HP TouchSmart tx2
Posted 07/01/09 at 08:00:00 PM by Michael Brown
Don't touch me there
We’re unabashed fans of HP’s Touch-Smart desktop machines, so we were really looking forward to getting our digits on the new technology in a convertible touch-screen notebook PC. But our eager anticipation only made the reality of the TouchSmart tx2 all that more disappointing.
This is the first convertible touch-screen PC designed for the consumer market, and its underlying hardware—which in our review unit included AMD’s best mobile CPU—delivered enough horsepower for this machine’s touch-screen elements. Benchmark performance, on the other hand, was dismal (more on that later).
You can use the TouchSmart tx2 as a conventional notebook PC or rotate its 12.1-inch screen 180 degrees, lay it flat, and use the machine’s tablet functionality. The 1280x800 touch screen uses active digitizing technology and supports the use of either a fingertip or a digital pen (as opposed to the simple stylus that HP shipped with its first-generation TouchSmart desktops). The digital pen delivers hover feedback (it doesn’t have to touch the screen to activate user-interface elements, such as tooltips) and considerably more precision than a fingertip.
The pen is particularly useful for drawing diagrams and jotting notes, and HP’s handwriting-recognition software is nothing short of excellent. It had no problem recognizing even our sloppiest handwriting as fast as we could scribble. The vaunted multitouch feature—which lets you manipulate objects and certain aspects of the user interface—is really only useful with HP’s very basic MediaSmart applications.
That could change once Windows 7 hits the market, since the new OS is slated to offer native support for multitouch screens. (This machine came with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium).
If you don’t have a work surface and don’t need to type, you can put the machine in tablet mode and cradle it in one arm. But we found that our elbow and shoulder could tolerate this position for only about 20 minutes because the TouchSmart tx2 is so heavy for its size: five pounds, one ounce (with the optional eight-cell battery). Adding the power supply brings the weight up to five pounds, 13 ounces. Replacing the optical drive with the plastic “weightsaver” shell sheds five ounces, but renders the machine much less useful.
As you can see in the chart below, the TouchSmart tx2 is abysmally slow with hardcore applications. And while the machine was nearly silent when idle or playing a movie, it sounded like a hair dryer when given a heavy load. The battery delivered two hours and 51 seconds—long enough to watch both Boogie Nights and its supplemental disc—using HP’s recommended settings (which balance battery life with performance).
We made many allowances for the performance of HP’s touch-screen desktops, with the caveat that they shouldn’t be a Maximum PC reader’s only computer. We can’t do the same for a notebook. And while we can ignore the TouchSmart tx2’s crappy gaming performance—no one buys an ultra portable to play games—we can’t ignore this machine’s other shortcomings and high price tag.
HP TouchSmart tx2
Skin
Outstanding touch screen; excellent handwriting recognition.
Skinned
Heavy for an ultra portable; loud under load; poor performance; expensive.
Benchmarks
| Zero-Point Notebook | HP TouchSmart tx2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Premiere Pro CS3 (sec) | 1860 | 2,580 (-27.9%) |
| Photoshop CS3 (sec) | 237 | 316 (-25%) |
| ProShow (sec) | 2,416 | 2,310 |
| MainConcept (sec) | 3,498 | 4,643 (-24.7%) |
| Fear 1.07 (fps) | 14 | 13.0 (-7.1%) |
| Quake 4 (fps) | 29.1 | 15.9 (-54.6%) |
Our zero point notebook uses a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo E6700, 2GB of DDR2/667 RAM, an 80GB hard drive, GeForce Go 8600M and Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit Edition).
Specifications
| HP TouchSmart tx2 | |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Turion X2 Ultra Dual Core ZM-86 |
| RAM | 4GB DDR2 SDRAM (two DIMMs) |
| Chipset | AMD ATI RS780M |
| Hard Drive | 400GB Toshiba MK4058GSX (5,400rpm) |
| Optical | Optiarc DVD RW AD-7581 8x (w/Lightscribe) |
| GPU | AMD ATI Radeon HD 3200 |
| Boot/Down | 148 sec/23 sec |
| Lap/Carry Weight | 5 lbs, 1 oz/5 lbs, 13 oz |
Technology
Submitted by sunrise on Wed, 09/01/2010 - 11:44pm
We are the best computer solutions provider having a large list of satisfied clients in Karachi as well as in Pakistan.
