HP Pavilion tx2500z Puma-based tablet PC available now

For those of you looking to get into HP's Pavilion tx2500z Puma-based tablet PC, the time has come. This "echo" inlaid-design ultraportable sports a 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 swivel touch screen with handwriting capture, AMD Turion Dual-Core processor, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics chipset, and WiFi. Other features of note include a fingerprint reader, webcam, 5-in-1 media card reader, and 3 USB ports. Unfortunately -- and we think this should be a standard on subnotebooks starting yesterday -- no built-in broadband wireless. That said, you can add a Verizon Wireless V740 ExpressCard during customization checkout. The base configuration will run you a somewhat reasonable $1,049. Go to it, tablet scribblers!

[Via Computermonger]

[Sarig @ Jun 11th 2008 6:22PM]

"Unfortunately -- and we think this should be a standard on subnotebooks starting yesterday -- no built-in broadband wireless. "

Whuh? What's this about?

[404 @ Jun 11th 2008 6:25PM]

Built in modem for mobile broadband networks I think.

Dunno why Engadget think it should be mandatory, it's not that popular in a lot of places. Plus the TX's are budget machines, making it optional helps keep the price down.

[Alexander The Best @ Jun 11th 2008 6:26PM]

From what I've been able to grasp it seems that more and more subnotebooks are not including an EVDO card (since it's size is made for business use, EVDO is pretty much a must in this world). Sure you can get one in a PCMCIA or Express Slot, but they tend to be rather unsightly and jut out an inch + from the notebook (and tend to get caught on things and break). What Engadget is trying to point out is that yet another notebook is following the trend of leaving that card out. At least they offer the Verizon card. But if you have AT&T, you get to go to a store and get one yourself... Not my idea of great planning on HP's part considering this notebook is targeted solely at the business market.

[404 @ Jun 11th 2008 6:33PM]

Alexander: it's not targeted at the business market, it's marketed as an "entertainment" machine and it's in the Home & Home Office section of the HP site ;-)

[Alexander The Best @ Jun 11th 2008 6:39PM]

Sorry 404. When I see a computer with a 12" screen, I don't ususally think entertainment (That's reserved for Alienware, XPS, Voodoo, Blackbird, etc.). I usually think portable business machine.

[404 @ Jun 11th 2008 6:42PM]

Nah, the TX is known in Tablet circles as a budget machine: cheap and cheerful. Hence why it's not splurged with Centrino and Nvidia components.

Not a bad thing mind, it's a good sight cheaper than other tablets in the UK.

[feffrey @ Jun 11th 2008 8:54PM]

Yea they are part of their consumer line, which pretty much means they have a super glossy screen, and the built quality sucks.

[chris fredette @ Jun 12th 2008 12:39PM]

This is the most convenient way of not ripping on Apple. As we all know, none of their laptops support that and their most portable(the air) goes out of it's was to make it difficult to even add a usb adapter.
I assume the engadget/mac fanboys are ripping pissed at this but can't bring themselves to say Apple sucks. This feature rich laptop for a low price must be ripped on somehow without making a negative Apple comment.

[Marc @ Jun 11th 2008 6:28PM]

How is 4.59 pounds an ultraportable? What does that make the Fujitsu 1510 and 1610 machines?

Marc

[Good_Bytes @ Jun 11th 2008 6:28PM]

Good! Now how about learning the word RESPECT among others, learning English and how to type on the keyboard for dummies. You can learn these things at your own speed in your cave while not bothering anyone.
Meanwhile, shut up!

[Good_Bytes @ Jun 11th 2008 6:28PM]

Oh great the reply system is busted again..
The above post is a reply to: FIRSSSSSSSST

[Alex @ Jun 11th 2008 6:32PM]

This is a decent price.

Bad cpu, what kind of graphics is that? And the resolution, at this point, that should be a joke.

I wanna see some ground breaking stuff here...not the ordinary three-year old tablet...

