The habit of carrying notebooks to classes and taking notes of the different lecturers is slowly fading away. Note taking and preparing minutes for the meeting in papers are also finding their exit. The path has been paved for the laptops, notebooks and Tablet PCs that can be easily carried to the place of work. The journey through this path might not bring full satisfaction, but in spite of its ups and downs, it manages to be comfortable. The invention of tablet PCs is a great boon for all kind of users, right from the students to the scientists. Though the success of the notebooks is a doubt, they indeed occupy a prime role. Particularly talking about the Tablet PCs, they have not had an excellent establishment in their career right from the beginning and its creators have always been trying to improvise on them. In the array of tablet PCs, the HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020ea is a notebook produced by one of the big organisations in America, HP, that has a good number of countable features.

The HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020ea is a tablet PC aimed for the home users. This notebook is convertible, as in; it can be used in both display mode or tablet mode and the normal mode. The convertibles are finding greater application these days because of their portability and easy handling. When in use, the convertibles offer its users comfort and also easiness. This notebook has many attractive features that are appealing, yet has some serious disadvantages that seem to merely bring down its graph of success. TouchSmart is a feature that adds to the attractive list. The tx2 1020 of HP comes with a touch screen that gives good response to the touches, not only of the fingers, but also of the stylus. The use of stylus facilitates easy taking of notes and also makes chatting an easy and fun filled entertainment. There is wireless connectivity and also Ethernet for the users to avail the internet. There are 3 USB ports, an Infrared Port, a VGA Port, an Express Card Slot and what not, an SD card reader too. The notebook has the Windows Vista pre installed. So, all that is left for us to do is to work out the checking part. Let us check out the HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020ea in detail.

HP TouchSmart TX2-1020ea Notebook PC

Design:

Display:
The HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020eaTouch Screen Notebook is smart and charming. This dark-grey color notebook has a design that is laudable with the imprint graphic designs on it. Since this is a convertible tablet computer, it can be used either in tablet mode or the normal mode as that of the laptops. The top portion of the notebook houses the touch screen monitor with a digitizer, a web camera and the three quick access buttons. This top part can be rotated and swiveled to be used in the tablet mode and can be put back to its normal mode by moving it in the opposite side. The rotatory motion is smooth and easy. On the contrary, the base, that carries the keyboard along with the touch pad, is sturdy and stable too. The stylus takes its position at the side of the chassis. The touch screen is a compact 12.1 inch screen that has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels. The clarity of the display is good enough. Of the three quick access buttons, the one at the bottom is for the screen rotation while the second one is used for the touch interface and finally the third one at the top is for changing the settings. The touch interface button provides the user with the options for viewing photos or videos. Since it has a TFT display with a screen that is matte, the clarity of the pictures, images or videos is pretty good. The notebook, as said earlier, can be used either in the tablet mode or the normal mode. So this device has 2 kinds packed inside a single notebook and it weighs nearly 2.1 kg. That is why, it is rightly called, a convertible tablet PC.

3-in-1:
Moving to the mode of input for this notebook, the HP 1020ea series offers its users a choice of 3 different types. The input or the selection can be made using the mouse, keyboard or the stylus. This actually means that it has 3-in-1 features, but only one mode can be made use at a time. The mouse can be a bluetooth mouse or a trivial mouse that makes it look like any ordinary laptop.

Keyboard:
The keyboard of this TouchSmart TX2-1020ea 12.1″ Laptop Notebook is pretty good with all the essential keys. It is important to point out here that all the keys other than the alphanumeric are quite small. So making use of the shift, alt and function keys might seem problematic for few users. Otherwise the over all function of the keyboard is good. There is one particular interesting feature in this notebook. It is the use of the virtual keyboard. That is, while chatting or playing games, it might be difficult for the non-typists to press the keys at a quick pace. So, this notebook facilitates a keyboard on the touchscreen monitor, which helps the users to operate using this keyboard. Therefore, concentration can be given to the job (Yeah, concentration is very important while playing games too!) rather than spending half the time in peeping at the keys of the keyboard. The volume control buttons are present above the keyboard on the left hand side, and the three buttons are used to increase, decrease or totally mute the audio respectively.

