HP has officially instituted the preCES 2009 spin machine. They’ve exclusively issued a prototype laptop, called the “HP Firefly with Voodoo DNA”, to LaptopMag for a hands on. The laptop is conceptual, so the likelihood of all its features making it to market are slim.

So where do we start? First off, this thing is a behemoth. It’s 13lbs and that’s not even including the 1lb power brick. The screen measures 17-inches, includes an oddly right justified trackpad with multigesture commands and a backlit keyboard. In addition, to the 17-inch 1920×1080 LCD, there’s also a 4.3-inch 800×480 LCD at the base of the main screen for a HUD like display. At the core of the machine is a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a pair of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs running in CrossFire mode, and a 7,200 rpm 250GB hard drive. Oddly, and notably is the ‘nightvision camera’ for all those nocturnal video chats.

Expect us to attempt a hands on at CES.

[Laptopmag]