HP Blackbird 002 gaming rig finally comes to retail
HP has announced that its Blackbird 002 will be made available for the first time through select retail channels beginning June 29.
Offering in an "exclusive configuration" for retail, the Blackbird 002 will be sold through Amazon.com and Newegg.com, as well as through Best Buy, Circuit City, J&R, and Micro Center both in brick-and-mortar stores and online shops.
The configuration for retail carries an estimated retail price of $3,299 and includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 processor, up to 4,096 MB Corsair Dominator memory, 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD, NViDIA nForce SLI motherboard with RAID support, and dual SLI NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT graphics cards.
HP's Voodoo DNA, a departure from standard boxy desktop features, both in design and function, was one of the points frequently noted about the system. Under-the-hood specs, however, are ultimately the draw for users. At DigitalLife in New York City last year, we actually witnessed a show-goer attempting to "pick the Blackbird's pocket" of some of this desirable hardware.
User-configured Blackbird 002s began selling last year directly on the HP site at prices starting from $2,999.