HP Sprout Pro PC Can Scan Objects For 3D Printing

HP was revealed a new version of its Sprout computing platform that looks to inspire the next generation of creatives as part of its bid to introduce “Blended Reality” computing.

But HP thinks the Sprout Pro’s potential extends far outside the office. Now there’s a new version, the Sprout Pro, and this time around HP is focusing on education and enterprise customers who are in better position to utilize the PC’s unique setup and capabilities. Because it’s an all-in-one, that GPU is by no means a top-flight desktop processor, so the amount of modeling one can do with the Sprout Pro will be limited.

With no separate tower body, it having been incorporated into a single piece together with the display and everything else, the HP Sprout Pro resembles an iMac but is a lot thicker and differently shaped. As a result, Hewlett Packard is planning to start intensive testing of the new Sprout in hundreds of schools by offering them free units in the hope that students will figure out even more uses for it. By combining 3D capture of real-world objects with simple yet powerful editing tools, Sprout Pro lets you quickly and easily bring your ideas to life.

HP is updating its innovative Sprout PC, which attempts to blend the real and digital worlds.

The original HP Sprout was a very different kind of all-in-one PC, thanks to an Intel RealSense camera and a built-in illuminator that could take 2D – and later 3D – scans of physical objects. A projector and scanner assembly above the Sprout Pro’s screen enables the touch mat to function as a second 20-point touchscreen, but also as a scanner for capturing 2D images and 3D objects.

HP Inc also announced a global partnership with Microsoft aimed at reinventing the classroom, and a programme and online portal for HP Inc channel partners involved in the education market. The software also has an HP External Display Mixer to share anything that is on Sprout’s dual screen. All three features come standard on the Sprout Pro.

With something like Sprout, schools would be encouraged to use cloud-based assessment systems that support adaptive learning, or other styles of learning that adjust the level of difficulty based on what the student knows, HP said.

The ProBook 11 G2 will launch in February and then a month later users can expect the Pro x360 310 G2 ship in March for $359 (£253, AU$518) and $449 (£316, AU$648), respectively.

It has Intel’s latest Core i7 processor code-named Skylake, Nvidia GeForce GT 945A graphics processor, 1TB of storage and 8GB of DDR4 memory (upgradeable to 16GB), 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.