Business class notebooks are traditionally plain looking machines with the basic necessities for business tucked inside. The machines are rarely ever considered attractive and desired simply for their looks like consumer notebooks such as the MacBook Air.

HP has announced a new line of business class notebooks that is designed to look good and perform well for business users. The new series is called the HP ProBook line. The series includes 14-inch, 15.6-inchm, and 17.3-inch screen sizes and other features aimed at the business user.

The 14-inch ProBook 4410s and 4415s offer a LED-backlit widescreen LCD with an integrated optical drive (Blu-ray is optional). ATI Radeon Mobility discrete graphics is also an option. The 4410s uses Intel processors and the 4415s features AMD processors.

The 15.6-inch 4510s and 4515s notebooks also feature LED-backlit LCDs and optional HP Mobile Broadband connectivity with Gobi technology. The mobile broadband modems support multiple service providers on one modem. The machines both feature a numeric keypad and the 4510s uses Intel processors while the 4515s uses AMD processors.

The ProBook 4710s is the lone 17.3-inch offering with a HD widescreen display and standard ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics with 512MB of GDDR2 RAM. The machine uses Intel Core 2 Duo processors and offers HDMI out.

HP's Ted Clark said in a statement, "The stunning HP ProBook s-series delivers exceptional style and aggressive pricing that will captivate small and medium business users. But it’s not just about good looks or low cost; the HP ProBooks deliver the right blend of features and professional innovations to provide a great user experience."

The entire line uses a new keyboard designed to be visually open and spacious with keys raised from the surface providing less places for dust to collect. The series will be available with Windows Vista or Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 pre-installed.

Pricing for the machines starts at $529 and HP says availability will vary by region. Notebooks with the merlot finish are expected to hit the U.S. market in June.