The Smart Multi-touch gesture:
The touchscreen is one of the recent technologies that is acquiring the users heart these days. “All at a touch” is the principle behind these touch screen technologies. If the user wants to select an icon, all that he/she has to do is, simply touch the required icon. If you want to view the photos, you can view and also manipulate with them easily using your fingers. The swiping of two fingers can be used to rotate, zoom in or zoom out the photos. And moreover, a number of photos can be viewed, just by moving a finger in the required direction. To see the drop down menu when a number of options are available, the user has to simply drag the finger in the upward direction. The touchscreen has main job in photo viewing, listening to music and such entertainment stuff. Thus, though the multi-touch features are restricted over a narrow range, their function within that range is noticeable.

Digitizer Pen:
The 3rd mode of input is the stylus or the digitizer pen. This stylus takes its refuge at the right side of the body underneath, from where it can be removed easily at the time of usage. The stylus would be of great use for those who want to take notes. When the required word is written directly on the touchscreen, the notebook immediately recognizes the word and displays it in the current page where the word should appear. If a word is written wrongly, it can be removed by, simply striking against the word. Yes, the use of this stylus is as simple and as exciting as it can be.

The Interface:

The interface of this HP TX2-1020ea tablet notebook is very user-friendly. The fresh users of this product will not find any difficulty in using it. It is simple and easy to use. The touch screen always has loads in store for its users.

HP Media Smart Software:

One of the most exuberant features is the HP Media Smart Software. This is one of the accessories that have been included in the software package of this notebook. This software is very interesting, is very user friendly and makes working, a fun filled activity. This software is mainly used for entertainment related activities. This software does all the jobs like viewing photos in a slide show or uploading them on a social site, watching videos writing DVDs and the like.

Finger Print Reader:

Our fingers have started becoming the secret maintainers these days mainly because they are capable of storing the passwords. Important and confidential documents can be opened by pressing a finger. This actually controls the users of particular documents. By this way, confidentiality is achieved. Only one particular user, who has actually given his/her finger as a password can open the file and nobody else can access its contents. This finger print reader would be very useful in offices where an individual can maintain his own records without the intervention by the colleagues.

Touch Pad:

The touch pad is present below the keyboard on the base part of this tablet computer. The touch pad can be easily recognized by the tiny dots on its surface which separates it from the rest of the base portion. The two mouse buttons are present below the touch pad while the right side of the touch pad occupies the scroll buttons. A button at the top of the touch pad is used to either enable or disable the use of this pad. The touch pad altogether is easy to use and is also interesting.

HP TX2-1020ea Touch Screen Notebook

Ports:

A number of ports are available in this TouchSmart notebook. On the front side, there is an Infra red port followed by two headphone ports and a microphone port. The infra red port can be used to transfer data from the different media by using the IrDA technology. Also on the front side, at the left there is a power button with a LED to indicate whether it is on/off and on the right side at the front there is a button for switching on/off the wireless connectivity. At the left hand side of the base, the ports that are present are, the DVD writer, followed by the Express card slot and then the SD card reader. The DVD writer has the Lightscribe burner in it. So DVDs can actually be written in no time without any trouble. The Express card 34mm slot can be used for connecting to various devices. Also, the photos from the digital camera and the like can be easily transferred to the notebook using the SD card reader. The power port is present next to the express slot and can be used to plug in the power wire. There are two USB ports one below the other at the back side of the notebook at the bottom. These USB ports can be used to connect to other drives. But it would have been better if they were positioned at different places because the presence of the ports one below the other actually restricts the size of the drives that can be used. Next to the USB ports is the plug for the modem.

Moving to the right side, there is a VGA port for connecting to the PC monitor. Then comes the Expansion port 3 for getting connected to the docking stations. A LAN port and another USB port succeed them. The presence of 3 USB ports is great news for the users.

Speaker, Microphone and Camera:

The Altec Lansing Speakers are in-built and provide a good surround sound. They have an SRS stereo sound system. The functionality of the speakers is awesome and they are able to give good loudness. Next moving on to the microphone, the plug for connecting the microphone to the notebook is available right at the front side. The microphone can actually avoid the external noise and transmits only the necessary voice with good audibility. The web camera is present at the top portion of the bezel above the touch screen. The main advantage of this web camera is that, avatars can be actually used to represent the user. This avatar can perform all that the user does in front of the camera. This feature is actually amazing.

