HP TouchSmart tx2 Review

by Jerry Jackson

The newest 12-inch notebook from HP is no ordinary ultraportable laptop. The HP TouchSmart tx2z is the first consumer notebook and tablet PC that offers on-screen multi-touch control. Forget about using the notebook's touchpad or an external mouse. If you see something on the screen you want to press or move just reach up and touch it. HP's new "MediaSmart" software allows you to use your fingertips to take command of everything on the screen with a quick touch or simple gestures. Is this the future of laptop computing? Keep reading to find out.

HP TouchSmart tx2z specifications:

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
• AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-86 (2.4 GHz)
• 12.1" WXGA High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen (1280x800) with Integrated Touch-screen
• 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics with 64MB Display Cache Memory
• 400GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Reaction)
• Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
• 8-Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• HP Mini Remote Control
• 5-in-1 digital media reader
• Express card/34 PC card slot
• Dimensions: 8.82" x 12.05" x 1.23"/ 1.52" (with 4-cell battery)
• Weight: 4.65 lbs (varies by configuration)
• Starts at $1,149.99 (Price as configured: $1,733.99)

Build and Design

The TouchSmart tx2 is a solid convertible notebook designed to function as either a standard notebook or you can rotate the screen 180 degrees to turn the notebook into a tablet and write directly on the screen using the included digital pen. The overall chassis design is nothing new; the design is virtually the same as the tx2500 with the only obvious change being the new glossy "Reaction" Imprint Finish which is a dark gray rather than silver seen on the previous generation. HP's Imprint Finish always looks cool but the glossy surface is a fingerprint magnet and HP even includes a polishing cloth because this notebook will start picking up finger smudges after just a few minutes. The body of the notebook is smooth with rounded edges, making it extremely comfortable in your hands while carrying it around.

The plastic and metal chassis is quite rigid and doesn't suffer from flex even when twisted between my hands. Weighing in around 4.5 pounds the tx2 is perfect for students. It gets a little heavy to carry around in tablet mode all day, but it's great for sitting at your desk and taking notes and you can always remove the DVD drive and substitute in the weight saver module if you don't need the optical drive.

One of the big questions surrounding the release of the TouchSmart tx2 was whether it would have an active digitizer like the tx2500z or if it would sacrifice the active digitizer (and quality tablet functionality) in order to provide multi-touch screen controls. We're pleased to tell you the tx2 still has an active digitizer along with the multi-touch screen. You can use your fingers or the pen. The tx2 also has great entertainment features, like Altec Lansing speakers and a mini-remote control. For the price this tablet seems to be packed full of features just like its predecessor.

The pen is solid but it's a pretty basic pen. It reads the screen when it's about an inch above and then disables the touchscreen, this way your hand doesn't interfere if you rest your palm on the screen when writing. The N-trig pen technology used is fantastic, just remember you can't keep picking the pen up or the touch feature will be activated again and your hand might trigger something on the screen.

Screen

The 12.1" WXGA display is less grainy than the display panel used in the tx2500, but it's still a little grainy compared to notebooks without touchscreens. This slight grain is very common with tablets and is an acceptable trade-off considering the multi-touch and pen tablet functions. It is glossy and reflective, but if you like high-gloss screens then you'll love this one. The screen is hard to read under direct sunlight and brightly lit indoor spaces. The viewing angles are perfectly usable but, depending on how the tablet is tilted, sometimes it may be very hard to read because the colors invert at sharp vertical angles.

Again, the TouchSmart tx2 has both a multi-touch screen and active digitizer, it's a real tablet. The screen automatically changes orientation when rotated into tablet mode and the small hinge is exceptionally sturdy. The pen feels nice as well and although it's cool to use your fingers to navigate on the screen I often used the pen simply because it is a little more accurate. At the highest brightness setting the screen is bright and the colors are rich with good contrast, but you can't tell what you are setting it too because there isn't an on-screen indication for brightness levels, which would be a nice feature to have on this high-gloss display.

