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)
Robert on Sun, Aug 31st, 2008 at 10:23 PM
OK. I’ve had my 2025 for a month now. So far, I love it. Like I’ve mentioned before, it came with an ATI 3200 card as opposed to the GeForce. I’ve installed the Orange Box on it, and played plenty of TF2 online. It runs the game just great.
As for my older laptop, I called HP and it turns out it was still under warranty for another 11 days. I am awaiting it’s return, so that I can pass it on to my wife.
Michael on Sun, Aug 31st, 2008 at 11:20 PM
Your wife will be jelouse
Meelis on Mon, Sep 01st, 2008 at 07:45 PM
Is there any way i can get that graphics card for my tx? :/
bombo on Wed, Sep 03rd, 2008 at 09:22 AM
can i upgrADE the software of my hp tx2000, with nvidia 8800 and ati 2600 for gamiming,thanks please notify me
Venu on Thu, Sep 04th, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Hey guys..
can anyone post d configurations and cost of d notebook..
Thanks in advance..
Michael on Thu, Sep 04th, 2008 at 10:19 PM
there are so many possible configs, it would be time consuming to list them all. It’s better to just head over to HP and check them out.
esther ho on Fri, Sep 12th, 2008 at 03:12 AM
hi,
im juz bought the tx 2000 series, but the pakage are come with 6 cell battery, then i consider to buy a 4 cell battery bcoz not to heavy for me to carried...may i know how much for the 4 cell battery and how long that can last??? thanks
Michael on Sun, Sep 14th, 2008 at 02:31 PM
Not sure on price but probably an hour hour 15 minutes.
Michael on Mon, Sep 15th, 2008 at 02:57 PM
I am very disappointed. I have had the 1215nr laptop for over a year now, warranty went out last month as of August 28, 2008. Well today the wireless card went out on it and with the warranty up I now have to take it to Best Buy or send it in and HP said it was going to cost $389. Very, very upset considering I don’t have that extra cash lying around right now and I heavily rely on my laptop. Like I said, very disappointed.
Michael on Tue, Sep 16th, 2008 at 02:03 AM
If the wireless is dead Michael, and the repair is going to be 400 dollars, why don’t you buy a wireless card o put in the pci slot and save your self the repair fee.
Michael F on Tue, Sep 16th, 2008 at 05:00 PM
Buddy of mine said that would probably be the best thing, but I have no idea about wireless cards and how affective they are.
Michael on Wed, Sep 17th, 2008 at 06:02 PM
Just go to circuit city or staples tell them you need a wireless card for notebooks, its a standard size.
Diantha Nota on Tue, Sep 23rd, 2008 at 08:21 AM
Does anyone know sth about the 2600?
The 2550ed got in store this summer in the Netherlands but it had less Ghz and Harddisk then the 2100, but a better graphicscard. I noticed that the configuration of the 2550eg (germany) was better (more Ghz, larger Harddisk, just like the 2100 but also with the graphicscard), and there was an 2650 also (more RAM, lower price?)!
Anyone from Germany that knows about this?
prasala on Tue, Sep 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 AM
Wow! what a great machine
Michael on Tue, Sep 23rd, 2008 at 02:07 PM
@Diantha, I am checking with HP now it may be nothing more than just a model number for Germany but I’ll post here as soon as I know.
Michael on Tue, Sep 23rd, 2008 at 02:13 PM
HP replied fast
“Typically we review and revise shelf configs quarterly. As part of that we change the model numbers. Tx2600 is this quarter’s revision on tx2500. Same essential features. Revised hard drives, processors, etc. Anything you’ve written on the tx2500 will apply.”
seven07 on Tue, Sep 23rd, 2008 at 09:26 PM
thx ya, so i thk i will buy the tx2520 model,for my photoshop n illustrator(adobe)
i really like this laptop so much…
wish every one oso happy with it..
Michael on Sun, Oct 05th, 2008 at 05:52 AM
did you get it seven? How do you like it?
Diantha Nota on Sun, Oct 05th, 2008 at 07:44 AM
I got myself the TX2550ed! Dutch version. I thought of popping over the boarder to Germany, since HP offers the German TX2550 model with 0,2GHz and 1GB RAM more. But I am not familiar with the German keyboard.
