New Probook By HP For Windows7.

HP on Tuesday unveiled two new Windows 7 business laptops intended to shake out what’s left of the IT budget and convince businesses that Windows 7 migration doesn’t have to be (too) expensive.

The HP ProBook 6445b and ProBook 6545b are targeted at corporate customers “who want an affordable combination of business-critical and innovative features in a full-function notebook PC.” That translates to up to 8 hours and 15 minutes of battery life, as well as a wealth of wireless connectivity options.

But the coolest darn feature of these laptops is a spill-resistant keyboard with a drain underneath the laptop. I was able to witness this work in person, and it’s a frightening visual: a steady stream of water running right into the keyboard of an active ProBook and coming right out a drain hole in the bottom.

Scary — but very cool — stuff.

HP’s reps say the drain will save your PC but not your pants; I suppose the wager is that your pants didn’t cost as much as your ProBook did, and if they did, you wouldn’t care.

Other business-centric features include HP QuickLook, a light quick-boot option for e-mail, contacts, etc.; HP Power Assistant, which lets you monitor and choose power consumption levels on the fly; and optional business card reader software to pair with an optional webcam.

Otherwise, the new laptops are available with 14-inch or 15.6-inch diagonal HD LED-backlit widescreen displays and sport the following:

HP ProBook 6445b business laptop

• 14.0 in. HD LED-backlit widescreen display (1366×768)
• Windows 7 Professional
• CPU: AMD Turion II ultra dual core (2.4GHz); Turion II dual core (2.3GHz); Athlon II dual core (2.1GHz) or Sempron (2.0GHz)
• Up to 8GB DDR2 SDRAM (800MHz)
• 160 to 500GB 7,200 RPM HDD or 128GB SSD
• Upgrade Bay that fits SATA optical drive or hard drive, Blu-ray and DVD/RW available
• ATi Radeon HD 4200 graphics
• Integrated dual-microphone array with optional 2 megapixel webcam
• Wireless: EV-DO/HSPA, 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1
• Gigabit Ethernet
• 1 ExpressCard slot, media card reader
• 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 VGA port, 1 DisplayPort, line in, line out, 1394a
• Full-size keyboard with numeric keypad, touchpad with scrollzone, optional pointstick
• Optional fingerprint sensor
• 6 or 9 cell battery
• 1.37 in. thick
• 5.9 lbs.

HP ProBook 6545b business laptop

The same as above, except:

• 15.6-inch LED-backlit widescreen display (1366×768; 1600×900 optional)

Both models come with a suite of business-centric security software (Spare Key, Disk Sanitizer, Drive Lock, Drive Encryption, etc.) and options for docking stations. They’re Energy Star 5.0 and EPEAT Gold certified.