Of course, the really important thing about this notebook's screen is the multi-touch functionality. Since still images just don't do justice to showing you how this works we've included a nice little video below:

<object width='510' height='550' classid='clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000' codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"> <param name="name" value="flashObj" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="flashvars" value="playerId=5237614001&amp;viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&amp;servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&amp;cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&amp;domain=embed&amp;autoStart=false&amp;" /> <param name="src" value="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/5237614001" /><embed src="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/5237614001" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='510' height='550' flashvars="playerId=5237614001&amp;viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&amp;servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&amp;cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&amp;domain=embed&amp;autoStart=false&amp;"></embed> </object>

It's worth mentioning that the TouchSmart tx2 doesn't have all the same multi-touch applications (now called MediaSmart) that HP included with the TouchSmart all-in-one desktop earlier this year. Why not? Well, it's a matter of screen size and intended use. HP didn't include the TouchSmart software for calendar and notes for example because the smaller screen makes it difficult to use the multi-touch interface for those applications. Likewise, while the TouchSmart desktop made a great family computer for a central location in your home the tx2 is designed to be carried with you at all times. Still, we would have liked to see more of the applications from the TouchSmart desktop in the new TouchSmart tx2.

Input and Output Ports

The tx2 has a reasonable selection of ports with some nice additions you won't find on most tablet convertible notebooks. Still, compared to some larger notebooks like the HP Pavilion dv4 and dv5, the tx2 does lack a few ports. Here's a run down of what you get:

• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• ExpressCard/34 slot
• 5-in-1 multi-card reader
• Microphone in, two headphone/audio out ports
• 1 Expansion Port 3 Docking Station Connector
• 1 RJ -45 (LAN)
• 1 modem port
• 1 VGA out
• Kensington lock slot

While three USB ports might seem just fine on a 12-inch notebook, we were a little sad to see HP didn't make one of the USB ports a combo USB/eSATA port. All other HP consumer notebooks currently offer a USB/eSATA port and it would have been nice if we could connect an external eSATA storage device to the tx2. For those who don't know what eSATA is, an eSATA port can transfer data to and from an eSATA-equipped external storage drive six times faster than USB.

We were also sad to see there is no FireWire or HDMI port on this notebook ... two ports that many consumers find very useful.

On the flip side, it's important to keep in mind the tx2 includes a dedicated docking station connector for those of us who use our laptops as desktop replacements. This is far more important than most people realize. Most other notebook manufacturers have removed dedicated docking ports and now only offer USB docking stations. USB is great for connecting one or two devices at the same time, but if you are trying to transfer data, video, audio, and perhaps even your Ethernet connection over a single USB port you will suffer a major reduction in speed. The dedicated Expansion Port 3 on the tx2 handles all of your docking station needs all at the same time with virtually no reduced performance.

Performance and Benchmarks

HP offers the new TouchSmart tx2z with a range of AMD processors starting with the 2.1GHz Turion X2 RM-72 dual-core processor and ending with the 2.4GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86 in our review unit. However, the big news in 2008 has to be the availability of AMD's new "Puma" platform with improved processors and graphics. The newAMD dual-core processors are nice and perfectly capable of handling your computing needs, but it's the integrated graphics that will get your attention.

Sure, it might be hard to get excited about an integrated graphics processor (IGP). Every IGP on the market prior to this year was painfully inferior to a dedicated graphics card and every IGP on the market struggled to handle high definition video and 3D video games. That all started to change this year with the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 3200. For the first time ever consumers had a low-cost IGP that offers flawless 1080p video playback and can even play many 3D video games at reasonable frame rates!

Of course, given the lower resolution of the tx2's screen and the lack of HDMI you probably won't be using this notebook for 1080p playback. Let's take a look at a few basic benchmarks so you can get an idea of how the TouchSmart tx2 stacks up against the competition in terms of performance.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, this processor benchmark program is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, it measures the amount of time to run a set amount of calculations.

wPrime comparison results (lower scores means better performance):

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
HP TouchSmart tx2 (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86 @ 2.4GHz)	34.940s
Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet (Core 2 Duo ULV @ 1.86GHz)	71.210s
Dell Latitude XT (Core 2 Duo ULV @ 1.2GHz)	61.197s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

You can see from the results in WPrime the new Turion X2 Ultra processor from AMD's new "Puma" platform provides a respectable amount of raw processing power.

