The US Evangelism Team locks down our demo platform

I'm part of a team known as Microsoft Across America (MSAM).  Each year we work with a sponsor to come up with the platform we'll be using to demonstrate Microsoft products during our live events and seminars.  Last year it was Lenovo and this year we'll be using a HP laptop.  So what laptop was selected?

The HP Compaq 6910p Notebook PC

We have a bunch of 6910p notebooks on order.  They'll likely arrive mid October and you'll be able to see them in action at the beginning of November.  Check out the detailed specs or the marketing datasheet for all of the information on this model.

The US TechNet team I report into will of course be running a variety of server operating systems and demos from these units.  Chris Avis has taken over the role as TechNet Hardware Czar and worked with Michael Murphy (MSAM Operations) to communicate our needs to HP.  Unfortunately he didn't get an eval unit to assess before we needed to pull the trigger and get the bulk order into the HP build pipeline.  We're pretty confident there will be no show stoppers because we have other Microsoft employees running these machines already.  When I get my unit, the first order of business will be to install Windows Server 2008 RC0 and test Windows Server virtualization (WSv).

Since I don't have one of these baby's in my hands yet, I can't offer any initial impressions.  Based on prior experience with other laptops of this generation (the "Santa Rosa" machines), we should have some fun with these.  With an x64 operating system, we'll be able to address 4GB of memory.  This will be helpful when running virtual machine demos.  I would like more USB ports and an ExpressCard slot, but I can work around those if needed. 

We'll see soon enough how speedy the ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 video chipset is.  I'm assuming that is what was ordered.  This machine has a 14.1 inch widescreen LCD panel.  I don't know yet if it was ordered with the 1280x800 or 1440x900 native resolution screen.  I'm hoping it's the latter.

The HP 6910p comes with a variety of networking options and our units will have either the EVDO or HSDPA cell connectivity option and allow us to connect to ATT, Sprint or Verizon.  Having an Internet connection wherever you go is nice.  It sure makes looking up information at an event handy.  I have not heard yet which carrier we'll be using with these machines. 

So in about another month or so I should be able to give you some first impressions on the HP 6910p.  It looks like a worthy little machine so I'll beat up on it for a week or two and let you know if I find any glaring issues.