HP is touting the newly announced product, as well as new and enhanced services, as critical in a new normal workplace that wants devices that are a better fit with distributed work locations rather than central offices.

Today HP is kicking off its Reinvent Partner Event as a virtual offering. Since key channel news like their new HP Amplify partner program that goes live on November 1 were announced earlier this summer, the big news at the event this year is around product, with multiple new PC and printer announcements taking place.

“Partners represent close to 88% of the revenue that we do,” said Christoph Schell, HP’s Chief Commercial Officer. “The chance to reconnect with partners at this event is super important for us – not only to understand what is top of mind for them and the feedback they get from customers, but also to fuel innovation that we have on the product side, and services and also on the Go-to-Market side.”

Schell restated a point which has become commonly held throughout the IT industry, that the pandemic and forced transition to new work environments has greatly accelerated the speed of innovation in the industry.

“The changes we have seen in the last 5-6 months are the changes we thought we would see in the next 5-6 years,” he said.

Mike Nash, Global Head of Customer Experience for Personal Experience at HP, stressed that one of these changes is that PCs have become more important to workers as they work from outside the old office.

“The key thing we want to be clear on is that the PC was important before – but now the PC is essential,” he stated. “Gen Z and Gen Y are using their PC 25% more than before COVID.” He noted that millennials now use their PCs 27 hours per week while Gen Z use it 31 hours per week.”

Nash also emphasized the forward-looking nature of the new devices.

“They all support different ways of working and delivering things more as a service,” he said. “These are products and services that help people adapt to what the future holds.”

One new desktop PC was announced, the HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Desktop Mini’Small Form Factor Device.

“This is the world’s first AMD-based business class desktop mini PC with dual M.2 drive capability – a business class PC in a super small package,” Nash noted.

“It is designed to make use of limited desk space, and can be installed behind the monitor,” said Andy Rhodes, GM Commercial PCs, HP Personal Systems. “It has three M.2 slots, one for WLAN and two for storage, and seven USB ports, including two flex option shots. It can also connect up to seven displays.”

The HP EliteDesk 805 G6 Desktop Mini PC is expected to be available in November for a starting price of $USD 939.

Another new AMD-based offering is the HP ProBook G35 Aero G7.

“This is the first AMD based business notebook under 1 kilogram,” Nash said. It has great battery life and is our first ProBook that has recycled magnesium alloy.”

“This is the lightest business notebook, which will become the mobile powerhouse that can accompany you all around the house, or office or on the go,” Rhodes said. “You still need mobility even in the home.” HP says the keyboard is both smooth and quiet, and the machine is designed to withstand 1000 cycles of disinfecting wipes.

The HP ProBook 635 Aero G7 is expected to be available in November. Pricing will be available closer to product availability.

HP also introduced the refreshed HP ProBook 600 G8 and HP ProBook 400 G8 PC Series, designed for knowledge workers who move from desk to meeting room to home, and with options like optional quad-core 11th Gen Intel Core processors.

“All of these are the lightest and smallest in their series ever,” Nash stated,

Both the HP ProBook 400 G8 PC Series and the HP ProBook 600 G8 PC Series are expected to be available in November for a starting price of $USD 729 and $USD 1,169 respectively.

New monitors were announced.

“The HP E24t G4 FHD Touch Monitor is the world’s first with always on ultra- blue light,” Nash said. “In the past, blue light tech did make the colors off quite a bit. With the new hardware approach here, we do a great job of filtering out the harmful blue light, while not causing the yellow shift, so that whites look white.”

Two new conferencing monitors, the HP E24d and E27d Conferencing Monitors, were also introduced. These Zoom-compatible monitors allow users to effortlessly video conference with the integrated pop-up webcam, microphone, and attached speaker bar without having to buy or connect additional accessories.

“All the collaboration tools have been brought into a single monitor, without having to get additional accessories or wires,” Rhodes noted.

The HP E24t G4 Touch Monitor is expected to be available in December for $USD 349, while the HP E24D and E27D G4 Conferencing Monitors are expected to be available in October for $USD 369, and $USD 499, respectively.

The printing announcements featured a refresh of the HP LaserJet Enterprise 400 Series, put into an even smaller footprint for remote working and new office configurations. They also included thw new DesignJet Studio & T200/600 series

“These are the world’s easiest and smallest large format plotters, and the most sustainable and first net carbon neutral certified plotters,” said Annaliese Olson, GM and Global Head, HP Print Category.

“Now that people are no longer in the office, there isn’t the same demand for big printers, and there is more demand for smaller devices that can be used in the home,” said Guayente Sanmartin, Global Head, Large Format Design Printing, HP Print.

The new printers are expected to be available starting in December.

New services were an important part of the announcement as well.

“HP Business Boost is designed for one of the most challenging segments – the SMB,” Rhodes said. “It provides technology, security and support services to manage remote workers when they work from home and anywhere else they might be.”

HP Business Boost includes full IT support, break and fix support, device management, and automatic ink delivery, as well as premium services like real time security, enhanced device management, and device damage protection.

“It is all provided at a fixed dollar cost per month,” Rhodes stated. “We believe HP Business Boost is a game-changing solution.”

The HP Device as a Service [DaaS] program has been updated and simplified, with a new model that allows channel partners to customize their offers.

“Partners will really appreciate the new DaaS framework because they can now lead with their own services and make HP’s DaaS services an optional ingredient in their services offering,” said Sumeer Chandra, General Manager & Global Head, HP Services. “We believe that this will drive more partners to DaaS.

“DaaS Financing is optional for partners because we know many partners provide their own financing,” Chandra added.

Both HP Business Boost and DaaS are available now. A new toner subscription services is scheduled for availability sometime this fall, while Document Workflow Cloud, a cloud-based solution created through a partnership with Upland Software that digitizes the entire content lifecycle, is scheduled for December availability.

Finally, HP also announced an add-on program to HP Amplify for partners who want to differentiate themselves by going woke.

“We have decided we are going to introduce a first of its kind long-term initiative for partners, to focus on the three pillars of HP’s sustainable impact strategy: people; planet; and community,” Schell said. “We are launching as an extension of our Amplify Program an HP Amplify Impact program.

“It is the first industry program that helps partners to be trained in a meaningful way around how they can have an impact on diversifying the IT channel ecosystem,” Schell stated. “We are setting a very ambitious goal – that 50% or more of our global partner community will join HP Amplify Impact by 2025. We want to give our partners an opportunity to think and to act on the standards of diversity and inclusion that they can drive within their companies and within the tech industry. Diversity cannot be viewed as a bolt-on initiative. It is a deep cultural issue that we all have responsibility for change, and we want our partners to be part of that movement.”