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
HP TouchSmart tx2 (2.4GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,488 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz, GMA X4500)	4,318 PCMarks
Dell Latitude XT (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.2GHz ULV, ATI Radeon Xpress 1250)	2,692 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks
Asus V6J (1.86GHz Core Duo T2400, Nvidia Go 7400)	3,646 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
HP TouchSmart tx2 (2.4GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-86, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,685 3DMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz, GMA X4500)	921 3DMarks
Dell Latitude XT (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.2GHz ULV, ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics)	432 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

All of the 3DMark06 scores for all of the systems listed above were run at 1280 x 768 or 1280 x 800 resolution. Bottom line: AMD is speaking truthfully when they claim that the new ATI Radeon HD 3200 IGP provides roughly three times the performance of the Intel X3100 IGP and rivals the performance of low-cost dedicated graphics cards.

In short, there's absolutely no reason to complain this laptop doesn't offer a low-end dedicated graphics card because the Radeon 3200 integrated graphics solution performs just as well as entry-level dedicated graphics at a fraction of the cost.

HDTune storage drive performance results:

Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls

The keyboard on the tx2 is solid with zero flex and soft key presses. The keys are accurate and responsive and I enjoyed typing on this keyboard. The keys are coated in the matching HP "Reaction" Imprint Finish, which improves durability and protects the keyboard from those greasy fingers. The keys are easy to read and are a good size ... except for the top row of Function keys which are a little too small and not particularly easy to press without hitting another key by mistake.

HP decided to remove the media buttons from along the frame of the display (as found on the tx1000, tx2000 and tx2500) since the TouchSmart tx2 features a touchscreen that works perfectly for the media player controls.

The palm rest area features the same "Reaction" Imprint Finish used on the lid. The touchpad is still the famous perforated design. Our staff loves this design very much because it doesn't get worn down easily and is responsive. Your finger doesn't slide off the touchpad because it is indented in the palm rest area, which makes navigating a breeze. We really wish HP would start putting this style of touchpad on all their notebooks rather than using the smooth and glossy touchpads on their other notebooks.

One of the nice features found on HP touchpads is the touchpad on/off button. If you press the small button above the touchpad you can disable it ... perfect for people using an external mouse or people who decide they want to use the multi-touch screen all the time.

Another added bonus is the inclusion of a media remote. This little remote tucks away in the ExpressCard slot and is great for moving through slide presentations or for controlling the notebook when it's connected to your TV.

Speakers

The speaker quality was "above average" for a notebook without a built-in subwoofer. The speakers for the tx2 are located at the bottom of the screen so that the speakers are facing out regardless of whether you're using the tx2 in notebook or tablet mode.

There's not much to write home about the Altec Lansing speakers. They get loud enough with minimal distortion and the sound isn't as "tinny" as is the case with nearly all laptop speakers. However, the speakers don't produce the kind of output that "fills a room" the way you might want if you're listening to your music collection on the built-in speakers. On the brighter side, both audio out ports delivered crystal clear audio to my earphones during the test period.

Bloatware

We rarely bother to mention the software that comes pre-installed on new notebooks because most people accept (and even expect) that notebook manufacturers include various trial version of programs like Microsoft Office or anti-virus software. Most of this pre-installed software (or "bloatware") falls into one of two categories: helpful or troublesome. In the case of the TouchSmart tx2, we were surprised to discover some of the bloatware is not only troublesome ... it can actually prevent the notebook from working properly.

After turning on the tx2 we discovered that if we attempted to start the MediaSmart application before all the bloatware finished loading the MediaSmart application would fail to open. Not only that, but we had to restart Windows in order to get the MediaSmart application to start working again. It turned out that the Norton anti-virus software was causing the problem, and as soon as we uninstalled the trial version of Norton we could launch the MediaSmart application as soon as Windows started. Bottom line, expect to spend some time uninstalling bloatware if you buy this notebook.

Heat and Noise

The TouchSmart tx2 does an acceptable job keeping heat under control. The system fan and heatsinks in the notebook do their job managing heat when the system is under load ... as we discovered when we ran multiple benchmarks back to back. However, considering the fact that the tx2 is designed to be carried with you all day it does get a little hotter on the bottom than we'd like. Below are images with temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

Noise was a non-issue with the fan on the tx2 when the notebook was on battery power. Unfortunately, it's a completely different story when the notebook is running off a power outlet. The fan moves a significant amount of hot air but the fans spins at the maximum setting whenever the notebook is plugged in ... making it sound like someone is using a weak hair dryer in the room. You can adjust the fan settings in the BIOS, but most average consumers probably won't know how to do that. When the fan is on low it is perfectly silent.

