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stars
"Great with a couple of caveats?" on by sbrickell
Pros: Great design, tablet functions well, good port options for an ultra portable.
Cons: Can be occassionally a bit quirky, HP tech support is less than stellar, significant amount of bloatware.
Summary: I?ve owned this laptop since mid December, 2008 (not sure about this review that mentions a February release). My configuration included the following:
Update:
64 bit Vista Ultimate
AMD Turion(TM) X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processor ZM-82 (2.2GHz)
4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
As far as issues, I still occasionally experience problems with the keyboard not working at all when transitioning from tablet to laptop mode. This requires the laptop to be powered down and the battery removed for a few seconds; I found this fix via on-line forums as the many hours of tech support were useless. They never provided a solution and wanted me to ship my laptop back to be repaired (I had only received the laptop ~ 2 days earlier). The OS is slow, but I don?t attribute this to Vista, but to the configuration and all the added bloatware. Once I uninstalled the useless software and made some performance configuration changes to Vista, I noticed a considerable improvement to the OS.
This is my first tablet and I was intrigued by the multi-touch of the tx2z and I have not had any issues with its functionality. It took me a few days to master the gestures, but I can type remarkably fast with the virtual keyboard and am now proficient with browsing the web and manipulating my photo library using my fingers. I very seldom use the pen. I assumed the finger print reader was more of a gimmick, but I can say I use it all the time, including storing web site account information. It is especially handy when in tablet mode without access to the physical keyboard.
If you purchase this tablet with an open mind and level set expectations, you will be pleased. But seriously, don?t complain when you get finger prints on the screen? are you kidding me? It?s a touch screen, so you?re going to have finger prints. Also, other negatives I have read from other reviews but have not personally experienced:
Loud fan
Bottom getting too hot under heavy usage
I have not had the above problems at all, but others apparently have.
Updated on May 20, 2009
The issue with the keyboard not working when transitioning from tablet to laptop was resolved via a bios upgrade.
- 3 replies to this review
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Great review! While I dislike the people who complain about everything about this computer and I am aware of some problems of the laptop.
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Thanks very much for your review.
I'm old and digitally slow. What is a bios up grade and how is it accomplished?
Are you still pleased with the HP Smart Touch tx2z and are there any additional suggestions/ modifications? -
I was really curious about the fan problems and heat problems. PC Mag gave it a 2 stars out of 5 which ground me to a halt. They're usually quite accurate but maybe they got a bad unit? Everything else you mentioned is dealable, most laptops come packed to the gills with bloatware and Vista's pretty much an OS built on bloatware. Thanks for the great review, really cleared up a lot of questions I had but couldn't get answered!
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