Memory and processor:

HP has been generous enough to offer its users good memory. The processor that has been used in the making of this product is the AMD Turion Ultra ZM-84Dual core Processor with 2.3 GHz. The AMD is an unusual choice as most of the products go in for the Intel processor. But this choice does not lag behind in any way since the power supplied by the processor is good enough. Also, the time management when multi tasks are performed is really good. The graphics supported by the notebook is ATI Radeon 3200. The sad news is that Photoshop has not been included in this package. The RAM storage capacity is 4GB while the hard drive can store up to a 400GB, which is really gorgeous.

Connectivity:

These days, people are finding it very difficult to be without an internet connection. Such is the role of the internet in our lives. Internet helps them to stay in touch with their dear ones even when they are far away using the social networking sites. Also, the users can keep themselves updated with the happenings, be it recent or historical. So the situation has arisen when the internet connectivity has become mandatory. HP has given its users the choice between Ethernet connection and also wireless. The LAN port is present at the rear side and can be connected with a wire to make optimum use of the internet. But the wireless net is present 24×7 so that the users can happily stay connected to the net even when they are on air. The protocol for wireless connectivity is the 802.11a/g/b/n. There is also the bluetooth built in which means the users can make use of it and also as said earlier, the bluetooth mouse can be availed.

Battery:

The 4 cell Lithium ion battery is present at the back side of the TX2-1020ea notebook. The battery is found to work stably for about 1 hour and 5 minutes, which is not very good. The comparatively better option is the use of 8 cell battery which offers higher lifetime, that is, for nearly 2 and half hours. But then, obviously, an addition of 4 cells means that it would be heavier than the former and adds up another 0.2 kg, making it weigh nearly 2.3 kg and it actually protrudes itself a little. While these lifetimes counted on the strenuous conditions, the battery would last for nearly 3 hours and 6 hours when it is used at strain less situations, that is, for mild browsing and for light usage.

Performance:

The performance level of the notebook was quite satisfactory in certain fields while disappointing in few others. The HP Touch smart  TX2-1020ea has the 64-bit Windows Vista pre installed in it. Though the compatibility of this 1020ea series with vista is satiable, there have been few comments that the performance is even better when worked with the Windows 7.

Warranty:

The warranty for this TX2-1020ea Laptop is 1 year.

Verdict:

The HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020ea has lots to offer, but all within a limited range. There is the touch screen, there is the touchpad, there is the finger print reader, and there are facilities for internet connection, both wired and wireless and there are a number of ports. If it has all that are needed offered at a good rate, then what’s wrong? The battery life is not very high. That is one of the issues that this model is facing. The notebooks are not of much demand in the current scenario. But a time will come when they are in high demand. Probably at that time, the HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020ea might reach the peaks. Till then, it is a good product with nice features to support it. If the users are in search of a tablet PC that can perform simple functions in an elegant way then this is the one.

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HP TouchSmart TX2-1020ea  – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer HP
Model Name HP TouchSmart  TX2-1020EA
Weight 2.1 Kg with 4 cell battery and
2.3 Kg with 8 cell battery
Type Notebook
Display
Screen Size 12.1 inch
Screen Type TFT Display
Screen Resolution 1280×800
Internal Components
Processor AMD Turion Ultra ZM-84Dual core Processor with 2.3 GHz
RAM 4 GB DDR2
Hard drive 400GB
Keypad Good Response
Touchpad Yes, with Multi touch facilities
Multimedia
Graphics ATI Radeon 3200 with AMD M780G chipset on board
Speakers Built-in SRS stereo speakers
Communication Setup
Wireless support Yes, with 802.11a/g/b/n
Memory card slot SD card reader built-in with an Express 34mm slot
Connectivity 3 USB 2.0 ports, Audio line in, Audio line out,
SD Card slot, 1 VGA video output, 1 Express card 34mm slot
Other Detail
Warranty 1 Year

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