HP Pavilion tx1000

December 8, 2007 05:35

4.0/5
Some of the user reviews have given this a bad score because they don't understand the difference of 2 different tablet screen technologies.

The Wacom screen is a active digitizer.

While the Tx1000 is a passive digitizer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_PC

you can not expect a Wacom-like touchscreen with this price. Go check the Wacom tablet pc prices and you can see hundreds of dollars difference.

If a Wacom-like experience is absolutely necessary for you then skip this product because a passive digitizer is different. You can't expect the same kind of sensitivity. If not the mouse cursor would go crazy from resting your hand on the screen.

Therefore if you are buying solely for the tablet experience, skip this. But if you are casual user or interested in sampling this great technology that can potentially add great value to your functionality.
(especially for students http://www.studenttabletpc.com/ )

Then this laptop is great value as you can not find any competitors that can match its price-to-performance value.

Also be warned, touchscreens are not as bright as conventional screens by nature. Make sure you do your research and sample the real product to avoid buying something not up to expectations. Then smear a good product here due to your ignorance.

One of the top unhappy reviews written here, complained of the low resolution simply because he did not how to change resolution settings. Surprisingly many readers agree with his review although its obviously flawed. Who would dare claim that the maximum resolution of 1768x992 is low?

I enjoy using the touchscreen as a student for my conveniently writing my math and science which is not easily done on the keyboard. Also its convenient for graphic design where you directly "draw" to the screen and edit pictures

- yoonminn

April 17, 2007 08:25

4.0/5
Well well well!!! Look what we have here. A product which can put to shame many of its competitors. Well i dont only say this because i own one but its more due to the performance this notebook gives.Many reviews have complained about the average performance this notebook gives in the tablet version. So therefore keeping the tablet aspects aside( which i would touch upon later) , i would first like to take a look at it from the notebook point of view.
The very first thing that strikes to you is the price ( i got mine for 1250 dollars (incl. taxes)), a $1400 price tag?(fully configured) is very good for an ultraportable , comparing it to the $2000+ which other companies offer. Secondly the AMD X2 2.0 Ghz processor though slower than the Core 2 duo , does justice to Vista and that can be seen from the rating of 5.0 that the inbuilt vista module gives it. Add to that 2 GB of memory and the perofrmance only gets better. Its quite quick on both start up and shut doen and does multitasking very well or should i say better than expected. The 12.1 screen is glossy and is very good for viewing movies but as known it gets a bit difficult to read in high lighted condition and its a bit grainy due to the tablet feature. But on the whole the screen is worth it. The Altec Lansing speakers give outstanding voice quality and are quite powerful. The keyboard it self is pretty comfortable though the touchpad clicks are bit shallow and need some time to get used to. The remote and the set of multimedia add an edge to its performance that other notebooks lack. Add to it with the availability of a pre-n wireless option you are ready to counter the future too. The 160gb Hard Drive is spacious enough for daily work , though everybody acknowledges the fact , once in a while you might need to buy an external.Anouther feather in the cap is the LightScribe Opticla drive, with lets you laser etch labels on your CD,s.
Now coming to the tablet pc aspect, wellfirst of all it should be kept in mind that it is not exactly a tablet , its more of a notebook with a tablet option to add zing to your everyday use. Secondly the tablet option doesnt give a bad performance either. Yes its a bit on the average side but a little bit of patiebce and you can teach the software to recognize your writing which it does 75 percent of the time. Yes u have to apply a bit of pressure but thats truly passable. Look at the bright side, you dont need to a stylus to open and close programs for everyday use, just the touch of your finger.Moreover the price does justify this deficiency.
Now looking at the real cons, well first of all i would like to point out the performance of the graphic cards. There is only one option you have the NVIDIA 6150 , i just wonder if HP was serious in promoting it as a multimedia powerhouse , dint they think about the need of a better graphics card at least one with external memory. Secondly the lack of firewire on this notebook , yes i know its minimal but still. Thirdly, the battery life is dismal and gives only 1hr 50 mins of life. So i seriously recommend you to take the 6 cell option. The other thing to look out for is that the notebook becomes pretty hot while in use and the material is majorly plastic.
In summary a stellar performance for everyday computing and the extra touch that this laptop offers to the everyday monotonous usage, makes it a worthy contender. Not to forget , the price tag at which it comes. For all those people who are looking for professional usage please look somewhere else as it might fall much short of expectation , but for everyday usage its worth your bet.

