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Posted by Alexis Dang on Wednesday September 05, 2007 - 02:16 PM

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» HP Blackbird 002 Preview

HP's rival to the Dell XPS has a name: Blackbird. The Blackbird 002 will be available with a combo HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive, liquid cooling, and factory overclocking! Read more details on this eye-catching system inside!

>> Click Here to read the article

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11 User Comment(s) • 3 root comment(s)
Click to view Maelphaedor's User Page Maelphaedor (220)  Talk to Maelphaedor in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 07:31 pm
The system has a great look going for it, much better to my eyes than the childish alien head motif that alienware uses, and aside from the newest xps 700, easily outstyling anything from dell.

The big question, however, is what are HP going to do to slow the system down. That's my personal biggest annoyance at pre-builds. Spec sheets can be the most awesome system ever, and then a system for half the cost comes along and slaughters it in any benchmark you'd like to choose.

But hey, it is pretty! Perhaps they'll sell the case barebones. :)

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Click to view MooseMuffin's User Page MooseMuffin (191)  Talk to MooseMuffin in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 06:45 am
"Cynics will say that HP just designed a really cool, no, really, really, cool looking case, but that’s it."

Anyone saying that would really be selling HP short. I mean they also did...that thing...and something else...and some other stuff.

Nope, thats actually all they did.

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Click to view Major Shtupping's User Page Major Shtupping (153)  My XFire username is: joebot Click to view Major Shtupping's User Profile Talk to Major Shtupping in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 07:39 am
Well I think also that its the first maintenance free liquid cooled system (atleast that I have heard of). They say on pg 2 "HP insists that the liquid cooler is maintenance free"

The part that gets me is the very last paragraph:
"Nobody would argue, however, that the world is a much better place for having experienced these ultimate machines. So it shouldn’t matter what the Blackbird costs. Think of your friend’s faces when they see the Blackbird on your desk. Think of the Blackbird 002 as a street-legal hot rod. Think of buying a Blackbird 002 as an investment into HP Gaming and the development of the next-generation blackbird. Think of your support of the high-end gaming market as supporting engineers who dream about the ultimate overclock, just like you do. Think of getting your license to speed today."
This just makes it read like a puff piece marketing department written press release. The one-page fan written lead-in didn't help either.

Dang even glosses over obvious problems:
"The carriers are a little flimsy, but they are designed that way to allow you to “pop” the drive into the carrier. Hot-swappability is not supported because of motherboard limitations." -- flimsy for much $$$ is bad, but why no hot-swap? The mobo they mention (Asus Striker Extreme) DOES support it (I'm using one right now.) for both internal and external SATA.

If they want to post bunches of articles about the iPhone that can't even run games, on a gaming site, that's their business. I just skip them. But this article really stretches my trust for unbiased reviews.

I'm sure that they will say "Well we DID call it a preview so it wasn't meant to be a review with our usual journalistic review criteria", but hey, your average reader isn't going to notice that, and more importantly:

WHY ARE YOU PREVIEWING A PRE-BUILT SYSTEM?

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Click to view DanTheMathlete's User Page DanTheMathlete (235)  Talk to DanTheMathlete in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 11:11 am | Edited on Sep 06, 2007 - 11:16 am
» Major, I agree completely
After reading that last paragraph I would be surprised to find out that an HP exec wasn't under the table at the time of writing.

In addition, qwak, I don't care how long you have been anywhere, it doesn't give you the right to be disrespectful. By your reasoning you should allow the elderly to disrespect you, as they have "been here" (on the planet) longer than you.

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Click to view fs-lyle's User PageI am an AMD Agent fs-lyle (174)  Click to view fs-lyle's User Profile Talk to fs-lyle in the Shout! Box I am an AMD Agent Sep 14, 2007 - 11:46 am
Those are pretty serious accusations there Dan-in any case I can assure you that the sales and editorial side of FiringSquad is completely seperate, which is NOT the case with probably 90% of the web media out there. One other site that I actually trust had somewhat similar things to say about the Blackbird: http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3094

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Click to view DanTheMathlete's User Page DanTheMathlete (235)  Click to view DanTheMathlete's User Profile Talk to DanTheMathlete in the Shout! Box Sep 07, 2007 - 08:40 am | Edited on Sep 07, 2007 - 08:44 am
» Where has FS's ojectivity gone?
I have been commenting on, what is to me, an obvious sales driven perspective to FS's articles as of late. This causes me to remove the word review from my mental discussions of the quality of FS's articles and replace it with the word advertisement.
Examples: All recommended for purchase.
iPhone, need I say more.
6k desktop that doesn't make full use of its thousand dollar video cards (even after OCin the CPU)!
4k laptop with glaring power issues, etc.
Here is a sentence the authors might consider using. "At the end of the day this product, although fast and pretty, is not worth the money."

Lastly,
"Being impolite to anyone online is about as useful as yelling at a cat."
Very funny.

I want to acknowledge Qmak and Major for conducting themselves with dignity. That was a pleasant exchange to read and I am proud of you guys for not letting it reduce to an obscenity-fest.

