HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx – Decorously Designed Ultraportable

Pros

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx might be flashy, but doesn’t have a loud design; the multitouch gestures of the phone are fun and the machine comes at pretty decent price for tablet functionality.

Cons

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx delivers middling application performance, has deprived battery life, the system weighs down with bloatware and the system is a tad heavy for a 12-inch Ultraportable.

Introduction

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx signifies a minor update to company’s consumer tablet. In comparison with the TouchSmart tx2z priced at $999, this retail only TouchSmart tx2-1275dx is reasonably priced at $849, and unlike the former it’s a fixed configuration model. It should be known that the TouchSmart tx2z carried a baseline price of $999, which increased rapidly as the specs of the system were upped.

The TouchSmart tx2-1275dx has a revolving touch-screen display with multitouch hold up. Using the multitouch gestures here is potentially useful and fun, but the functionality of the system needs a bit give ups. One another thing you need to keep in mind about this tablet is that its performance can never match the systems with Intel Core 2 Duo processors and hence don’t expect any such thing. Secondly the battery life of the system is really deprived. And lastly, though the TouchSmart tx2-1275dx has an eye-catching design along with one of HP’s Imprint finishes, the system is a tad larger for a 12-inch Ultraportable.

Design

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx with its curved corners, tapered edges and Imprint finish, resembles to some of HP’s Pavilion laptops. The tablet features a silver design on a charcoal gray chassis. The silver design of the laptop somewhat looks like clouds, bubbles, or maybe amoebas. We call it funky yet delicate.

Weighing 4.8 pounds, the TouchSmart tx2-1275dx is comparatively heavier than some of the other Ultraportables you’ll see in the market. Though if you want, you can reduce its weight a bit by replacing TouchSmart’s DVD burner with a built-in plastic space-holder.

The good thing here is that despite being a 12-inch laptop, the system is a bit heavy. The page up and down, end and Home keys of the system are placed on the right hand side of the small F keys. Users who navigate the web pages and word documents with page up and down keys might find it hard here as they will have to get acquainted to the pen flicks function of TouchSmart tx2-1275dx’s touch screen. The touch pad with its small dimples is rather responsive.

TouchSmart tx2-1275dx’s display is positioned on a single revolving hinge, and the small-but-upright-sounding Altec Lansing speakers are positioned at the base of the system.

System Configuration

Price: $849
Manufacturer: HP
Part Number: NV175UA#ABA
Notebook type: Thin-and-light (3-5 lbs.)
Dimensions (W x D x H): 12.1 x 8.8 x 1.5 inches
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit Edition
Weight: 4.6 lbs
Screen: Widescreen
Display Type: 12.1 in TFT active matrix
Processor: 2.2GHz AMD Turion X2 Dual-Core RM-74
Hard Drive: 320GB at 7,200rpm
RAM: 4GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 (integrated)
Built-in Devices: Stereo speakers & Wireless LAN antenna
Notebook type: Thin-and-light (3-5 lbs.)
Embedded Security: Fingerprint reader
Processor: AMD Turion X2 mobile processor RM-74 / 2.2 GHz
Supported flash memory cards: MultiMediaCard, Memory Stick, xD-Picture Card, SD Memory Card and Memory Stick Pro
Graphics Processor / Vendor: ATI Radeon HD 3200
Input device type: Touchpad, Keyboard, Touch-screen and Digitizer
Software: Microsoft Works , Muvee Reveal , HP Help and Support , CyberLink DVD Suite , HP Recovery Manager , HP MediaSmart Suite , HP Total Care Advisor , Adobe Acrobat Reader , Microsoft Internet Explorer , Microsoft Office OneNote , Microsoft Office 2007 Home, Norton Internet Security 2009 (60 days subscription) and Student Edition (60 days trial)
Included Accessories: Remote control
Features: Security lock slot (cable lock sold separately) and Power-on password

Performance

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx runs on a dual-core AMD Turion X2 processor, but still was seen struggling in our performance test against the other systems having Intel Core 2 Duo chips. The tx2-1275dx was even behind the slowest Core 2 Duo-based laptop that we’ve tested till now, by a healthy 28 percent, while against the laptops running on Core 2 Duo processor it was behind by a whopping 49 percent. But all these results were for multitasking test and we expect a bit better performance for casual computing tasks like web drowsing etc.

The TouchSmart tx2-1275dx is powered by a six-cell battery, which lasted only for 2 hours 21 minutes in our stern battery test. It didn’t lasted long even in normal tasks and considering the fact that tablets are intended for more of a on-the-go use, we think the performance was really poor.

Support

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx comes with HP’s included support and service. This includes a toll-free 24×7 phone support, an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty, and with the promise of within 1 hour response to e-mails. HP’s complete support wed site includes real-time chat with a technical support agent, driver downloads and FAQs.

Word from the Experts

The HP TouchSmart tx2-1275dx has a catchy design, an affordable price and most importantly the system comes with multitouch support. So we think all these features will help the consumers overlook the deprived battery life and average performance of the Ultraportable.