner,
Your comments as usual well noted, however I'm typing this on a Dell XPS M1330. CPU is Intel T7700, on board ram 4gb, GFX Nvidia GS 8400M DDR3,
and that's just it's guts.
Weights about 2.4lb with standard battery, and is promoted as the slimmest 13.3" notebook available.
Whether it's a chick magnet? I'll never know, but it only took me about 6 hours to vlite it's OS to make it work like it looks.
Cheers
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|"CPU is Intel T7700, on board ram 4gb, GFX Nvidia GS 8400M DDR3"
That's all well and fine now, but in 3 years time it will be old hat.
My point is that the more 'stylish' computers get the less they can be re-used as it were.
This is a shame as it means more and more PCs will be thrown away (that includes you Mac people too).
It shouldn't have to be that way.
ATX cases should be an ISO standard for computer boxes so that components could be changed and updated as time goes on.
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|Skinner, I doubt you RTFA, but they actually covered that.
I'm also guessing you've never priced or purchased a Voodoo computer before.
Voodoo's prices actually aren't all that bad, for one. You just have to remember to factor in your labour. Count the amount of hours it would take you to mod, multiplied by what you'd pay yourself.
Next - the components. Having purchased a Voodoo box before, I know for a fact they use standard components. You can swap 'em in and out with no problems. Your comment is invalid.
Third - what they don't talk about is drivers. I was pleasantly surprised back in the day to find that Voodoo had hand-picked and selected drivers that no only don't conflict, but work well with each other. This is apparent when you start mucking around with them. Voodoo may use slighly older drivers, maybe even beta drivers at the time, but their testing process assures that all works well.
Fourth - this may no longer be their practice, but Voodoo has always shipped machines with recovery discs. I'm not talking a hidden partition, or CD you basically reinstall. I'm talking about a Ghost image with all of the drivers, tweaks, etc, ready to go, sysprepped, and a copy of the BIOS settings.
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|considering most OEM MFGs have already gone to BTX, i'd say ATX is on it's way out (even tho i see no reason to use BTX over ATX)
ive seen articles on the blackbird before, it's not just a pretty box with expenive components inside. it's a completely customized gaming/extreme-performance rig. it's completely heatpiped/watercooled and still has amazing airflow. hp didnt just combine the top components, they made a uniquely good and powerful performance PC.
would i buy it if i had the money? probably not, i'd rather not rely on someone else to build my PC, no matter how much it's customized, but i'd recommend it to anyone who'd normally buy an alienware...
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|Mr Skinner,
Tax man will replace this in 12 months, indeed I'm waiting for the new Alienware with 64GB Flashdrive & a variety of HD complimentary options, along with dual Nvidia SLI's to become available in OZ.
Cheers mate,
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|Perhaps I am the only one, but I would like to see the return of the beige box.
It is the style icon of the 90s.
And we all know the 90s was the best era*.
Plus you can mod it, if the desire takes you, to look like anything you want.
These new 'stylish' computers limit what you can do on the inside AND on the outside as they are often too small to get to the RAM, CPU, motherboard etc and already have enough crap on the outside to stop you from modding it too much.
But then I suppose I'm not the in the genre of people they're trying to market this to...
*If you were in the 60s you won't be able to remember it.
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|you can have mine, got about a dozen in a closet.
all my computers are in custom cases now. :-)
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