6 Responses to “HP TouchSmart TM2-1070US 12.1-Inch Riptide Argento Laptop – Up to 9.75 Hours of Battery Life”

1. J. Whitaker says:

   May 26, 2010 at 5:30 pm

   0

   First: My review is for a slightly different configuration of the tm2t. I have the upgraded processor, Core 2 Duo SU9600 (1.60GHz, 800MHz FSB) w/512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 4550 Graphics, and the 500 GB HDD. I’ve had it for a week now and the small of it is: I like it. I’d give it 4.5/5 stars if Amazon would let me. I rounded down to 4 stars as there are a few nitpicky things keeping it from perfect.

   Second: I like tablets. My previous laptop was a Toshiba R15, but it was getting a small ancient and the battery was dying, so it was time to look around for another. So why not wait for the glut of slate tablets this year, such as the ipad or HP Slate? Well, I like being able to hand-write notes, draw and sketch, and yet still type for a variety of projects I use the laptop for. I like Microsoft OneNote (one of the few programs they really got right), and I’m not sure how well it would run (if at all, like on the ipad) on the slates, and I don’t mind navigating with a stylus (sometime I even prefer it). Mostly, even if, I really need to be able to type (a lot) for both work and home. Yes, you can get docks for the slates that let you type, but they seem clunky so far and I always liked having the convertible so the keyboard is always with you, and truth be told, I do spend more time in notebook mode than in tablet mode, but I still do have the option of running it as you would a slate. So choosing a tablet has much to do with how you plot on by it.

   Pros:
   
   - First (and only, as far as I can tell) tablet with an option for discrete graphics. I’ve been waiting for this for years.
   
   - Very light and easily portable
   
   - Switchable graphics helps saves battery power, overall battery life is excellent
   
   - Large touchpad area
   
   - Sound is fantastic for such a small machine
   
   - HP Touchsmart software

   Cons:
   
   - Occasional poor touchpad/touchscreen operation
   
   - No physical lock to keep screen down when in tablet mode, screen can be hard to grab to exchange back to notebook
   
   - Screen rotation is manual

   Graphics: One of the main selling points for me was the option for the discrete graphics. As a previous tablet user, I had to watch while all the other notebook users got to play their games while I couldn’t. Now, finally, my laptop can do everything I want. I’m able to play Everquest 2 on it, which is a very graphics-demanding attention (I couldn’t run it at all on my Toshiba, and I’m sure the defaulting GMA 4500 Graphics accelerator would probably do the same). Yes, the settings are turned down to medium and it can run a bit choppy at times (I average around 15 fps, and if that seems low, bear in mind EQ2 demands a lot more than World of Warcraft, I’m sure WoW would run at ~30 fps), but it runs, and I can play it easily. Other games ran perfectly, with crisp-looking graphics. If you want to be able to play some higher-end games on a tablet, this is the one you want. If you just want a purely gaming notebook, even if, there are certainly better ones out there. One other plus: the graphics really switch between low and high power states, depending if the laptop is plugged in. Basically this means for things like Everquest you’re going to want to be plugged in, but it allows you to save battery life when on battery (you may possibly keep it in high mode if you wanted, even if). I didn’t even see this advertised, but I thought it was a clean small additional feature, and I didn’t notice any noticeable drop in graphics quality when in low-power mode (although EQ2 dropped to about 5-8 fps).

   [Update 3: Everquest is averaging better than 25 fps now, sometimes even in the 40's. I reflect the initial low numbers were due to a new expansion pack and lots of players. Even better news for the graphics capabilities on this tablet.]

   Construction: The body is nice, the whole tablet is light without feeling cheap, and it’s easily portable. My ancient Toshiba is a beast compared to it. I like that the touchpad is better than other pads I’ve seen, even if it occasionally acts up (see not more than). It’s incredible how much they cram into such a small space. There are bounty of ports (something I wonder if all the upcoming slates will have) including USB, VGA and HDMI.

   Screen: This one I was really worried about. My ancient Toshiba had a 14.1″ screen, and I looked at some similar-sized screens before ordering it, but I was worried it was going to be too small to be able to use daily. The excellent news: it’s not. Yes, it’s certainly a small screen compared to many other notebooks, but it feels larger than it is, certainly better than any of the 10″ netbooks, and colors are sharp and clear, and I can operate any of the programs (like OneNote) or games just fine and without squinting. It’s charming with a glass feel to it, which is nice for by the touchscreen and I like writing on it far more than my Toshiba, but it does tend to reflect a lot.

