HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea Review
In the last couple of years, there have been a lot of internet tablet of PCs and touch screen desktops in the market and among these; very few of them like, the Toshiba Portege M700 or the Eee Top have impressed us. Unfortunately, the best reason to buy them has rarely been their headline feature. We are not sure if this is because of the technology itself or because of the lack of a killer application for touch that holds it back. However, HP had addressed the issues with its latest TX2.
Call it a Notebook or a Tablet:
The HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea is one among just two notebooks that can track multi-gestures and the other notebook is the Dell XT, which comes as a kit with a capacitive panel that can track several fingertips doing several applications at the same time. When the Tablet PCs have been traditionally aimed at niche business markets, HP has made an attempt to persuade its home consumers to clinch on to the format with its TX2-1000 series. Though HP puts this under the notebook category, it certainly looks like a Tablet to us.
Design:
Attractive chassis with “Reaction” Imprint:
The overall chassis deign of the PC is not something new as it is virtually same as that of TX2500 with the only obvious change being the new glossy “Reaction” Imprint Finish that is dark grey and not silver as seen in the previous generation models. Speaking about the design, the HP TouchSmart TX2 Notebook PC is adorable in more than one way. It comes in a rather attractive charcoal grey chassis and the whole system has a very robust built. The Imprint finish looks very cool but as you must be aware, the glossy finish will turn out to be troublesome by picking up all the fingerprint smudges.
A sturdy and durable unit:
The metal and plastic finish of the chassis is rigid and does not suffer from any flex even when twisted between hands. The hinge is very sturdy, the screen swivels in a smooth way and can very well withstand the occasional knocks. The notebook possesses a very smooth body with rounded edges making it a very comfortable device to hold.
The Multi-touch WXGA display:
It is always very hard to get the screen size of a Tablet PC right as they must be both good enough to be written on and at the same time less weighed also. The TX2 1020ea sports a 12.1″ display with a pixel resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. This WXGA display is less grainy than the display panel that is used in the tx2500, but still quite grainy when compared with the notebooks that do not make use of touch screens. It is very glossy and reflective and can get hard to read under direct sunlight and brightly lit rooms. Though the viewing angles are perfect, depending on how the tablet is tilted, it can get hard to be read at times as the colours invert at sharp vertical angles. At the full brightness setting, the screen is very bright and the colours are very rich with great deal of contrast. But it is disappointing that there is no onscreen indication for brightness levels.
Double functionality:
Along with the four cell battery, it weighs 2.1kg and that is definitely quite heavy for some. It is a solid convertible notebook that can function as either a standard notebook or just rotate the screen by 180 degrees to covert the notebook into a tablet and write directly on the display using the digital pen that is included. The orientation is changed automatically when rotated into tablet mode.
Excellent keyboard:
The HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea Laptop Notebook Computer has an excellent keyboard with zero flex and soft key presses. They keys are accurate and very responsive and you will surely enjoy typing in this keyboard. The keys are coated with the matching HP “Reaction” Imprint finish that improves the durability of the keyboard and protects it from the greasy fingers. The keys are large and easy to read, except for the function keys in the top row that are too small and not that easy to press without hitting another key by mistake.
User-friendly Track pad:
HP has removed the media buttons from along the frame of the display as the TX2 features a touchscreen that perfectly works for the media player controls. The “Reaction” Imprint feature is also featured in the palm rest area and the touch pad is still famous for its perforated design. We love this kind of design as it does not get worn off that easily and will be very responsive. As the touch pad is intended in the palm rest area, your finger does not slide off and hence makes navigation a breeze. It would be great if HP uses the same style on all their notebooks rather than the smooth glossy ones. Yet another nice touch of HP is the on/off button of the touchpad, you can disable the touchpad by pressing a small button above it. This feature will be of great use for those who use an external mouse or the touch screen at all times.
Entertaining stuff:
The Hewlett Packard TX2 also has a lot of entertaining features like the Altec Lancing speakers and a mini remote control. The little bonus media remote tucks away in the express card slot and is great for moving through slide-shows and also for controlling the notebook when it is connected to a television.
Ports and slots:
On the left side of the chassis, you will be able to find the DVD writer, multi-format card reader and a 34mm ExpressCard Slot. And on the right hand side of the PC, there is a Gigabit LAN, VGA and USB port. You can also find another couple of USB ports next to the battery in the rear. The other ports include a modem port, Microphone in, two headphone, audio out ports and a Kingston lock slot. The DVD drive can always be removed substituted in the weight saver module if you do not require an optical drive. Three USB ports might sound decent to you, but it is sad that HP did not make one of them to be a combo USB/eSATA port and, all the other consumer HP notebooks currently offer one. The absence of FireWire and HDMI ports are also very disappointing as many of the consumers will find them to be very useful.
