Background

Hewlett-Packard is an information technology company known as the ‘birthplace of Silicon Valley,’ as it got its roots manufacturing electrical testing equipment out of a Palo Alto garage in 1938. The company is now responsible for producing a variety of laptop lines ranging from the budget-friendly to the high-end gaming. Perhaps the most iconic of these lines is the Pavilion, which released in 1995 and has functioned as the staple consumer varietal ever since. Other lines include the mid-range Envy, the ascetic oriented Spectre, the budget friendly Chromebook and Stream, the powerful ProBook and Z workstations, the Omen for gaming, and the premium Elite/Elitebook line.

Over the years, Hewlett-Packard has several computer hardware and software companies and integrated their technology with their own laptop lines.

Relevant Acquisitions:

  • Apollo Computer 1989
  • ABB CADE 1991
  • Computer Systems from Texas Instruments 1992
  • EEsof Inc. 1993
  • Convex Computer 1995
  • ElseWare Corp. 1995
  • Division Inc. 1996
  • Compaq 2002
  • Peregrine Systems 2005
  • VooDooPC 2006
  • Palm Inc. 2010

The most often replaced HP Laptop parts include the battery, screen, motherboard, and case components.

Identification

The range of HP laptops runs wide, but they almost universally share the encircled ‘hp’ logo on the top case, with the most prominent exception being the Omen line, which sports VooDoo’s “Tribal Mask” logo (HP acquired high-performance laptop company VooDooPC in 2006).

Additional Resources

Hewlett-Packard on Wikipedia

HP Pavilion on Wikipedia

HP’s Laptops Product Page

List of HP Acquisitions

HP Chromebooks