HP TouchSmart TM2-1070US 12.1-Inch Riptide Argento Laptop - Up to 9.75 Hours of Battery Life

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Key Attributes:
Brand: HP
CPU Manufacturer: Intel
Display Size: 12.1"
Hard Disk Size: 320GB
Memory (RAM): 4GB

With unparalleled versatility, the HP TouchSmart tm2 lets you touch, draw, type or move everywhere in between. This compact yet powerful notebook converts to a tablet with a simple twist. Next-generation multi-touch technology puts endless creative possibilities at your fingertips. Slim and stylish, the HP TouchSmart tm2 can make everything you do faster, easier, and way more fun.

Best Prices on HP TouchSmart TM2-1070US 12.1-Inch Riptide Argento Laptop - Up to 9.75 Hours of Battery Life:

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Reviews for HP TouchSmart TM2-1070US 12.1-Inch Riptide Argento Laptop - Up to 9.75 Hours of Battery Life

No improvement over TX series

This is not an improvement over other HP tablets.

1. The viewing angle in tablet mode is completely unusable. You have to hover right over the screen or the colors and details get lost. In short, this has a very, very narrow viewing angle. This is one of the promised corrections of new devices such as the iPad and the Fujitsu series tablets.

2. There is minimal improvement of processing speed over the Tx2 series. The drive at 7200 rpm helps, but it is rather a disappointment.

The good news is that the battery lasts quite a long time (ca. 4 hours with media, do not believe the 9 hour claim).

This was a huge disappointment overall.

In tablet mode the connection to the projector does not rotate for a ceiling mounted projector.

Problems with HP Tablets!! Beware!!

I am the sorry owner of two HP tablets that I purchased directly from the HP website 14 months ago with the same specifications - pre-built configuration...ready to be shipped-out is what they called it. Before making a purchase you owe it to yourself to just do one thing to confirm what I have stated in my heading. Search on your favorite search website "HP tablet lights on screen off" or just "problems with HP tablets". There are thousands of complaints of the lights turning on when you boot up the tablet and the the screen staying dark. Basically, from my research it seems its the Nvidia chip coming loose from the motherboard and overheating. Replacing the motherboard will require hundreds of dollars not to mention the frustration of having spent $1000+ on a laptop that barely lasted - in my case - one year. Frighteningly, these issues seems to be happening just after the one year warranty.

So please don't take the word of the reviewers here...perform a search yourself...thousands of owners along with even press reports stating problems cannot all be fraudulent. One of my tablets is still functional..but I await the day it fails to boot up as well..With regards to overheating..this piece of junk gets so hot with its AMD Athlon you can't place it on your lap. So I have no clue what these reviewers are saying....at best the reviews are purposeful disinformation.

I will NEVER purchase another HP product in my life simply because they have not acknowledged that there is a serious problem with their tablets and refused to correct the problem. — binoj joseph matthew

Great Student Tablet

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 good 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 extra lb or two for the features I need to do this.

What's wrong 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 quite lovely, is not glass (which, if you're carrying it everywhere, is not actually a bad thing). It lacks some of the nifty features of my macbook, like a backlit keyboard. But...I still love this thing. Here's why.

It is cool (and quiet). Every tablet I've ever had (including the Fujitsu I almost got and may yet add to the collection) runs HOT. A dual core 2.x ghz processor is a big fat 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 turning 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 big 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 watching movies.

The battery lasts. Throttled down just a little, 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 strongly built. I feel OK about putting this in it's sleeve and stuffing it in my pack. I'm hell on notebooks, and this one seems likely to put 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 good thing!!

It is inexpensive, _with_ a 1 year HP (not third party) accidental damage 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 brand 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 might 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 true 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 might not. For me, the shiny, very consumer "first glance" screen will be a great 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 happy (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 big one -- 3ds Studio Max -- worked well for me though (as does Blender). Areo and so on work just fine with the 4500 graphics though, as do most of the OpenGL examples with QT (more than I expected 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 actually quite 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 assistance 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 watching 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 faster -- machine). A dual core 7300 is actually quite 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 short, it is a near-perfect note taking and carry everywhere machine, for this writer.

