The Dragon - and Centrino Pro

HP proudly launched one of its latest "laptops" at the event in Shanghai, dubbed "The Dragon". The term laptop has to be used advisedly here: this machine weighs in at 15 pounds and has a 20-inch acreen, and no one is going to be carrying this monster round. HP is positioning it as a desktop replacement - a moveable home entertainment system. But it's unlikely anyone will be running it off battery power or taking it on long-haul flights. The Dragon, also known as the HP Pavilion HDX, runs on Intel's new Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) technology that also includes the draft specification for the 802.11n WiFi standard.

Apparently the "Santa Rosa" codename for the latest generation of the Centrino technology will be branded Centrino Pro for businesses and Centrino Duo for consumers. Centrino Pro will also include Active Management Technology (AMT) that enables IT staff to take control of a problem notebook, even when the PC's Windows operating system is down.

At this week's event in Shanghai Intel's head of marketing Sean Maloney said he expects WiMAX technology to be included in chipsets in 1-2 years.