"We're basically plugging into the larger businesses," he says. "Notebooks will be manufactured and handled in Asia where there's much broader distribution. I can't just snap my fingers and have [the Envy and Omen] in Russia, Dubai and other places where people are begging for them. To scale the business and stay true to the brand, we have to structure it accordingly." Regarding layoffs, he did acknowledge: "There are definitely going to be people impacted. With any change, we have to take that impact in stride and keep pressing forward."

Rahul also addressed the concerns that some gamers had that Voodoo had abandoned its core audience. He surprised us with an interesting statistic: 25% of the Voodoo customer base are gamers, he says. The other 75% are "fortunate people who love the style and the fact that our products are so different." On the matter of the sleek new Envy not being a gaming PC at all, he mentions that it's not the first time, and that the hot-selling 12-inch Envy had integrated graphics too.

He stresses that the crazy Omen desktop and the Blackbird are both solid gaming platform. He also says that he's interested in the new directions that DIY enthusiast gamers will soon be taking. "The DIY enthusiast market will change," he says. "They're going to focus on more efficient computing rather than speeds and feeds, to bring more value to the end than just framerates. The DIY market will evolve—that's an opportunity for us to look into."

We have no idea what that might mean. Could it be a line of Voodoo-branded accessories? Or simply designing systems themselves with more DIY tweakbility in mind, like the Blackbird? Your guess is as good, or actually probably better, than mine, so go ahead and guess.

Rahul understood our concerns, and replied with the following slightly ambiguous message:

HP is working on a plan to better leverage its existing resources to bring Voodoo products to market faster and make them more accessible to consumers. I can assure you that Voodoo employees and champions of the brand will continue to work on the conceptualization, design and development of Voodoo products.

We can infer from this that the Voodoo brand will continue, and the Voodoo team will stay more or less intact, but that Voodoo may move into a more designy role here, and do less of the nuts-and-bolts assembly that it was doing before. That's my interpretation. As was the case a month ago when we inquired as to the health of Voodoo, Rahul directed us to his blog for further info. Thanks Rahul!

Also, it doesn't look like you have a whole lot of maneuverability inside the case, at least from the pics—granted, if you're spending that kind of coin on a build-to-order PC, I don't know how much tooling around inside you'd be doing anyway. [Pocket Link]

Introducing Voodoo Omen

The Voodoo Omen is a machine that takes personalization to new heights. Rich with innovation and unmatched in design, Voodoo Omen is for the discerning technology lover who equally appreciates sophisticated styling and performance computing. And because each Voodoo Omen is built using a personalized, co-creation process, every owner of a Voodoo Omen becomes an architect and a designer.

The Omen's clean lines and square edges give its exterior a classic look. Consumers then add the finishing touches via personalization options that include high-quality Voodoo Allure paint finishes, laser engraving and custom side panels in materials such as glass, leather and wood - all of which contribute to making the Voodoo Omen a signature showpiece for each individual owner.

While its exterior design hints at its Voodoo heritage, the Voodoo Omen is completely redesigned.. Elements of this quiet, high-performance system such as the quad radiator and integrated copper cooling pipes, built directly into the Voodoo Omen chassis, make the Voodoo Omen stand out from the crowd. Vertical thermal diffusion cooling, developed by turning the motherboard 90 degrees to allow air to flow naturally throughout the machine.

Performance and innovation
• Vertical thermal diffusion - The Omen fully optimizes the natural power of convection currents by turning the motherboard 90 degrees, which allows air to naturally flow from bottom to top. This innovative approach to thermal management offers maximum cooling and quiet acoustics.
• Auxiliary LCD - A 7-inch full auxiliary LCD is built into the Omen chassis. This screen acts as a fully functional secondary display that can be used to show game stats, movies,music videos or other additional information users need at work or play.
• Quad radiator - This is one of the first systems to feature a quad radiator for maximum cooling and performance and unbelievably quiet acoustics.
• Tool-less architecture -The Omen has tool-less architecture on components such as hard drives and video cards.
• Industry standard components - The Omen is built using only the best industry-standard components to ensure ultimate performance and longevity.
• Integrated copper cooling pipes - Unlike any other system in the industry, copper cooling pipes are built directly into the aluminum Omen chassis, cutting interior clutter and improving air flow.
• Quick-release connectors - The self-sealing, anti-leak liquid cooling system allows for hassle-free component upgrades
• Interior lighting - Battery-powered interior lighting gives users visibility to upgrade components when the system is powered off.
Design and personalization
• Classic Voodoo style - The clean lines and square edges of the Omen set the standard for the sophisticated look that will define all Voodoo-branded devices.
• All-aluminum chassis -The sophisticated all-aluminum chassis adds to the Omen's durability and cooling capabilities.
• Top-loading cables - The rotated motherboard allows cables to be plugged into the system under a removable top panel. This gives users easier access to the cable board and contributes to the clean system design.
• Removable panels - For easy access to the interior of the system, the Omen comes equipped with tool-less side panels that completely detach using latches hidden under the top panel. The side panel is a thick square plate of aluminum with a flat, smooth surface unblemished by handles, rivets or screws.
• Extensive high-quality Voodoo Allure paint finishes - A palette of 14 color choices is available, including six new Voodoo Allure colors.
• Laser engraving - Choose from eight Voodoo Ink design options and eight Voodoo Iconograph patterns.
• Custom side panels - Customers will soon be able to develop custom side-panels from a variety of materials usually associated with luxury apparel and furniture such as glass, leather and wood.
• RGB accent lighting - Select one of 16 million different colors in real time through software run from the auxiliary display. LED lights are inside the unit at the top and below the chassis to accent, but not overwhelm, the design of the machine.
Security
• The Omen includes Voodoo's Fuel Essential software suite: Roxio, Cyberlink PowerDVD, AVG Professional Anti-Virus and PCDoctor.
Pricing and availability
• Pricing ranges from $6,500 to $20,000, depending on configuration.
• Current Voodoo customers will receive a private invitation to be among the first to order a customized Omen.