Great Convertible Tablet

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 short of it is: I love 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 love tablets. My previous laptop was a Toshiba R15, but it was getting a little old 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 love being able to hand-write notes, draw and sketch, and yet still type for a variety of projects I use the laptop for. I love 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, though, 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 plan on using 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 good
- Large touchpad area
- Sound is great 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 convert 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 application (I couldn't run it at all on my Toshiba, and I'm sure the default 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, though, there are certainly better ones out there. One other plus: the graphics actually 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 could keep it in high mode if you wanted, though). I didn't even see this advertised, but I thought it was a neat little 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).

Construction: The body is nice, the whole tablet is light without feeling cheap, and it's easily portable. My old Toshiba is a beast compared to it. I like that the touchpad is larger than other pads I've seen, even if it occasionally acts up (see below). It's amazing how much they cram into such a small space. There are plenty 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 old Toshiba had a 14.1" screen, and I looked at some similar-sized screens before ordering it, but I was afraid it was going to be too small to be able to use daily. The good news: it's not. Yes, it's definitely a small screen compared to many other notebooks, but it feels bigger than it is, definitely 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 smooth with a glass feel to it, which is nice for using the touchscreen and I love writing on it far more than my Toshiba, but it does tend to reflect a lot.

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

Battery Life: This seems good, if not great, 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. Regular use seems to be around 4-5 hours, though I haven't really put 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 watching 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 watching 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 big deal with the ipad and such), but it's great for stuff you already do. A couple complaints here, though. When you flip the screen around and put 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 could have been a slight indentation to get your fingers under the screen to make it easier. Also, there's a button that lets you switch the screen orientation. On my old Toshiba you could set it to automatically 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 maybe 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 though it worth mentioning, although I wouldn't call it a show-stopper by any means. I like that the touchpad is bigger 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 maybe that's part of it and I just need to learn how to operate it better, but I don't think that's always it. Also, the touchscreen doesn't always seem to respond. For example, while watching a Netflix movie, you could 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 might just be me getting used to a touchscreen, but I'm not so sure. They're both usable, just a little annoying and frustrating at times, and the touchscreen might be a problem if you wanted it purely as a tablet.

Summation: Any complaints I have, though, I consider minor. 4.5/5 stars. This is a great convertible tablet for those who are looking for one. No other tablets right now could match the specs (esp. with the discrete graphics) for the price. The Lenovo and Dell tablets were typically $200-300 more for their high-end models to begin with, and you can get HP coupons and instant sales that can save you as much as $500 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 think 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 great (though you'll want to remove some of HP's pre-installed software) and battery usage is actually quite good. I was able to watch a 2 hour-10 minute movie and only used 50% of the battery (my old Toshiba would barely make it to 2 hours, with the screen darkened). It actually determined I was on battery and ran it in a lower-power mode to conserve. I ran it again in the regular mode and couldn't even really tell any difference (screen was maybe brighter, but wasn't like night and day), although the screen reflection did get a little distracting at times. I really love the glass-feeling screen, particularly writing and drawing on it, though, 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 big 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 big deal to me since I rarely use discs anymore (and definitely 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 think 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 think the physical design could 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 great convertible tablet. I'll stick with my original 4.5/5 stars, especially when you look at other tablets out there for the price.

Tablet PC Hits the Spot

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. Good processor, long-lasting battery, comfortable keyboard, generous storage, and all the basic ports - it make for a nice combination of utility and fun.

Great Convertible Tablet

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 short of it is: I love 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 love tablets. My previous laptop was a Toshiba R15, but it was getting a little old 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 love being able to hand-write notes, draw and sketch, and yet still type for a variety of projects I use the laptop for. I love 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, though, 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 plan on using 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 good
- Large touchpad area
- Sound is great 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 convert 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 application (I couldn't run it at all on my Toshiba, and I'm sure the default 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, though, there are certainly better ones out there. One other plus: the graphics actually 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 could keep it in high mode if you wanted, though). I didn't even see this advertised, but I thought it was a neat little 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 think 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 old Toshiba is a beast compared to it. I like that the touchpad is larger than other pads I've seen, even if it occasionally acts up (see below). It's amazing how much they cram into such a small space. There are plenty 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 old Toshiba had a 14.1" screen, and I looked at some similar-sized screens before ordering it, but I was afraid it was going to be too small to be able to use daily. The good news: it's not. Yes, it's definitely a small screen compared to many other notebooks, but it feels bigger than it is, definitely 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 smooth with a glass feel to it, which is nice for using the touchscreen and I love writing on it far more than my Toshiba, but it does tend to reflect a lot.

