sentimentalist belladonna: HP intros Omni 27 all-in-one, Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9 tower

If you thought HP would take a break after announcing seven all-in-ones last fall, you'd be sadly mistaken: the company just trotted out the Omni 27, its first model with a 27-inch display. In addition to that 1080p (non-touch) screen, it rocks the same Easel design as all those models HP introduced a few months back, which is to say it tilts a relatively modest 25 degrees. Other specs include dual- and quad-core Intel processors, up to 2TB of storage and Beats Audio (duh), and an optional TV tuner, Blu-ray player and HDMI port (yes, HDMI is an add-on). Moving on to a different category entirely, HP also unveiled the Pavilion HPE Phoenix h9 for the US market -- not its inaugural enthusiast tower, to be sure, but definitely the first to bear the consumer-y Pavilion name. Though the red accents and "armor-plated" design would suggest otherwise, HP's quick to market this not as a gaming rig, but a prosumer machine. Whatever you want to call it, you'll find specs worthy of power uses: a choice of Intel's latest X79 processors or AMD's eight-core chips, NVIDIA GTX 580 / AMD Radeon 7670 graphics and four DIMM slots capable of accommodating 16GB of RAM and up to three hard drives.

Whichever tickles your fancy, both come loaded with HP's Magic Canvas software -- aka, the UI that used to be called TouchSmart but has since been re-tooled to work even on non-touch machines. They'll each be available January 8th, with the Omni 27 starting at $1,200 and the Phoenix h9 fetching $1,150 and up. Until then, we've got a mix of hands-on and press shots below, with a pair of promo videos waiting for just past the break.

Gallery: HP Omni 27