HP TouchSmart tm2t Review Specs - Price

The HP TouchSmart tm2t does a pretty good job at combining these element, and offers a much better battery life than its predecessors thanks to the inclusion of a low-voltage processor from Intel. The new TouchSmart tm2t does an about-face and opts for a quiet, cool and long-running Intel CULV processor packaged in a very attractive metal casing that shares design elements with HP's high end Envy notebook line.

Tablets in this line start at $829, and depending on how you configure yours, you can land decent battery life and switchable graphics. The biggest surprise, though, is that HP can put together a compelling ultraportable convertible tablet for less than $1,000—$919, in the case of the model we looked at.

HP TouchSmart Tm2t Specifications:

Processor: 1.2GHz Intel Core i3-330UM  
Memory: 3GB RAM  
Storage: 500GB hard drive  
Optical Drive: None  
Screen: 12.1 inches (1,280x800 native resolution)  
Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA HD and ATI Mobilility Radeon HD 5450 (512MB)  
Weight: 4.7 pounds  
Dimensions (HWD): 1.6x11.9x8.7 inches  
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Design and Build

The TouchSmart is HP's consumer tablet PC with a convertible design. Convertible means it converts from a "normal" looking laptop to a tablet (in tablet mode, it looks like a large slate). With Windows 7's greater support for tablet features. Weighing over 4.7 pounds and measuring nearly 1.6 inches at its thickest section, the tm2t is one of the heaviest and chunkiest convertible tablets to cruise through our labs. That’s partially because this notebook omits an optical drive.

The tm2t also has a thinner profile, tapering from 1 inch in the front to 1.5 inches in the back to accommodate the beefy battery. The tm2t’s brushed aluminum body is attractive and relatively discreet. As usual, HP insists on engraving some fancy patterns in it – whether you like these decorations or not is all a matter of taste, but it’s bound to deter at least a few potential buyers.

Display and Touch Screen

The TouchSmart has a 12.1" LED backlit gloss HP BrightView display with a Wacom digitizer that supports both 2-finger multi-touch via the capacitive layer and active digitizer input via the included pen that lives in a silo on the notebook's left side. The Wacom digitizer supports pressure sensitivity in applications such as Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter 11. Sixteen seconds. That’s how long it took for HP’s TouchSmart software to load its photo app. And that’s just one example of this suite’s sluggishness. On the downside the screen isn’t perfect – its color reproduction and viewing angles are so-so as is often the case with tablets.

On the other hand the touch screen works exceptionally well. It responds quickly and intuitively to both the included stylus and to the convenient multi-touch gestures that let you pinch-zoom in/out and rotate objects on the screen. It also comes with the same set of tools included with HPs touch-screen desktops – a drawing board, a custom Twitter client and some other fun stuff.

The touch screen supports two fingers (sorry, no idea if it's the hardware or software that limits it to two), and like the iPhone it's a capacitive multi-touch display. That means you can pinch-zoom, rotate an image or document with two fingers and do gestures. The screen requires a slightly firmer touch than the very light touch HP TX that used an N-Trig rather than Wacom digitizer. But it's definitely easy and fun to use. The tm2t’s Wacom digitizer and included pen provided pinpoint accuracy and did a good job of rejecting inadvertent palm touches on the screen

Keyboard and Touchpad

The TouchSmart tm2t sports a spacious layout, and we like that it has dedicated action keys above the numbers. The lid and keyboard deck are brushed aluminum and look as chic as the Envy line. Both the lid and deck have an abstract pattern that's typical for HP notebooks. You can do anything from adjust the brightness to turn Wi-Fi on and off quickly and easily.

Although we like the soft touch finish on the keys, which prevents slippage, the keys felt a bit chintzy and hollow as we typed, especially toward the edges of the keyboard. The oversized trackpad is taken from the HP Envy line and it features the same buttonless design. When you press the left and right button areas, there's a tactile click so there are switches under the unbroken surface. HP and Synaptics have improved the driver since the first Envy models shipped, and the trackpad is easy to work with.

Performance

Using a low-voltage (CULV) processor has some obvious pros and cons. The most positive aspect is that they are incredibly efficient, giving you both a cool and quiet laptop and an excellent battery life. On the downside, they don’t give you the same performance as a mainstream CPU. While this system’s no speed demon, the 1.2-GHz Core i3-U330 processor and 3GB of RAM inside the tm2t combine to offer fairly snappy performance, when you’re not fighting the touchpad.

Some of the apps you might consider installing on the TouchSmart tm2t are 3D games. Unlike most ultraportables, the tm2t makes use of a dedicated graphics chip. In addition to the 1.2GHz Intel Core i3-330UM processor’s integrated graphics, the tm2t also includes an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 graphics chip.

Battery

HP claims that the included 6-cell battery is capable of almost 10 hours of uninterrupted use, but even if that is probably possible in theory you probably never use it with all the bells and whistles disabled. There’s no need to exaggerate in this case, because the Touchsmart TM2T offers excellent battery life regardless – it runs for around 5 to 7 hours depending on your current power plan.