HP Pavilion tx1000z Notebook

HP Pavilion tx1000z Notebook

Published August 25, 2008 at 01:16:05 PM, by Steve Martinez

Overview

We've been excited to try out this new ultra portable for the past few weeks and were thrilled when HP shipped us one. HP has been designing some excellent screens over the past few years, and they compete for the brightest on the market. Their foray into the convertible market should show their versatility.

Is it easy to make a resistive digitizer display that's both responsive and clear? Does pricing suffer? Read on to find out.

Design

Portability

This ultra portable HP lives up to its name at less than four pounds. The plastic casing helps to put this notebook on a diet, and it's cheaper than carbon fiber.

Case and Design

The tx1000's case is sleek and smooth to the touch. HP decided on a plastic case instead of aluminum or carbon fiber, most likely for a compromise between weight and price. Although the monitor swivel is only held by a single hinge, it feels sturdy, for the most part. It clicks satisfyingly into place, and rotates in a clockwise direction. The lid closes to the base via two magnetic latches. These latches are stubborn to connect, and even when connected do not feel up to par with the rest of the notebook. Given the production quality of the hinge, I'm disappointed with the weak construction of the latches. Here it is pictured with the dv2000 for a comparison. The tx1000 is on top.

Design

Portability

This ultra portable HP lives up to its name at less than four pounds.The plastic casing helps to put this notebook on a diet, and its cheaper than carbon fiber.

Case and Design

The tx1000s case is sleek and smooth to the touch.HP decided on a plastic case instead of aluminum or carbon fiber, most likely for a compromise between weight and price.Although the monitor swivel is only held by a single hinge, it feels sturdy, for the most part. It clicks satisfyingly into place, and rotates in a clockwise direction. The lid closes to the base via two magnetic latches. These latches are stubborn to connect, and even when connected do not feel up to par with the rest of the notebook. Given the production quality of the hinge, Im disappointed with the weak construction of the latches.Here it is pictured with the dv2000 for a comparison. The tx1000 is on top.

Keyboard

The keyboard is a good size given the notebook dimensions. The only key that got cut in the development process was the right shift key.Luckily, I never noticed until I looked, since I normally use the shift key on the left side.Im writing this review on the HP, which I normally do for laptop reviews.Its fairly easy to use and my hands arent in danger of cramping.

As an added bonus, on the bottom right corner of the monitor sit four buttons, which Ill describe in a clockwise fashion. The first launches HP QuickPlay for DVDs, allowing you to play movies. The second launches the full QuickPlay program, allowing you to perform a number of activities I will describe elsewhere in the review. The third button is shaped like a sun, and opens the Windows Mobility Center. The fourth button is shaped similar to a recycle symbol of a continuous circle, and rotates the desktop to your liking.It only rotates 90 at a time, so you wont be able to set any trippy angles. On the left corner of the LCD sits the On/Off, Power Source and HDD status lights in electric blue.

Touchpad

The touchpad sits flush with the palm rest and is defined by a pitted area, with the mouse buttons below.A separate pitted column lies to the right and is responsible for screen scrolling.

Below the 86-key keyboard sits an unassuming black button, which changes the light to its right from blue to red.It also disables the touchpad, which can be great when youre using a secondary pointing device (i.e. mouse or stylus).

Features

Front

The front of the laptop features the power slide under the left palm rest (complete with blue light), two SPDIF ports for headphones, a Consumer IR receiver, Microphone in, and a WLAN switch mirroring the power slide underneath the right palm rest.

Rear

The rear of the notebook is relatively sparse.Its dominated by the battery in the center, with 2 USB Ports, a Kensington Lock Slot, and a line-in for dialup.

Left Side

The left side holds the 5-in-1 Card reader with the Express Card slot toward the back. In front is the optical drive, a LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support.The rear of the unit leaves space for the AC Adapter connection.

Right Side

The right side includes most of the connectivity options, with the vents starting from the back of the unit.Moving towards the front is the S-Video port, VGA port, followed by an Expansion Slot 3, RJ-45 for LAN, another USB 2.0 port, and the stylus slides into the front.The stylus is attached by a lanyard, and clicks into the holder.

Features, Cont'd

Heat and Noise

The noise generated from this notebook is minimal, as long as its from the optical drive or drive. As soon as the cooling fan kicks in, the notebook makes its diminutive presence known. To be sure, this notebook takes some time to heat up, although it does end up pretty toasty on the rear right side.

Upgrading and Expansion

On the memory side the notebook is upgradeable to 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM. The unitwe were reviewing came with a full clip.It would be the first performance aspect Id look into upgrading if given the chance, so its best to request this from the manufacturer to make it easy.

Connectivity Options

This ultra portable HP has a range of choices if youre interested in staying connected, as well as transferring media.An Express Card slot sits on the left-hand side below the 5-in-1 digital media reader.