Configuration:

Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Turion64 X2 2.00 Ghz
2 GB RAM
160 GB Hard Drive
NVIDIA 6150 Graphics
LightScribe Super Multi DVD RW
Pre-n Wireless with bluetooth
12.1 TouchScreen

- niketaggarwal

April 14, 2007 09:31

4.0/5
I bought this as a small laptop with touchscreen functionality, which adds a little spice to its usability. It's a very good multimedia PC and good for daily work tasks. Some commented on its weak tablet functions, but I never really viewed it as a tablet PC, just as a laptop that you can use the screen for extra functions. For that it is worth the price, because it's a little more fun and makes sitting on the couch and web surfing all the easier. The fan is a little nosy and it does run hot on your lap - fan points at your leg. The battery sticks out and doesn't sit tightly enough, which is a little annoying as it adds to the dimensions. I love the remote control, all the ports, and despite the doubts I really like the touch pad, feeling that I have more control with it than the traditional ones. Speakers are good quality. Screen is lacking a little because of the touch layer, but that's OK for me.

Be warned the 1100us model (for around 1200 bucks) does not have a touch screen, though in every way it is the same as the touch screen model. The more expensive models have touch (e.g. tx1120us). Check the box before you walk away to make sure you got the touch model. I got caught by a sales man who sold me the cheaper model saying it had touch - it didn't. I took it right back and the manager upgraded me to the higher end model gratis because he agreed I was mislead by sales staff who hadn't checked the real thing!

Overall I am very happy. I had thought about getting a same sized, powered and priced Toshiba, but the touch function won me over as a bonus. Again don't buy it if you want a true tablet, because it isn't really one. It is a multimedia laptop with touch functionality. Really there's still no such thing as a cheap tablet PC!

- flooted

March 10, 2007 11:03

4.0/5
The price is very affordable for this pretty little gadget. Feels and looks expensive. Swivel seems sturdy and the keyboard is great to type on. The touch screen covering though is a little thick so you have to press a little hard when drawing lines or writing (as compared to a wacom active sylus). It looks way more expensive than my brothers $4000 NZ dollar Sony Vaio (I got this last week for $2500 NZD). Its a little heavy to hold in one hand if you want to use as a tablet (for me anyway) but still very light compared to other laptops. the screen resolution is very good, it is very sharp and bright in normal room lighting. You almost cant see a thing, though, if youre outside even if youre under a shady area. The battery life is a bit disappointing although i had expected this since I read the reviews and it only has a 4cell battery. With my light usage its battery lasts less than two hours. By light usage I mean web browsing and some chatting(a bit of typing). Vista is a little too buggy still, and boots up real slow, and eats up resources! I tried to install Ubuntu on it but it kind of corrupted Vista hahhaha! Ended up having to recover. But i will try installing Linux again soon. All in all this tablet is a good buy. Im loving it, so far. (I love the cute little blue indicator lights around the screen *Swoon* )

- jptan02

May 7, 2008 06:47

4.0/5
Good laptop for younger crown with all the cool features anyone would ask for...the only major problems i see with this laptop is that the battery doesnt have a long expectancy as i would expect and the laptop will get very hot from the bottom unless your carefull with it...very sturdy and very reliable. I dropped it many times and still works like new.

- doeboi_323

November 26, 2007 07:17
Excellent
2.0/5
As a tool, its good. I runs well, and is generally good. But, the tablet is hardly usable (needs to be recalibrated every time) and the screen is not as bright or clear as the non-tablet counterparts.
The worst part is the pathetic video driver. Dont plan on using this unit with an external video driver. It supports about 4 monitor resolutions- non widescreen nor does it support any very high res.

