Some reviews of HP tx1000 “Convertible Notebook”

One of the regular sites I keep up on is GottaBeMobile.com, which recently had a few links to some of the reviews coming out for the HP tx1000 Convertible Notebook. Dennis Rice pointed out that HP is calling this a “notebook” and not a “Tablet PC” because the touch screen isn’t included in the base model, but is an upgrade.

The Notebookreview.com review was a decent, well balanced review. They did criticized HP for including an underpowered video card, which I totally agree. 

PC Magazine’s review wasn’t very thorough, and seemed a bit rushed.

 Both sites pointed out that the tx1000 doesn’t have an active digitizer on it, which badly affects the handwriting recognition. That is my major gripe with the tx1000 right now, because my handwriting is terrible at best; I rest my hand on whatever surface I’m writing on, and I couldn’t avoid doing so to save my life.

I still like the device, but I’m keeping my eye out for some more AMD Tablets, in the hope that other companies will catch on.

Vista Family Discount is my new best friend

If you haven’t heard, Microsoft announced yesterday the Vista Family Discount, which will allow houses with multiple computers to save money when upgrading to Vista.

To me this is definitely a win/win situation because I was planning on building a new system in the coming months and I was intending to buy Ultimate edition for it, I also wanted to upgrade my old/current machine (Athlon XP 2000+ 1.6GHz) but I couldn’t justify spending so much for the upgrade (and I wasn’t about to upgrade to Home Basic). With the savings I could buy a new video card for my old machine to help it display things a bit better.

This now means that I can build a new system, upgrade another system, and possibly buy a copy of Vista for my Mom (she could use the new Photo gallery – she has way too many pictures that aren’t tagged or labeled).

Thank you Microsoft for listening!

Microsoft & AMD: it’s unexpected, but welcome

So what’s with MS and AMD lately? For years I’ve hoped and waited to see MS acknowledge that AMD exists, and for years I’ve been disappointed not to see that happen. Well, when it rains it pours! Lately it seems that every week there’s something new going on between the two companies. Let’s see, most recently:

• The “controversial” MS+AMD ACER Ferrari laptop giveaway - many have complained about it (some jeleous Mac users seemed quite upset about it, going as far to say it was bribery), Charlie at the INQ was… well, Charlie. I see it as a simple Christmas gift, and if any of them have problems I’d be glad to take it off of their hands…
• Vanishing point - Microsoft and AMD have launched this game/puzzle which has some cool prizes – read about it here.
• Some of the Vista team (and some others?) are going on a tour in the Windows Vista bus (I want to go down to Columbus to check it out, but I don’t think I’ll be able to). Quoting Nick White, ‘The coach itself is pretty sharp — it’s wrapped with a custom design based on the Windows Vista “energy” theme that is the default wallpaper.  Our friends at AMD will be part of the branding as well. ‘
• Windows Home Server – although not exclusive to AMD the showcased machine (HP MediaSmart Server) ispowered by a Sempron. I can’t want to get my hands on the software – I think I’ll be able to keep my aging Shuttle XPC in service (after I buy a Vista-worthy machine) with WHS…

While on the topic, there’s finally a decent AMD-powered Tablet PC! The HP Pavilion tx1000 Entertainment Notebook PC. There are still not enough details to satisfy me (How much RAM/max RAM? Which NVIDIA graphics chipset?), but it is powered by a Turion x2, so that’s more than enough of a reason to get it – just as long as it can run Aero glass…

The best part about that page is the fact that they show 2 people using the device with their left hand, which is a important factor for me. It looks very simple with the (lack of) buttons on the front, which pleases the minimalist in me (those 1st gen tablets just had way too many buttons – just obstacles to avoid hitting while writing).

Now if only there was an AMD-powered UMPC

Wow, after reading all of this a second time, I would almost believe that I’m getting money to plug HP or something. I’m not (although I wish I was)…

Edit: I guess I should’ve added the HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC to the mix, ’cause it’s also powered by AMD. I’m more of a build-it-myself type of guy, so it kind of disturbs me to find so many computers from one vendor so attractive – especially from HP (had some unpleasant history with them)…