Review: HP Pavilion tx 1000 – tilty, turny media laptop
The propaganda
HP has taken the tablet PC – which is more used to a life in academia or industry – and combined it with the more fun filled features of a Media Center PC. With support for both functions in Windows Vista Home Premium, you get the best of both worlds.
All this packed into a portable size, with a display measuring 12.1in and a widescreen aspect ratio. The tx 1000 seems a little confused whether it’s designed for work or play.
The good
The tx 1000 follows the stylish design of HP’s latest Pavilion range, finished in sleek black and smart silver. It’s small enough to be portable and HP has managed to squeeze in an internal DVD writer.
HP has included a mini remote for controlling Media Center and its own QuickPlay media player. The remote neatly slides into the ExpressCard slot when it’s not in use.
Those that are prone to brushing the touchpad while typing will be pleased to see there’s a dedicated button for disabling it just below the space bar, so you won’t end accidentally moving the cursor when you’re tapping away.
The bad
The AMD Turion TL-50 processor is a little on the slow side, running at 1.6GHz and although you get 1,024MB of RAM, up to 128MB has to be shared with the GeForce Go 6150 graphics.
The keyboard is decent, but for some reason HP has decided to cover the touchpad in dimples, rather than just leaving it smooth. The result is something that feels fairly horrid to roll your finger over.
Like most tablet PCs, as the screen is only hinged in one place it feels a little wobbly and not that solid. The touchscreen is also quite reflective, making it not that great to use in bright surroundings.
Geek Sheet
Processor: 1.6GHz AMD Turion TL-50
RAM: 1GB DDR2
Graphics: 128MB (shared) nVidia GeForce Go 6150
Drives: 120GB hard drive, multi format DVD writer
Ports and connections: 3 x USB, modem, network, VGA, S-Video, memory card reader, headphone, SPDIF, microphone, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Dimensions and weight: 306x224x31mm, 1.92kg
Overview
Priced at £799, the tx 1000 doesn’t have a bad spec for the money. While it could benefit from a slightly faster processor and better graphics it’s still usable.
The screen feels a little flimsy, like most tablets, but you do get the advantages of being able to use pen input. The touchpad, however, just feels horrid.
Related sites: HP Pavilion tx 1000
2 comments
my tx 1000 came with a 2 gigabyte RAM and 160 Gig hard drive. It’s fast and I like the mouse pad. The reflective screen is however a drawback in bright souroundings
I actually find the touch pad much more tactile compared to my sony vaio’s smooth one. The side scroll area is faster and easier than my vaio. The biggest plus is the 4.2 lb versus my heavy 15″ vaio. I love my new HP !
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