Battery Life

The tx2's overall battery life performance was good, but nothing extraordinary. Like its predecessor the tx2500, the standard 6 -cell battery provides about 2 hours worth of power in "High Performance" mode with maximum screen brightness and Wi-Fi turned on. The number increases to a little more than 3 hours in "Balanced" mode with Wi-Fi on. The 8-cell extended life battery provided a little more than 5 hours of battery life in the "Balanced" mode with screen brightness around 50% and Wi-Fi on. The "Power Saver" mode should provide even better battery life numbers, but we didn't test that because the screen gets too dark to be useful in anything but very dark environments.

Conclusion

After everything is said and done it's tough to be overwhelmingly positive or negative about the HP TouchSmart tx2. On one hand, HP succeeded in bringing us an affordable multi-touch notebook loaded with cool entertainment features and a slick interface to keep consumers happy. On the other hand, the new multi-touch interface doesn't always respond exactly as it should and you may end up touching the screen multiple times before the screen finally does what it should have done the first time you touched it.

Despite a few minor frustrations the TouchSmart tx2 is a great notebook ... but those minor frustrations prevent it from being "one of the greatest" notebooks we've tested. College students and other consumers will be happy with all the tx2's features, especially considering its affordable price tag. The active digitizer and multi-touch screen is very nice and you'll have a hard time finding a better 12-inch notebook loaded with entertainment features for less money.

Pros:

• The first affordable consumer notebook with a multi-touch screen
• Great design and build quality
• Fantastic keyboard and touchpad
• Solid overall performance
• Excellent integrated graphics performance

Cons:

• First-generation multi-touch screen doesn't always respond as it should the first time you touch it
• Bloatware makes it difficult to use the notebook during startup
• No Firewire, eSATA, or HDMI
• Doesn't have all the same applications as HP's TouchSmart all-in-one desktop
• Cooling fan runs loud when notebook is plugged into power outlet

 

Great review!!! Wow, for the features and specs the price looks great!!! (esp when HP starts dolling out coupons!)

I too, wish it had an HDMI port.. that would have perfected the package!

Cant wait for the 2nd gen touchsmart now

 

Nice review!I was hoping to get this laptop for my sister,but after this review I don't

 

One of the cons should be that it has an amd processor.

 

Why? It may run slightly warm than Intel but for performance on the budget, its a good alternate choice - if it werent for AMD, intel prices would have been way overpriced

 

I am not talking about pricing. I think amd is garbage and will never buy from them as they are bankrupt practically like gm and ford and don't care for their products in general, very slow to the market with latest and greatest why buy from them when you got intel, a huge reputable company like that...

That's just me of course, if you feel different that is fine, but that is how I feel.

 

I've never understood the extreme brand loyalty to Intel or AMD. Both companies make good processors, and over the years sometimes Intel has an advantage over AMD and sometimes AMD has an advantage over Intel.

In terms of the current budget notebook market AMD has some very strong offerings. When it comes to low-end CPUs I'd sooner take an AMD dual-core processor over many of the Intel CPUs in the same price range. Likewise, when it comes to integrated graphics I'd take the AMD/ATI Radeon 3200 IGP over the Intel X4500 or X3100.

Now, if you can afford a higher-priced CPU then Intel has some excellent processors with better performance, lower power consumption, and less heat output. However, if HP had put those higher-end CPUs into the tx2 it would have substantially increased the price and it likely means HP would have needed to use the weaker X4500 IGP. Overall, I think HP made the right choice from a price/performance standpoint.

 

Well, if the choice is between the tx2500 and the tx2 I'd still probably pick the tx2 even though it has a few quirks that you have to deal with. The multi-touch functionality is pretty cool and I like the new Imprint finish on the tx2 better than the black and silver Imprint finish on the tx2500.

I also don't know of any consumer tablets/convertible notebooks in the $800-$1,200 price range that are as good as the tx2500 and tx2.

