A year ago HP delivered the Pavilion tx1000 Entertainment PC, a hybrid between a notebook and a Tablet PC. It was a great machine, and we here at HardwareGeeks.com awarded it our Editors Choice Award for the month of April 2007 and also our Top choice Award for the year of 2007.
The tx1000 was and still is a fantastic piece of machinery. 9 out of 10 reviews on the web praised it. However, at the same time each review noted some dislikes about the machine such as a lack of an active stylus and a keyboard that had a left shift key that was rather small.
So, HP read those reviews, took that feedback, and created the tx2000.
They took the good with the bad; they kept the good and improved on the bad, and I am here to tell all who read this review that HP has created the perfect notebook PC. Wait, scratch that, HP has created the perfect Tablet PC. Actually, it is my opinion that HP has created the best all around portable computer, perfect for consumers and business users alike. Perfect for students and doctors, great for the soccer mom and the Pro Football coach. The tx2000 is the perfect fit for everyone.
I have been blown away by the tx2000 so much so that I do not know where to start.
I am blown away because I kind of feel like I had something to do with the creation of the tx2000. After all, HP took my feedback along with the feedback from users on our forum and on other sites to improve on the tx1000 and create the tx2000.
On January 3rd when they first announced the tx2000, I felt a sense of pride. I know that’s a bit corny, but it’s how I felt. When I first saw the machine back in November, I was taken aback when I realized they actually used all the feedback they had gotten. I mean some billion dollar company listened to me and you and everyone else that gave them feedback. When does that ever happen?
OK, OK let me get off my little emotional trip and get on with the review.
The Pavilion tx2000 Entertainment PCis powered by an AMD Turion64 dual core processor (2.1 or 2.2 Ghz), 2 GB of memory upgradable to 4 GB, and NVIDIA GeForce 6150. Also included on the tx2000 is Bluetooth support, Wireless a/b/g/n support as an option (default wireless b/g/), 160 GB HDD with support up to 250 GB, SuperMulti DVD writer with lightscribe support, Fingerprint reader, 5 in 1 memory card reader, webcam, and a 12.1 inch widescreen high definition touch-screen monitor.
The first thing you’ll notice about the tx2000 is the look. It has a shiny finish with a cool pattern design and a shiny outer shell that makes the machine very attractive, and when you open it up, the design continues around the keyboard and touch pad.
The first boot up of the machine was painless. Vista Home Premium loaded quickly, and I was a bit surprised to see that HP had cut back on the amount of pre-installed software I think not 100% sure on this one but it didn’t seem to have as much pre-installed software as some HP Desktops I have booted up recently. Sure there still were the WildTangent games and Norton was pre-installed and a trial of Microsoft Office, but that’s all I noticed, didn’t feel the need to reformat and reinstall the OS like I typically do with a new machine. So I am happy to report that there was nothing hogging the systems resources on the first boot.
Needless to say the system is speedy and very responsive. Even QuickPlay loaded quickly. Not saying that it doesn’t load fast on other HP machines, it just surprised me that it seemed almost instant on the tx2000. QuickPlay is software that ships with every HP consumer notebook and allows you to play DVDs, watch TV (provided you have a TV tuner), view photos, and listen to music quickly. I guess that is why they call it QuickPlay.
It didn’t just load QuickPlay quickly, but every program I tried out, from Microsoft Word and Excel to your typical Messenger programs such as AIM and Live Messenger.
I even installed the Sims and Crysis on the tx2000 and handled both games well.
But the tx2000 isn’t just any notebook, it has a touch screen, and now, unlike the tx1000, it comes with an active stylus.
The lack of an active stylus was probably the biggest complaint about the tx1000, so everyone who followed HP and the progress of the tx1000 was excited when it was announced that the tx2000 had an active stylus.
Having both an active stylus and a touch screen can cause problems, because if you are writing with the stylus and your arm or the palm of your hand touches something it may override what the stylus is doing. To prevent this, HP has made it so that when the stylus point is within an inch of the screen, the touch screen portion is disabled.
Writing with the stylus is also easy, a lot easier than it was on the tx1000. Because there was no active stylus on the tx1000, you had to press down a bit hard when writing. This caused a little cramp in your hand after a while, but with the tx2000 since the stylus is active, writing is way easier and more comfortable.
Because of the active stylus doing things in tablet mode is a lot easier.
HP has also strategically placed hotkeys around the screen so you can easily control your music when in tablet mode. So if you are jotting a note and listening to music at the same time, you can skip to the next track or stop playback all together by just tapping one of the media keys located on the side of the monitor.
