HP TouchSmart tx2 – Tablet Laptop

Tablet PC’s kind of flared and then fizzled out in the late 90′s, but like any great idea, they didn’t disappear. They have been widely used in the medial, construction and transportation industries where their small size and pen input displays make them the perfect tool for the job.

While Windows XP and Vista supported Tablet PC’s the interfaces were clunky and unreliable. All that has changed now with Windows 7 and many industry think tanks feel Tablets are going to be making a huge comeback.

While many companies have been making higher end laptops, HP has consistently had one or two consumer level tablets on the market. I recently picked up their TouchSmart tx2 and while it came with Windows Vista, a quick 20 minuets later it was running Windows 7 with ease.

This HP TouchSmart model is surprisingly well equip for the price. Here is a quick breakdown of it’s specs:

4GB Ram
320 GB SATA Hard Drive
12.1″ Dual Input Screen (input with pen or finger)
AMD Turion 2.10 GB Processor
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics Card
Wireless A/B/G/N Card
DVD Burner with Lightscribe.
Fingerprint Scanner
Webcam
4 USB Ports

All for under 1200.00.

While there are better Tablet PC’s on the market, I would hazzard to say there is nothing better for the money.The higher end Tablets run Intel processors that run cooler and require less cooling. They also have better screens that are easier to read in daylight. The tx2 screen is nice but it is almost impossible to read outside and annoying even in the car on a sunny day.

The Good:
Great hardware specs.
Tablets run great under Windows 7.
Lots of expansion ports.
Great overall performance.

The Bad:
Screen not good for outside.
Runs hot.