2. HP QuickLook 2

QuickLook is the simplest of the pre-boot environments. It just gives you a cached copy of your Microsoft Outlook information. First launched a few years ago, HP introduced a Linux-based version on the Compaq TC1000 tablet PC and an updated version on the HP 2710p tablet with this capability. However, QuickLook 2, which is available on the Compaq 6530b, 6730b, 6535b, 6735b and EliteBook 2530p, 2730p, 6930p, 8530p, 8530w, and 8730w notebooks, is new.

It works like this: press the QuickLook button on an HP business notebook that’s turned off or in hibernation mode, and in 10 to 15 seconds, you see a screen with your information. This could be useful if you need to quickly check e-mail, contacts, a calendar, or tasks.

QuickLook doesn’t look exactly like Outlook, but it’s an easy interface to use. It doesn't have all the information, because it's looking at a cache rather than the Outlook files. You don't want to fill up your hard drive with a second copy of everything, so you can choose what to cache for the pre-boot version of Outlook with room for up to 1,000 emails. The information is encrypted and you can protect it with a personal identification number (PIN) so nobody can sneak a quick look at your email, in case someone other than yourself is alone with your laptop.

QuickLook isn’t trying to replace Windows or give you everything you’d want. Instead, it’s a quick way to look things up that uses less battery juice than turning the PC on and off does. There’s also a QuickLook viewer you can use from inside Windows that opens up much more quickly than Outlook. If you have a smartphone, however, you've already got a quick way of looking at some or all of the same information.

For a few years HP has had a similar system, called QuickPlay, on entertainment notebooks like the 20” Pavilion HDX. Originally, it was a Linux-based system that let you put in a DVD and start watching it straight away, without waiting for Windows to start up, but HP also has a version of QuickPlay that you can use inside Windows. As it added features, like watching mobile TV (or a stream from a Slingbox) and Internet TV as well as playing video files and showing photos, developing the same features twice was a lot of extra work. QuickPlay is thus now based on the WinPE (pre-boot environment) used for installing Windows.

The interface on HP’s MediaSmart TV is the same as QuickPlay, while QuickLook 2 has much of the feel of Outlook. That was very deliberate, Stacy Wolff, director of notebook design within the Personal Systems Group at HP, said. “We’ve been testing changing the iconography, going off with a different look," Wolff said. "But the challenge is that people are immersed in one environment, and when they go to a different environment, they get confused.”