   Sound: the built-in Altec Lansing speakers are impressive for how small they are. Yes, you won’t get much bass out of it, but composition and sounds are crisp and clear, not tinny at all.

   Battery Life: This seems excellent, if not fantastic, but no different than any other laptop out there. I’m sure if you just let it sit there and not do anything you can get the advertised 9-plus hours. Fixed use seems to be around 4-5 hours, even if I haven’t really place it to any tests yet, like running a DVD movie from an external drive. I’ll see if I can get back on this. Certainly for running in tablet mode and surfing or surveillance video streams, I have no complaints.

   Tablet: Speaking of which, I really like the HP Touchsmart software that came with it. It basically lets you use it as you would any of the upcoming slate tablets, with icons for surveillance local or streaming videos (such as Hulu and Netflix), viewing photos, surfing the web, etc. I don’t know if HP will offer any Apps (which is supposed to be part of the huge deal with the ipad and such), but it’s fantastic for stuff you already do. A couple complaints here, even if. When you flip the screen around and place it in tablet mode, there is no latch like my Toshiba had to keep the screen in place. It’s not been a problem yet, but a locking mechanism would have been nice. Similarly, when you want to flip the screen back up to notebook mode, you have to pry the two halves apart. There may possibly have been a slight indentation to get your fingers under the screen to make it simpler. Also, there’s a button that lets you switch the screen orientation. On my ancient Toshiba you may possibly set it to involuntarily switch when in tablet mode, then back when in notebook mode. If that’s an option here, I haven’t found it yet, although it always switches back when you go to notebook mode, so possibly I just haven’t been able to find how to set it (the manual just says to rotate via the button).

   Touchpad/touchscreen: My last complaint has to do with the responsiveness of both the touchpad and the touch screen. I can’t tell if the problem is hardware or software based, but I even if it worth mentioning, although I wouldn’t call it a show-stopper by any means. I like that the touchpad is larger than other pads I’ve seen, but it doesn’t always seem to do what I tell it. Sometimes the cursor hops all over the screen while I’m just dragging my finger, while other times it doesn’t seem to respond at all for a second or two. Other times it will zoom in or out seemingly on its own. It is a multi-touch pad, so possibly that’s part of it and I just need to learn how to operate it better, but I don’t reflect that’s always it. Also, the touchscreen doesn’t always seem to respond. For example, while surveillance a Netflix movie, you may possibly press the pause button but there was a delay before the movie would pause, then when I pressed play, it didn’t acknowledge the first press and I had to hit it again. I’ve tried pressing slightly harder or longer, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. I find myself pressing a button twice sometimes in order to make it work. Again, this force just be me getting used to a touchscreen, but I’m not so sure. They’re both usable, just a small annoying and frustrating at times, and the touchscreen force be a problem if you wanted it purely as a tablet.

   Summation: Any complaints I have, even if, I consider insignificant. 4.5/5 stars. This is a fantastic convertible tablet for those who are looking for one. No other tablets right now may possibly match the specs (esp. with the discrete graphics) for the price. The Lenovo and Dell tablets were typically (…) more for their high-end models to start with, and you can get HP coupons and instant sales that can save you as much as (…) off their listed price, making it hands down the best deal for a tablet right now.

   Update 1: After fiddling with the settings of the touchpad and making it less sensitive, it works much better now. Still occasionally jumps around, but I get that with every touchpad I’ve ever used, so that’s probably just me. Also, I reflect the touchscreen has a “sleep mode”, i.e. if there’s no touch after a few seconds, it takes 2-3 touches to respond, but as long as you keep touching, it works fine (I’m guessing this is so errant touches won’t click on something you don’t want).

   Update 2: Had this for two weeks now. Overall performance is fantastic (even if you’ll want to remove some of HP’s pre-installed software) and battery treatment is really reasonably excellent. I was able to watch a 2 hour-10 minute movie and only used 50% of the battery (my ancient Toshiba would barely make it to 2 hours, with the screen poorly lit). It really determined I was on battery and ran it in a lower-power mode to conserve. I ran it again in the fixed mode and couldn’t even really tell any difference (screen was possibly brighter, but wasn’t like night and day), although the screen proposition did get a small distracting at times. I really like the glass-feeling screen, particularly writing and drawing on it, even if, so it’s a trade-off I can live with.