Display

The 12.1 WXGA High-Definition Brightview widescreen display is outfitted with the optional integrated touch screen. Its a must-have at its present $59 upgrade price. Some people may complain because this resistive digitizer display can lose clarity over traditional monitors.I didnt discover a significant drawback with this monitor over others, and I would definitely choose the touch screen for the possibilities.The native resolution is 1280x800, which may seem low for notebooks today, but given the monitor size, its adequate.

This monitor is so bright that it can overwhelm you if youre in dim surroundings.On several occasions I was unable to view the keyboard as it was washed out by the brightness of the screen.Luckily, theres a simple tweak through Windows Mobility Center that helps you drop the brightness to an acceptable level, and save energy.The default setting is maximum brightness, which seemed to be the issue.

Speakers

The integrated Altec-Lansing stereo speakers are built around the hinge on the monitor. I instinctively looked toward the palm rests at first, and these speakers are hidden very well. The sound produced from these small speakers is a sharp contrast to the ASUS A8JS that I reviewed previously. The ASUS was known for its volume issues, or lack thereof. The HP produces more sound than youd expect for its size, but no bass add-on quite yet.

On the actual CPU side, above the keyboard, lies the volume controls.From there you can adjust the volume waxing or waning, as well as mute completely.Although theres no direct on-screen indication of your volume choice, the traditional speaker icon will change every few bars to reflect your selection.

Webcam

The 1.3 megapixel Webcam is built-in directly above the monitor.It serves its purpose for a built-in webcam, although 1.3 megapixel is pretty outdated.Personally, I rarely use a webcam, and if I needed anything better Id purchase an external webcam. This serves its purpose though, and its a welcome addition to this ultra portable.

WiFi

I had no issues setting up access for my home network through the 802.11a/b/g wireless LAN that came with this unit. At no point did I suffer a connection loss either, which is a respectable feat.

Battery

The tx1000z comes standard with a 4-cell Lithium-Ion battery.Spring the 40 bones for the 6-cell, you wont regret the extra juice.The battery life on this machine was a pleasant surprise.It lasted over four hours (nearly 4.5) in normal (powered) mode.This use drops to about 120 minutes when youre watching a DVD, but thats good for one full movie. Note that this is for the 6-cell Lithium Ion battery, not the 4-cell.The 4-cell supplied only 3 hours in normal mode, and wouldnt finish a movie of average length.

HP QuickPlay

HPs QuickPlay suite works similar to numerous other media programs found with notebook manufacturers.It offers a few options, the first of which being a simple DVD player.The second is a media player that looks suspiciously like iTunes, even down to the color scheme.QuickPlay also includes a player for recorded television, as well as the ability to stream karaoke. Lastly, it includes an option to download HP enhancements and updates to current HP software.

Performance

The tx1000z is outfitted with AMD Turion 64 X2 dual-core processors with HyperTransport technology, which should improve multi-tasking speeds.HP chose AMD to utilize a less expensive processor, allowing them to devote more resources to other aspects of the notebook.The processors also use PowerNow! to increase battery life.

Graphics are driven by an Nvidia Go 6150 video card with integrated memory. The tx1000z was never meant to be a gaming or design powerhouse, so this suits the slim power profile of this notebook.If youre looking for something with more muscle stay tuned for HPs HDX notebook, to be reviewed by Laptop Logic soon.

Notebook	PCMark '05 Score
HP tx1000z (AMD Turion X2 2.0GHz, Nvidia Go 6150)	3,052 PCMarks
Asus A8JP (Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, ATI x1700 256MB)	4,378 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra A8 (1.83 GHz Core Duo, Intel GMA 950)	3,038 PCMarks
Fujitsu N6410(1.66GHz Core Duo, ATI X1400)	3,487 PCMarks
Dell Latitude D620 (Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz, Intel GMA 950)	2,991 PCMarks
Toshiba Tecra M6 (1.66GHz Core Duo, Intel GMA 950)	2,732 PCMarks

Usually we would have more performance benchmarks than this, but for whatever reason nearly all of the usual suspects (SysMark, MobileMark, and 3DMark '0x) failed, due to poor (or non-existent) WindowsVista support. Hopefully the latest versions of these programs will ship soon so we can get a better idea of performance under Vista.

Conclusion

This notebook is a show of finesse in a market skewed by the mutually exclusive demands of speed and power.There are a number of features on this laptop, such as the touchpad toggle switch, dual microphone jacks, and hinge-mounted speakers that illustrate an excellent notebook isnt about posting the best benchmark scores.

Although this wasnt the fastest notebook Ive tested nor the longest lasting, I can say its the first that Ive felt a pang of regret on finishing the review. Its also the first this side of the PC-Mac divide that I felt had some personality. Kudos to HP.

Availability/Warranty

The HP Pavilion tx1000z is available now starting at $999.99 after rebate and comes standard with a one-year warranty. Up to three-year warranties are also available for an extra charge.

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Technical Specifications

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