HP Pavilion tx2000 tablet on sale in the US

CES has been over for a few weeks, and HP is at last ready to start handing over their new tx2000 convertible tablets to eagerly awaiting Americans.

Details for Australia haven't yet been properly announced, but we're waiting on some info from HP Australia PR (we should be able to get this guy for review in the coming months).

The US entry-level model (US$1,299) will buy a 2.1GHz AMD Turion processor, an NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 video card, a 160GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM.

Spending an extra US$1012 gets you an extra 100MHz in processing power (a 2.2GHz AMD Turion), a 250GB hard drive, Vista Ultimate, and HP'll chuck in a Verizon 3G ExpressCard.

Both models have HP's LightScribe laser disc labelling technology, a fingerprint reader, and a 12.1" touchscreen that according to Engadget, may or may not have a digitiser.

Stay tuned for Australian details.

[via Engadget]

HP adds Penryn to its Pavilion consumer notebooks

HP has (very) quietly rolled out the latest update to Intel's mobile Core 2 Duo processor, named Penryn, into its Pavilion dv2700, dv6700, and dv9700 consumer-targeted notebooks.

Over at HPShopping.com, on the configuration screen, there is now an option for an Intel T9300 2.50GHz Core 2 Duo processor for these notebooks, reports Notebookreview. This particular option is from the new line of Penryn mobile processors, which offers a 6mb Level 2 cache, and a reported 10% performance increase over the older Santa Rosa chipsets.

HP is one of the first major manufacturers to add Penryn to its line of consumer notebooks -- most of the new processors have gone into mobile gaming rigs. Dell, notably, has not implemented the new processors in any of their models.

In the US, the cost of the upgrade to Penryn on HP's configurator is US$225 (now about A$255), which is fairly high for a 10% performance boost. But as the price of technology continues to fall, we should see more affordable Penryn options in the coming weeks and months.

Read: Notebookreview [source]

Review: HP iPAQ 112 Classic Handheld

Pros

• Snappy, satisfying performance
• Runs Windows Mobile 6
• 802.11b/g WiFi
  
• Works well as an organiser

Cons

• No phone or cellular data connection
• Eerily, strangely light
• Fairly plain looking

HP is in the final stages of its plan to revitalise the ageing and increasingly tired iPAQ range of handhelds, and the first model to hit the shelves in Australia has been the iPAQ 112. This PDA - which cannot be referred to as a smartphone, as it is phoneless. The iPAQ 112 is actually a Windows Mobile 6 Classic device, which acts just as an organiser/PDA, similar to Palm consumer devices (not Treos) or older HP iPAQ models.

I was immediately interested in having a look at this device - just to see how a modern PDA-only device would actually perform. I wasn't expecting anything special, and I was neither surprised, nor disappointed.

Design

The iPAQ 112 is a fan of the all-too-common dark grey and black colour scheme that is, well, wild with PDAs and smartphones at the moment. Although it does look professional, I found the particular shade of grey featured in the iPAQ 112 to be quite boring. It's a darker, slate grey in a matte finish, unlike the more expensive iPAQ 221 which has a glossy black design.

The entire device seems very normal. On the face, there is a large, 3.5" TFT display, which is only at 240x320 resolution, so it looks stretched when switched on, which is unacceptable. Below this, there are four soft keys: (L-R) Calendar, Start, OK/Close, Messaging. In the middle of the soft keys is a five-way directional pad. Above the screen, there are dual notification LEDs, and an IR sensor.

On the left, there is a full-sized SD card slot, which is quite nice. On the right, there is the power button, and a voice notes shortcut. The bottom features a mini-USB connectivity port for sync and charge. This is commendable, as HP is only new to the world of mini-USB interfaces, and it works well.

However, after all this, the device gives you the feeling, that, in your hand, it is too light. I immediately thought that the battery was not inserted - but it was. It is eerily light, and I found it slightly unsettling, as I like my devices with a bit of weight to them.

Performance

Performance is the most significant feature of this device. It's a screamer - something I would have expected from the 624 MHz 32bit Marvell PXA310 processor. Everything feels snappy and satisfying. The operating system - Windows Mobile 6 Classic, which is vanilla except for the HP Wireless Manager addon - is fast and fair looking on the display.

The built-in WiFi (802.11b/g) and Bluetooth (2.0) connections were quick to activate and engage. Performance over an 802.11g wireless network was fair, but Internet Explorer Mobile was better than I expected.

