HP Pavilion tx1000

HP makes a credible case for Vista as highly usable even in an ultralight format. The HP Pavilion tx1000 (available for purchase February 28) crams a full suite of multimedia features and even limited Tablet capabilities into an attractive 4.2-pound notebook, complete with an optical drive. It's not the fastest ultraportable on the block, but you get a lot for your money.
 
Borrowing from the look and feel of HP's Pavilion dv series, the black-and-silver tx1000 is certainly a striking ultraportable. The same Imprint finish is present, which consists of subtle wave patterns on the casing, and the glowing blue multimedia buttons above the keyboard further contribute to the futuristic-chic aesthetic. We wish the buttons themselves were a bit larger, though.
 
The tx1000's basic ergonomics are quite good. The keyboard layout is spacious for the design, and you get full-sized Enter and Backspace keys, although the right Shift key is half-sized. The touchpad, on the other hand, is an acquired taste; it's a unique design that uses a small field of depressed dots to read your finger passes. Some may find that it provides too much resistance, but increasing the mouse speed in the control panel helps. We very much like that the scroll control part of the touchpad is offset from the main rectangle, so there is no mistaking which touch zone you are using.
 
Displaying 1280 x 800 pixels, the 12.1-inch widescreen display provided good off-angle viewing, except from the top-down perspective, where it washed out. That resolution may prove too tight for some eyes on standard text-based work, but we were pleasantly surprised at how sharply this display scaled below the native resolution.
 
The tx1000 has Vista's embedded Tablet capabilities, but this unit uses a touchscreen, which has different functionality than the standard Tablet hardware. The widescreen flips and secures to the system's body to switch into Tablet mode. We were surprised, however, by the flimsy feel of the converted state. HP told us this issue may be addressed in the final production version, but serious buyers will want to check out the final version in person before buying.
 
The underlying hardware here is quite good: a 1.8-GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 mobile processor works with a generous 2GB of memory and a roomy 160GB hard drive. We had no problem launching multiple programs such as the new Office 2007 suite, Internet Explorer 7, and DVD playback in an instant. The Nvidia GeForce Go 6150 graphics handled Vista's glassy Aero interface and its 3D desktop objects well, even though this GPU uses shared memory. All of this power does require some cooling, and we did find that the tx1000 put out more fan noise than most Intel-based dual-core notebooks we have reviewed recently. Our preproduction unit even had a bit of a rattle when the fan intermittently kicked in. Nevertheless, the tx1000 doesn't broil your lap.
 
An important value-add for this model is its miniaturized multimedia punch. Unlike some other Tablets with a 12.1-inch display, HP crams a double-layer DVD writer (with LightScribe disc labeling) into the 4.2-pound frame (or 5 pounds with the six-cell battery). You also get Media Center for organizing and accessing your pictures, videos, and music (included in Vista Home Premium). A webcam sits at the top of the lid for video chatting. Audio playback through the Altec Lansing speakers was among the best we have heard from a laptop this size, and visual rendering of DVDs and other video clips was outstanding.
 
As a business-grade portable workhorse that converts into a Tablet, the tx1000 is a bit less impressive. Without the more sophisticated radio technology in a standard stylus, this touchscreen design recognizes the stylus only when it makes actual contact with the screen. You cannot use the hover zone to perform Tablet gestures. We were disappointed with the responsiveness of this touchscreen, too. When drawing and writing on the display, our lines skipped unless we were careful to maintain consistent pressure. Granted, users will adjust to the different feel of this pen interface, but we have seen more intuitive touchscreens elsewhere.
 
The upside of the touchscreen is that you can use your finger to tap oversized buttons, such as the embedded HP QuickPlay interface for multimedia playback. The tx1000 has only two dedicated Tablet buttons (for changing screen orientation and bringing up Vista's new Mobility Center) and no scrolling mechanism. In all, this system was clearly not designed for hardcore stylus jockeys, but we like the multimedia playback controls on the edge of the display.
 
Vista itself adds some nice new Tablet capabilities. The Tablet Input Panel (TIP) is always at the ready as a sliding window from one of the edges of the screen. Microsoft's new personalized handwriting recognition capabilities look very promising. Much like voice recognition technology, you can now train the Tablet to recognize some of the quirkiness of your handwriting so that it makes fewer mistakes. Vista even learns from the edits you make to your handwriting. On our tests, overall recognition was noticeably improved, but it could have been even better with a more intuitive stylus and touchscreen solution.
 
Our only other complaint is the scratchy and poorly targeted quality of audio recordings from the embedded microphone. Most Tablet-enabled notebooks include much more accurate and sensitive voice pickup.
 
Tablet deficiencies aside, the HP tx1000 is a remarkably usable and flexible Vista notebook that demonstrates how portable the new OS can be when paired with the right components and features. There is enough horsepower here for media creation and consumption, as well as for running Vista in the 3D mode it craves. Remarkably enough, HP has succeeded in fitting it all into a travel-friendly package. And coming later this year will be a version with mobile broadband capability built in. More power and portability to us.

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