jkOnTheRun- First impressions of the HP tx2000 Entertainment Notebook

Cimg0544This is by no means a full review but I’m hearing from so many interested parties about the HP tx2000 Entertainment Notebook that I want to give my very brief first impressions.  The tx2000 is a reasonably priced Tablet PC with a dual digitizer that has some interesting features that are uncommon in the genre.  First up you’ll notice that HP calls this an Entertainment Notebook and not a Tablet PC and after playing with it for a day I can see why they do.  The tx2000 is a great device for entertainment functions as it is a Windows Media Center in addition to a Tablet PC.  The cool remote control that runs the WMC fits in the ExpressCard slot for storage and transport and the screen is drop-dead gorgeous for watching videos on the integrated DVD drive.

The tx2000 with the AMD Turion 2X64 processors is without a doubt the fastest Tablet PC I have ever used.  This thing runs like greased lightning and everything just happens instantly at all times.  The 4 GB of memory probably helps in this regard too but I think most of it are those two processors from AMD.  Windows Vista 64-bit seems faster too so maybe it’s the entire package that flies.  Whatever it is I like it a lot and now when I leave the tx2000 and jump over to another machine, even the MacBook Pro, the other machine feels slow.

Cimg0551The dual digitizer is a welcome upgrade over the touch-only predecessor, the tx1000.  The touch is feather light and reminds me a lot of videos I’ve seen of the Dell Latitude XT with its capacitive digitizer.  I can barely stroke the screen and have things happen just right which is very nice.  The dual digitizer auto-switches so when I want to ink and bring the pen to the screen the touch-screen turns off to prevent interference and this works well too.  All in all the tx2000 is a breeze to use with either touch or the pen and is well implemented.  It’s especially cool to run the Media Center by touch.

Cimg0550The tx2000 is pretty heavy for a Tablet PC and I wouldn’t want to carry it as my main Tablet every day.  It can get pretty heavy in the hands after a bit but it works great sitting on a desk or in my lap watching TV.  I would peg the tx2000 as a great notebook for those who like to use the Tablet bits occasionally.  It is very good in that scenario because like I said, it’s FAST!  I haven’t used it long enough yet to get a good feel for battery life but I’ve been using it with the extended battery and so far it hasn’t run out too quickly but I haven’t timed it.   Not a benchmark by any means but it’s all I can say at this point.  I’ll be coming back with additional coverage before too long and a video or two but I wanted to get this out to those of you with an interest in the HP tx2000.  Did I say this puppy is FAST?

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