This 12.1-inch notebook might be small, but packs plenty of ports, including the propriety HP Expansion Port 3.

The tx1000 may have a touch sensitive screen, but a stylus is still provided for Tablet functionality.

The tx1000 in 'Tablet PC' mode. You can see the battery here because our unit was using an extended battery.

HP recently unveiled its latest efforts at the consumer desktop and notebook market in Seoul, Korea - the HP TouchSmart PC and the HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC. Both of these new flagship products are celebrated by HP to 'personalize' user experience with intuitive controls and touch screen displays. Today, we check out the HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC that is being touted to give consumers a brand new feel of multimedia entertainment, literally. At First Glance The 2kg HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC bears familiar glossy black surface, silver trimmings and sleek sexy curves that fits in with the rest of HP’s latest Pavilion DV series. It has a solid build and is well furnished with creature comforts such as discreet speakers that are actually quite capable, a generous amount of media shortcuts, a multimedia remote that slips into the base of the notebook, a webcam flanked by a dual microphone array and a fingerprint scanner. Stylus Style Aside from multimedia and security features, the tx1000 also offers plenty when it comes to data input - Tablet PC style. The HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC’s main highlight that sets it apart from other multimedia notebooks is its 'twist and touch' 12.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) BrightView touch screen LCD. The screen also features a thick protective coating that cushions bumps from fingertips and scratches, but it does noticeably dull the screen. The small size of the display itself can also be a thorn for a multimedia notebook; users should expect a fare bit of squinting and hunching over.

The stylus for the touch screen is found conveniently tucked away at the base of the notebook and can be retracted with a slight push. Should you lose your stylus, fingertips can also be used as this is a resistive touch screen that recognizes signals through pressure applied (though the responsiveness via this method of input various from person to person). Complimenting its functionality further are stylus specific features integrated into Microsoft’s Windows Vista (the tx1000 ships with Vista Home Premium). While the touch screen steals the limelight, HP also updated the good old touchpad with an excellent dimpled surface to silken navigation. Tuning it Up With an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 (1.8GHz) mobile processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM and an nVidia GeForce Go 6150 graphics solution within, the HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC should be able handle multimedia applications and most of Vista's razzle and dazzle well enough. Configurable up to a 200GB hard drive, it will also provide plenty of space for you to store your data in. Gamers however, should not expect much from this notebook's embedded graphics solution. The GeForce Go 6150 will not stand up to the performance of a more dedicated solution such as the GeForce Go 7600 or even the lower end 7300. Our Thoughts Summing it up, the HP Pavilion tx1000 Notebook PC puts an innovative twist to a generic notebook's functionality. Its touch screen and Tablet PC application adds great value, and is enough to eclipse its small screen and lack of graphics prowess for a multimedia notebook. Priced at US$1,506 (S$2,299), this is a sweet deal too as there are little to no Tablet PCs or notebooks out there that can offer so much for so little. About the only points to note when making the purchase decision is to check your comfort level with the screen, its touch sensitivity response and the overall system response for its configuration.

Product Specifications Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52 (1.6GHz) / TL-56 (1.8 GHz) / TL-60 (2.0GHz) Display: 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 'twist and touch' LCD Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM Storage: 80GB to 200GB SATA HDD Graphics: nVidia GeForce Go 6150 Optical Drive: Lightscribe Super Multi DVD Writer (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer support Input/Output: Altec Lansing Speakers, 3 x USB 2.0, 15 pin D-Sub VGA, S-video output, Microphone-in, 3.5mm audio jack, RJ-11, 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T RJ-45, 1 x Expansion Port 3, SPDIF output/headphones Dimensions: 306mm(W) x 224mm(L) x 313mm~387mm(H) Weight: 2kg