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HP TouchSmart tm2 Looks Great in Person

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I just got back from a meeting with HP and got to take a brief look at the TouchSmart tm2 convertible. Warner ran through the specs in an earlier post and posted a few photos that HP provided. Those photos don’t do the computer justice though.

HP’s killed the shiny black plastic and replaced it with engraved metal. The tm2 feels better in the hand than the tx2. I like the fact that the six-cell battery doesn’t jut out the back of the tablet like previous models. One thing that may bother some users is that the rear of the base (near the hinge) is much thicker than the front of it.

Overall, this device is much, much more attractive than the tx2, which was a re-hash of the tx2000 series, which was a rehash of the tx1000 series that was introduced too many moons ago.

HP’s TouchSmart tablets are the only ones sold at Best Buy and the tm2 is going to do a much better job of representing the Tablet PC world to consumers than its predecessors.

15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. Rob Bushway

    01/07/2010 at 8:00 pm

    who’s digitizer is it? n-trig, wacom, etc?

  2. Jim

    01/07/2010 at 8:03 pm

    Yes, can you set you hand on it and take notes?

  3. Absolutely NoOne

    01/07/2010 at 8:26 pm

    What’s the most powerful CPU that you can get in it?

  4. GoodThings2Life

    01/07/2010 at 8:31 pm

    Is it available in a single color instead of this awful black/silver combination?

  5. Xavier Lanier

    01/07/2010 at 11:41 pm

    I didn’t get a chance to ink on it quite yet. There are tons of HP netbooks running around, but only 1 tm2 around. I hope to sit down for an InkShow sometime tomorrow or Saturday.

    To answer your questions:
    @Rob It’s Wacom- I know that’ll make you happy.

    @Jim Yes, there’s a proximity sensor that’s supposed to take care of that issue. I’ll try it for myself as soon as possible.

    @GoodThings2Life- Only the two-tone color scheme for now. I really like the metal vs. the glossy plastic fingerprint magnet finish of the tx2.

    @Absolutely No One – I’m not sure of the specs, but I’d imagine they’re relatively mild.

  6. AmbiDextrose

    01/07/2010 at 11:55 pm

    – Is the tablet able to register more than 256 pressure levels for the pen? What about (pen) tilt?

    – Is the capacitive sensor limited to tracking only up to two fingers or can it track more?

    – Will the older Tablet PC pens still work with the new GD-series digitizers?

    – Any plans on moving this to Core i3/i5 territory in the future?

  7. Mike Reilly

    01/08/2010 at 1:18 am

    I was thinking of buying this until I saw that it’s 4.8 lbs. That’s ridiculously heavy for a 2010 covertible tablet.

    I had the HP 2730p at 3.7 lbs. I tried taking it to the construction site to record notes. After a half hour my hand was so numb, I thought I would drop it. I sold it.

    I’m waiting for a light, wacom pen/capacitive tablet pc with decent specs. This had most of what I want, but failed in weight.

  8. Jim

    01/08/2010 at 5:23 am

    Is the technical terms “capacitive sensor” what indicates that the touch screen is supposed to be ok for handwriting. Just wondering how to decipher information on all the touchscreen “tablets” to tell what might actually function like a tablet pc for handwriting. thanks for any help.

  9. Michael

    01/08/2010 at 6:43 am

    Is this thing really going to weigh 4.8lbs! Wow! May have to look elsewhere even though the specs are impressive.

  10. Fleon

    01/08/2010 at 9:40 am

    How about the screen? Is it as lousy as the tx2?

  11. Bobby

    01/08/2010 at 9:57 am

    Where does it say that this thing weighs 4.8lbs? That seems unreal for this since it looks pretty thin and doesn’t even have an optical drive.

  12. Bobby

    01/09/2010 at 11:55 am

    Did they say which ATI Graphics chip would be available as an option when ordering this?

  13. ninetynine

    01/13/2010 at 8:38 pm

    @Jim
    A passive digitizer and a resistive touch screen are the same thing. what this means is the screen takes pressure as its input method. That means that anything that touches the screen can activate it, including your palm. The Asus t91MT has this type of screen but has software that rejects your palm so you can write like you’re writing on normal paper…in theory it ends up slowing down the screen’s ability to read your writing, distorting and skipping in your writing.

    An active digitizer is a touch screen that activates only when a special pen is near or touching the screen. It responds much faster than resistive screens and means you can write on the screen with the same speed and position as regular pen and paper. You cannot user your finger to activate the touchscreen.

    Capacitive is similar to an active digitizer but only accepts input from an organic object (ie. your finger). This is what is in the iPhone and it is very responsive and ideal for multimedia oriented touch screens.

    Many tablets combine both an active digitizer and a capacitive/resistive screen to give dual functionality. However, this compromises screen quality and is very expensive.

  14. Chris

    01/20/2010 at 3:09 pm

    Thanks for posting the comment about the battery. I bought a tx2 but returned it unopened in hopes that tm2 would solve that ugly, unbalanced problem! Am a little bummed that tm2 will cost more for less power (ram, hard drive), but hopefully less heat will make it worthwhile.

    And hopefully I’ll get a year or two of use before someone comes out with a really great hybrid where the tablet part detaches.

  15. Suhel

    01/26/2010 at 6:03 am

    when is HP launching HP Touchsmart Tm2 in India. Please reply soon

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