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

Battery Life: This seems good, if not great, 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. Regular use seems to be around 4-5 hours, though I haven't really put 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 watching 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 watching 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 big deal with the ipad and such), but it's great for stuff you already do. A couple complaints here, though. When you flip the screen around and put 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 could have been a slight indentation to get your fingers under the screen to make it easier. Also, there's a button that lets you switch the screen orientation. On my old Toshiba you could set it to automatically 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 maybe 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 though it worth mentioning, although I wouldn't call it a show-stopper by any means. I like that the touchpad is bigger 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 maybe that's part of it and I just need to learn how to operate it better, but I don't think that's always it. Also, the touchscreen doesn't always seem to respond. For example, while watching a Netflix movie, you could 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 might just be me getting used to a touchscreen, but I'm not so sure. They're both usable, just a little annoying and frustrating at times, and the touchscreen might be a problem if you wanted it purely as a tablet.

Summation: Any complaints I have, though, I consider minor. 4.5/5 stars. This is a great convertible tablet for those who are looking for one. No other tablets right now could match the specs (esp. with the discrete graphics) for the price. The Lenovo and Dell tablets were typically $200-300 more for their high-end models to begin with, and you can get HP coupons and instant sales that can save you as much as $500 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 think 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 great (though you'll want to remove some of HP's pre-installed software) and battery usage is actually quite good. I was able to watch a 2 hour-10 minute movie and only used 50% of the battery (my old Toshiba would barely make it to 2 hours, with the screen darkened). It actually determined I was on battery and ran it in a lower-power mode to conserve. I ran it again in the regular mode and couldn't even really tell any difference (screen was maybe brighter, but wasn't like night and day), although the screen reflection did get a little distracting at times. I really love the glass-feeling screen, particularly writing and drawing on it, though, 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 big 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 big deal to me since I rarely use discs anymore (and definitely 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 think 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 think the physical design could 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 great convertible tablet. I'll stick with my original 4.5/5 stars, especially when you look at other tablets out there for the price.

Great Student Tablet

Tablet PC Hits the Spot

Nice machine; solved many problems from the tx series.

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 quiet fan
4 Window 7 VASTLY better than Vista
5 Nice case
6 Much better handwriting recognition software
7 Multi-touch
8 CONSIDERABLY more responsive and faster than the tx2000 in actual use
9 Better battery life
10 Overall, just a more responsive computer

Cons:
1 It's a little "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 using. (I personally prefer this slight reduction in viewing angle to the awful hazy sensor grid the tx series had...)
3 No dedicated page-up/down keys (have to press the arrow and alt key (I think) to get page up/down instead), no home and end keys.
4 Wireless button on the side is easily accidentally 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 future.

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 definitely recommend this as a great deal in a true tablet computer. (I will update with more pros and cons as they occur in future.)

A Four Star Tablet from a Two Star Company

I won't get into the technical specs because they have been very well covered to this point, but I do have a few things to add that will hopefully be helpful in some way.

Firstly, I love this laptop. 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 love the keyboard too. Very nice sized keys, just the right amount of resistance, easy to let my fingers fly 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 could 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 10 days 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 good use. Should that not turn out to be the case, I will update this review.

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

HP Horrorshow

I am so appalled, I don't even know where to begin: yes it's a cute machine, but... it overheats. Mine is now in its third (!) round of repairs at HP's US service center in California. Three weeks after I bought it, it died (black screen). I sent it in, and they replaced the motherboard and the fan. When it came back a week later, it promptly died again after 2 hours of use. So back it went and this time they replaced the CPU, the videocard and the screen as well. Upon its return to me I immediately noticed that there was a dead pixel on the replacement screen. Plus it kept overheating precariously. So back to HP it went yet again, and now the HP wonderboys has been sitting on this laptop for two full weeks and I am still not sure when they'll return it, though presumably in the next few days. Calling the outsourced HP helpdesk in India and trying to get them to expedite matters has been an exercise in futility.
Consider yourself warned not only on this particular touchsmart tablet, which seems too small for its own good and has a way of frying its CPU, but on HP customer service in general, which is really absolutely appalling. The poor souls at the HP helpdesk in India are reduced to reading the ever same scripts off a screen. So when you call to complain that the repair is taking too long, no matter who you talk to, you always get the same line: "please be patient, please help us to help you."
I am now stuck with HP and this laptop, but lucky you: you don't have to be. You read this review :).