 

I don't feel it is brand loyalty. I have had a terrible experience with amd so much so that I will simply never go back to that company. Once a company treats it's consumer, me, like crap, I want nothing to do with them again, that is just how I am. Also I like buying from companies that are "Big" both in name and in size and power. When I think processor chips I immediately think Intel and do not care to go anywhere else. When I think quality cars I think toyota. So on and so forth. Plus I don't like how AMD is small, bankrupt, and slow in coming out with new chips, etc.. etc.. etc... I am not really considered a brand loyalist as the minute there is some better company out there or some company screws me over, I will move along. Until then I like to stick with Intel. I just can't fathom the thought of buying a chip from a company that never makes a profit. sorry.

 

I think future software updates may address some of the glitchy touch-screen problems. All in all, a good review and a great notebook. Seems like it just needs some prepwork (bloatware, fan speed in BIOS, applications) before it becomes excellent though. I wonder if there's a way to access HP's full touchsmart apps from the downloads sections for the desktop Touchsmart....

 

I am strongly considering getting the tx2 but will now probably hold off until a revision is done on it. Hopefully HP releases a revision that comes with an HDMI port.

On the whole Intel vs. AMD bit, lets try to keep the quarrel off this thread? There's other threads dedicated to that.

 

Jerry,

Does the screen have a glass like finish as the iphone or does it have the softer feeling screen like the tx2500?

Overall, the only downsides (other than probably Wacom support) to this is the lack of some ports. I wish HP would dump the 'Expansion Port' system, it occupies too much space and isn't really useful for majority of the users unless you specifically buy/use the HP docking stations which might make sense for HP to include such a port but doesnt really make sense for majority of the users.

 

It has what I would describe as a hard "plexiglass" screen. I'm not exactly sure what the chemical composition of the screen is, but I think it's more like extremely hard plastic than glass. That said, I don't know for sure.

As far as the Expansion Port docking station connector goes, I'm a fan of docking stations so I personally would rather have a dedicated docking station connection than sacrifice a good docking station for one or two ports.

Still, there is room on the tx2 for a HDMI and FireWire port, and it would be easy for HP to replace one of the USB ports with a USB/eSATA combo port (like they do on the HP Pavilion notebooks).

 

Please don't tell others how to, or what to post on threads. You are not the moderator and have no business or right to. If I wish to post my thoughts and AMD which pertain to the thread as this is an AMD machine, well then I have full right. Thank you very much and I do not need your permission.

 

Lol, gosh how ironical that your rep status says "arch983 is new here but already well liked" - YIKES..

Anyway - I think it would be wise for you to just go find those AMD vs Intel discussion threads and .... ahem...... be occupied there

 

Easy there, folks. Let's all take a deep breath.

And yes, since I'm an admin and moderator I can say that.

Everyone is free to have their own opinions here. Let's not start a war of words ... particularly this close to Christmas. Let's just agree to disagree and continue to enjoy a free forum to discuss the TouchSmart tx2.

 

Nice review there, Jerry!

I would like to mess around with a TouchSmart sometime!!!


Cin

 

Thanks for the review and video very nice.

I played with one of the TouchSmart IQ500 at Staples. It was fun and worked well but the fingerprints from all before me was terrible!!
I guess it's a sign of things to come.

 

Yes, I decided to keep the photo out of the review, but I took a photo of what the screen looked like after a played "Bejeweled 2" on the tx2 for 30 minutes. You could clearly see my fingerprints in a grid pattern on the screen from where I was pressing the screen to move the jewels.

That's one downside to touching the screen to make things happen. the other downside is that you have to turn the computer off in order to clean the screen ... since if you use a cloth to clean the screen while the computer is on it thinks you're touching the screen to do something.

 

Great Review. Thanks

No wonder the prices on the TX2500z are dropping fast. you can get one for 600$ now (about 950 at the begining of the year)

 

I spoke to HP about that, and they confirmed that they are basically just clearing all the remaining stock of tx2500z notebooks at this point. HP considers the TouchSmart tx2z to be the logical replacement for the tx2500z ... so as soon as the remaining inventory of tx2500z notebooks are sold there will just be the tx2.

I suspect that the price of the TouchSmart tx2z will drop as soon as the tx2500z inventory is sold off.