   It would be nice if it had a physical volume control for when in tablet mode, but that’s not a huge deal. Also, in case you couldn’t tell, it doesn’t have a built-in DVD drive, so I bought an external. This wasn’t a huge deal to me since I rarely use discs anymore (and certainly prefer the weight savings it gives for portability), but something to keep in mind if you need it.

   Finally, after continuing to play with the touchscreen, it’s the one piece of this I reflect keeps it from a full 5-star. The “sleep” function gets irritating as you constantly have to keep hitting it to “wake up” if you haven’t touched the screen in about 10-15 seconds. As long as you stay within that 10-15 sec window, it works perfectly, but that’s not really what you want in a touchscreen. If there are settings for it, I haven’t been able to find them, and I’ve even emailed HP about it (no response yet). I would consider the touchscreen as a secondary or supplemental input device (say, in concert with the pen, which works rather well), but if you want something as purely a touch tablet, I cannot recommend it (unless HP comes out with a fix for the “sleep” mode).

   So, while I reflect the physical design may possibly have used a few tweaks (volume button, screen rotation and button implementation, screen lock, touch/track pad operation), these are really just issues of convenience and preference. The overall performance, functionality and feel make it a fantastic convertible tablet. I’ll stick with my original 4.5/5 stars, especially when you look at other tablets out there for the price.

   Update 4: Thanks to C. Brooks in the comments, there is a way to turn off the touchscreen “sleep mode”. Directions are at the following site:

   (…)

   I have used this and can verify it works, and the touchscreen works fantastic now. In fact, I’m rounding my review up to 5 stars now.

   Reply
2. feralchica says:

   May 26, 2010 at 5:53 pm

   0

   I am typing this on the exact configuratin here — the 1070us — with the 4 gigs, the 7300 processor, and the low end intel graphics (with the 320 gig, 7200 rpm hard drive).

   Where the reviewer is coming from: I’ve had a lot of tablets — primarily toshiba — including the 3500 and M200 and M4 — so I have a excellent frame on what tablets can and can’t accomplish. I place a high value on being able to use my tablet for note taking and as electronic paper. I’m willing to carry an superfluous lb or two for the features I need to do this.

   What’s incorrect with this machine is immediately obvious. It is 4.7 lbs, it has a low power processor which doesn’t scream, and it has intel graphics. The screen, while reasonably lovely, is not glass (which, if you’re carrying it everywhere, is not really a terrible thing). It lacks some of the nifty features of my macbook, like a backlit keyboard. But…I still like this thing. Here’s why.

   It is cool (and silent). Every tablet I’ve ever had (including the Fujitsu I nearly got and may yet add to the collection) runs HOT. A dual core 2.x ghz processor is a huge stout 40 or 60 watt lightbulb, pouring heat between the keyboard and the back of the screen and making the surface feel like a stovetop (and/or rotary ribbon cables to a melted spray on a hot day) The low voltage dual core processor runs everything I need (including photoshop and word and outlook and Visual Studio) reasonably well (no huge lags or complaints), and it runs cool enough that I can leave this on all the time — through a four hour class or meeting, or just on my lap for an evening surveillance movies.

   The battery lasts. Throttled down just a small, I get the better part of a workday out of this (7 hours of doing real things)…compared to my macbook, which gets about 2 to 3 hours for the same task set. To use this as paper, the thing has to come on (and stay on) without an outlet. This is netbook-level battery husbandry, and it changes how I can use the computer.

   It is built like a…well, it is fervently built. I feel OK about putting this in it’s sheath and stuffing it in my pack. I’m hell on notebooks, and this one seems likely to place up with that. I am pleased it does not have a DVD-ROM. I have several externals (and those in other computers)…it is a delicate mechanism I am not throwing in my pack. This is a excellent thing!!

   It is inexpensive, _with_ a 1 year HP (not third party) accidental hurt warranty (which you can get from HP no matter where you buy the tablet). I spent less than a grand. If it gets stolen, I will be sad…but I won’t be trashed the way I’d be if a groundbreaking new X201 i7 got snarfed. It is consumer hardware at a consumer cost. This means I can use it casually and consistently as replacement for a paper notebook without carrying around my entire personal fortune.

   THere are choices I liked that others force not. No more automatic screen switching, there’s a button on the side (and hey, I know what orientation I want when I want it). The zillion buttons which come with most tablets are replaced with software control — on a right touch screen, that makes sense. And the glossy screen — in contrast to most wacom enabled tablets, which are more grainy – is something I like but a serious artist force not. For me, the shiny, very consumer “first glance” screen will be a fantastic thing for showing software to clients (hey look, you can touch it! Go on, poke the button!).

