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HP TX2-1020US TouchSmart 12.1-Inch Laptop Review from FNJ. Pleased with my purchase, I am generally pleased with this purchase.

Cons:

The only con I have come across has already been mentioned: the huge amount of bloatware hp puts on the machine: it does impinge upon machine performance.

Middle of the Road things:

1.) The screen would be the biggest thing. It is a little grainy and reflective, but I am told that is normal with tablet pc’s. It does not bother me but it is noticeable.

2.) Second is the fan constantly running. It’s also not so bad, but noticeable. HOWEVER it should be mentioned that the heat control on the tx2-1020us is the best that HP has been able to achieve with their turion based tablet pc’s. The other models were recorded as running extremely hot. This one is normal, as far as notebooks go.

3.) Thirdly, the function keys ARE pretty small, but I have small fingers.

4.) Finally is the battery life. It is not bad, but not great. With the 6 cell battery I can eke out about 3 1/2 hours of battery life from the machine with the screen at full dimness and simply doing word processing. (The 8 cell battery could probably get you somewhere between 5-6 hours.) Part of the reason for this battery life I attribute to HP not developing some good power management software for their machines.

Before I mention the pluses I should mention that I did not purchase this unit for using the touchscreen. I purchased it for its use as a tablet pc. I also find the touchscreen features to be difficult, but for me that is not an issue simply because I don’t plan to use it. When Windows 7 comes along … who knows?

Pros:

1.) As a tablet this machine works very nicely indeed. I used it with Microsoft OneNote and the pen works very well indeed. I really like the screen controls on the “frame” of the screen itself when in tablet mode. Very convenient.

2.) The overall look of the machine I find very pleasing aesthetically – but I have liked the tx tablet series overall “look” for some time now.

3.) The notebook itself is made of strong material, and the keyboard is a delight to type on. I use an external wireless mouse, but I like the trackpad as well. It functions nicely and normally, as one would expect. It is a little heavier than most tablet pc’s comparison wise, but for me it is not bad at all. (My previous machine was a 15.4″ screen laptop weighing a little over 8 pounds.)

4.) The cpu and 4gb of RAM have been sufficient to handle any tasks I have thrown at it thus far and in good time.

5.) The wireless card works very nicely – and I appreciate the a/b/g/n compatibility. Bluetooth works fine as well.

6.) The speakers of the machine are the best I have had on a laptop – and while I know laptop speakers are never amazing things (unless you pay through the nose for premium stuff), still, these speakers are very decent in my opinion.

7.) The expandability of the machine to 8gb of RAM is also nice for future upgradeability.

8.) One thing I have especially appreciated, however, and which is something that should be mentioned, is the compatibility of the version of Vista Home Premium 64 bit with 32 bit applications. I am a sys admin of a small office and one member recently purchased another hp laptop with the Vista Home Premium system OS on it. I ran across some programs that would not install on it. However, when I tried to do these same programs on the tablet pc they installed without a hitch. I believe HP did something to the OS to make it more compatible with 32 bit software, possibly because some of the tablet based pc software they include with the machine is 32 bit based. The end result, however, is the advantage of 64 bit processing without the difficulty of 32 bit programs resisting install.

Conclusion:

I would recommend this as a tablet pc to anyone who does not mind the average to slightly above average battery life of the machine. Ultimately that to my mind is the only thing that would be a serious hindrance in purchasing this machine.

Overall I like this machine and would purchase it again.

Postscript notes:

Finally, a few things that were delightful surprises from amazon. In purchasing this machine the cpu was listed as an Turion ZM-80. When my machine arrived in the mail it was actually a Turion ZM-82. A nice unexpected bonus of a little more speed than I thought I was paying for. Also, I chose the Super Saver option from amazon. It said it would be shipped in over two weeks. It shipped out the next business day (a Friday) and arrived at my door the next business day after that (a Monday). So I basically got free 2 day shipping!

To check price or purchase HP TX2-1020US TouchSmart 12.1-Inch Laptop.

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