HP puts the Envy in its Phoenix h9 desktop, ultra-thin x2401 LED display

Envy Phoenix h9 announced by HP
The rise of the Phoenix tower

HP added to its enviable streak Thursday, announcing the Envy Phoenix h9 desktop and an ultra-thin x2401 24-inch display. This follows the unveiling of three Windows 8 laptops: the Envy m4 and Sleekbook Pavillion 14 and 15.

The Oct. 26-bound HP Envy Phoenix h9 desktop will also run Windows 8, conveniently on the release date of Microsoft's new OS. The starting price is $899 (£554).

"It's really HP's most powerful desktop tower available this holiday season," HP PR Manager Ann Finnie, putting the Phoenix's price into perspective, told TechRadar.

"The Phoenix desktop PC is engineered for customers who want to run power-hungry applications such as video editing and games."

In addition to appealing to high-end users, the Phoenix h9 aims for convenience.

For example, the chassis is toolless, so it's easy to add hard drives and swap graphics cards - just in case you can't decide between the Nvidia and AMD options.

Rounding out the tech specs within this PC's armor-plated chassis are front and top USB ports and options like SSDs, ExpressCache, and liquid cooling.

HP x2401 LED backlit monitor

Going with the Phoenix h9 desktop tower doesn't mean you can't save space elsewhere. The HP x2401 display gets the job done with an 11-millimeter profile.

This 24-inch LED packs in multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) panel technology, which essentially means that the screen can be viewed from almost any angle with consistently vivid colors. It's also capable of 5,000:1 and 10,000,000:1 static and dynamic contrast ratios.

The HP x2401 will be $249 (£153) and available on Nov. 7, about two weeks after the Envy Phoenix h9.

HP is also coming out with a business-friendly version of this LED the same week, the L2401x, which costs an extra $10 (£7) for an extended three-year warranty and, of course, to move the model number's "x" from the front to the back.

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Matt Swider