Imagine if someone would pay you handsomely to tear computers apart, piece-by-piece and share the results. I thought my job here at HP was pretty sweet, but Jonathan Rayner’s got me beat by a nerdy mile. He takes a closer look at our products by tearing them down to the circuit boards and analyzing how they are made. I took a couple minutes to get the skinny from Jon about what makes him tick.

It may be a short month, but starting President’s day weekend, we actually have some pretty good deals on our shopping site (2/19 thru 2/25, to be precise). That’s the short version. The slightly longer version: I wanted to quickly point out some key deals going on and give you some extra perspective on what these particular machines would be good for and who could use them.

I love when technology and art converge. Sometimes it materializes as exciting new ways to bring art to wider audiences (check out the VIP Art Fair 2.0, which showcases art from the world's most prominent contemporary art galleries in an online “fair”), or sometimes it’s just plain old-fashioned good design (have you seen the new HP ENVY 14 Spectrepremium Ultrabook?). And sometimes it takes the form of something completely unexpected – like Disk Space Fan 4, a freeware utility that helps you clean up your hard drive.

I figure that the subject line says it all. I’m just going to assume that you’d like to get your hands on an ENVY 14 Spectre, gratis. Well, I caught wind of a contest currently going down over on the PopSugar Network – specifically new blogging platform OnSugar. The contest – “Love.Write.Win." For more details, keep on reading. 

Think of the sheer horsepower required to engineer complex 3D components, design buildings or create special effects for the next big blockbuster. Now imagine doing all that, faster, with something a lot more compact. That’s the HP Z1 Workstation. This sleek all-in-one workstation – with a 27-inch display, no less – manages to pack in everything a power-hungry pro needs. From its uniquely designed all-in-one, tool-less chassis to its full-featured workstation class performance, the HP Z1 offers power without the tower. Read on to learn more. 

I love freeware games – especially once store-bought titles gone public domain. That is, you once had to shell out money for ‘em. Now, gratis. Well, if you’re any kind of fan of strategy, I have a pretty good pick for this week – Warzone 2100. Rebuild civilization and design your own weapons of mass destruction along the way. (And the best part: You should be able to play this on any modern computer – like a Pavilion dm1.)

We revealed the ENVY 14 Spectre in January – and it won Best of CES 2012 for its awesome design. And tomorrow, you’ll be able to order a Spectre if you’re on the market for a premium ultrabook that stands out in a crowd. Truth be told, these laptops are a little in demand at that moment – but that ain’t stopping me. I was able to grab a prototype unit for an hour or two. So, of course, I decided to take it for a spin around town. Read on for a couple bits from my short, sweet test drive.

Microsoft’s seminal flight sim is back – and soon. We’re talking the end of this month. If you ask people – even ones that don’t consider themselves “gamers” – Microsoft’s Flight Simulator series is one of those classic PC apps. That’s partly because of the degree of realism in control; largely because the games have looked so dang pretty. After 29 years, Flight Simulator X was the last of the series in 2009. End of the story? Not quite. As of this morning, it has a new name and departure date: Microsoft Flight taxis down the runway come February 29^th.