HP Touchsmart tx2-1020ea tablet PC

HP isn’t calling its new Touchsmart tx2 a tablet, but with a screen that swivels and folds back on itself it certainly looks like one.

We can forgive HP for not wanting to use the T-word though, since tablet PCs have never really taken off.

Unlike previous touchscreen laptops, the Touchsmart tx2 can be navigated with two fingers on the 12.1in display ­ a technique made popular by the iPhone.

The multi-touch capabilities are best used in HP’s Mediasmart applications which come pre-installed and comprise DVD, music, photo, TV and video tools.

In Mediasmart Photo, for example, you can browse your photo collection by swiping images to the left or right with one finger, dragging two fingers apart to zoom in and pinching to zoom out.

You can also rotate photos by holding one finger still and dragging another around it in a circular motion.

Some gestures will also work in other Windows apps; we managed to zoom in and out within Google Earth and Internet Explorer, for example. However, some of the more useful gestures found on Apple’s Macbook range, such as being able to scroll up and down through documents and web pages, aren’t available.

A stylus is included to make use of Windows’ built-in tablet PC features, such as the Journal application. When the stylus is in use the Touchsmart tx2 stops recognising finger presses on the screen, so you can use it without your wrist getting in the way.

Touch-capabilities aside, the Touchsmart tx2 has a reasonable amount of processing power thanks to the AMD Turion Ultra ZM-84 CPU, running at 2.3GHz. This is backed up by 4GB of Ram. Graphics are handled by an ATI Radeon HD 3200, which is a step up from integrated graphics, but nothing exciting.

In our benchmarks, it notched up a score of 3,859 in PCmark05, which indicates it’s very capable of handling basic Windows tasks along with more demanding activities such as video editing. As expected, graphics performance wasn’t as good, with 3Dmark06 returning a score of 1,652 at a resolution of 1,200x800. This increased to 1,856 when we dropped the resolution to 1,024x768, but if you’re looking to play games you will have to lower the detail settings.

HP has furnished the Touchsmart tx2 with a decent selection of features. Logging in to Windows is made easier thanks to the built-in fingerprint reader, while a slim media remote control slots neatly into the 34mm Express card slot. There’s no Firewire, but three USB2 ports are available. You also get a multiformat card reader and Lightscribe-compatible DVD writer.

Two batteries come as standard: a four-cell model and another eight-cell. Unfortunately, the eight-cell unit adds considerable bulk to the unit and pushes the total weight up to 2.3kg (excluding power adapter). Running at full pelt, we managed one hour and 11 minutes with the four-cell battery, while the eight-cell managed two hours, 26 minutes. If you conserve your usage, you can expect up to two hours’ use with the four-cell and around four hours with the eight-cell.

Windows has some excellent tablet PC features, and the Touchsmart tx2 is a well-designed machine that puts them to good use. However, we were hoping for a little more from the multi-touch feature. We hope HP will add extra functionality (such as additional multi-finger gestures) via future software updates, but at present it’s a little disappointing and doesn’t offer much over other tablet PCs we’ve seen.