Dedicated Docking Station Connector:
On the flip side, we are glad that HP has included a dedicated docking station connector for those who use laptops as desktop replacements. This is more important than you can actually imagine and most of the manufacturers remove them only to offer the USB docking stations. Though USB is a great interface to connect two interfaces, you will encounter a major reduction in speed while trying to transfer data. With the dedicated Expansion Port 3 in the laptop, it will handle all of your docking station needs at the same time with virtually no reduced performance.
Features:
Includes both Active Digitiser and Multi-touch screen:
One of the biggest speculations made were if the HP TX2 1020ea would have an active digitiser like the TX2500Z or if it would sacrifice the Active Digitiser for the multi-touch screen controls. HP has made a very wise decision by retaining the Active Digitiser along with the Multi-touch screen. You will be able to interact with the display in two ways: using the stylus that is stored in the right hand side of the chassis and the second media is of course, you fingers. Though the pen is solid, it is a very basic one though. A very appreciable touch that HP has given the display is that, it will detect when you are using the stylus and hence, ignore any contact that your finger makes with the display. Once you move the stylus away from the display you can fiddle with your finger again.
Limited Multi-Touch Gestures:
The display of HP TX2 1020ea can recognise multi-touch gestures. This feature allows you to browse though the photo album and zoom in by dragging two fingers across the display. Yet another PC that has multi-touch gestures is Apple’s MacBook, but the multi-touch feature in this PC is much advanced as it will be able to detect three and four fingered gestures, while the one in TX2 can deal with only two fingers. Worse, there is little documentation or on screen help that describes the multi-touch abilities. The TX2 does not have the same multi-touch capabilities as its TouchSmart all-in-one desktop PC. This is because of the size of the display and intended use. They have not included the TouchSmart software for calendar and notes as the smaller display makes it really hard to make use of the multi-touch gestures for those apps. We would have still liked to see more of the applications from the TouchSmart desktop in the TX2 notebook.
Yet another gripe with the feature is that, most of the gestures will work only within MediaSmart suite applications of HP that has playback utilities for DVDs, videos, music, photos etc. There are a few gestures that also work on the other non HP applications, for instance, in Internet Explorer 7, you will be able to zoom in and out of the websites using the pinching gesture.
Processor, Memory and Wireless capabilities of TX2:
The HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea is equipped with a very capacious 400GB hard drive that has a spindle speed of 5400rpm. In the current market, every other system is equipped with only Intel Processors, but for a change, HP has opted to go for AMD for its TX2. It is a dual core Turion X2 Ultra ZM-84 AMD processor that ticks along at 2.3GHz with a RAM of 4GB for backup. For the sake of wireless capabilities, TX2 has 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth.
CPU performance:
When we tested the performance of HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea Notebook using the PCMark05 benchmarking test, the AMD ZM-84 CPU aided the PC to attain a score of 3803. This score is very good and shows that the PC is not having a lightning speed but we can assure you that the PC will not have much trouble operating on Vista or most of the other third party applications.
Graphics card and its performance:
The graphics are taken care by the ATI Radeon HD 3200 processor, but scored a low score of 1852 in the 3DMark06. We can understand that it is hard to get excited about an integrated graphics processor as every IGP in the market is painfully inferior to a dedicated graphics card and each one of them struggled to handle high def video and 3D video games. However, the ATI Radeon HD 3200 was not that bad as this low cost IGP offers flawless 1080p video playback. The notebook will be able to cope up with some of the games by holding back the detail and resolution settings. But frankly, have no plans of playing intense games in this PC.
Acoustic capabilities in TX2 1020ea:
You will find the two speakers of TX2 in the bottom of the screen. This means that the speakers will be facing out regardless of the fact if you will be using the TX2 in tablet or notebook mode. There is not much to be said about the Altec Lansing speakers. They are loud with some minimal distortion and the good news is that, it does not sound tinny as most of the laptop speakers. However, you cannot expect an output that would fill your room, the way you might want the dedicated speakers to sound. Without a built-in subwoofer, the speaker quality was above average. But the performances of both the audio out ports were outstanding, delivering crystal clear audio.
Troublesome Software Bundle:
Consumers or reviewers hardly notice about the software or bloat ware for that matter and this is because most of the people accept or even expect that the notebook manufacturers include various trial versions of programs like Microsoft Office or anti-virus software. Most of these software bundle fall into two main categories, they are either helpful or troublesome. So, are you wondering what has come with the HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea? Unfortunately, we discovered that some of the bloatware is not only troublesome; it can even prevent the notebook from working properly.
Once the Laptop is switched ON, and if you attempt to start the MediaSmart application before all the bloatware finishes loading the MediaSmart application would fail to open. In addition to this, you have to restart the windows to get MediaSmart application working. And there were a load of other problems with the Norton anti-virus trial version. So expect to spend some time uninstalling these bloatware before using the notebook.
