.

HP has launched its biggest consumer notebook to date called 'The Dragon' at the third annual HP Mobility Summit, which kicked off in Shanghai today.

The HP HDX series, which is the newest addition to the firm's Pavilion notebook line-up, is a 20.1-inch entertainment notebook aimed at the region's media buffs, casual and mid-level gamers, and performance seekers. To fit with the dragon theme, HP has featured a dragon-inspired imprint design on all the notebooks in the series.

At the summit, which was attended by Windows Middle East, Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group demonstrated the HDX's features, including a dual hinge - similar to Dell's XPS M2010 - that allows users to move or tilt the screen for optimal viewing, plus a Media Center remote control, which can be stored in the keyboard deck.

On the performance front, the HDX features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a ATI Radeon X2600 XT graphics card with 512Mbytes of graphics memory. HP's entry-level Dragon model boasts two 200Gbyte hard drives but supports up to 500Gbytes of storage. The notebook also features Altec Lansing audio supported by four integrated speakers and a sub woofer.

Optional features include a HD DVD drive, SuperMulti DVD+R/RW double layer drive and a TV tuner capable of capturing HD content.

The HP Pavilion HDX will be sold in the Middle East in the next few months and pricing starts at US $2999.

At the summit, the firm also unveiled three more additions to the Pavilion series, including the $999 dv2000 Entertainment series, which features a 14.1-inch widescreen LCD, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and HP's own QuickPlay software. This software allows users to watch movies or listen to music instantly without having to boot up their Windows OS.