[Alex @ Jun 11th 2008 6:33PM]

Congratulations.

[Toshi @ Jun 11th 2008 6:37PM]

Your mom must be very proud.

[Aklay47 @ Jun 11th 2008 6:41PM]

This isnt a business tablet.
Its only available in the home section of HPs site.
Kind of obvious when the thing is covered in swirls and other artsy patterns.
Pretty much geared torwards young people.
We'll probably be seeing adds with Gwen steffani or some hiphop artist showing this thing off.

[Low Ranked @ Jun 11th 2008 6:42PM]

Not if she does his laundry, which I'm willing to bet she does.

[Pochi @ Jun 11th 2008 6:45PM]

Does anybody here really enjoy writing on a tablet PC...?

I hate it.

[LloydChiro @ Jun 11th 2008 7:09PM]

I've had my Tablet PC for about three years now. While handwriting is never faster than typing, it works great in a pinch.

Tablets are great for reclining in a chair or the couch and just using your pen to tap away at a website, a game, or creative software like video editing. It sure beats using a touch pad. Plus, you can create your own handwritten fonts, make on the spot drawings when you are taking notes, or really easily dragging and dropping files.

[Reader @ Jun 11th 2008 8:45PM]

People've become low rank happy. Pochi asked a question and gave his opinion and got owned for it. I can understand though, some days I just want to low rank everyone.

[link8583 @ Jun 11th 2008 6:46PM]

arghhh!!
that must be a joke, I've just bought a tx2150ef last saturday :'(
I shouldn't have read the comments in the article about what tablet pc to choose on engadget last week.......

Yet, I wonder if the autonomy is going to be less crappy with the tx2500z than with the tx2150

[Nihility @ Jun 11th 2008 7:27PM]

return it

[iofthestorm @ Jun 11th 2008 11:06PM]

I bought a tx2110us about three weeks ago. Damnit. Dunno how long Circuit City's return policy lasts. But I'd be kind of annoyed to redo all the settings and everything and install stuff the way I like it.

[Vinay @ Jun 11th 2008 6:50PM]

Just three questions:


1. Does it have an active touchscreen?

2. Is the graphics card, a dedicated one?

3. Does this have FireWire / iEEE 1392?

[Tyler @ Jun 11th 2008 7:26PM]

@ Vinay

In short...

1. Yes, it has an active wacom digitizer with pen input and a passive touch screen you can use your fingers on.

2. The graphics are dedicated

3. No firewire / iEEE1392

[temugen @ Jun 11th 2008 7:05PM]

It has both active and passive digitizers :) Unlike its grandparent, the tx1000z which only came with a barely functioning passive digitizer. The active/passive combo works out very nicely.

[Big Rhonda @ Jun 11th 2008 7:13PM]

It has a dual digitzer so it's both aactive and passive. When the pen is within range of the screen the passive digitizer is shut off so that there is no vectoring when you write.

[iofthestorm @ Jun 11th 2008 11:07PM]

Integrated graphics actually, but they're somewhat decent.

[Vinay @ Jun 11th 2008 6:51PM]

I have a Gateway E 295c.


The active touchscreen, with the glass surface, is absolutely wonderful.

[_||_ @ Jun 11th 2008 7:10PM]

it's a dual digitizer active touch + wacom tablet.

the graphics card is integrated, but is widely believed to be the best integrated card available. (mobile 780G chipset)

it does have firewire.

the processor is one of the newer class of turion, thus it's got performance closer to that of the core 2 t7xxx line. core 2 t9xxx still beats it.

it's 12" and the weight can be reduced to 4 lbs when traveling by replacing the dvd drive with a place-holder.

[Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Jun 11th 2008 7:12PM]

God, if only the TX2000 series would have Intel and a much less grainier screen.....

[Vinay @ Jun 11th 2008 7:17PM]

The screen is grainy because of the passive touchscreen, which is probably pressure-based, thus requiring a soft plastic, easily scratched screen surface.


