HP Pavilion tx2500z

To this point, most tablet notebooks have served primarily a business or educational function, but HP has added a new twist with it’s Pavilion tx2500z. Not only does this compact system have full tablet and touch functionality, but it also boasts multimedia features and above-average 3D performance. This update to the tx2000 owes its stronger performance to AMD’s new “Puma” platform, which consists of new processors and much improved integrated graphics. However, while the HP Pavilion tx2500z has improved in some areas, the lackluster display hasn’t. And you’ll sacrifice battery life for Puma’s performance boost.

Pavilion tx2500z Design

The tx2500z sports the same high-gloss look as HP’s previous tx2000 tablet and wears the “Echo” inlaid finish, a subtle grid pattern that extends from the black lid to the silver keyboard deck and palm rest. Measuring 12.1 x 8.8 x 1.2-1.5 inches, the tx2500z maintains the same build and form as its older brother and weighs 5 pounds with its 8-cell battery.

In tablet mode, the notebook, with its large battery and protruding base, can feel heavy in the crook of your arm, but the optical drive can be swapped out for the in-the-box weight saver to bring the system to a slightly more reasonable 4.8 pounds. However, we noticed that one corner of the system—the upper-right corner—gets very hot: at one point, we measured the temperature at 130 degrees.

On the right side of the tx2500z is a VGA port, an expansion port for HP’s dock, Ethernet, S-Video, and one USB port. Along the front are two headphone and one mic jack, and on the left, you’ll find the DVD burner, an ExpressCard/34 slot and a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Two USB ports, a modem jack, and a Kensington lock are positioned on the back.

Spacious Keyboard, Novel Touchpad

We continue to be big fans of the tx2500z’s spacious keyboard. The keys are full size, the spacing between them feels much like a standard desktop, and the coating makes for a comfortable and smooth typing experience. Our only reservation is that the top row of function keys, including the Delete key, have been shrunk to save space.

HP continues to use its unique inverted nub design on its touchpad, which provides precise cursor control. A separate column of nubs on the right makes scrolling easier and less error-prone than conventional touchpads.

Display and Sound

The 12.1-inch widescreen display is surrounded by a half inch-thick bezel, which houses a fingerprint reader and a slew of blue LED-lit buttons for changing the screen orientation, launching Quickplay, Windows Vista Mobility Center, and the DVD player. The right side of the display holds media playback controls. A 1.3-megapixel webcam lies above the display and provided good resolution during a SightSpeed video call.

Like its predecessor, the 1280 x 800 resolution, matte widescreen display is relatively dull; even adjusting the brightness to 100 percent still left images and Web pages looking washed out. Similar to the tx2000, the screen’s vertical viewing angles are poor: Tilting the screen back results in a distracting glare. When we slid Anchorman into the built-in optical drive, we found horizontal viewing angles to be slightly better but still not great. The system’s Altec Lansing speakers provided strong audio; Will Ferrell’s voice filled a small bedroom.

With no changes made to the built-in microphone, the tx2500z’s recordings remained disappointing. We had trouble getting decent volume from the audio input, and the model lacks any tools for isolating voices to record meetings.

Tablet Performance

Working in tablet mode on the tx2500z was a pleasure because the LCD is void of any wobble and is firmly secured to the keyboard. The dual-mode touchscreen/digitizer display, similar to the tx2000, offered accurate input performance in both modes. The screen was responsive to touch, and double-clicking icons with our finger was easy and required only a soft press. Scrolling down a long article on NYTimes.com was accomplished by just swiping an index finger down the page.

The tx2500z’s stylus is comfortable for long-term use and has a left-click button on its spine. We liked the generous hover zone on the LCD, and its palm rejection was flawless; we never mistakenly hit anything while leaning on the display to take notes. The handwriting recognition was impressive; the machine responded well to our messy scribblings and quickly deciphered what we were writing. However, frequent tablet users will miss having some sort of scrolling wheel or additional buttons, such as configurable quick launch buttons, around the