HP has just announced a collaboration with luxury sports car maker Ferrari, right before the Monaco Grand Prix. Does the subject of this collab boast blistering speeds? For the cash? Uhm, not exactly.
Introducing the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC, which isn't just 'limited' in name. With only 4,999 units being made, the laptop's release later this year may be 'blink, and you'll miss it'. As per the press release, the small pool of units is intended as a reflection of "Ferrari’s philosophy to sell one less car than the market demands, and [to reinforce] the device’s status as a true collector's item." Mind you, I'm not convinced either gear heads or hardware sickos would be getting the best of either world.
To be fair to the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC, it is a looker with a very snazzy 3K tandem OLED+ touch display. Beyond that, the rather fetching red chassis "marries carbon fiber and Corning Gorilla Glass construction." The underside of the laptop is partially see-through too; the cooling system in particular is visible "as a direct nod to Ferrari’s exposed engine bay design".
HP's senior vice president of design and sustainability, Stacy Wolff, bills the notebook as "a product that transcends traditional boundaries of PC design," though I cannot stress enough it's little more than a laptop in an eye-catching shiny red colourway.
But my main bone to pick is the fact that this is a $5,999 laptop, and its beating hardware heart is an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor with an Arc B390 iGPU. To be fair to Panther Lake chips, they make for some impressive laptop silicon, but it's important to remember the Arc B390 iGPU is intended as a step up from basic integrated graphics—and while it's great in that respect, it still isn't the beefiest gaming powerhouse on the block. For nearly $6,000? I'd want a proper dGPU, thanks.
All of that is to say, its inclusion here makes it obvious that anyone seriously looking to buy this notebook will be paying for style over substance.
If even after all of that you're still interested in picking up one of the HP's Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PCs, you've obviously got far deeper pockets than I. In that case, I'll just tell you that this collaboration laptop will be released on June 12, and then see my way back to the cheap seats.
