HP uses the “force”, brings Star Wars to a laptop

We’ve seen Star Wars games, toys, manchester, clothing, and even a Darth Vader toaster, but HP appears to be pushing the film franchise in a new way with a Star Wars laptop.

HP looks keen to attract sci-fi fanboys with something new, and that something is a PC notebook designed with Star Wars in mind.

Technology-wise, what you’re looking at is a HP laptop with a Full HD 15.6 inch display, Intel’s Core i5 processor from the sixth-generation, 8GB RAM, a 1TB conventional hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, and a graphics card from Nvidia running 2GB RAM.

But the specs are only one part of the package, and most of the attention here should be on how the laptop looks, as well as what Lucasfilm and HP have done to customise the Windows experience for Star Wars fans.

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For starters, the outside looks like it’s been weathered and survived time on an Imperial starship, possibly painted by Darth in his spare time. He has to have spare time, right? When he wasn’t trying to crush the Rebels and end turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side?

So there’s that side of things, and just to make things really confusing the touchpad features the design from the X-Wing targeting system, while the keys are backlit with a glowing red.

Inside the computer, it’s less about the Star Wars look and more about the extras Star Wars fans should have, with HP and Lucasfilm collaborating for a treasure trove of Star Wars content.

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We’re talking over 1000 images from the 40 year history of the franchise, including storyboards, artwork, photos of costumes, set designs, and more, with much of this lending itself to wallpapers and screensavers.

The Windows desktop is also a little different with a special Star Wars theme, and you’ll find Star Wars sounds instead of the traditional Windows 10 notification sounds, while the recycling bin has been changed to a Death Star (or a moon, depending on how you look at it… wait, that’s no moon).

 

In fact, when your recycle bin is empty, you’ll see the Death Star the way Vader wants it (complete), but the moment it’s full of files, it will change to the way the Rebels prefer it (destroyed).

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“HP is delivering an amazing Star Wars experience as the only PC vendor collaborating with Disney and Lucasfilm to create a one-of-one-kind notebook,” said Jeff Woodhouse, Manager for the Consumer PC Category at HP Australia.

“As part of this relationship, we were able to tap into Lucasfilm’s media archives to create custom screen savers, desktop backgrounds and sound profiles – configurable by the customer.”

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Is this the computer you’re looking for?

Pricing for the Star Wars special edition HP laptop comes in at a starting price of $1299 locally, with an optional Star Wars wireless mouse for $49 and an even more optional Star Wars sleeve for $49.

We’re not sure if this one is as limited edition as HP suggests, but we suspect it won’t hover around for too long, so if you’re keen, November is when this one should hit store shelves.