   You will have to diddle the settings a bit to make the pen pressure work for art. Enough folks are buying these that there is help on the web. GIMP was not pleased (GTK+ issues with pressure pens for this machine as of this writing). Photoshop and Sketchbook Pro worked fine (and ArtRage was a gas). With the intel graphics — no suprise — Mudbox and Softimage weren’t really usable. But the huge one — 3ds Studio Max — worked well for me even if (as does Liquidizer). Areo and so on work just fine with the 4500 graphics even if, as do most of the OpenGL examples with QT (more than I probable and more than work under Fusion on my Mid 2009 MBP).

   Real downsides: you have to take off _every_ peice of HP bloatware that comes with it. When you’ve stripped away everything they crammed on to “help” you, it is really reasonably snappy (but not before lol). Replace the norton with microsoft security essentials and uninstall pretty much all the presumed goodies (including the games, the HP print helpers which do nothing unless you give them money, the help software which is just a way to sell you things you don’t need, and the netflix and hulu “viewers” which are in fact inferior to just surveillance it over the web, the touchscreen stuff that sounds necessary but is really HP second guessing Windows 7 — when that is gone, you have a different — and much quicker — machine). A dual core 7300 is really reasonably nice for everything I do (not screaming, but I can even compile QT) — but only if the initially installed bloatware is removed, and one uses reasonably security software with an emphasis on performance and reasonable scope…

   In small, it is a near-perfect note taking and carry everywhere machine, for this writer.

   Reply
3. Rachel Romano says:

   May 26, 2010 at 5:59 pm

   0

   Firstly, I like this laptop on paper. In my opinion, it is the best looking in its class at the moment, has a wonderful (although very glossy and reflective) screen, and runs silently and quickly even with the standard processor as it’s sold here. I also like the placement of the fingerprint reader on the righthand side of the screen instead of sitting under my right hand while I am typing. The touchpad is also extremely impressive with it’s flat (buttons built in instead of standalone) and very large (comparable to my Macbook) design. I like the keyboard too. Very nice sized keys, just the right amount of resistance, simple to let my fingers glide on. Having multitouch on the screen and on the touchpad is a whole new realm of computing comfort.

   Now, let me go on to say that I ordered this laptop only to receive a unit with a defective system board. The first time I turned it on the unit crashed and gave me a blue screen 4 times before I may possibly get through a complete Windows setup. Since no one I talked to at HP knew what a blue screen was, they tried to blame Windows. After reinstalling Windows and running a bunch of tests during 5 or 6 calls to HP, the unit continued to bluescreen during or soon after startup. This is my second HP touchsmart PC (I also have the desktop, which had a defective dvd drive right out of the box) and I was disappointed in HP’s inability to step up and replace this for me themselves. (In all fairness, they did offer to attempt to repair it, but I would be out a laptop for 6 weeks due to my work schedule and in the end have a refurbished unit for which I paid full price. If a refurbished unit is ok with you, I’d save a few hundred bucks and just buy that upfront. At least it’s been tested that way.) So, I had to return the unit to Amazon, who gave me no hassle and offered me a full refund or replacement. Since I need a laptop now and can’t wait to see the fabulous new options coming out summer 2010, I took Amazon’s offer of a replacement and bought a 3 year warranty from Squaretrade. I have hopefully seen the last of my problems with this model and still like it enough to look forward to a few years of excellent use. Should that not turn out to be the case, I will update this review.

   Bottom line: If you buy this sharp small laptop, get a warranty.

   UPDATE 5/19/10: Got the replacement, turned it on, got through setup once, BAM – blue screen!! I couldn’t judge it!! Turned out to be fixable, a problem with the fingerprint reader drivers which we reinstalled and now it’s fine. Luckily we didn’t have anything worse than that (or have to call HP). Now that I’ve used it for a few weeks, I have this to add.

   PROs:

   1. Screen was readable in full sunlight. Better with sunglasses and not showing the vibrant colors you see indoors, but not like my last laptop that was worthless outdoors.
   
   2. Fabulous battery life. I can go a solid 4 or 5 hours of use without ever plugging in the battery.
   
   3. Still like the touchpad and keyboard. Both are well designed, simple to use, and gorgeous to look at.
   
   4. When in tablet mode, I like having the button right on the side of the screen that let’s me manually rotate the viewing mode from landscape to portrait and vice versa. When it’s time to open it back into a ‘laptop’ again, the screen involuntarily flips back into normal landscape mode, which is nice.
   