If the thing had only active touch, the surface would have been a much clearer glass layer.

[Big Rhonda @ Jun 11th 2008 7:15PM]

Sorry I didn't see temugen's reply. :-)

[nimby @ Jun 11th 2008 7:21PM]

Anonymous commenter, I know, so take this for what it's worth.

I currently use an HP TX1320 as my main machine, and overall I'm quite pleased with it.

My understanding is that with the TX2000 series, HP has significantly improved the responsiveness of the touchscreen (upgraded to WACOM? Don't know), which is a huge issue with the TX1000 series. Handwritten notes, drawing, etc. are completely impractical on the TX1000; I knew this going in, and only use the touchscreen to manipulate UI elements in tablet mode.

The primary concern for anybody thinking about purchasing this machine is HP's continued use of AMD's Turion processor. I understand that Puma is a new revision of the chip, and perhaps it deals with the problems of its predescesor, but that has yet to be seen. Those problems are 1) Heat 2) Battery life and 3) Underpowered.

1) The TX1000 series gets hot. Not normal laptop hot, but "never leave it running on a remotely flammable surface" hot.
2) Battery life is unacceptable for anyone for whom "mobile computing" means using the laptop in places where you can't plug it in, rather than just moving to different locations in the house. 1- 1.5 hours MAX, even running nothig but office applications and browser.
3) Underpowered for a chip made in 2007. Besides which, on battery power the chip is throttled down to the point where it is literally impossible to play a movie file (particularly itunes purchases). Trying to override this in Vista power settings has no effect (trust me, I spent several hours patiently going through every single advanced power option available).

None of these were dealbreakers for me, but peope need to make sure their planned usage scenarios are compatible with these obstacles.

Again, Puma may resolve all these issues, but I haven't read anything definitively proving it, and until then caution should be used before buying any chip named Turion.

[Nihility @ Jun 11th 2008 7:32PM]

I got a tx1000 series. Agree with all the points. Battery life is horrible, CPU is slugish. Graphics is a NVIDIA 6150 GO which is pathetic and results in unsmooth acceleration of the vista GUI.

@nimby, you can set the unplugged CPU performance in the BIOS. Switch from power saver to performance. Of course, battery life will be even more pathetic ;(

[0megapart!cle @ Jun 11th 2008 7:32PM]

The TX line is quite the show of confidence towards AMD from HP. The only consumer tablet they offer, and they don't even offer an Intel version. Certainly would be one of the only reasons I would think of buying AMD nowadays.

[Vidit Bhargava @ Jun 11th 2008 7:48PM]

puma??? i wonder why this doesnt have leopard (mac OS) running over it ;)

[Matt Keller @ Jun 11th 2008 8:02PM]

I don't see any huge issue with using AMD. My fathers PC has a Athlon 64 X2 and it's fine. Hell, it was top of the AMD Dell line in its time. This is more powerful than it, so it shouldn't be a problem. Also cheap tablets are win.

[ziggit @ Jun 11th 2008 8:06PM]

Its not a puma, its a warthog!!

[deyanimay @ Jun 11th 2008 9:40PM]

RvsB woot.

[Some Kid @ Jun 11th 2008 8:30PM]

