Over a year ago, when I first heard about HP’s Blackbird, I wondered if it could live up to its namesake.
For those who don’t know, the SR-71 or YF-12A (if you have a choice, you want the YF-12A – it has missiles) were military jets dripping with lust and mystery. With a classified true top speed, they represented what happened when you said “screw maneuverability… all I want to do is go incredibly fast.” This, of course, was good, given that, at top speed, actually turning one of these puppies around required the room supplied by a couple good-sized states or medium-sized countries…
But I digress. I’ve seen the HP Blackbird, and man, does it step up to the plate. Whether or not you can afford one, need the performance or even care about gaming, let’s just say this… it’s worth checking one out just to see the state of the art in desktop PCs.
The HP Blackbird
Seeming like it’s actually about to take off into flight, the case for the Blackbird looks like nothing else. That’s because it is like nothing else. The reason why? It wasn’t built by a case manufacturing company – it was built by a company that makes car parts. This is an automotive-quality case, and you don’t typically see this level of fit and finish on PCs. The case is also solid cast aluminum, making it a large part of the cooling solution. While it has plastic panels on the doors that can be customized, under those panels is more solid aluminum. In short, this sucker is one solid piece of art.
The HP Blackbird 002
What’s more, inside, the system was co-designed by the folks from Voodoo, influenced by ex-Apple employees, worked on by engineers who create some of the most advanced high-end computers in the world, and crafted by some of the best artisans money can buy.
Even opening the door to the inside of the case is an experience. Inside all the cables are hidden, the case is heavily ducted and shrouded, and it contains what may be the most advanced water/air cooling system yet developed. Once glimpse reveals it’s likely something created specifically for HP and largely based on cutting-edge technology out of HP’s labs, which was probably targeted at future high-performance servers to boot.
It has 5 drives in a fast mount rack taken from one of HP’s yet to be released storage products too, and I doubt you’ll ever encounter drives with any faster physical access. Furthermore, one of the first things you see when you open the door is a little embedded tool kit, which you won’t use very often, because the case is virtually tool-less. And everything is really nicely laid out to boot.
On the top of the case is a pop-up panel with a selection of memory card slots, and USB and FireWire ports. The technology inside depends on how you have the system configured and choices can take you from a powerful baseline to the highest-end configuration.
This is one of those machines you need to see in person to understand the full impact of. If you are spinning around a tech store, check one out… but also bring a Kleenex to wipe up your drool.
Back Story
The back story behind the Blackbird 002 is kind of interesting. An HP employee who was into gaming cornered a couple of HP executives and got them excited about gaming too. (This isn’t your father’s HP!) This led to the first Blackbird prototype 001 – an amazing box with active louvers that would open and tied to color-shifting lights (which shifted from blue to red as performance increased) – this made for an incredibly impressive box.
But the executives were so excited, and perhaps a little worried about Dell’s purchase of Alienware, that they went on a mini –buying spree and picked up Voodoo computers. Instead of the typical path for a small company purchased by a large company (which typically leads to the bloody squishing of the small company), the Voodoo guys ran rampant in HP and helped transform the PC division.
The first product is the Blackbird 002, and while I really miss the louvers, you have to admit what resulted was simply amazing. Now realize that this is simply the first product in what is likely to be two separate lines – one under HP and one under Voodoo – and you’ll get the idea that this is simply the tip of the iceberg, as more fantastic products are soon to result.
The Beginning of an Amazing PC Wave
While the Blackbird is clearly revolutionary, Dell and others will likely not let it go unchallenged for long. Dell in particular is ramping up their competitive response and reversed their hands-off policy with Alienware some time ago. HP, with Blackbird, dropped what amounts to a nuclear bomb in the industry, and all rivals are now looking with trepidation towards the rest of HP’s advanced line, which will likely also include a revolutionary laptop. Given the number of Apple people HP has pulled into the company over the last few months, expect to see an increasing amount of Apple DNA creeping into their products as well. And, if you think about it, Blackbird is one of the very few products that arguably is better-designed, and more advanced, than its Apple counterpart.
This means both Apple and Dell will have to step up their game and do more than simply re-skin aging products to compete with an HP loaded for bear. We are possibly seeing the beginnings of a massive resurgence in competitive design, and that actually could bring a lot of excitement back into the segment, which we haven’t seen for awhile.
At the very least, it will mean an increase in performance-oriented desktops and laptops, and for those of us who love performance, that is certainly worth waiting for.
Machines Built For Vista
This is also the beginning of a wave of PCs that are designed specifically for Windows Vista, and with the first major service pack upgrade due to ship in a few months, the timing couldn’t be better. Up until now, Vista has kind of languished, but with a brand refresh surrounded by incredible new hardware, it could finally come into its own. Games for Windows titles exclusive to Vista are starting to roll to market in increasing numbers too. And most of the accessories which initially didn’t work with Vista now seem to be working (at least the ones that I have) as well.
In the end, it looks like the days of ever more dull PC retreads may soon be over, and the result will be PC products we can all lust for a little bit. Frankly, even if you don’t buy into the hype, a little lust isn’t a bad thing.
