just ordered tx2500z

for $740 plus tax and recycling fee comes out to $800.


2gb ram, rm-70 2ghz cpu, 160gb hd, fingerprint reader/webcam/mic, 8cell battery.

cant wait to get it. will post hires pics of unboxing, and review.

 

Neat! HP seems to be offering lots of coupons these days. Maybe they just want to clear out old inventory but still good choices for bargain hunters.

Good luck with your new tablet.

 

It'll be interesting to see if the RM-70 runs any cooler.

The other processors have already been covered, more or less: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=263085

 

can anyone tell me if this was a good deal?

- HP Pavilion tx2500z Entertainment NB
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
- AMD Turion(TM) X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-70 (2.0GHz)
- 12.1" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800) w/Integrated Touch-screen
- FREE Upgrade to 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3200 Graphics
- FREE Upgrade to HP Imprint Finish (Echo) + Microphone + Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
- 802.11b/g WLAN
- 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
- 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
- HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

CA Tax: $57.27
Shipping: Free
Recycling fee*: $6.00
Grand total: $802.26


im having buyers regret

 

looks like a good deal to me, i just ordered mine for $920

 

alright my unit came today.

several things i want to comment.

1. this unit is very hot. even though i ordered the lowest cpu speed (rm-70), the temperatures(measured by everest), was 50-90 c . honestly i dont think this chasis was made for such hot running cpu/gpu.

2. very loud while on ac. compared to my last laptop, this was 2times louder. only time when i dont hear the unit is when running on battery. fan is constantly on, on low setting is bearly heard, but on medium(90 percent of the time) and high, you cant even ignore it if you wanted to.

3. graphics card is not all that powerful. played warcraft3, highest setting with 1024x768 resolution, average around 45fps, and i havent even got into heavy action scenes yet. compared to my old laptop, which has an ati xpress1100, this new gpu is about 20-30 percent faster, which isnt that much better in my opinion.

4. keyboard feels very loose at the delete and ctrl keys.

5. first time opened the box, the intruction pamplet look like its been step on. open up unit and find small scratches on the speaker. did they hirer slave labor to package my unit?

6. touchscreen and pen are surprisingly responsive, although now that i have the unit, i dont see myself using either as a keyboard/mice replace. my arms simply got tire after a few minutes. a great novelty to show off, but overall not very practical.

7. unit is bigger and heavier than i thought. weights about 4.5 pounds without battery and 5.5 pounds with battery. the battery itself isnt that good, even though i got the 8 cell. did a quick test, balance power setting, websurfing. got to 88 percent after 30 minutes. im guessing it can do 3.5 hours. isnt much better than my old laptop and the extra weight/bulk of the 8 cell isnt worth it.

just some quick initial thoughts. will post more detail reviews and shots after i get more usage. will have to rate a 6/10 so far.

 

1. The heat is quite normal for the tx's. The only good thing is that the chassis doesnt heat up as much as it should given the cpu temperatures.

2. As far as the fan noise on A/C is concerned, the only way I have found around it is to set the cpu power management at 50%. This cuts down on cpu performance but the fans will run on low most of the time.

3. There is a setting in the BIOS to disable the fan always on setting, I would recommend keeping it enabled since a constant low hum is better than it switching between on/off and if you are on A/c its going to run all the time in any case.

4. Ummm...its still an IGP. Not a real substitute for a dedicated graphics card and in any case it performs closer to the 8400M GS which is quite impressive for an IGP.

5. Yeah, I have had several HP's in the past which came from different ODM's. The tx2500 built by quanta arrived in the worst condition I have seen for a HP laptop. The interior box was mangled but everthing else was fine, so I didnt bother but yeah HP needs to learn some packaging lessons from Apple.

In any case, you have a 21 day return window, if you are not satisfied just return it.

 

Yup, the heat and fan issues are a pain. I'm concerned about the CPU lifetime, given the high heat. See the other threads for details.

The pen is best used in tablet mode, with touchscreen mode disabled (to prevent accidental input via your palm). As you've noticed, it's generally not terribly practical if you have to hold your arm up towards the display (but I'm sure that someone will find it useful). However, you really have to use something like OneNote or Evernote to take full advantage of tablet mode; the included software isn't terribly useful.

 

Ive had mine for about a week and im loving it. Ive posted some videos on youtube of the 3d benchmark test and me trying out the laptop on WoW. If you want to check them out just search tx2500z and you should be able to find it.

I had a question on the wacom pens... so we can just purchase any wacom pen and it will work no problem on the tablet??? I figure the biggest advantage of having a wacom pen is the ergonics of the higher end ones.. Is there any other advantage of getting a new pen over the stock hp pen??

Thanks in advance.
Mark

 

The RM-70 is based off the older Turion X2 processors. Even though they run at a lower frequency, it still will produce more heat and consume battery life compared the newer Turion Ultra processors (ZM80, ZM82)

The Turion Ultras are AMD's first dedicated mobile processor line (unlike the older Turions which were desktop based processors with power management). They run considerably more efficient and cooler than TurionX2's. You should have done your research on the processors before making your decision.

Blame HP (and the majority of notebook manufacturers) for piling on bloatware that slows down even the fastest of computers. Start uninstalling all the useless programs or better yet do a clean install of Vista. It should do wonders to your tx2500z.

It currently is the fastest IGP in the market. Plays Oblivion on low-medium, Halflife2 on Full, Witcher on medium, GRID on medium. All on native resolution. This is unheard of in an IGP platform.

Could be a manufacture defect. My keyboard feels pretty solid.

 

Yeah, any Wacom compatible pen should work. The only sticking point would be that some of them might not fit into the slot designed for the HP pen.

This is a common misconception. But the Turion X2 RM 70 is based off of the same Griffin core as the Turion Ultra ZM 80/82/86. The only difference is the L2 cache which is reduced in half. Rest of the power management features & any new additions which are included in the ZM series are present in the RM as well.

Even the Athlon QL/Sempron SL are based off of the Griffin platform too. However, since they are sold as budget processors, they lack features like some power management(the QL's only go down to 950MHz instead of 600MHz) and only support memory up to DDR2 667 instead of DDR2 800. They also lack support for AMD-v. Of course in the case of the Sempron SL, it is sold as a single core cpu instead of dual for the rest.

 

Mine has been a dream so far. Other then the fact that I want a clean install of business its the best class note taker that can switch to light coding when not in one note and back to notes. When Im on break or waiting for class its great for a game or two. I just really need business for work and having a notebook for one masters class and not really being able to use it for work kinda sucks, but still worth every penny.

As for the heat I dont see how people expect a small tablet with the most powerful IGP to be cool. Mine runs warm at best and thats when Im taxing it to full CPU and GPU extremes.

 

Does anyone have any experience with other WACOM pens? can someone recommend some good ones for the tx2500z?