its amazing really cause all of(or most of) the commentors on engadget use intel, and i definatly dont blame em.But for those of us that do have AMD, we are the only ones that can really comment on its performance.
in my house, we have all HPs, therefore we have all AMD computers. They are truly, and i mean truly, pathertic. Thismachine i am using is fitted with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, which is clocked at 2.2 GHz. It also is supposed to have AMD Live! and it oes not help. The thing, also with a NVIDIA 8800 GT and 2 gigs of ram, con barely run Simcity, none the less any real game. The thing is unbelievably slow. I bought this computer because it was economical and it had AMD Live!, which i thought would be perfect to watch shows that i put on my computer from my tivo. It did nothing. that is why i shelled out large amounts of dough on the 8800.
But for the Lappies, we have one on a turion and one on an Athlon. Since this is Turion, il talk about the one with Turion. It is a TL-64 Gold at 2.4 GHz and it is nowhere near the performance of a Intel C2D at 2.4 GHz. to sum up this computer, it sucks for how much we paid($949)
HPs comitment to AMD is obsurd. They have decentprocs if all you do is internet or word proccesing. i do much more than that and it cannot handle it. the real problem is that most of their computers with AMD standard do not have Intel siblings. This would need to be a pretty fast puma to keep up with the C2Ds
im not surprised intel was monopolizing, because to compete with AMD they would need to go back to Celeron. Thats my 2 cents(which is increasingly becoming worth 1 cent as the dollor does just a dandy job)
all from the eyes of a twelve year old!

[Jared @ Jun 12th 2008 3:18AM]

Some Kid, you shouldn't bash AMD because of your poor decisions. You are making a good company sound bad because you didn't do your research. AMD Live was nothing but marketing, the same with Intel Viiv.
I also find it very hard to believe that any recent processor with an 8800 and 2GB of ram can barely play Sim City. Your problem is most likely due to software issues such as too much bloatware or having background programs running.

[BSalita @ Jun 11th 2008 8:31PM]

What is the TDP of Puma vs. older Turion vs. C2D?

Is it multi-touch ready?

[Some Kid @ Jun 11th 2008 8:46PM]

nope im pretty sure they arent
well, the C2D is but i mean, we coulda guessed that
i hope this puma platform is a step up from the current Turion
also, i forgot to mention that the Turion and Athlon Lappies cant be placed anywhere where they could burn
Plastic is a definite nono for how hot they can get
and for the turion, at mots 2 hrs of battery while on it
maybe 5 on standyby
really a pathetic waste of elements(Silicon, copper, gold, every other metal they put into a proc)

[Jonny @ Jun 11th 2008 10:05PM]

These are very nice laptops, I just wish they'd make it so where people cant uninstall the drivers.

I work at Circuit City, and I've seen every one we've sold come back because someone fiddled with the touchscreen driver.

[palehorse @ Jun 11th 2008 11:05PM]

I'm waiting patiently for the Gigabyte m912.. :)
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Notebook/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2835
If that one fails to impress, I'll come back for the HP...

[Silvio @ Jun 12th 2008 12:11AM]

You should have mentioned the fact that it includes the infamous Windows Vista (yuck!!). Many people would detract from buying if you had done that.

[Kai @ Jun 12th 2008 6:57AM]

Well Windows Vista does have rather good support for tablets (which this device is)

[MJD @ Jun 12th 2008 12:35AM]

I have the Tx2011au.
Its my first tablet. I thinks its quite good. BUT

1) poor battery life. i need to buy a bigger battery right out of the box. 4 cell packs are not able to cut the mustard.
2) it gets damn hot, very hot.

[Keith @ Jun 12th 2008 12:41AM]

I'm wondering if anyone checked the HP page. I'm not sure what everyone else's idea of "broadband wireless" is, but 802.11 b/g is included in the laptop. 802.11 a/b/g/n is an upgrade as well as bluetooth.

[mrmojoz @ Jun 12th 2008 2:08AM]

"i am using is fitted with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, which is clocked at 2.2 GHz. It also is supposed to have AMD Live! and it oes not help. The thing, also with a NVIDIA 8800 GT and 2 gigs of ram, con barely run Simcity, none the less any real game. The thing is unbelievably slow."

Wow, this proably the most clueless thing I've ever seen on this site. If you can't play a game on your PC (and I have no idea why you thought AMD Live has anything to do with performance...) it has nothing to do with the CPU being too slow. That CPU is fast enough to play anything that a 8800 GT can handle and a similarly budgeted Intel CPU wouldn't have made any diffrence in performance. This is either an outright lie or your computer is broken and you are blaming the CPU for some reason.