No improvement over TX series

This is not an improvement over other HP tablets.

1. The viewing angle in tablet mode is completely unusable. You have to hover right over the screen or the colors and details get lost. In short, this has a very, very narrow viewing angle. This is one of the promised corrections of new devices such as the iPad and the Fujitsu series tablets.

2. There is minimal improvement of processing speed over the Tx2 series. The drive at 7200 rpm helps, but it is rather a disappointment.

The good news is that the battery lasts quite a long time (ca. 4 hours with media, do not believe the 9 hour claim).

This was a huge disappointment overall.

In tablet mode you have to rotate the tablet backside so the back is now front if you connect a ceiling (classroom) mounted projector...someone needs to write a driver that rotates the tablet view independently of the VGA out signal.

Disappointed

I purchased the tablet 1 month ago. Upon my 3rd day of regular use, the mouse pad started acting up. Not responding to my requests until 4-5 attempts later. The touch screen worked very well though, better than the mouse pad actually. Since I became very frustrated by the inconvenience of having to click on an item 4 times or more at some points, I exchanged the computer for another. Only to find the same incident occurred. Finally I decided I would call HP customer support and they were very friendly and free :)! However problem was not solved therefore I ended up returning both computers and purchased myself a Pavillion... Hopefully there will be better luck! — lex9910

HP Horrorshow

I am so appalled, I don't even know where to begin: yes it's a cute machine, but... it overheats. Mine has now been through three (!) rounds of repairs at HP's US service center in California. Three weeks after I bought it, it died (black screen). I sent it in, and they replaced the motherboard and the fan. When it came back a week later, it promptly died again after 2 hours of use. So back it went and this time they replaced the CPU, the videocard and the screen as well. Upon its return to me I immediately noticed that there was a dead pixel on the replacement screen. Plus it kept overheating precariously. So back to HP it went yet again, and this time the HP wonderboys sat on the laptop for two full weeks, telling me my machine was being "monitored" while in fact waiting for a back-ordered part (as the hardware technician later admitted).
Consider yourself warned not only on this particular touchsmart tablet, which seems too small for its own good and has a way of frying its CPU, but on HP customer service in general, which is really absolutely appalling. The poor souls at the HP helpdesk in India are reduced to reading the ever same scripts off a screen. So when you call to complain that the repair is taking too long, no matter who you talk to, you always get the same line: "please be patient, please help us to help you."
The current state of affairs (as 0f 04/20): It works, but the design is what it is: it still overheats as soon as CPU use is heavy. Bottom line: I am now stuck with HP and this laptop, but lucky you: you don't have to be. You read this review :).

Great Tablet for a Budget Price

I've had the HP touchsmart 1070-us tm2 from amazon for almost 4 weeks now and I'm loving it. I've never owned a tablet before but was eyeing them for about 6 mos before I bought this one. I ordered in on a monday and received in on a thursday, even though I chose free shipping. The tablet itself works great. It's fast enough to stream videos from youtube and hulu without stalling out provided I have a good connection, of course). I've been using it to take notes in class too. By using One note, I can take hand written notes and even copy drawings without skipping a beat. I used to use a regualar laptop to take notes and was always annoyed when I couldn't duplicate diagrams that the teachers would occasionally use.

I haven't experienced anyquality issues. No overheating, no dead pixels, nothing like that. So I don't have a comment on teh customer service isse that other people have been experiencing.

Battery life is less than expected: I get about 4.5 - 5 hours of use without plugging it in and streaming music or video the whole time, and with the screen turned to 80% brightness.

If I could, I would rather the screen be matte to avoid some serious glare issues. But I understand a smooth screen is better if you are going to have a touch screen with a stylus/digitizer (friction issues otherwise).

Also, the keyboard takes some getting used to, because sometimes it appears to miss some of my key strokes.

But, overall, I'm very happy with this purchase.

The laptop works fine, screen does not work well with viewing. Ie: size.
Mouse pad is alittle un responsive. Hate the engraved design, to girlie.
Would not recommend this laptop for work. Gave it to my daughter and went out and bought ipad.

Over all windows 7 is great. — Florida biz

One complaint

I got this for my wife, who is an art student. She loves the touchscreen, and it runs excellently. However, the lack of a CD/DVD drive has made things less-than-convenient; For the price, an excellent buy.