- aaronmoore1

November 13, 2007 12:58

4.0/5
i stayed 4 weeks before buying this laptop, i read all the previous 51 review of CNET, i even went to the store everyday before taking the decision of buying this laptop, but now after 3 weeks of use, i can tell you that i made the RIGHT decision, this laptop is a new discovery. very nice size, a little heavy than my ex SONY VAIO 10" screen, but still it contains all the nowadays features you can imagine, dvd burner, wifi, bluetooth, built in cam, fingerprints. The tablet is another story, after reading certain reviews here concerning the tablet, i got first worried about it, but after use, it is very easy to get used to write on this tablet, just it needs a very little sort of pressure. i just felt that the battery is very short, it doesnt last more than one hour and half, and the laptop gets a little hot from the right rear. but at the end ...i can say that i made the right choice.

- mizo75

November 3, 2007 06:53
Good
1.5/5
I chose this machine because I wanted a small tablet capable laptop and there weren't too many options available locally. I wish I had done more research though. I think it may be Vista that really is spoiling this device, I upgraded to Ultimate because I wanted to network but now have problems with files synchorizing and often have 10 minute long boot up times!!!!

One problem directly related to the machine though is the poor quality touch screen. absolutely useless if you ever want to use it out of doors and the touch screen sensitivity makes it barely worth while.

- tboneinc1

October 5, 2007 09:53

4.5/5
very happy with this small laptop. I really shopped around before ordering from hp website. Not sure I'll use the touchscreen much but I love the fingerprint reader and the built in card reader. Also love the price of $995. after I found an online coupon code for 20% off. I got the 2GB RAM, bgn-bluetooth wireless, lightscribe, and the 2GHZ upgrades along with the fingerprint reader, webcam, touchscreen. There is not a better deal out there. also like the feel of the keyboard. a well thought-out little laptop.

- frank_b13

September 25, 2007 01:38
Mediocre
1.0/5
General
Ok try to keep this short. I will be returing this custom order hp tx1000 pc.

I own, have owned, and used many laptops including several HP/Compaq which I really like(old HPzt3000 and dv1000, old Compaq Presario 2500 series, Lenovo t60p work, dell 1705 for adobe work nice screen, Lenovo t40, t42p, and have used the t60x, t61x tablets from Lenovo). I wanted something to that is small, with wide screen, lots of memory and without the keyboard so I can manage music, surf web, use pen versus mouse, and do personal stuff on that is small and easy to carry since I do lots of traveling and get rid of my older laptops at different locations.
I maxd the HP TX1000 pc out when I bought it. 2.2 gig cpu, 4 gig memory, aftermarket 200g 7200 SATA drive. Conclusion my work Lenovo t60p pc with an intel 2 gig core 2 duo with 2 gig memory runs much better. My dell 1705 with 2.1gig cpu, 2 gig memory, 100gig 7200 drive also runs faster.

HP sells this computer as a convertible and not a tablet. So I understand that the pen to screen interface is different but I am always calibrating the screen and some basic functions like trying to tap scroll bar and drag down is horrible. Also trying to size screens with pen is a task that leaves the hand cramped at times. Tapping the tablet keyboard is not smooth and you do need to be careful that you did not miss a key. HP should have worked on this a little better. My old palms worked better than this and the apple iPhone touch interface is far superior to this. HP should have considered this in their design. It is like HP gave you a taste of the tablet functionality, made it difficult to use, and said you cant have it!
I did not like the screen, too reflexive, and the graininess is too much for me.

Only good things are that it is wide screen, it is small, hp software for figure print reader/media/update is nice.
Consulsion of HP TX1000:
-Runs too HOT when are actually doing work. Surfing web it is fine.
-AMD chip is SLOW no comparison to Core2 Duo chips and I really dont care about who makes cpu.
-Even with 4gig memory system is slow
-touch screen leaves you wanting more functionality
-screen is poor and hard to see
-CD-rom is loud

- tim.veseli