Even the finger print reader is located around the monitor so that you can have access to it in regular notebook mode or tablet mode.
QUICK TIP: When using a tx1000 or tx2000, register both your thumbs with the finger print reader. This way no matter if you are in notebook or tablet mode, you can easily swipe your finger to login to your machine or website and or access a protected folder (Thanks to Kevin Wentzel technical marketing manager for notebooks at HP for the tip).
Now you know that you can easily use the tx2000 as a traditional notebook and tablet PC, but the HP Pavilion tx2000 is also an entertainment PC. It is built to satisfy our cravings for Movies and Music. But what separates the tx2000 from other entertainment notebooks on the market is a screen that swivelz 180 degrees.
Let’s say you fly a lot and you didn’t take JetBlue or Delta, and you are on one of those airlines with a tiny TV screen 3 to 6 seats ahead of you showing some movie you have probably seen a dozen times. If you had a notebook, you’d lower the tray table down and pop in one of your DVDs or some video stored on your hard drive. While that’s fine you may be a bit uncomfy because your notebook overlaps the tray and if you’re a big guy or gal, you have to suck in your gut a bit, making the experience not as good as it could be. Also if the person in front of you has their seat reclined you may not be able to have your monitor at an angel to allow you to view a movie correctly.
With the tx2000 that problem is solved because you can turn the monitor around and use it in, what I believe is call “Airplane mode” I believe I got this term from Kevin Wentzel at HP. The keyboard is now behind the monitor, and you have a nice view of nothing but the high def screen. Speaking of “Airport mode”, let’s not forget to mention the switch on the front of the tx2000 that allows you to easily shut off both the Bluetooth and wi-fi instantly.
Because of the hi-def screen on the tx2000, watching movies is a delight; I only wish that it came with a blu-ray or hd-dvd drive, so you could take full advantage of the screen.
I am sure you are now wondering about the battery life. I was only able to test the 8 cell battery, which gave me about 5 and a half hours of battery life during normal use. I got 4 hours and 3 minutes exactly when I watched the movie Face Off on DVD movie.
What is cool about the 8 cell battery is that HP even improved on that for the tx2000. It now fits perfectly into the palm of your hand so you can hold onto it or if you put it into your shoulder it isn’t as uncomfortable as the previous battery.
There are a few more cool features on the tx2000 that I would like to mention. The touchpad toggle switch is one. If you have a mouse connected to it, you can turn off the touch pad and not worry about rubbing a finger against it and moving the mouse pointer. Another feature I’d like to mention is the 2 headphone jacks and mic jack on the front of the machine and the mini remote control. All of these were also present on the tx1000 and were loved by everyone so HP kept them, and I am glad they did.
Do I have any complaints about the tx2000 or request for the tx3000? I do.
Overall the tx2000 is everything you’d want and more, and with a $1300 USD price tag, you get it all without burning a deep hole in your pocket. We here at HardwareGeeks.com award our very first Editors Choice Gold Award.
For more information about the tx2000 visit http://shopping.hp.com.
Before I end this review, I want to thank HP for listening to us and creating the tx2000. I would like to thank Kevin Wentzel, Tom Augenthaler, Dana Harrold, Scott Ballantyne, and everyone else who made the tx2000 possible. I would also like to thank everyone who gave feedback to HP! After all, it was all of our feedback that created this machine.
Pictures of the tx2000 credit to HP, I was so excited testing the machine out that I forgot to take pictures before I shipped it back. But my friend Terri Stranton took some pictures of it when she had it so check those out here.
The tx2000 is available in Europe as the tx2050. In the US the tx2000 will be labled tx2000, tx2100 and tx2120us.
This is a Reprint of an original review.
Comments: (261)
Rosario on Wed, May 21st, 2008 at 03:21 AM
Hey Michael,
So I have a few questions that you could hopefully help me with. I know my stuff about computers but I’m not going to say I’m an expert or anything but I was confused on whether or not to get the 32-bit or 64-bit. I know if I have more memory then the 64 is the way to go but I thought people said that some programs wont load on a 64. The computer is mainly just for school so I am not too worried about a lot of games/programs just curious. I most likely will get the 64, mainly because that is the only one Circuit City offers. But if it is a huge problem then I would check other places.
Next question, do you think its worth it for me to get the 3GB or the 4GB. Like I said, this is mainly for school but I might have some music on it and for sure I will be drawing on it. Just wondering if you think 3GB is enough or if I should pay the extra and get the 4GB. Will I notice in increase of speed or loading time?