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Click to view Major Shtupping's User Page Major Shtupping (153)  My XFire username is: joebot Click to view Major Shtupping's User Profile Talk to Major Shtupping in the Shout! Box Sep 07, 2007 - 07:42 am | Edited on Sep 07, 2007 - 07:43 am
I guess I'm old school, but the idea of buying turnkey performance for a gaming rig seems similar to showing up a a drag strip with a stock car.
The dragster car owners will be polite to you, but they will pat you on the head and send you to get them coffee because you are just not getting it.
FS has for good reason only run a handful of reviews that I can remember. But I have read them, compared to ignoring the iPhone ones.
And as PCs have commoditized, there are less and less ways of speeding them up short of OCing, so turn key systems aren't a bad choice for rich gamers.
BUT I've always been of the opinion that the article writer is representing you, not the tech company. He is interviewing/reviewing to ask the questions that you would ask (whether the tech company would appreciate them or not). So when an article says:
"Think of buying a Blackbird 002 as an investment into HP Gaming and the development of the next-generation blackbird."
I ask why would I want to invest in HP Gaming (without stock options)? And I CERTAINLY don't want to be funding someone else's next-gen blackbird. But at least the writer made their allegiance clear, and it's not with the readers. And I just don't think its appropriate.

Qmak, apology accepted for calling me a dick. Being impolite to anyone online is about as useful as yelling at a cat.
I checked my email and my registration email is dated 4-19-03, but I know this site convinced me to buy a launch dreamcast/soul calibur which makes me a daily reader at least as far back as 9-99. I'm too lazy to check when D2 and AvP came out cause I remember reading reviews on here too (and purchasing accordingly).

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Click to view qmakowski's User Page qmakowski (739)  Talk to qmakowski in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 01:47 pm
It was a insult that i didn't mean to directed towards you, but more towards alot of other new members on this site. They think they can bitch about FS, when they weren't even here to experience what this site was.

Not trying to offend anyone, i'm just tired of kids complaining.

I take back calling you a noob and i'm sorry

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Click to view qmakowski's User Page qmakowski (739)  Talk to qmakowski in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 08:42 am
I think it was a good article despite the little bit of hype factor to it. FS should review pre-builds, because if you pay attention to the forums, people do own and buy pre-builds.

That no hot-swap stuff is a bunch of bs, they just didn't have the room in the case to put the bays in. i'm pretty sure if the bios doesnt allow it, then a simple flash is involved.

Two things that were really missing from the article. PRICE and PERFORMANCE. I would of liked to know approx how much it cost and at least a 3dmark or something.

And to Major Shtupping.... You can't be dogging FS like you do. Your a n00b here, so don't be bitching about this Iphone review. Go to HardOCP with the rest of the dicks or shut up.


I've been here since 2002, I've earned my right to bitch.

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Click to view Major Shtupping's User Page Major Shtupping (153)  My XFire username is: joebot Click to view Major Shtupping's User Profile Talk to Major Shtupping in the Shout! Box Sep 06, 2007 - 11:44 am
Well then I guess I COULD call you a noob... but I don't believe in insulting people.
This handle comes from when I joined up I was playing RtCW mp alot (a jewish handle seemed funny)... so that makes it around 2001 or 2002. But I had been reading it a long while before that. There was no reason (or ability) to comment way back when. I just don't think that every little thing I think is worth sharing, because, dude, no one including you is that interesting.

I read articles written by Thresh the day he put them up. I remember back when this site defined hardcore as "PC only" and certainly not phones or turn key systems or miscellaneous electronics like that review of the VGA screen grabber. Back when, they used to publish not only reviews of games, but walkthroughs and tweaks. (I remember reading an article on where to find all the secrets in RtCW)
And for a short while, right before Thresh left, they'd have an article every day, and for a while, more than 1.
I complain because I don't happen to agree with some new directions over the years, and assume I'm not alone. It's called giving feedback. If they don't know what I like, they can't provide it. And if I'm in the minority, then they won't.
You say I have no right to complain, well thank you for permission, no matter how impolite you are. I'm sure if we were in a room together, you'd be alot more pleasant.

Look... you can not reasonably tell me that an editorial article that spends a whole paragraph "selling" how cool the Blackbird name is, doesn't at best smack of fanboi-ism, and at worst payola.
Why then, didn't they talk about how cool the G-Force tv show was when nVidia came out with their g-force series of cards? Or how much they like the g-force of their cars when driving fast?

Finally I do apologize for having annoyed you, but since I have not ever said anything directly to you before this, grow a thicker skin, appreciate noobs (cause they are the future), be polite to your betters, and don't take things soooo seriously.

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Click to view DanT's User PageI am an AMD Agent DanT (513)  My XFire username is: wanchaiwarrior Click to view DanT's User Profile Talk to DanT in the Shout! Box I am an AMD Agent Sep 05, 2007 - 07:30 pm
It's very pretty. A bit too corporate for my liking. But the XPS in my opinion looks quite awesome.

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