How 3D Printing is Changing the World

A wide range of new technologies have been developed recently to enable the process of 3D printing. However, 3D printing processes are often described under the label “additive manufacturing”, as they are very different to traditional 2D paper printing.

3D printing begins with CAD software, where a design is saved and sent to the printer. In this context, the printer is more like a manufacturing machine, where individual cross sections of a design are built upon one another using some form of plastic, polymer, metal, or other material.

The evolution of 3D printing technology is giving new product makers the chance to turn digital prototypes into real objects. There are a number of ways this can take place, with three common processes including selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and digital light processing (DLP).

“3D printing has built up an awareness of what’s possible with additive manufacturing,” said Scott McGowan, director of marketing with the 3D printing company, Solid Concepts. “The freedom of design realized when using additive manufacturing for end-use products opens up design possibilities not available with traditional manufacturing methods.”

“It’s also allowed designers and engineers to embrace the prototyping process more fully than ever – giving them the opportunity to go through more design iterations and develop a better product”, said McGowan. What is perhaps most amazing though, is that the accessibility and cost of 3D printing has dropped dramatically in recent years, giving everyday people the ability to actualise their designs.

“It combines what I learned in robotics, machine, CAD and electronics classes,” said one home manufacturer, Rigdon, who added “I never really wanted to work for anybody else, and this was something I could do.”

HP Announce New Notebooks with “A-Series” Processors

HP have just announced new additions to their business and consumer range, with a total of 11 models featuring the new AMD A-Series processors. theAMD “Llano” A Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) are part of the VISION technology, which combines a CPU and GPU in a single chip.

HP are promising both exceptional performance and an affordable price for these computers, which includes the HP Pavilion dv-series, HP Pavilion g-series, HP ProBook b-series, and HP ProBook s-series range. While the integration of powerful graphics processors and CPUs give these computers a new edge, they are sporting the same chassis designs as the older Intel versions of the HP Pavilion and HP ProBook range.

The consumer grade HP Pavilion dv-series and g-series laptops come with optional dual graphics, in the form of APU graphics with a discrete/dedicated graphics card. This allows for the automatic switching of cards to balance performance and power between single and dual graphics modes.

The more business oriented AMD ProBooks offer multitasking, videoconferencing, and web browsing performance using dual graphics configurations. The ProBook s-series will feature AMD VISION Pro Technology and AMD Radeon Dual Graphics, while the ProBook b-series will come with APU/UMA graphics. Both solutions are promising to provide all the performance you need for graphics intensive applications.

The HP Pavilion dv6 starts from $599.99, and the Pavilion dv7 starts from $699.99. Both models are expected to be available some time in July.

The HP Pavilion g4 will sell from $449.99, the Pavilion g6 from $498, and the Pavilion g7 from $499. The HP Pavilion g-series is also expected in July.

The HP ProBook b-series starts from $679 and will be with us a little earlier on June 27.

Last but not least, the HP ProBook s-series starts from $519, and will also be ready on June 27.