Last question, this one your probably wont have a clear answer but do you know if there will be a TX3000 out anytime soon. I plan to buy the TX2000 by the end of the summer (once my loans come) and I always have the worst timing with electronics and end up buying something when a month or 2 later, the next model comes out.
Thanks in advance,
Rosario
Michael on Wed, May 21st, 2008 at 08:52 PM
Some programs will not run correctly on 64bit, but you run into more problems with hardware than you do actual software. Vista 64bit runs both 32bit and 64bit software however there are pieces of software that will not run correctly on a 64bit system, however they are few and far between, not as bad as it was a few years ago.
if you get 3GB might as well get the 4, but then again most people won’t notice the difference between 3 and 4 GB. I notice it, since you say you know computers you probably will as well.
tx3000 if it comes won’t be anytime soon, HP and I haev a close relationship and i pretty much know whats down the pipeline but they will not tell me anything about the tx3000 or if there is even one. If i were ot guess I would say there probably is one in the works but a year away from launch.
Diantha Nota on Fri, May 23rd, 2008 at 06:15 AM
In Europe (or at least NL) there IS a difference between the numbers. I did some research the past few days and I can conclude that specs are fixed. Every TX number has its specs here. (besides the series ofcourse)
lalit on Sun, May 25th, 2008 at 04:29 PM
the laptop is amazing but the only sore thing is the card reader..how do u remove the card?there is NO way to remove it unless u use something to grip it...any solutions??
Michael on Sun, May 25th, 2008 at 06:26 PM
None that I know of :(
Eric Kirkhuff on Mon, May 26th, 2008 at 12:59 AM
I found a work around solution for the short right shift key.
See my blog - http://erickirkhuff.com/?cat=12
Michael on Mon, May 26th, 2008 at 02:15 PM
Sadly your solution doesn’t work, as the key next to the right shift key on the tx2000 is the letter Z and not an up arrow.
Rawrzilla on Thu, May 29th, 2008 at 02:34 PM
Uh, Crysis? Are you trying to break the poor machine? I seriously doubt it handled that game considering I read you can’t even play Command and Conquer 3 on high settings.
Michael on Thu, May 29th, 2008 at 06:20 PM
I just installed crysis on mine, it;s not playable but it plays lol.
Alan on Wed, Jun 11th, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Erm.. but you mentioned in your review :
“I even installed the Sims and Crysis on the tx2000 and handled both games well.”
So, I though it would be able to play at reasonable FPS (15-25fps) at low settings.
But not playable would be like 5-10fps with MANY load times in between.
wix on Wed, Jun 11th, 2008 at 10:59 AM
Why cant I play .mod movie files in my windows media player of tx2000? is this vista issue? wmp codec? or what? please help.
I hope you dont give me advise to convert and or rename all my .Mod files. (it takes a lot of time, you know)
All .mod files works on Win XP media player.
Michael on Thu, Jun 12th, 2008 at 08:04 PM
Alan, as I have installed more programs on it and more processes are running in the background game play isn’t as good as it was the day I yanked the machine out the box, and you wouldn’t expect it too be when you have many background processes.
You sound like you need a codec wix
Michael on Sun, Jun 15th, 2008 at 02:10 PM
They have just released a refresh of the tx2000, it is the tx2500. They have added different AMD chips and a slightly better graphics card nothing really drastic.
http://www.hardwaregeeks.com/index.php/GadgetBlog/comments/hp_pavilion_tx2500_entertainment_pc/
ashvani kumar on Mon, Jun 23rd, 2008 at 03:06 AM
arun kumar
RoyalWitCheese on Wed, Jun 25th, 2008 at 10:43 PM
“the laptop is amazing but the only sore thing is the card reader..how do u remove the card?there is NO way to remove it unless u use something to grip it...any solutions??”
Push it in and let it pop out like any other memory card hardware.
