Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) recently expanded its Elite portfolio of notebooks. The newest additions will provide faster web access, increased durability and come equipped with larger displays.

H-P Elite products cater to the current demand for ultra-thin, ultra-light, power efficient mobile products that are ideal for a bring-your-own-device (:BYOD) environment. So they could help the company hold its own in the sluggish PC market.

The offerings include the HP EliteBook Folio 1020 and the EliteBook 1020 Special Edition (SE) featuring a high-definition (HD) screen that can easily connect to other devices. The company claims these products to be the world's slimmest full performance notebook PCs, which are expected to strike an optimum balance between enhanced performance, mobility and price.

The HP EliteBook Folio will mainly cater to the business segment. With this new notebook, professionals will no longer need to sacrifice performance in order to achieve greater battery life. The new device is equipped with an Intel (INTC) Core-M processor, a thickness of just 15.7 mm, a weight of 1 Kg, a 12.5 inch diagonal Quad HD (:QHD) display and is expected to deliver nine hours of battery life. The SE has a special feature that helps H-P EliteBook to achieve a weight of only 1 kg.

The slimmest among the Elite family, the models will be available from January. These products will enhance the web experience and provide high-quality visuals. Moreover, the new lineup will add variety and functionality to some older notebooks and desktops, which in turn will be able to attract new clients.

Technology research firm IDC projects the lightweight notebook market to grow in the next few years. H-P is launching new notebooks at an opportune time to capitalize on this opportunity. According to the research firm, H-P shipped 14.7 million PCs in the third quarter of 2014 while Dell Inc. shipped 10.4 million PCs. Moreover, we believe that this is Hewlett-Packard's answer to the newly launched Inspiron 14R & 15R Special Edition & Inspiron 17R Special Edition laptops by competitor Dell.

Although prospects are good, competition in the notebook market is fierce as every other computer maker is coming out with new products. Hewlett-Packard has made a good attempt but we are cautiously optimistic of the returns that the company will derive from this effort.

Also, increasing competition from companies like Accenture plc (ACN), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Oracle Corp. coupled with continuing macroeconomic challenges and tepid IT spending will remain headwinds going forward.

Currently, H-P has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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