Nice touchsmart and easy moving

I got new Hp touchSmart TM2-1070US 12.1-Inch, Since 2 months no problems but windows 7 Home premium not offer Internet explorer flash player. added Mozill Firefox offer flash player. also added chinese language and use pen on display easy than Mouse. my wife love and often use it and panel rotate 45 angle on the table or anywhere use Webcam with friends sign languages.

a very nice 'all-rounder'

i have had the pleasure of working with this tablet now for over 3 months and find it very enjoyable! as a webdesigner, it does everything i need it to do - and then some.
i also owned its predecessor and am delighted about the improvements: the screen is crisper, the heat reduction due to the different processor is significant and the battery life is simply amazing. since i am not a gamer, i easily get 7+ hours and this is considerable in comparison to other laptops (let alone tablets...).

the touch pad needed some fine tuning but in all the years that i have been dealing with HP on occasions, the customer support has been very knowledgeable and easy to reach. i am also working with an imac and other apple products as well as with the HP touchsmart desktop so i am able to compare and while the machines are certainly different with different capacities etc., i find no difference between the customer support services. sorry... :-))

Definitely worth it

I am currently a college student, and I must say, that for my particular uses which include everyday documenting and some gaming, this computer is all I need and more. The tactile qualities allow me to complement my work with extra touches that would take a lifetime to do with a mouse. I used to own one of the previous TX models, and the only thing that I have to complain about the new design is the difficulty of the fingerprint reader. Or maybe it's just that mine doesn't like me... but whereas it used to be a one swipe deal, it now takes a couple of times for me to get it right.

On the upside, the double swivel is a great improvement, since I used to want to wring some necks when others tried to turn my old screen the wrong way and almost damaged it. No more worrying everytime someone tries to explore!! Also, battery life... YES!! I actually get work in before I have to be restrained to the wall now! And it charges in about 30 to 45 minutes and lasts for at LEAST 3 hours running on the HP energy settings, which for me means a super bright screen. Can't even begin so say how long it would last with a dimmer screen.

Overall, good buy. If what you are looking for is a computer to fulfill your everyday needs with the bang of good space under the hood and the touch capabilities that will make taking notes a breeze... this is it!!

Touchscreen is junk- DO NOT BUY

I purchased an HP Touchsmart tm2 (new touch enabled tablet PC). After 3 months the tablet screen cracked with no incident (no drop or damage). It appears this new experimental technology is coming from cheap Chinese suppliers. HP told me it was covered on warranty, changed their story and said it was not covered, and wanted me to pay to repair it. Laptop is only 3 months old ($1000).

The laptop says 1 year warranty on the bottom- HP says that particular part of the machine is NOT COVERED. They stone-walled on replacing it or taking responsibility for what appears to be defective, poor quality hardware. Their lowest cost India call center also lied to me (told me they escalated it and that case managers had power to resolve issue for free).

HP left me DEEPLY UNSATISFIED. I am a new customer but will NEVER BUY AN HP product again. I asked HP to make good and they let me down.

Is this acceptable to buy a new product and have it break within the one year period and have no recourse?

Fantastic, but a tad heavy.

This is one of the best purchases I have made in years. The handwriting recognition is fantastic, rarely making mistakes. I bought it for reading and reviewing word and pdf documents on the bus and train on the way to work. It works very well for this-something the iPad can't do. lt also comes in very handy for browsing the web while sitting on the couch. I would (and do) recommend this to everyone who asks about it.

Cons: It is a little on the heavy side, so don't plan on standing around and holding it in one hand for too long. The only other negative is the goofy design HP insists on engraving on the shell. Luckily, none of that is visible in tablet mode.

Most Versatile PC on the Market

I got this laptop to use for college, and so far I love it. Once you get used to a tablet you will never want to go back to a regular computer. Touching the screen makes so much more sense than touchpad input, although you can still use it that way with this tablet if you choose.

PROS:
- Size: The tm2 is the perfect size for a laptop. The screen is small without being too small and its compact design allows you to go virtually anywhere with it.

- Versatility: You can use the tm2 any way you prefer. It can be used like a typical laptop or tablet/ipad style. It can even be cradled in one hand and used while walking. It is fairly light so weight is not really an issue.

- Touch screen: Very responsive and accurate. Comes with a digitizer pen for even better accuracy. Multitouch makes a world of difference with gestures similar to an iphone(pinch, rotate, pan, etc).