CHASSIS
• Strengthened aluminum construction
• Hover suspended box design
• Easy removable side and top panels
• Built-in USB driven 7" Widescreen display
Resolution: 800x480
• Dimensions
Width (cm): 19.05 = 7.5 inches
Length (cm): 58.42 = 23 inches
Height (cm): 55.88 = 22 inches
Weight starting at: ~45Kg =~100 lbs.
LIQUID COOLING
• Liquid coolant options: red, blue, green, purple and orange
POWER SUPPLY
• 1150W air cooled
• 1300W liquid cooled
MOTHERBOARDS
• ASUS Striker Extreme II (NVIDIA 790i)
PROCESSOR
• Intel® Core™ 2 Micro architecture, overclockable, liquid cooled
• Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Quad-Core 3.20GHz QX9770
12 MB of L2 cache; 1600 MHz FSB
• Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Quad-Core 3.00GHz QX9650
12 MB of L2 cache; 1333 MHz FSB
MEMORY
• Four DIMM slots supporting up to 8 GB of main memory, overclockable
2, 4, or 8GB 1600 MHz CORSAIR PC-14400 DDR3 SDRAM
GRAPHICS AND DISPLAYS
• Supports both NVIDIA® SLI™ and ATI CrossFireX™, liquid cooled
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 ULTRA with 768MB of GDDR3 SDRAM
ATI Radeon™HD3870 series
• Includes support for next generation NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards
STORAGE
• Flexible RAID capabilities (0, 1)
• Up to 6, no carrier, tool-less drive bays
Options:
• Up to 3 independent Serial ATA Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
(Up to 3 TB of internal storage using drives with the following capacities):
Seagate 500 GB SATA @ 7200 rpm
Seagate 750 GB SATA @ 7200 rpm
Seagate 1 TB SATA @ 7200 rpm
Western Digital Raptor 160 GB 10,000 rpm
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB 10,000 rpm
STORAGE (cont.)
Options (cont.):
• Up to 6 Solid State Drives (SSD)
(Up to 384 GB of internal storage using drives with the following capacities):
Samsung 64 GB SLC
• One or two super multi-drive, slim slots with Lightscribe (DVD+/-R/RW+/-DL)
Writes DVD-R discs at up to 16x speed
Writes DVD+R DL discs at up to 4x speed
Reads DVDs at up to 8x speed
Writes CD-R discs at up to 40x speed
Writes CD-RW discs at up to 24x speed
Reads CDs at up to 24x speed
• Optional upgrade for one or two slot Blu-Ray drive
Writes BD-R discs at up to 2x speed
Writes BD-RE discs at up to 2x speed
Reads BDs at up to 2x speed
Writes DVD RAM discs at up to 5x speed
Writes DVD+/-R discs at up to 8x speed (SL) and 2x speed (DL)
Reads DVD+/-R discs at up to 8x speed (SL) and 6x speed (DL)
Writes DVD+/-RW discs at up to 4x speed
Reads DVD+/-RW discs at up to 6x speed
Writes CD-R, CD-RW discs at up to 8x speed
Reads CDs at up to 24x speed
AUDIO AND PERIPHERALS
• Onboard Hi-Definition audio
• Creative Audio Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer
• Creative Audio Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional
• Includes Voodoo Razer Keyboard and Mouse
CONNECTIONS
• Hidden top panel I/O ports (motherboard dependent)
• 1 x PS/2 Keyboard
• 2 x External SATA
• 1 x IEEE 1394a
• 2 x LAN(RJ45) port
• 6 x USB 2.0/1.1
• 1 x Clr CMOS switch
• 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output1 x onboard LED switch
OS
• Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate 64-bit SP1
• Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64-bit SP1
VOODOO FUEL ESSENTIALS SOFTWARE
• Security
Grisoft AVG Professional (1 year base standard)
Grisoft AVG Professional (2 year upgrade available)
Grisoft AVG Internet Security (2 year license available)
PC Doctor
• Roxio 9.0
• CyberLink PowerDirector
• CyberLink Power2Go
• CyberLink DVD Play
• CyberLink Label Print
PRODUCTIVITY
• Microsoft® Office Pro 2007
• Microsoft® Office Small Business Edition 2007
• Microsoft® Office Basic 2007
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCS
• Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Installation DVD
• Driver and Applications Recovery DVD

The Omen series come in aluminum cases with too-cool-for-the-room designer cutouts and so forth. You know, the type of things that are cries for help. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [VoodooPC via Digital Trends]