HP makes ‘blended reality’ PC for education, business markets

HP on Wednesday unveiled an upgraded Sprout desktop PC that keeps the nifty features of its predecessor — namely, overhead cameras that can convert real objects into 2-D and 3-D digital images — and adds a few more, like a 20-point touch pad that doesn’t require a keyboard or mouse.

[...] with a price tag of $2,199 when it becomes available in February — about $300 more than the previous model — the PC may remain a niche product “until 3-D printers mature and go mainstream,” said tech analyst Rob Enderle in an e-mail.

“Schools like them because they provide ways to introduce kids to a technology that combines a cutting-edge look with something kids can play with,” said Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group of Bend, Ore.

During a recent press preview, HP representatives demonstrated how the Sprout Pro could be used in a variety of industries, including health care, travel, primary education and electronics assembly.

In one example, the Sprout recognized a picture of a human heart from a paper medical brochure and created an animated 3-D heart on the screen.

Analyst Tom Mainelli of research firm IDC agrees that the Sprout Pro will be a niche product, but was “heartened to see HP continuing to put resources into a project like this when so many are keen to say the PC is dead.”