 

When do they make all notebooks (13.3 15.4 16... inch and so on) all touch screen? It cant be hard to get rid of the grainy effect and because they have to make more of them there would be more of an insentave.
But I hope they never makes the keyboards touch.

 

Thanks for the nice review

I like to have a tablet pc like this one...

HP's BIOS support is terrible... I doubt HP will every fix that problem...
Well... I should take that back... HP's BIOS support is okay, but what can I do if I find a problem with the BIOS and HP doesn't find it?
This thread is about the tx2, but I have the dv4t.
I found a problem with the BIOS of my dv4t.

If you find a problem with the BIOS of your HP notebook (the tx2 or any other), is there any way to contact HP and report this problem?

I tried and tried. I posted my problem on the HP forum on this website and on the HP Support web page. I contacted HP. But, they don't care..

 

sorry abt your bad experience with amd.
Piece of advice, buy a product if and only if it's good, don't give a toss about the maker, it's irrelevent.

 

I think it will be a while before all notebooks have touchscreens. We'll probably have to wait quite some time after the release of Windows 7 (which adds significant support for multi-touch) before notebook manufacturers start putting multi-touch display panels in all their notebooks.

I suspect we'll probably see the arrival of Windows 8 or Windows 9 before "all" notebooks get multi-touch screens.

 

Just out of curiousity, how bad would it be to have a keyboard on the touchscreen and use that regularly? Granted the loss of feedback from the keypress will need some adjustment but having a touch screen where the keyboard normally goes would allow for more customization. I hope one day we get dual-screen laptops like how the Nintendo DS is. What impracticalities would it introduce?

 

Well, if the maker generally has a bad track record (say, they make 50 bad laptops in a row), I'd be wary. But AMD was ahead of Intel for quite a while, and only when Intel released their Core line did they start lagging behind. I'm anticipating Fusion as AMD's come back. I like to lean towards AMD, but not if it's totally unreasonable. It's why I got my HP. It was either this, or an MSI with an old X700, single core Turion, and a higher price. Logic trumps brand preference. Always.

But anyways, I would recommend this to my sister, as she had a TX1000z. But I don't think she trusts HP anymore, as her TX1000z had the nVidia issue, and HP refused to fix it (not really an HP issue, until you factor in the terrible HP Customer Support). I'm a bit wary of them too, as most of their products have broken on me (except for their printers, totally awesome!). But I'm not ruling them out totally. Their EliteBooks look awesome.

 

Nice review, Jerry. I really liked the design of this notebook, but I feel HP sort of let it down with regards to the software aspect. Considering how great the TouchSmart all-in-ones are, I was really surprised to see it happen.

 

I'm interested in getting the tx2 but I don't really know too much about the uses of the touch screen.

Is it possible to use it as a kind of notepad to simply scribble notes down on and then save the image? As a student that would be extremely useful for me and the main reason for me to get a tablet but reviews tend not to cover such an obvious point that i have no idea about.

 

yep, thats precisely the point of a tablet for college students! It comes with its own "word journal" software to scriblle notes on > convert to text and save!

 

I agree that the port has some advantages but you have to look at it from how many people buy the notebook + the dock vs how many buy just the notebook. For majority of the users, the expansion port is just totally useless unless they went out and spent another $200 more to buy the dock. The space that the port occupies especially in the tx2 could easily accomodate a 4 pin firewire & HDMI.

 

Port replicator is around $90 from HP. Full docking station is $200, which you don't really need to do 95% of hookups.

 

^ Total noob. Enjoy buying a $1200 CPU from Intel when AMD sells you the same one for $600. Without AMD, all Intel CPUs would still have Netburst Pentium 4 processors right now. Stupid money hording, lousy, screw-over-the-customers Intel.

 

hey new here =
great review. was wondering how these kind of laptops do with adobe photoshop? how good or bad would it be using the touchscreen and pen to paint and overall doodle?

 

Sure, but my point still stands. Why would I want to go out and buy something which frankly I dont need just to make use of that port. I would rather have couple of extra ports right on the laptop rather than on a external solution. Tagging along the quickdock everywhere you go just for the connectivity is also cumbersome. Plus, the quickdock is just a glorified USB hub with a few extra ports duplicating what is present on the laptop itself.