Submitted by electromula on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 12:55pm
I have tx2 1020ea, bought in UK. I also expected bit more for that money (using Firefox is annoying sometimes, when there is no response after typing letters). In advance, I have problem with digital signal on SPDIF output. Got Tosslink optical cable to connect it with my home cinema system Creative SoundBlaster Extigy (as there is no Vista driver for it so I can´t use an USB cable), but I got only stereo signal. Even on Realtek Sound Manager screen it appears as stereo connection. I hope W7 will inprove it - HP wont, after a few emails to customer service they gave it up.
Submitted by aclin on Fri, 07/10/2009 - 2:43pm
I love mine. but like a swiss army knife it can do everything. But it can't do everything well. I keep mine at my desktop so if i want to just check Email or quickly go on the internet I just lift the lid it wakes up and sence i have everything in ram it's right there. I put a SSD in it and that helped alot (power saving and performance) and made the 320 g hard drive into a external. I set it up with my workout machine with a WINDLINK setup so I can watch DVDs,surf the net and monitor my workout all at the same time.I also made a tray in my suburban and use it for GPS,OBDII.internet and music.I also hooked it up to my 52 inch LCD TV with a 25 ft VGA/SPDIF cable. My grandchildren use it to color in paintbrush and games on the internet. their to young to use a mouse So all in all A great laptop. I would of given it at least an 8. in fact I did this comment with the laptop instead of my main computer.I have a very comfortable couch.I plan on putting WIN 7 on it in october which should support mult_touch and all that stuff.
Submitted by Trendecide on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 9:56pm
I bought this laptop for my wife in March [2009] at Best Buy marked down to $900. I'm not sure what full price was, but I'm not sure I would have paid more than $1k for it.
The fact is I knew this thing wasn't going to be a workhorse when I bought it because I knew my wife's demands of a PC... Office Suite, taking notes at meetings (hence the touch), surfing the internet, listening to music and watching videos. She's not going to be using this machine for any gaming, video encoding, photoshopping, etc. And HP doesn't advertise this machine as the machine to do it (and honestly, I really dislike HP and wouldn't buy one unless it was a deal).
I was holding out for the Asus T101 (T91 is just too small), which has
yet to be released. As a netbook, yes it'll be lighter, but it'll be
signifcantly slower and significantly less flexible software/drivers
wise where I have full control with Windows. And I really wasn't
counting on the price being much lower than $900 with the T91 already
rumored to sell for around $750. So comparitively, this is a better machine IMHO.As for the machine:
-Is it slow? It can be.
-Is it heavy for its size? A little. The better question is can you hold the five pounds in your arm for an extended period of time for the tablet use? I didn't realize holding five pounds was so tough, but as a mother of 3 and already holding a baby all day long, my wife has yet to complain.
-Is it loud? Eh, I've heard worse.
-Does HP customer service suck? When hasn't it... you only buy HP if you know how to fix it on your own.
-Does it run Windows 7? Took some work with the drivers, but yep.For basic use, and particularly if you can find it marked down, this IS the touchscreen laptop to buy (can't believe I just recommended an HP). If you're looking to buy a touchscreen that's more multipurpose to do gaming, photoshop, etc... this IS NOT the laptop to buy (not sure why you'd want a touchscreen for that... but to each his own), but I think that's obvious even without this MPC review. You're not going to find a mobile machine with all the horsepower to do everything well in this price range anyhow.
Submitted by SEALBoy on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 4:58am
My roommate had a tx1000 series laptop, and it started overheating as well. WiFi went offline, screen had a mind of its own when turning on/off.
Called HP, they refused to acknowledge the problem... this is pure bullshit. This is a WELL-KNOWN problem with the laptops that you can find over the internet, HP just doesn't want a recall. I hope they get a class-action lawsuit for this.
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