Are all HP TX2Z's built horribly?

So I was playing around with an HP TX2Z at Best Buy, as I am in the market for either a tablet PC or a Macbook Air for graduate school and wanted some hands-on time with a TX2Z.
This thing was awful. It creaked, it was flimsy, the display actually wiggled a little when in tablet mode which would make it tough to write on.

Does anyone have any experience with one of these that is actually sturdy? I'm wondering if it was just the floor sample that had been abused or if they all really are pieces of junk with an $850 price tag.

 

I am on my 2nd tx2z, because I failed to notice that my first one had an issue with the bezel almost separating from the lcd (there is a gap).

My 2nd one feels sturdy. There is the plastic-y feel, however I tried to press on every part of it, and I don't feel any flex (fortunately). It does wiggle a little tiny bit when on tablet mode, but that happens if I wiggle it on purpose. I don't feel any wiggle when writing down notes, in fact, the writing experience is pretty darn good.

 

Well, for the price there has to be some drawbacks. The build on these aren't the best. However, my tx2500(which is essentially the same as the tx2 few differences) for the past year and has lasted use pretty well. Its been dropped once but still chugs along.

EDIT: If you arent looking to buy right now. HP has a new version (tm2) coming soon. Might be worth a look over the tx2.

 

Well I won't be buying until next May or June so I can wait on the TM2.

 

I haven't been up close to a tablet in a while but, the one you saw is probably a warn out demo model, with kids there every day turning the screen around and so on. Never buy a floor model, especially a TX2.

 

by next may or june several new models will be available and the TX2 could in theory be discontinued.

Rule of Thumb; buy what you need now, no more and no less.

 

Well, as someone who recently recently bought one and can't return it, I suppose I should give you my opinion of it.

HP has crippled the processor while you are mobile: it will run max at half speed. Now this actually isn't as horrible a design decision as it sounds: at full speed, at least on my laptop, the processor will throttle down after about 2 minutes of full load.

I ran a weeks worth of tests undervolting and underclocking the processor. I ended up settling on 1.4ghz in order to avoid throttling (even at this speed the processor will hit 89 degrees C) and in order to lower heat. At my full 2.3ghz the processor would hit 105 degrees C before I shut it off (you can kill the throttling function using turionpowercontrol, though you should note it's not HTC).

I think the reason most people mention heat but don't say it is this bad is because most people are not aware of power states 6 and 7. The processor, if unmodified, will constantly be switching to a half frequency power state when running at full speed. Once I 'fixed' this though I ran into the heat issues.

Anyways, aside from heat build quality is an issue as well. Specifically the power circuit at the top left corner (where you plug in the actual power supply) emits a high pitched buzz whenever the screen is at anything but the lowest brightness setting (again for me: most users report that setting the brightness to 40% 'resolves' this issue). That is just poor design and is NOT related to the ntrig hardware (I disassembled my system to change the thermal compound and while it was disassembled I disconnected the ntrig hardware: the buzzing was still there after). There is also another buzz that is slightly higher frequency and is very hard to hear, but I can hear it when in a silent room and typing (it stops momentarily whenever a key is pressed).

I think the chassis is OK for the most part. The hard drive cover flexes a bit when you carry it battery side up. The screen does wiggle a little when you type, but it is not all that noticeable. There is no flex in the keyboard (it doesn't flex when I type), however my keyboard seems slightly warped: there is a bend in the top right row of keys, near where one of the screws hold the keyboard down.

The screen is not as bad as I thought, but not as good as I hoped either. It can be very bright, but there is a sparkly effect that does not show well in photos. It is like looking through a layer of gold dust, though a very light layer. Honestly doesn't give me headaches or anything (and i would notice: I use this laptop as my work computer).

In order of relevance...

Cons:
Heat (even with undervolting and thermal compound change I couldn't get it to NOT throttle at full speed)
Buzzing sound(s) (very irritating, though even at the lowest brightness setting the screen is usable. This is probably as irritating as the heat.)
Screen (like looking through a layer of gold dust, not all that bad but next on the list)

Pros:
Price (I picked up this unit for 550 dollars. Can't beat that, not in the tablet sector anyways. I think a Toshiba M400 comes close BUT it has its own problems.)
Performance (Even at 1.4ghz, it will lay waste to any netbook. The Radeon 3200 IGP makes the deal for me. I can play TF2 on this unit with 4x AA at full resolution.)
Battery life (undervolted I get about 3 hours 45 minutes of power points use, which is what I need it for.)
Office noise (can't hear the damn buzzing, even at full brightness, if there is enough background noise.)

I bought the notebook knowing I would have troubles with heat and noise. I figured I could deal with it somehow, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. I am going to go back in and do some modding (have an idea, will update if it works well) in hopes of lowering the heat. I may even replace some of the components of the power circuit in hopes of killing the buzzing. Basically though if I were in the US I would return the damn thing and either wait for a TM2 (no optical drive and likely based on the Turion II series) or buy a different tablet. As is I am going to be selling it when the TM2 becomes affordable/available.

To sum it up I really wouldn't recommend this unit to someone who 'just wants it to work'. Even if you are brave enough to venture inside, unless you are brave enough to get out the soldering iron and a pair or pliers, it may not help. I am still sort of happy with it though.

 

I am always at 40%+ brightness (at least 60%, and at the moment at 80%). I am plugged in and I don't hear any high-pitch or buzzing sound. Didn't hear any either on my 1st tx2 that I returned (specifically, tx2-1011au).

The screen indeed is speckly, which is very noticeable when looking at "white" pages.

The highest my temp I have gotten (based on HWmonitor) is about 88-89. I was playing an old game (Battle Realms, which of course runs very smoothly at max settings, it ancient anyway), plugged in, and was on "high-performance".

We don't have extended batteries here in our country, so with the default 6-cell that came with it, I can barely make 2hrs, on HP recommended power plan.

Fan used to be loud until I upgraded to windows 7, where I now only hear the fan on boot up.

The idea of seeing a TM2 is exciting nonetheless.