So far the tablet function feels fine. The thing does not get too hot and the fan is not disturbing. I did get a shitload of pre-installed software like the HP games and a trillion mediaplayers. Not to mentioned two (!) limited MS Office versions. It took me while to get the thing running properly because of that. Sometimes it does not respond and Vista has some issues. HP drivers have some language issues. It handle Dutch and in same cases English, but I have seen many (Nothern) languages so far in alert-pop-ups. I have not tested the 4cell battery so far. I noticed it has a hard time starting up Vista with any DVD in it.
Does anyone have any issues with working with the TX as a desktop all day? I am thinking of buying the HP Quickdoc so I could use an ordinary screen, mouse and keyboard at home. But I am not sure if I will need it.
Now I am looking for a 12 or 13 inch (good looking) laptopcase, which seem rare in my area. I think I will have to order from the US in this case. Any suggestions for that? I was looking at Mango Tango’s smaller bags but I am not sure if it will have ennough space for my battery. Macshops here only offer 13” bags over 200 euro’s (300 dollars).
Diantha Nota on Sun, Oct 05th, 2008 at 07:48 AM
*Mention
*It handleS Dutch and in sOme cases English
Apologies for not checking my language in my previous post.
I guess I need to get used to the keyboard 8-)
andrew on Mon, Oct 06th, 2008 at 11:48 PM
I bought one back in about april. I love it and it has a lot of really cool features and the tablet mode and all of that is very well put together. My problems is that after you add some applications, my Vista seems to fail a lot. Even Windows Explorer gives me a “not responding” message when I am on power save mode. When I plug it in, I have it set to move up to basically performance mode, and that usually solves that problem, but sometimes I just can’t do ANYTHING for about 10 minutes while I wait for Explorer decided to start working again. I have to close and restart it about 15 times before it actually gets the hint that it should be working. The microphones also aren’t of the best quality. On webcam sessions, the other party often has trouble hearing me so I go into the recorder properties to turn up the sensitivity. The problem with that is that if I forget to put it back to the default, I get feedback sounds when I play music.
Michael on Tue, Oct 07th, 2008 at 12:14 AM
@DIantha You had two trials of MS Office installed that is kind of funny?
So you’re saying the HP Dialogue in the prompts are in various languages not just dutch?
As for the laptop case I really don’t know anyone that shits to Europe that has a 13 inch bag.
@andrew do you have all the latest updates? System shouldn’t be doing what it’s doing.
Diantha Nota on Tue, Oct 07th, 2008 at 04:22 AM
@ Andrew,
The Vista issue seems ‘normal’. I have it too sometimes, I only have the thing for a few days. But if you check the performance of your hardware, it must seem fine. You could install a free / other OS to compare. But I think it’s just Vista. All my friends having laptops running on Vista share the same experiences. We can only accept that we cannot downgrade to XP due to the tabletmode, I guess. I keep performance level high and bring an extra battery.
@ Michael
Of course it’s ridiculious that I have an office trial and an office viewer and more then 3 mediaplayers. And 300mb on HP games. But that was to be expected. Is it possible to install a blanc version of Vista and get the drivers from HP somewhere?
About the language issue: the HP drivers only show other languages in alert-pop-ups. So when there is something wrong. I’m just happy it’s a Nordic language and not Japanese or Arabic. :|
Sunreep on Tue, Oct 07th, 2008 at 05:13 PM
hey guys i got the tx 2110 about 1 year ago and i love it it is the best laptop i ever had i have just one problem and i realy want to see if one of you guys knows how to fix it. See the tablet features are supreme but see when ever i use the pen i always have to press that button on the pen for a left click i want it to be like a tap or a little pressure to make it a left click any help here because also when i try to use the pen on journal i always have to hold that button to use it as a pen and if i dont it just makes it as a eraser for every thing thats supposed to use the eraser please help me with this also you know how there is bootcamp were if you have mac os x you can also use windows. Is there a way if you have vista you can also have xp and you can switch it when ever you want
medube on Sun, Oct 12th, 2008 at 07:45 AM
Does anyone know how I can configure the fingerprint reader on my TX2050ea to be used for websites or securing files other than using it for logging on and off windows?
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