 

great review, jerry! but i have a question on behalf of my friend, who got his tx2 about 2 weeks ago and was messing around with it, as new users are wont to do. after a few days, he noticed that sometimes the keyboard would disable itself and he'd have to do something like remove and replace the battery (i'm not too sure about what he did...) to reactivate it. you wouldn't happen to be experiencing the same symptoms, would you? what's your take on the problem? hopefully its not a loose connection somewhere, because that would be kind of bad on hp's part, even given the volume of orders taken on black friday.

 

i doubt a loose wiring would cause this problem, i suspect its maybe a driver problem or somethings not working once you switch from tablet back to laptop or vice versus, but i did see this same problem on youtube tx2 review, lutopia3 reviews his new comp, but in his comments he said....


"Runs about all the time but when doing something large like games or movies it kicks up. Not as hot as my Acer 9800 would get. But hot enough to be uncomfortable if you put your hand in the area. The bottom and top stay cool over the entire area. It's just hot where the air comes out in the top right corner. So far I love it. I have had only 1 problem with it. The keyboard locked up once but was an easy reset and fixed. Great note/tab book from HP."

link.. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PJVY_LTwxRU&feature=channel

 

found another ...

"I brought this TX2 with additional upgrades configuration priced about $1700. I got it delivered after 4 weeks, shipped right from HP - China.

It was e x t r e m e l y s l o w , very unreliable loaded with ton of crapware. flimsy form factor with plastic keys pooping out on side of the screen. VGA webcam very low resolution, horrible touch experience.... And main keyboard just died after 3 days of nominal use."

from
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/21/hp-touchsmart-tx2z-reviewed-multitouch-could-use-some-work/

now im worried about getting one lol =s

 

hrm, so this is a common problem? i wonder if hp will release a fix...

 

how is the multi-touch screen a first for tablets? Doesn't Lenovo have multi-touch tablets a while ago (e.g. X61 tablet and current X200 tablet).

 

This seems like a decent tablet and I am interested to see how this multi-touch pans out (N-Trig on the Dell XT had quirks). I think you will need Windows 7 to truly see the benefit of it however (much better multi-touch/gesture support than Vista).

There are two errors I noticed in the review though.

Your wPrime scores for the Lenovo x200 Tablet are very bad (possibly a typo). I have this tablet (with a 1.86GHz processor) and the average of 5 wPrime runs is 42.465 seconds. This is not quite as good as the 34.940 seconds of the tx2, but is far better than the 71.210 you have listed for the x200 Tablet (did you mean 41.210???).

Also, the Intel x4500MHD (standard in the x200 Tablet) IS capable of accelerating the decoding of 1080P video (Mpeg2, AVC, or VC1). This is a marked improvement over the x3100 and should be noted. I readily concede though that the AMD HD3200 IGP is far better for gaming than the current Intel solutions.

As far as multi-touch goes, it is important to drill past the marketing term and find the actual meaning. To Apple (and apparently Dell/HP) Multi-touch means recognizing multiple fingers simultaneously for gesture support. Conversely, Lenovo simply means dual mode (active/passive digitizers) when they say multi-touch. The x61T and x200T are only able to recognize a single point of input at once (no gestures for rotating pictures, resizing windows, etc.).

 

The price had better drop as tx2z doesn't offer much improvement over tx2500z. It's more like a tx2(550)z.

 

Has there been any word on Crossfire support on this notebook? I'm still having bad memories of the previous HP notebook...

 

Hi All,

To any of you thinking to buy an HP laptop, please read the following forum discussion in HP website :

http://h30434.www3.hp.com

/psg/board/message?board.id=Hardware&message.id=1206

Around 2 years ago HP sold some notebook products with AMD processor and NVidia GPU. Everything works fine and

we love it, until last December it crash: giving weird scramble line on the screen and finally crash and it

can not be restarted anymore. Now its just a dead laptop.

The problem was experience by so many, may be thousands, of owners and HP didn't try to solve the problem. The

customers service have been contacted and they just goes around the bush as if trying to guide you to perform

repair, but eventually they will ask you to send the notebook to their service center, and of course we need

to pay a lot of money for it.

