HP introduces first multi-touch consumer Tablet PC: TouchSmart TX2
HP is pushing the consumer notebook envelope with the introduction today of the TouchSmart TX2 convertible Tablet PC. The TX2 is a refresh of the tx2500 notebook with one big consumer innovation- the first capacitive multi-touch digitizer screen on a consumer notebook. The TX2 is similar to the tx2500 in that it also has a dual digitizer utilizing touch as well as the pen-controlled Tablet PC functions. The capacitive digitizer is similar to that used in the iPhone and HP is looking to bring multi-touch in a notebook to market now rather than wait for Windows 7. The most impressive part of the TX2 offering is the starting price of just $1199. That’s a capacitive multi-touch screen and an active digitizer for just $1199!
The TouchSmart TX2 has a 12-inch screen that swivels from notebook to slate mode just like its predecessor and HP is still putting the AMD Turion dual core processor inside. The TX2 can be configured with a myriad of processor, memory and hard drive options and can also be built with a LightScribe optical drive. The specs of the TX2 are impressive:
- Processor: AMD Turion X2 Dual-core processor, 2.0 GHz – 2.4 GHz
- Memory: up to 8 GB
- Video: ATI Radeon HD 3200
- Hard drive: 160/ 250/ 320/ 400/ 500 GB (5400 rpm)
- Webcam
- Optical drive: DVD R/RW double-layer or LightScribe
- Display: 12.1-inch 1280X800, integrated touch-screen, convertible display (LED backlit)
- Network: Gigabit Ethernet
- Wireless: 802.11 b/g, 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth, 802.11 a/b/g/n, 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluethooth
- Audio: Altec Lansing
- Pointing device: touch-screen multi-touch (N-Trig digitizer), digital ink pen
- ExpressCard/34 slot
- Ports: 3 USB, VGA, RJ-11, RJ-45, 2 Headphone out, mic, expansion port, IR, pen silo
- Dimensions: 12.05"x8.82"x1.23" (with 4-cell battery)
- Weight: 4.33 lbs.
- Power: 4-cell, 6-cell, 8-cell battery, 65W adapter
HP is putting their fancy imprint finish on consumer notebooks these days and the TX2 is no exception. HP has put a black understated imprint on the TouchSmart TX2:
The fancy multi-touch interface doesn’t do much for you without software to take advantage of it and HP is introducing the MediaSmart application that is designed for multi-touch from the ground up. You will be able to do all the normal multimedia functions such as play video, audio, photos and watch YouTube all by touch with that special touch-screen. HP is also announcing a partnership with MTV Networks meaning you will be able to watch prime time TV on demand from all the MTV channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and CMT. All of this is designed to be just a (multi)touch away.
When asked about other software that will take advantage of the multi-touch features HP told us something we didn’t know. Most web browsers, and they mentioned Internet Explorer specifically, will already support multi-touch natively. You can double-finger scroll, pinch and zoom, rotate, etc. right out of the box. They also told us something we had not heard before that most Office 2007 applications already support multi-touch right now. This was news to us and it means you’ll be able to take advantage of multi-touch right out of the box with the TX2. No waiting for Windows 7 for you.
The TouchSmart TX2 is available for order now and will be shipping by the end of November. HP will be rolling out the TX2 globally over the next two months so customers anywhere will be able to buy one by January.
Hmmm, for some reason, the photos do not show in this post (the other posts below) look fine. Am in the only one with this problem; I want to see some PICTURES !!!
They show up for me.
I’m not quite sure how this unit is different from my TX 2000 I have here. Apart from the multitouch perhaps. Maybe the old models support it too, its just not turned on?
The tx2000 has a resistive touch digitizer which works nothing like this capacitive digitizer. This is the first consumer notebook (only the second of any kind) that offers it.
Hmmm, for soem reason the pictures show up in Firefox but not in IE7 for me; oh well…
Is this also an N-Trig capacitive digitizer, or is it some other tech? Do you have the link for ordering?
Thanks.
This is the N-Trig digitizer. Here’s the link:
http://www.hp.com/united-states/campaigns/touchsmart/notebook/buy.html
Looks like a VERY minor update to the existing tx2500, which was a VERY minor update to the tx2120. My tx2120 just came back from the HP service depot (after 2 weeks) still non-functional. HP seems to favor marketing hype over technical excellence.
It occurs to me that I should relay a few other observations after using the previous version of this notebook for the past 4 months.
1) I like the concept and feature set.
2) Build quality is extremely poor. The fingerprint reader is improperly mounted, the latch was broken out of the box, and one of the Ctrl keys requires extreme pressure to activate.
3) Worst keyboard on any notebook I have ever used.
4) Battery life is horrid.
5) HP service is poor. They sent the unit back without having fixed the problems I reported and reimaged the hard drive with the wrong OS (I purchased it with 64-bit Vista and it was returned with 32-bit Vista).
Summary — good concept and design, very poor execution and follow-through.
I was really excited about this as a possible replacement for when my trusty old Toshiba Tecra M4 dies, until I went to HP’s site and tried configuring one to see what the cost would end up being.
Then I stumbled across something rather disturbing: when I got to the page where you can select which size battery you want, I noted that under the “8 Cell” option it said “Up to 2 hours, 15 minutes of battery life” (with the fine print at the bottom specifying that the benmark was made with MobileMark 2007 and the wireless functionality off). Unless this is a miss-print by HP and that note belongs with the 4 cell battery (which isn’t even an option at the moment), that’s just pitiful for the largest battery option available! I could understand if that was a BatteryEater score, but I don’t think that MobileMark is a battery stress test (could be wrong on that).
Hey James, would you please tell your contacts at HP that they need to re-release this notebook but with an INTEL processor in it? I love the new tx2 however I love my P8600 and nvidia 9200 even more.
I don’t understand why their tablets always run AMD chips. I’m sure they could push a few more units if they either switched to Intel only or offered the choice.
Flying Shawn: HP have been copying and pasting that mistake for nearky two years. It’s a good way of fiding out whether a reviewer is just copying and pasting from the HP press release. The TX2xxx lasts around 4 hours on the 8 cell.
AdamW: Since this is a refresh of the TX line an intel proocessor meand new motherboard and probably chassis as well. Consumer = AMD, Business = Intel. And my TX2000 runs Photoshop just as fast as any equivalent intel box I’ve used.
Gordon
Gordon, that is not always true. I have a dv4 “entertainment notebook” or whatever the heck HP calls it which has the intel centrino 2 chipset.
I would honestly be in mobile computing heaven if I could have my dv4 notebook with the convertible touch screen goodness of the tx2. I’m a college student and I love my laptop however I wish I could use it with my math class. A traditional notebook isn’t very good with math IMO since you can’t write out your problems, thus you have to fall back on that old technology some people call pen/pencil and paper.
What’s the up-to-date situation re: n-trig in general and pressure sensitivity in PhotoShop, Painter…etc, in particular?
The use of n-trig in a consumer machine seems premature if the many aches and bumps I’m reading about with Dell’s tablet haven’t been smoothed. Especially given the sad hp tech support attested to in above posts.
t