Heat level:
The HP TX2 does a great job in keeping the heat level low and under control. The heat sink and the system fan do a very decent job when the system is put under load. But since the notebook is designed to be taken with you all day, it does get a little hot in the bottom than what we would like.
Noise Level:
You will not be having any issues with Noise as long as the system is running on Battery power. But, it was the absolute contrary once the notebook started running off the power outlet. Though the fan removes a significant amount of heat from the notebook, it operates at its maximum settings whenever the notebook is plugged in. In fact, it makes a sound of some hairdryer used in some distance. Although you will be able to adjust the fan setting in the BIOS, most of the consumers will not know how to do it. We must also admit that the fan is absolutely silent when set low.
Battery and Battery life of HP TX2:
HP has generously offered two batteries as standard. The four celled battery lasts for about three hours and the eight cell version of the same manages to last for six and half hours. But, if you opt for the eight cell battery, it will add a considerable bulk to PC, pushing its total weight to 2.3Kgs. The overall performance of the battery is good, but do not expect anything extraordinary. With the power saver mode, you must be able to get some more hours, but keep in mind that, in that mode, the screen gets too dark that it cannot be useful in anything but very dark environments.
Warranty:
The HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea comes with one year collect and return warranty.
Verdict:
HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea has a lot of features that will make us adore it and some of them include its very attractive sturdy deign and the very decent set of features. Though it has very limited multi-touch capabilities, it will prove to be a perfect platform to try Vista’s Tablet PC’s capabilities. With the large display, scribbling notes is simply effortless.
After testing, it is very hard to be overwhelmingly positive or negative about TouchSmart TX2 1020ea. As in the other hand, the multi-touch screen does not respond exactly as it should and you might actually end up touching the display multiple times before the screen actually does what it should have done, the first time you touched it. Despite very few frustrations like these, the TouchSmart TX2 is a great notebook. Consumers looking for a budget notebook will be happy to opt for this notebook, especially with the active digitiser, a 12” multi touch display and loads of entertainment features for very less cost.
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HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea NoteBook PC – Technical Specification Details
| Manufacturer | HP |
| Model Name | HP TouchSmart TX2 1020ea |
| PC type | Notebook |
| Series | TX2 1000 |
| DIMENSIONS AND DISPLAY | |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 39 x 306 x 224 mm |
| Weight | 2.1 Kg |
| Available colours | Charcoal grey |
| Display type | WXGA TFT Multi-Touch High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display |
| Display size | 12.1 inch |
| Display resolution | 1280 x 800 pixels |
| PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE | |
| Processor type | AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-84 |
| Clock speed | 2.3 GHz |
| Chipset | AMD M780G |
| Data Bus Speed | 2600 Mhz |
| RAM installed | 4096 MB |
| RAM type | DDR2 RAM |
| Max RAM Supported | Yes |
| WLAN Standard | 802.11b/g/n |
| Installed Memory | 128MB |
| Maximum Memory Supported | 4GB |
| Hard drive size | 400GB |
| Spindle speed | 5400rpm |
| Optical drive | Lightscribe Super Multi DVD Writer (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer support |
| INPUT | |
| Keyboard | 101 key compatible keyboard |
| Track pad | Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down pad, volume control, mute buttons and 3 Quick Launch Buttons |
| GRAPHICS, VIDEO AND SOUND | |
| Graphics processor | ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor |
| Speaker Details | Built-in stereo speakers |
| Sound Card | Sound Blaster Pro compatible |
| Audio Input | Headphones |
| Audio Output | Combined optical digital output/headphone out |
| Video out options | VGA output |
| COMMUNICATION FEATURES | |
| Ethernet | Yes |
| Modem | No |
| Wireless | 802.11 pre-n Bluetooth |
| Mobile internet | None |
| Webcam | No |
| Memory card reader | 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards |
| CONNECTIVITY | 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA port, 1 RJ11 modem connector, 1 RJ45, ethernet connector, S-video TV out, 2 headphones-out one w/ SPDIF out, 1 mic-in, 2 remote control infrared ports (remote optional), integrated stereo mic and cable docking connector |
| SOFTWARE | |
| Operating System | Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit) |
| Other software | HP MediaSmart suite; CyberLink DVD Suite; Microsoft Office 2007 (60-day trial) |
| BATTERY | |
| Battery technology | 4-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery+8-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery |
| Estimated battery life (mfr) | 6 hours |
| MISCELLANEOUS | No |
| Box contents | Notebook Power Adapter, 2 batteries, and power cord Install/restore DVDs Printed and electronic documentation |
| WARRANTY | One year Collect and Return Warranty |
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