Review This is going to be good. I reviewed the first TouchSmart 600 all-in-one home Desktop computer in January 2010, and loved it, frankly. I fondly remember Reg Hardware readers expressing their admiration for my gushing praise at the time… That was sarcasm. Enough, I’m over it.
Finger friendly: HP’s TouchSmart 610
The TouchSmart 600 was a shiny, black, all-round entertainment party box, jack of all trades and master of fun. HP seemed to have ‘got’ what a shared family computer is supposed to be all about: not so much home office as home video, less Portal 2 and more Club Penguin.
Now with the TouchSmart 610, HP is trying to help you get more out of the touchscreen by making it ergonomically better to use. More on that later. Read the rest of this entry »
Every now and again, reviewing a new PC can be a pleasure rather than a chore. The feeling is not the result of blistering performance or a full set of ticks next to a spec list, but the natural response to using high-quality kit that works exactly as you want it to. HP’s TouchSmart 600 looks beautiful and reveals an approach to product design that suggests the company has thought carefully about every component and feature, and how best to implement them.
A touch of class? HP’s TouchSmart 600
The main body of the computer is an all-in-one CPU and 23in widescreen TFT-LCD monitor, encased in luxurious-looking, shiny black plastic. The display resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels, making it just right for full HD video playback. Inside the unit, HP has fitted an Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 64bit processor running at 2.13GHz, and supplied 4GB of system memory and a generous 1TB of hard disk as standard.
This is a good basis for any home computer, but the big difference with the TouchSmart 600 is in the product design. For example, a pair of rubberised feet raises the main unit from your Desktop by a few centimetres, leaving space to slide the keyboard all the way underneath when it’s not in use. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Still alive yet often ridiculed, tablet PCs haven’t exactly had the easiest of times since their conception at the turn of the century. HP is attempting to breathe new life into the tablet by aiming its new TouchSmart TX2 at home users, but Toshiba’s Portégé M750 takes a more traditional business-oriented approach.
Toshiba’s Portégé M750: sturdy
With an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 clocked at 2.26GHz and 2GB of DDR 2 memory, the M750-10K sits in the middle of Toshiba’s M750 line up. As far as physical looks go, very little has changed from last year’s Portégé M700.
This does come across as being a little lazy on Toshiba’s part, especially since the chassis is by no means perfect – we’ll cover this in more detail in a moment. We were also hoping to see improvements in the weight and thickness of the design, but at 2kg and 305mm wide, 239mm deep and 39.4mm tall, there are no changes here. Read the rest of this entry »