- HDMI: Great port for turning digital TVs into computer monitors without any hassle. Just plug and go.

- Speakers: Great sound for a notebook. Not much bass but the sound quality is crystal clear.

- Durability: My PC has not yet passed the test of time since it is new, but the tm2 does feature an aluminum casing that gives it a very sturdy feel. The AC adapter hooks up smoothly to the power port so you should not have to worry about the infamous broken pin problem.

-Battery life: Battery does not last 8+ hours unless you turn off wifi, run just basic programs and make the screen almost black, but it does get great battery life for a notebook. I have not tested it yet but i imagine it would get about 4 hours on normal settings.

- Price: For a tablet so full of useful features the tm2 is quite a steal. It is the cheapest multitouch consumer tablet on the market right now.

CONS:
- Glossy screen: The screen is practically like a mirror it reflects so much light, but I'm hoping I can fix this with an anti-glare screen protector. Don't count on using it in sunlight unless you have one.

- Screen rotate button: It is very unresponsive. I usually have to press it about 5 times before it will flip the screen, and when it does it's not like the ipad where the screen rotates instantly; instead it goes black for a second and then slowly loads back in the new orientation. To top it off the screen automatically resets every time you wake the computer up from sleep mode.

-No analog microphone port: Frustrating when doing audio projects, however there is an onboard stereo microphone.

-Slow processor: Upgrade to the 1.6 Ghz if you can. The processor speed is not terrible but if you run very technical programs, especially video editing, you need a PC with a faster processor. For the average to slightly advanced user this PC is fine.

This laptop has converted me to convertibles.

I've had my tm2t for a little over a month now. I use it at work every day, took it on a family vacation, and installed a couple of games on it, so I feel I'm ready to post a review.

I'm really impressed by this laptop. I work in IT; I troubleshoot computers every day, and I interact with a lot of laptops. I've seen many, many laptops that just don't feel like their designs were thought through--machines that I can't believe the designer seriously tested and was proud of. This is not one of those laptops. This computer has /polish/.

The keyboard is a nice, generous size, and it feels good to type on; it's slightly recessed so that the keys don't leave smudges on the screen when you fold it shut. The key arrangement makes sense--I've seen some truly ridiculous key arrangements, but I like this one. The hinge rotates the screen 180° left or right and snaps into place smartly--it feels solid and doesn't give the impression that it'll go all loosy-goosy any time soon.

My system runs Windows 7 and I'm really impressed by the improvements Microsoft has made to the Tablet PC functionality. Handwriting recognition is *great!* There's an onscreen keyboard and handwriting-recognition area that you can pop out when you're using the touchscreen but which goes away when it's not wanted. I've installed OneNote 2007 and I can tell that this laptop is going to be unparallelled when I'm taking notes in class. I can write, I can type, I can dictate, I can draw, and I've got 10 hours of battery life--LOOK OUT! :D

Physically, the laptop is very attractive. It's got a curly engraving pattern on the silver case, which looks nifty; the surfaces are a pleasing contrast of glossy and matte. The screen is bright and pretty; it's quite a bit more reflective than I would like, but I can work with it. The touchscreen works great--with the included digital pen, I can write or draw on the screen, pressure sensitivity works in Photoshop, and I can tap commands straight into the screen with my fingers, which is all kinds of fun. (This leaves fingerprints, so get a cleaning cloth of some kind and keep it with the laptop.) The 12" form factor is perfect--any smaller and the keyboard would be awkward; any bigger and it would be too big to hold comfortably in slate mode. When people talk about the iPad, I get to feel smug, because my laptop can do everything it can do and far, far more. The way it converts from laptop to slate to lap-sized TV fills my inner geek with deep satisfaction.

Perfomance-wise, this laptop is about what you'd expect from the specifications. It's not a racehorse--it's not designed to be--but it works fine, for what it is. My tm2t is customized to have dual-core 1.6 GHz and 4 GB RAM; I tried Mass Effect 1 and Team Fortress 2 (with an external mouse, of course) and they don't run as smooth as they do on my gaming desktop, but they're operable. (The delay hurts in tense, competitive gaming, but for single-player it's okay.)

