HP Blackbird 002: Back in Black

Initial Thoughts

We've now been playing around with HP's Blackbird 002 for almost a week, and while we aren't ready to come to any final conclusions we do have some thoughts on the design as a whole. There are a lot of things to like about the Blackbird, as well as some areas that could maybe use improvements. We'll start with the good things.

First, it's clear that VoodooPC's influence has helped HP to create what is arguably the most exciting design they have ever released. The design and styling exude an enthusiasm for computer hardware that you rarely see with large OEMs. Not everyone needs or wants that kind of computer, but we're happy to see that at least some people at HP are excited about technology. What we would like to see now is for the same level of enthusiasm to extend downward into their midrange and entry level offerings. We don't mean that they all need to be 70 pound wedge-shaped computers capable of supporting an elephant, but there's definitely room for more creative designs in the $500-$1500 market.

The performance offered by the Blackbird 002 is also extremely impressive, easily ranking as one of the fastest systems we have ever used. However, it accomplishes that through brute force in some respects. Grab the fastest processor and graphics cards currently available, pick up a top-end motherboard, and slap it all into a case with a hefty power supply; add water cooling and sprinkle on a bit of overclocking, and you've basically got performance that would match the Blackbird 002. Making sure everything runs stable with all that is no small task, however, and considering the cost involved some people might prefer to spend a bit more and let someone else do the R&D, set up, and support.

We have something of a love-hate relationship with the case. On the one hand, it's extremely well-made and durable. The hinges are sturdy, the tool-less features make it extremely easy to work with, and yes we even think it's pretty cool looking. If you were a small mouse, you could probably also use it as a nuclear bomb shelter in a pinch. The drawback of course is that it's extremely heavy. This is not the type of system that you want to move around on a regular basis. If you can find a nice location in your house where you can put it and not have to worry about moving it around, that would be best. You'll still need to drag it out every once in awhile to give it a cleaning, of course - or at least you will if you want it to continue functioning properly.

Besides the size, what other concerns do we have with the system? The overclocking for one is a bit of a difficult call. We would say that this system is 99.9% stable, but we still encountered a few crashes and difficulties. Our own experience with Intel's quad-core processors is that it's truly difficult to get them beyond 3.5 GHz and still maintain absolute stability. Depending on what applications you run, that may or may not be a problem. Some of the problems are clearly the result of drivers and/or BIOS maturity, or perhaps Windows Vista just doing things in a way we're not expecting. We did experience at least three crashes during the past week - two during the past 12 hours as we tried to finish this review. Besides a system crash that occurred during the night which may or may not be related to the overclocked processor, Company of Heroes hard-locked the system once requiring a reset, and QuickTime 7.2 caused a blue screen. The last two are more likely related to drivers or other software behaving oddly, but that's still three more crashes than we experienced on all of the other systems we've had running during the past week. We're not sure how close the HP BIOS is to the latest standard ASUS Striker BIOS, but ASUS has been updating the BIOS pretty regularly so it could be a simple matter of some BIOS tweaks.

Price is of course another serious stumbling block. Most of us can't afford to spend this much money on a computer, no matter how fast it is. We're still waiting for details on what exactly customers can get with the $2500 model, but the $5500 model we were sent is a lesson in extravagance. In some areas, it's almost as if HP included new technology simply for the sake of having the "best" - whether or not the hardware is actually better than other options. The graphics cards for instance are the latest 1GB HD 2900 XT models. For those who have difficulty with math, that means that between the two graphics cards you have as much memory as the rest of the system. Overkill? Yeah, we think so too. Picking up a couple GeForce 8800 GTX cards instead might end up saving some money and improving performance at the same time, although without specific testing of such a configuration we can't say for sure. Regardless, the number of applications that can actually benefit from 1GB 2900 XT cards instead of the regular 512MB versions must be extremely limited.

Some of our complaints aren't really HP's fault. Ideally, what we would like to see in a cutting-edge computer like this would be a minimum of 4GB of memory. Along with the memory, we would like a 64-bit operating system. We would also want the operating system, drivers, applications, etc. to all work well and not have any conflicts or other random issues. Hopefully Windows Vista will get us to that point in the next year or so, but while there are many things you can now do in 64-bit Windows Vista, there are still problems that crop up with certain applications that we would just as soon avoid for a little longer.


Like its namesake, the Blackbird 002 is an incredible piece of hardware that is capable of setting new speed records. This is about as cutting edge as computer hardware gets. The price of admittance for such an exclusive system is more than we can justify, but there are people out there who will certainly be willing to pay in order to have "the best". If you have the money and inclination to spend it on a computer, the Blackbird 002 is certainly one of the more interesting options currently available. Unlike the Air Force, we expect that HP will manufacture and sell far more than 32 Blackbirds, and even better you don't have to have a pilot's license in order to take one for a ride. Too bad you don't actually get to outrun any SAMs....