HP’s design prowess shows in new consumer and business laptops

We used to make fun of Hewlett-Packard‘s computers as dowdy and uninspired. Apple used to run circles around HP when it came to cool design. But not anymore.

On Tuesday, HP is launching a portfolio of consumer laptops that feature inspired design touches, new kinds of materials that make machines look sleek, more powerful processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, better battery life, and overall better experiences for consumers. The interesting thing here is HP’s design consistency, even though it seems to have a model for every occasion and is churning out computers by the tens of millions.

The flagship computers are the new HP Envy laptops with 14- and 17-inch screens. Originally designed by HP’s VoodooPC division, a startup HP acquired whose products were aimed at gamers, the Envy style has now migrated across the laptop family that HP is showing off. It’s the line that goes head to head against the best that Apple can design. The HP Envy 14 weighs 5.25 pounds, has a 14.5-inch HD Radiance display with a bright screen, and an aluminum case. It has new Intel processors, ATI Mobility Radeon discrete graphics chips, an HD webcam, and high-end audio. It debuts June 27 at $999.

The HP Envy 17 (pictured, right) has a 17.3-inch display, up to two terabytes of storage, the ability to support multiple displays, and Intel and ATI chips. It debuts on May 19 for $1,399.

One big difference from these models and the ones that debuted last year is that they have textured finishes so that you don’t see fingerprint streaks on them.

Both of these models are meant to lure the enthusiasts who might be drawn to Apple but don’t want to pay higher prices or use only Mac software. HP refers to its style as MUSE (which stands for materials, usability, sensory appeal and experiences). Yes, that’s HP propaganda. But it means that a computer should feel like it was designed and made by an artisan, not an assembly line.

To buttress that point, HP has taken pains to show its refinement when it comes to design. All of HP’s new laptops can use wallpapers from 12 different artists from around the world. The Envy notebooks incude Beats Audio, a high-performance audio technology developed by HP and Beats by Dr. Dre. The idea is to reproduce music the way that artists intended it to be heard.

It remains to be seen if HP can have things both ways here. It is the world’s biggest computer maker with lots of variety in its product lines. Besides the Envy computers, it is also launching more mainstream HP Pavilion brand laptops and new HP Mini computers that fit in the netbook category. Can HP really convince users that its machines are hand-crafted when it is making them by the tens of millions?

The HP Pavilion laptops are also well-designed, but they’re meant for people who don’t need all of the Envy bells and whistles. These computers, including the dm4, dv5, dv6, and dv7, are much more friendly to the budget conscious.

A HP Pavilion dm4 has a sleek brushed aluminum metal finish with etched patterns on top of it. So it’s stylish. It is an inch thick and weighs 4.4 pounds. It has a 14-inch screen, 6.5 hours of battery life, and a new Intel Core processor. The Pavilion laptops are good a playing rich media such as graphics, audio and video. Prices start at $729. That’s a price band where you won’t be seeing rivals such as Apple.

Below that market is the domain of the HP Mini, the netbooks that, at this point, compete with the Apple iPad. The HP Mini 110 has eight hours of battery life and starts at $279. The HP Mini 210 (which comes in a cute preppy pink and white crystal) has a three-dimensional imprint technology, which makes the surface of the laptop look like it has a layer of patterns on top of a see-through layer of patterns. The HP Mini 210 sells for $354. Both models go on sale June 15.

Yet even at this level — the cheap, no-frills, no-nonsense model — HP is trying to add artistic flair. The surface patterns for the netbooks were created by Studio Tord Boontje, a famous design house in London. HP’s bet is that it can infuse its entire produce line with style, much the same way Apple does, while remaining accessible to the masses. That’s what I see in many of the new laptop models being introduced today.

The business laptops coming aren’t quite as fancy on the designs and have more conservative looks and colors (pictured, right). But they look reasonably good and have the basic functions that business people want: productivity apps, security, performance and battery life. Inspired by its Voodoo acquisition, HP is finally working some design magic.