I do have a few quibbles with the design. A big one is that the mouse buttons of the touchpad count as part of its "touchable" area; in other words, you can slide your finger back and forth on the mouse button and it will move the cursor back and forth on the screen. Increasing the available size of the touchpad is a laudable goal, but the software doesn't adequately compensate for the presence of my thumb resting on the left mouse button. This makes the cursor jerk around on screen and makes precision mousing frustrating--you can actually push the mouse cursor off-target as your thumb comes down on the button!

I emailed customer support about the touchpad issue and they suggested increasing the value of the PalmCheck setting. I boosted PalmCheck to the edge of the red zone and set Touch Sensitivity to 50% and that seems to have helped. It's not perfect, but at least the touchpad is basically usable now. Most of the time I end up using the touchscreen or an external mouse. I'd love a way to tell the driver to ignore input from the mouse button areas, but such does not presently exist. (You can forget about having the touchpad work out-of-the-box on Linux, by the way. Maybe some of you can get it to work; I couldn't.)

The laptop also comes with the usual six-foot pile of bloatware preinstalled. You'll spend 20 minutes or so going through and uninstalling them one at a time. Some of them are at least a little bit useful or interesting; most are not. (Stop doing that, HP!)

The pen silo works well enough, and the laptop comes with a cord you can use to secure the digital pen to the laptop so you can't lose the pen. However, this leaves you with a loop of cord hanging off your laptop all the time. I don't like this--it can get caught on things, and it's something you have to manage when you're moving the laptop. You could remove the cord, but I'm not confident enough in the silo to do that; the pen's not going to fall out all by itself, but the silo isn't as "sticky" as it could be, and it would be easy to accidentally sweep the pen out of its holster while stowing the computer to/from a backpack. Pens cost about $20 and I'd rather not lose mine. What would be great is if I could retract the cord into the laptop. Still, I can live with the way it is.

To summarize, this my new Best Thing Ever. I've looked at one of the tm2t's predecessors, and it's obvious that a lot of thought and iteration went into the current model. HP did a great job on it and I'm very satisfied by the result. Props to HP's Home & Home Office Sales Line; I originally called prepared to order a different model, and upon hearing my requirements the sales rep suggested this model. I'm really glad she did. The sales staff know their stuff. I don't know if I can go back to a non-convertible laptop after owning this one. Great job, HP! — Sherp

WOW!!!!!!!!

Touch screen is amazing! Graphics Amazing! Speed Amazing! HDMI SWEET!!!! size not to big not to small. The only thing that stinks is that its not made in the united states but then again what is? GOOD JOB HP!!!!!!!! — music101.9

Returned to HP. A few simple changes would fix this design.

I've had other tablet PCs in the past and I'm a firm believer in them.

This unit from HP is fairly decent except that it has 1 flaw that was the deal-breaker for me:
The touchpad does not have physical buttons. I'm a two handed touchpad users. I move the cursor with one hand, and I put the buttons with the other hand. This tablet is cost reduced so that there is only 1 button under the touchpad for the mouse button emulation.
The way the unit determines whether the right or left mouse button is being pressed is by the finger location on the touchpad, plus the pressing down of the single switch. If they had just put in two real button for the mouse, it would have been a winner for me.

The other annoyances (would not have been deal breakers) are the lack of accelerometer for automatic screen rotation and the nagging info messages when the unit switches from using the Radeon GPU to the intel GPU for power savings. — (predestined before the beginning of time)

Major video problems (HP Touchsmart TM2)

I have a Touchsmart TM2 with the ATI Radeon card.
While connected to projector, video-out often fails, sometimes as often as every couple minutes.
It then has to be extended again but sometimes cannot be extended on 1920x1080.
Sometimes windows media player fails with error "problem with video card".
This was brought to HP's attention on July 6.
The only debug they asked for was to update the display driver which did nothing.
HP promised to have an expert contact me on Monday this week.
It is now Wednesday night, no call, no email, problem persists.
I am very disappointed in both the product and in HP's customer service.
Therefore, I neither recommend this PC nor HP in general.
(HP case number 4616705121)

Don't waste your money!

I received mine and right from the start the Touchpad didn't work. Getting actual support from HP is very difficult. There are very many reports on the Web about the faulty design of the touchpad.
As for the touch-screen, those who have used an iPad will be very disappointed as the HP touchscreen isn't as responsive nor as specific as the iPad. It also feels very flimsy.
I recommend buying a laptop without known problems and do not recommend purchase of this notebook. I regret having gotten a TM2 and am back using my Dell M1330.