   5. Runs silent for the most part. I hear the fan, but it’s not something that will keep my husband awake at night.
   
   5. Wacom style pen fits inside the unit so I (hopefully) won’t lose it. Very useful for hovering over a link, picture, etc to see hidden text. I usually use my finger, but the pen has been more useful than I thought it would.

   CONs:

   1. The weight is not well-distributed, so the laptop can’t sit on my lap without falling backwards. It does ok on hard surfaces that provide a small bit more support, but won’t stay up on the couch, bed or on my lap. Not a huge deal just less comfortable to use in these situations.
   
   2. On my replacement (not on the first one) the screen doesn’t line up with the bottom part when it is in tablet mode, making the touchpad turn on and off all the time. This puts a pop up in the middle of the screen every time it turns on and off and I am always having to force it into place but it won’t stay there. Disappointing.
   
   3. When browsing having flash pages, computer would freeze often making it the animation less enjoyable. I’d get the better processor if I may possibly go back and do it again.

   Now you it’s up to you to choose! In the end I’m still glad I have a full featured computer in a tablet with multitouch.

   Reply
4. W. Wagoner says:

   May 26, 2010 at 6:40 pm

   0

   The affordable tablet PC hits its stride with HP’s TM2. It’s no iPad killer since it’s heavier and more expensive. But if you want a real computer underneath a bright, responsive tablet touch screen – and for a reasonable price – this is it. Excellent processor, long-lasting battery, comfortable keyboard, generous storage space, and all the basic ports – it make for a nice amalgamation of utility and fun.

   Reply
5. jalywol18 says:

   May 26, 2010 at 7:05 pm

   0

   I have owned the tx1000 and tx2000 tablets, and now have this tm2. There were many nice things about the tx series, but a couple of glaring flaws too, and, happily, the tm2 has addressed those.

   Pros:
   
   1 Non-grainy screen
   
   2 Runs cool
   
   3 Very silent fan
   
   4 Window 7 VASTLY better than Outlook
   
   5 Nice case
   
   6 Much better handwriting recognition software
   
   7 Multi-touch
   
   8 CONSIDERABLY more responsive and quicker than the tx2000 in actual use
   
   9 Better battery life
   
   10 Overall, just a more responsive computer

   Cons:
   
   1 It’s a small “tippy” (the screen is slightly heavier than the base, so it tends to want to tip up sometimes when you have it on your lap…not a deal breaker but it does happen)
   
   2 As someone else has mentioned, the angle of view is not as wide as a non-touch laptop; I assume it is due to the type of touch sensor they are by. (I personally prefer this slight reduction in viewing angle to the dreadful hazy sensor grid the tx series had…)
   
   3 No dedicated page-up/down keys (have to press the arrow and alt key (I reflect) to get page up/down instead), no home and end keys.
   
   4 Wireless button on the side is easily fortuitously pressed, and inadvertently can shut off the wi-fi.

   Other notes:
   
   I have had no problems with the touch pad sensitivity.
   
   Keyboard is fine; it’s the chiclet style, but it seems about equally responsive to that of the tx2000.
   
   The pressure sensitivity feature of the stylus works well in Photoshop, but does need some tweaking of the settings to work well in Painter.
   
   The reflectiveness of the screen is about the same as the tx2000 and tx1000. (I gather the tx2500 had a non-reflective screen, but I never used that model.)
   
   It needs an external CD/DVD drive if you want to load software or watch movies. This is useful to save weight, not so useful if you use CD’s for presentations frequently.

   The tm2 I ordered has the upgraded graphics and 6GB RAM, and I have not yet compared the graphics speed on the Intel vs ATI gpu’s. I will update if I do the comparison in prospect.

   Overall, so far this computer is a winner. HP obviously learned from its mistakes in the tx series, and has produced a very nice, responsive, QUIET, cool, tablet, that hopefully will have a long running life. So far I would certainly recommend this as a fantastic deal in a right tablet computer. (I will update with more pros and cons as they occur in prospect.)

   Reply
6. Rodger Temblador says:

   July 8, 2010 at 12:14 pm

   0

   You have certainly been very busy writing up this fantastic post, It was very fascinating to read. Can’t wait to see what you write about in the following month.

   Reply