HP notebook: Thinking outside the box

Walmart today named HP the winner of its Home Entertainment Design Challenge, singling out the technology company for further reducing the environmental impact of personal computers. The HP Pavilion dv6929 Entertainment Notebook features an innovative design that reduces product packaging by 97%, conserving fuel and reducing CO2 emissions by removing the equivalent of one out of every four trucks previously needed to deliver the notebooks to Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations around USA.

The HP Pavilion dv6929 Entertainment Notebook, in a bundle exclusive to Wal-Mart, comes packaged in a carrying bag with only a couple plastic bags for consumers to dispose of. The bag itself, save for the buckle, strap and zipper, is made out of 100 % recycled fabric from Unifi.

Instead of packaging each laptop in its own box, HP is able to fit three bags in a box for shipping the product to stores. "From a logistics standpoint, the way they've been packaged reduces the space needed," said Scott Erickson, environmental program manager for HP's consumer PC business, "We can get 31% more products on each pallet."

HP developed the packaging concept, Erickson said, after Wal-Mart challenged electronics suppliers to submit product ideas focused on design to attract customers, innovation that reduces environmental impact and packaging that encourages reduced materials, reuse and recycling.