All the standard Windows Mobile applications were fast. That was good, because with a simple, phoneless device such as this, you shouldn't have to make compromises. It's still A$399, and you would expect a good PDA for that amount, especially when competing Palm Tungstens can be found for significantly less.

Usability

Unfortunately, I couldn't use the HP iPAQ 112 as my main device. It didn't offer enough to be my standard everyday companion, but I tried to use it as much as possible as a good organiser. For this purpose, it is really good. For what it tries to be, it's great.

Google Maps, an application I added, delivered fast performance over my WiFi network. It retrieved directions well, and I could see this application being a good addition to this product for busy home users.

Otherwise, Windows Mobile 6 Classic is a fairly easy operating system to get around. Everything is laid out well, and although the screen is big with a small resolution (which is bad in our books), this makes buttons and fonts bigger, making this perfect for someone who can't be squinting around menus, or a senior who would appreciate such a device.

You could use the iPAQ 112 everyday and never have a problem. It's a good organiser, and it works fine.

Conclusion

The HP iPAQ 112 Classic Handheld is absolutely a niche product. In days when professionals and increasingly, home users, are looking for a product which incorporates a mobile phone, internet browser, music player, and e-mail retriever, the iPAQ 112 stands out as lacking the most important of this quad - the phone connection.

I cannot see this product making much of an impact. Even two years ago, the iPAQ 112 would have taken products like Dell's Axim to war and it would have easily won. But in 2008, it is simply not what people want anymore. This is unfortunate, as this is a well-made and helpful device. However, HP will make its money from QWERTY-keypadded smartphones and fast data connections, not organisers.

View: TB Tech Flickrstream: HP iPAQ 112

What we're reviewing at the moment

This afternoon, Will (our design adviser and occasional blogger) and I received from our friends at HP and HTC:

1. an iPAQ 112 Classic Handheld (from HP), featuring Windows Mobile 6 Classic, and
2. a Touch Dual (from HTC), featuring all the nice HTC Touch features, Windows Mobile 6 Professional, and a T9 numeric slider keypad.

We'll have our unboxings up soon, as well as the reviews over the next week.

A return to the 'old' PDA: HP's iPAQ 112

The HP iPAQ 112 Classic Handheld is a funny one. Whereas smartphone and PDA manufacturers such as HTC, Asus, Palm and even HP itself are leaning towards developing devices with full QWERTY keyboards, 3G phones and thin profiles all included, the iPAQ 112 goes against most of the now common PDA rules.

It's a return to the 'old' style of PDA, like the PalmPilots of the 1990s, and early HP iPAQs of the past few years. It features a big, beautiful oversize 3.5" screen, but no keyboard. It runs Windows Mobile 6... but it's the Classic edition, so there's no phone. It's quite thin, though.

What's my point: We're receiving one on Wednesday, for our review of a return to the 'old' PDA style in HP's latest budget model.

Stay tuned!

Review: HP Pavilion dv2632tx notebook

Over the week since I received my evaluation model of the HP Pavilion dv2632tx notebook computer, I have tried my hardest to test this computer in almost all my everyday tasks, in a variety of environments, as I do with all notebooks.

I’ll cover the different aspects of this notebook in categories.

Design

The design of the Pavilion dv2632tx is, like most of the new consumer HP laptops, lovely. All of the usable surfaces – the lid, the palm rests, screen and keyboard surrounds – are glossy plastic. When you first take the Pavilion home – or as I saw after receiving it from a courier through HP’s media program – you see the intricate and beautiful ‘Radiance’ theme on the black, glossy lid. It’s just a fancy array of circles and swirls... but it really does thrill for the first little bit of using the computer. After that, it looks great, but it’ll just become a fingerprint nightmare.

On the inside, the palm rests are decorated in the same fashion. If you think the pattern is subtle, you’re quite mistaken. It’s there, and the ‘Radiance’ pattern wants to be noticed.

The keyboard, many will be pleased to note, is not glossy, or decorated. It is made of a durable, matte material that feels nice under the fingers and gives the feeling that the keyboard can handle greasy fingers, crumbs, and hard use. Around so much glossy plastic it feels a little out of place, but it doesn’t feel cheap.

Along the palm rests, from the right, you’ll find a fingerprint scanner. This is a great help if you don’t want to remember all of those passwords you use for various websites, clubs, emails and the computer itself. The biometric scanner can keep them all under one umbrella and simply accept your own finger.

The touchpad is glossy, which sometimes can become a little annoying, as are the mouse buttons. You can also switch off the touchpad, via a button above, which is a nice feature if you work with a mouse.