j2112 on Wed, Jun 25th, 2008 at 11:13 PM
I purchased my tx2510us from Circuit City yesterday. About 2 months ago I decided it was time to upgrade my older HPdv model. I first bought a gateway, first Vista Machine I have ever owned or operated. I got 6 blue screens after set-up, back to back, so back it went to Best Buy, then came the MacBook, well, too much frustration in running my software (AutoCad/Revit/and Microstation for Architectural job) so back it went and I thought, hey I can’t go wrong with a dell. The dell lasted about a month then started messing up again. I have always been interested in tablet PC’s, but best buy never carried them in my local stores. Thats when I got the Dell back fixed, sold it, then came across this baby at Circuit City. I have had nothing but trouble with internet explorer, it closes anytime it opens more than one window, no problem because I use FireFox instead. I absolutely love this machine. Before i even turned it on I removed the 1gb and added a 2gb for a total of 4 gb. Next week I plan on getting Vista Ultimate 64 bit provided it does not mess up any of my architectural software. I still need to verify the actual advantage of 64bit over 32 bit. As said before, it is my first tablet PC so I am in the process of actually seeing what all cool stuff it can do. Seems to be fast (AMD Turion 64 Ultra x2 @ 2.1ghz). It does have the “WOW” factor with all my co workers. The only design flaw I have found so far is the pen connection. I first used the provided strings that came with it to teather it to the notebook, but I had that string just hanging out and getting snagged on everything. I have since taken it off since it seems to hold the pen in very well. Can anyone point me in a direction for tips and tricks and just basic usage of a tablet pc? By the way, mine did have the award sticker on it, thats how I cam across this site. Thanks for all the reviews.
Elaine on Sun, Jun 29th, 2008 at 04:45 PM
This is my third Tablet PC and it’s working well. My first was the Acer C100 for office use. I am a physician and use the Tablet PC to take my notes and pull up patient’s charts on EMR (electronic medical record). It impressed the heck out of my patients! The Acer did it’s job, but eventually the processor couldn’t handle the requirements of the EMR program and we were getting a lot of interference with the wifi network. So, my next Tablet PC was a Fujitsu ST5000 with a wifi card; actually, it’s “just” a slate, which was all I really needed while walking around the office from room to room. I love it and still use it. It’s light and slick. One of my patients called it “a large Palm Pilot”. I carry it attached to my left wrist with a strap. It looks like it’s going to fall off any second, but it’s actually very secure. It’s very light at 3 lbs. But, the Acer died (it’s 5 1/2 years old, may it “Rest In Peace"), so I got the HP Pavilion Tx 2110 as a back up.
I’ve loaded Dragon Naturally Speaking (voice-recognition dictating system) and it’s working very well. The HP is heavier than my Fujitsu, but I can take the HP home and to the hospital for other use and the Fujitsu stays at the office. The HP is more compact than the Fujitsu when travelling because the Fujitsu keyboard is separate.
So far, the HP has done all I need of it very well, internet, very basic games, movies, voice recognition, word processing and EMR, and usually three of those things at the same time! Yes, it gets hot, but no more than my Fujitsu which has an Intel Duo processor. I haven’t any Vista issues yet. I had considered getting the Vista 64 loaded, but the voice recognition software specified Vista 32. I love the tablet features… touch screen and writing notes onto the screen. It feels very smooth.
Michael on Sat, Jul 05th, 2008 at 10:33 PM
sucks that your voice software doens’t support it :(
Jean on Sun, Jul 06th, 2008 at 07:17 AM
I was stunned to find that the TX2000 won’t play my favourite time-waster Bejeweled2 !!! increasing lag and jerky frame by frame rendition of the wormhole sequence between levels.....
Hp support suggestions ranged from emptying the recycle bin to flashing the bios, but nothing worked.
And sometimes the card reader won’t click in my SD card and I have to hold it in with my thumb while working.
Still, it was all I could afford, and great value for money.
Keith on Sun, Jul 06th, 2008 at 03:32 PM
Ok, I love tablets and I *was* very happy with the tx2000 untill I got fed up with Vista and tried to downgrade to XP. HP doesn’t officially support it and doesn’t even carry drivers for it. An HP tech emailed me drivers for it that she “found” and said we’re correct. However, only 3 actually work; the rest are for other components that I don’t have and she actually left out some I needed. If anyone knows where to get these PLEASE e-mail me links at anon1010110 <at> gmail <dot> com.
Michael on Sun, Jul 06th, 2008 at 05:17 PM
what are the specs of your tx2000?
I am an avid bejweled player and have no issues.
Jean on Sun, Jul 06th, 2008 at 05:36 PM
It’s the TX2130ea, with 250g HD, 2g ram and the Nvidia G-force go 6150 integated graphics, vista,+AMD turon 64x2.
Michael on Tue, Jul 15th, 2008 at 11:34 PM
hmm, weird that it is having issues with bejweled, should handle it perfectly with no problem.
Have you updated the graphics drivers by any chance?
wix on Mon, Jul 28th, 2008 at 08:28 AM
where can i find windows XP drivers for my TX 2010? 3GB ram 250GB HDD? AMD turon 64x2.
Michael on Mon, Jul 28th, 2008 at 12:40 PM
You would have to buy it from Staples or Best Buy and hope that the drivers on the HP site will work
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