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HP is packing workstation power into power-packed 15.4- and 17-inch notebook systems.

Hewlett-Packard is hoping it can convince a few of its workstation customers to get out into the world with its new EliteBooks series of notebooks, which offer workstation-like graphics and processing power in 15.4- and 17-inch notebook form factors.

"Mobility is becoming increasingly important to our most demanding, power-user customers," said HP's senior VP for personal systems Stephen Dewitt, in a statement. "HP is delivering on creative professionals' most exacting computing needs by enabling power users to take their highly tuned graphics workstations with them wherever they go."

At the top of the heap, the EliteBook 8730w offers a 17-inch HP DreamColor display, which can handle over 16 million colors (compared to the 260,000 available on a typical notebook LCD display). The system is also available with Intel dual-core and quad-core processors, up to 8 GB of RAM, and Nvidia QuadroFX graphics with 1 GB of dedicated video memory.

The EliteBook 8530w and Elitebook 8530p offer 15.4-inch displays, Intel Core 2 Duo processor—although a quad-core option is avialable for the 8530w.

All EliteBook models are available with Vista Business or Ultimate (or Business with an XP downgrade option), 120 to 320 GB of hard drive storage, DVD and Blu-ray options, an integrated 2 megapixel Webcam, HDMI and eSATA connections, and the usual spate of Ethernet, USB, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

The EliteBook 8730w should be available later in August for prices starting at $1,699; the Elitebook 8530 series should be available in September at prices starting at $1,499.