The problem was caused by NVidia GPU chip's thermal problem that make the chip overheated and finally fail to

operate. The problem was already acknoledge by NVidia


http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1215037160521.html

Overall, the main problem is:

1. HP did not response this problem in the right way and did not put their frustrated customer in their

priority to solve the problem (loss of money, time, and works)

2. It is indeed not happen in all models, however, it is possible to happen in anyone / any model. Once

something serious like this happen ... they just washed their hand away.

Sorry if this sound uncomfortable, however, I am just so disappointed on how they treat their customer. Just

imagine ... YOU BUY A NOTEBOOK TO BE USED JUST FOR 1 YEAR ... THEN IT WILL DIE.

thanks.

 

HP did fix the problem, however, us tx1000z users were ignored.

It's worth noting that all new HP AMD Based computers use AMD/ATi chipsets now, designed to withstand the heat.

Still, with the complete negligence of HP, I would think twice about getting another HP. Business series only from now on for me.

 

I have had the tx2 for a couple weeks now and must say I am very happy with it.

I've seen many of the posts on this thread. Very often how satisfied you are with the machine is influenced by your past experience. I have had several HP tablets in the last several years, starting with the tc1100 from 4 years ago to most recently the tx1000. The tx2 is by far the best I have seen in HP tablets.

I do a lot of notes-writing using the tablet. The new tx2 is as good as any other tablet (dell, fujitsu, lenovo) in this capacity. The active digitizer (versus the passive pressure-only stylus in the tx1000) is very precise, even up to the very edge of the display which is remarkable. If you find that the pen positioning on your machine is off, you need to re-calibrate. This is especially true after a screen rotation. I place a shortcut to the Tablet PC Settings on my desktop so I can re-calibrate easily.

Instead of the dim grainy display in most other tablets, the tx2 has a bright LED-backlit screen that is even barely readable under direct sunlight. The touch screen is also impressive. Contrary to some comments, the touch on my machine is responsive and quite accurate. I can open a browser and use touch to click on links without any problem even when the links are densely laid-out on the page. The machine has a very decent processor which makes the touch experience very pleasant. Using gestures to navigate (up, down, forward, backward) is especially useful on web browsers and your photo and music collections.

In my opinion, the multitouch though is more of a gimmick. The functions that truly require two fingers are rather few. Most of what you need daily can be done with one. But the ability to resize the contents in a window (word, acrobat, browser, etc.) is useful. I am sure they will write more software that would exploit the multitouch in creative ways. Some on this thread commented that the multitouch was not very responsive. If you have trouble with using the multitouch, I recommend using two hands. For example, if you want to rotate, use a finger on your left hand to anchor, and a finger on your right to dial the rotation. Same for resizing, use two fingers from two hands and just spread them apart while touching the screen to zoom in.

The combination of touch, pen and mousepad inputs makes interacting with the machine very versatile, in both tablet and laptop mode. Being able to touch icons and links on the screen to activate them makes everything, especially in tablet mode, more intuitive. Also you can almost type out a long paragraph completely using touch on the virtual keyboard just like on your iphone.

Some comments on this thread say the fan is loud. I put my machine on 5 to 50% power both on battery and plugged in, and the fan rarely turns on with the typical load I give my machine in travel mode. (Yes, the machine performs decently even on 50% max power!)

Of course, one thing that I will always miss is the ability in the tc1100 to detach the keyboard entirely(!) and use only the screen in tablet mode. The touch functionality will really add a lot to that. But I don't suspect HP will recycle that design any time soon.

Good luck with your tx2!

 

i can't find the difference between the tx2z model and tx2-1020us model.. can anybody help please!

 

Imagine multi-touch with DJ software! Scratching while loading another song and matching BPM!

http://h30440.www3.hp.com/campaigns/tx2/demo/Model.html

I'm looking forward to a Touchsmart tx2 with an Intel Core 2 Duo/Nvidia processor/graphics card combination!

 

They are the same. If you buy directly from HP and customize it, then its a tx2/tx2z or tx2-1000. The model you are looking at is just one version of the tx2z sold in retail outlets and has a set specification.

Here's the product spec sheet for the tx2-1020us...
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...4464&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

 

great thank you i just but the tx2-1020us from frys to try it out.. and its great.. already crashed it while trying to partition and install ubuntu but now back up and running.. i actually just got a msi wind and was debating over keeping the wind of the tx2... if i can get ubuntu and the touch screen working on the tx2 then im pretty sure ill keep it.