HP TouchSmart TM2 Review

HP TouchSmart TM2 Review

Published April 08, 2010 at 06:09:30 AM, by Raiha Buchanan

A tablet PC is always a compromise – it obviously has to work well as a touch-screen device, but since a fair share of users will use it as a "regular laptop" more often than as a tablet, it has to offer good usability on that side too.

Additionally, a tablet PC needs to be reasonably small and light for note-taking on the move, but at the same time durable enough to protect the swivel screen. Well, you get the picture - The HP TM2 does a pretty good job at combining these element, and offers a much better battery life than its predecessors thanks to the inclusion of a low-voltage processor from Intel. Unfortunately the choice of CPU also results in a humble performance rating.

Design and Build

The TM2’s brushed aluminum body is attractive and relatively discreet. As usual, HP insists on engraving some fancy patterns in it – whether you like these decorations or not is all a matter of taste, but it’s bound to deter at least a few potential buyers.

After opening the lid, you will find an excellent chiclet-style keyboard and an equally pleasant touchpad. The touchpad, which resembles those on the new MacBooks, has multi-touch functionality and is very responsive. Tiny LED lights in the touchpad gives you the status on wireless, sound volume and more. All in all, the keyboard/trackpad combination is about as good as it gets right now.

On the downside the screen isn’t perfect – its color reproduction and viewing angles are so-so as is often the case with tablets. On the other hand the touch screen works exceptionally well. It responds quickly and intuitively to both the included stylus and to the convenient multi-touch gestures that let you pinch-zoom in/out and rotate objects on the screen. It also comes with the same set of tools included with HPs touch-screen desktops – a drawing board, a custom Twitter client and some other fun stuff.

Performance

Using a low-voltage (CULV) processor has some obvious pros and cons. The most positive aspect is that they are incredibly efficient, giving you both a cool and quiet laptop and an excellent battery life. On the downside, they don’t give you the same performance as a mainstream CPU.

Nevertheless, the Intel low-voltage processors used in the TM2 are a significant improvement over the AMD processors used in previous models. Mobile AMD CPUs have a well-earned reputation for generating heat and noise, and those are the last things you want from a tablet.

At any rate, the Touchsmart TM2 has more than enough for power for day-to-day tasks and running Windows 7 fluently, and the fact that you can configure it with switchable graphics (Mobility Radeon 4550 + Intel IGP) even makes it suitable for some light gaming, like World of Warcraft.

HP claims that the included 6-cell battery is capable of almost 10 hours of uninterrupted use, but even if that is probably possible in theory you probably never use it with all the bells and whistles disabled. There’s no need to exaggerate in this case, because the Touchsmart TM2 offers excellent battery life regardless – it runs for around 5 to 7 hours depending on your current power plan.

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Technical Specifications

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 1.3GHz
• Mamory: 4GB DDR3
• Harddrive: 320GB
• OS: Windows 7
• Weight: 4.7lbs
• Screen: 12.1 inches inches
• Screen resolution: 1280x800
• Graphic Card: Intel 4500mhd/ATI Radeon HD4550
• Battery Life: 7 hours