Finally, above the keyboard, there is a row of touch-sensitive buttons, which are a really nice touch. They’re for controlling QuickPlay, HP’s own media manager. QuickPlay is somehow a little bit contradictory to Windows Media Centre, which comes standard with this computer as it is running Windows Vista Home Premium. However, they do work for most other applications. The best of these touch buttons is the volume up/down – to control it, you just swipe your finger up or down. This is quite lovely, and definitely gives this computer a more expensive feel.

Screen

The dv2632tx, I believe, has a great compromise when it comes to the screen. Most people go for a 13.3” laptop if they want a portable machine that still has a widescreen. However, many other people don’t need so much portability so they go for a 15.4” laptop, which affords more screen space and higher resolutions.

The mid-size screen on the Pavilion, at 14.1” is fantastic. It offers the portability of a 13” laptop, with the screen of a 15” notebook. I have very much enjoyed working with a screen of this size, and would preferably buy a laptop with this screen size for myself.

The screen is glossy, as well, which everybody knows will reflect the light quite a bit. And this one does. But with the way colours look on this laptop, you’d never care. The screen is particularly beautiful. Once again, I compare this laptop to the MacBook – and this screen is better.

Performance

Ah, the wonderful dual-core processor. They offer faster performance, quicker response and smaller wait times. Fantastic, one thinks. The dv2632tx does have a dual-core processor, in fact, an Intel Core 2 Duo, which is a good one. However, since it’s only powered at 1.5Ghz, it’s not exactly a screamer. However, although it’s processor speed seems to be fairly low, we need to take into account the fact that the dv2632tx is a Dual Core notebook – so therefore usually 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo will be quicker than say, a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 or Centrino.

The speed of the Pavilion is fine. It’s definitely not slow – this laptop would be perfect for students, home users, mums, or perhaps for some light office work.

Expansion

You can find more detailed ports expansion information on our main review site (http://web.mac.com/tom.bakes/tbtech).

For just a moment I’ll talk about the DVD drive: This is fantastic, as it has LightScribe labelling. So, with a blank disc that supports LightScribe, you can create your memories on DVD with the included Windows DVD Maker, then laser a nice label onto the DVD right there in the disc drive. Ingenious! Unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to try out the LightScribe feature, but I have used it on an HP desktop and it works well.

Operating System

The dv2632tx comes standard with Windows Vista Home Premium, an operating system that both suits it and runs very well. In the week that I have tested this notebook, Home Premium has suited the Pavilion to a ‘t’, except for the large annoyance I suffered when I discovered that Home Premium does not support the Samba (SMB) server networking environment. My home Windows servers run on the SMB protocol and for it to be left out in Home Premium is not good in TB Tech’s books.

For home users, contrary to the beliefs of many tech review sources, is better suited to home users than Windows XP Home or Professional, TB Tech finds. On average, it was easier for the average home user to navigate the Vista operating system as a first timer than it was to navigate XP. We did not have any hiccups with Vista over the week of testing, either, and all basic to moderate tasks were easily completed.

Portability

As I previously commented, 14.1” is a very nice size for a notebook – offering easy portability with a good size (wide)screen.

The Pavilion is no exception to this. It is light, at only 2.43kg (official weight for Pavilion dv2500), and it could easily be carried around every day, but you’d want it in a bag. The glossy surface of the lid makes it a bit difficult to carry securely in the hand.

Carrying this to a local cafe, to work, or just around the neighbourhood would an easy task.

Battery

The battery lasted between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 hours on our tests here at TB Tech. On average, with word processor use, spreadsheets open, browsing the internet over WiFi and listening to some music occasionally, we got approximately 2 3/4 hours of battery. Watching a DVD reduced this down to between 2 and 2 1/2 hours.

These numbers are quite respectable, as the screen is quite bright even at lower settings, and multimedia and internet on this device looks and sounds great.

Conclusion

The Pavilion dv2632tx has been a pleasure to use. The interesting and rare perks of the hardware, like the 2 headphone jacks, or the touch-enabled media controls, should be features in more notebooks.

If you are a home user, student, busy mother, or perhaps someone who does a balance of home use with light work use, the Pavilion dv2632tx could certainly be the notebook for you.


You can find the HP Pavilion dv2632tx Entertainment Notebook at many electronics or computer stores. It retails for $1,599.

HP's laptop updates... nothing special

Along with its barrage of new media desktops that we saw yesterday, HP has also given light to the new Pavilion tx2000 tablet and revamped the huge Pavilion HDX (the 20" HD notebook).

The tx2000 replaces the tx1000 in the 12.1" convertible tablet slot in HP's range. The tx1000 was released this time last year, perhaps hinting at yearly updates.

