HP’s business laptops will make over-shoulder snooping impossible.
Hewlett-Packard (HP), in partnership with 3M, is coming out with a bang in an attempt to steal competition from its rivals. This time, HP is not inventing a new hybrid notebook or a fancy looking printer, but it is simply adding something that we are familiar with in a different way.
HP has come up with an inbuilt screen filter for mainstream business laptops that will free users from the need of getting those additional screen filters that they put on the screen. The filter has been developed with help of 3M that is also in the filter business. Instead of a stand-alone product, the filter goes directly into the screen to prevent the so-called visual hacks according to HP.
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The idea behind the feature is that it will give additional security to business-related users by preventing onlookers to decipher what they have been doing. According to Mike Nash, formerly the head of Microsoft’s security division and currently the Vice President of Hewlett-Packard, almost every café one goes to, there is someone sitting with a computer and a business plan, partnership agreement or other confidential information displayed on the screen. The latest filter, however, blocks the view completely for anyone who is trying to peak in.
The great thing about this filter though is not that it is protective, but rather that it can be turned on and off at the user’s will. So you can turn it on when you are working on that secret business idea but turn it back on when you are watching Netflix with your friends at home.
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It is not known how much the filter adds to the production costs of the computers, given that the new filters will be integrated into the Elitebook 1040 and Elitebook 840 notebook computers. However, judging by the strategy adopted by HP that it is targeting these notebooks toward the mainstream business market segment, the price is going to be much less than expected. This is confirmed by Alex Cho, the general manager of HP’s commercial PC division who says that there is no niche market for this.