Specs are vague at best for the tablet but we know it'll feature HP's QuickPlay software, an integrated microphone and a webcam. We'll find out more by/during CES for sure.

As for the giant (the 20.1" HDX), we'll be seeing a full WUXGA 1080p display at 1920x1200 resolution with HP's UltraBrightview technology, a 512MB NVIDIA 8800 GTS video card, an optional Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, four Altec Lansing speakers with subwoofer, room for two hard drives, a digital TV tuner with hybrid analogue, a media remote, and an eSATA port.

Also new for the HDX is updated optical drive choices (keep in mind these all have additional CD/DVD read/write capability):

• the standard HD-read drive;
• an optional HD-read/write drive, and
• an optional Blu-Ray read drive.

I wouldn't expect to see these new models in Australia before March - and expect similar price tags to the models that they replace.

In that case, the Pavilion tx2000 tablet should retail for around A$2,300 and the standard, non-custom HDX for A$5,000 or under.

In Depth: HP Pavilion a6330f

This follows our list of today's announced HP desktops, servers, and displays.

HP Pavilion a6330f

A very inexpensive desktop featuring:

• 2.8GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core 5600+ processor
• NVIDIA nForce 430
• 3GB RAM (DDR2)
• 500GB SATA HD @ 7,200 rpm
• HP Pocket Media drive bay
• SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe labelling technology
• 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE graphics
• 15-in-1 (front-mounted) card reader

Other connectivity includes 6 USB 2.0 ports, 2x Firewire ports, VGA, and audio in / out. A multimedia keyboard and mouse is thrown in as well.

The a6330f will be available, in the US, later this month starting at US$649.

So in Australia we could be seeing a very capable, sub-A$1000 desktop before March.

In Depth: HP Pavilion Slimline s3330f

Original article: HP's huge media centre, server & display announcement

HP Pavilion Slimline s3330f

The Pavilion Slimline s3330f looks already destined to be a success - mainly because of the inclusion of a dual-playing Blu-Ray / HD DVD drive that also utilises LightScribe labelling technology, and writes to dual-layer DVDs. That's a lot for a single disc drive to pack, but the s3330f manages to throw it all in.

In its mini-tower form factor, the s3330f also includes:

• 2.8GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor
• 2gb RAM (DDR2)
• 500gb SATA HD @ 7,200 rpm
• HP Pocket Media drive bay
• 256mb NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• NTSC / ATSC TV tuners
• 15-in-1 (front-mounted) card reader

As for further connectivity, you'll find a generous serving of USB ports - 6 - audio in and out, DVI / HDMI ports, FireWire, and an included wireless keyboard and mouse, plus software.

It'll be in the US at the end of January starting at US$949, which means the s3330f could be a budget HD DVD and Blu-Ray player for Australians, before March, for near to A$1,100. What a deal.

[via Engadget, Ubergadget]

Huge HP Media PC + display announcement

HP only minutes ago outed an almost overwhelming amount of media centre PCs: expect more details soon - here's the products: (in-depth looks available by clicking the model links)

Computers / Servers:

• Pavilion a6330f - 2.8GHz Athlon 64 X2
• SL4282N & SL4782N HDTVS - Media Centre platform, 1080p, 802.11n WiFi
• Pavilion Elite m9150f - HD DVD, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad, 3GB RAM, 720GB HD, LightScribe, 802.11g
• Pavilion m8330f - 2.2GHz AMD Phenom quad-core CPU, 3GB RAM, 640GB HD, LightScribe
• MediaSmart Receiver - TV media manager. Extender for Media Centre powered, DivX, XVID, 802.11n
• Pavilion Slimline s3330f - Blu-Ray/HD DVD! 2.8GHz Athlon dual-core, 2GB RAM, 500GB HD, 1x disc bay with LightScribe, 802.11g.
• Media Vault (Pro) mv2100 & mv5100 Servers - Linux powered, not Home Server. One or two 500gb or 750gb hard drives depending on model. 2x USB, Gigabit Ethernet.

Displays:

• 22" w2207h - 1680x1050, widescreen, 5-millisecond response, VESA support, HDMI, VGA, one-touch brightness / contrast setting change
• 24" w2408h - 1920x1200, widescreen, ambient light sensor, 4x USB, otherwise same as w2207h.

Again, more info, and a more detailed rundown on each product will be posted shortly.

Australian price estimates will also be thrown in as pricing is currently only available in US$.

+ Expect to see more of these during CES.

[via Engadget, Ubergadget]