The new HP ENVY 13 boasts the brightest display in its class, and the HP ENVY 15 is the company’s fastest consumer notebook PC ever.

“HP ENVY includes the latest in materials and technology inside and out and pushes the technological and performance boundaries of what can be done in sleek, powerful and lightweight notebook PCs,” said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. “Discerning consumers will get a premium experience and performance.”With HP ENVY, the focus is on designing an entire premium experience to satisfy the most demanding customers – from the products to the packaging to the service and support.

Breakthrough HP Metal Etching on the lid and palmrest of the ENVY 15, and on the palmrest of the ENVY 13, subtly signals luxury. The combination of materials provides exceptional mobility and a compelling metal look and feel, while using energy-responsible manufacturing methods.

The HP ENVY line – building upon the Voodoo ENVY legacy – includes leading-edge components optimized to yield power and performance. To offer consumers the best audio experience available on a notebook PC, HP partnered with Beats™ by Dr. Dre™ to develop a unique, high-performance audio software solution. Available exclusively on the HP Envy, Beats Audio offers users playing music or audio through headphones or external speakers the optimal sound experience – the way the artist intended it.

The lightweight heavyweight: ENVY 13

The ENVY 13 balances style and substance. Carefully crafted details inside and out will satisfy the cravings of demanding mobile customers.

The HP Radiance display is twice as bright as other notebook displays in its class – 410 nit (a measurement of display brightness) – and provides an exceptional movie and photo experience, even in high ambient light conditions. With 82 percent color gamut (versus standard 45-60 percent), photos appear richer with amazing color depth. Additionally, with fast 8-millisecond response time, customers can view movies with TV-like performance.

The ENVY 13’s strong performance is delivered in a small frame – less than an inch thin and weighing 3.74 pounds.(1) The exterior’s aluminum and magnesium construction provides durability in a sleek design. An etched-metal palmrest further sets the PC apart from others, and a VGA webcam(3) optimized for low light also is included.

HP placed the same focus on design into its optional Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery. Taking the form of a “slice,” it preserves the sleek look of the ENVY 13 while giving users up to 18 hours of battery life with the extended-life battery.(2) The standard battery is user-replaceable.

ATI Switchable Graphics technology dynamically switches between ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330 discrete graphics and the Intel® integrated graphics processor for either high-powered graphics processing or low power consumption for long battery life without booting the notebook. The Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor provides the power of dual processor cores while delivering extended battery life when the notebook is unplugged.

Designed with the most demanding mobile user in mind, the ENVY 13 notebook’s premium AC adapter is small and light. It draws minimal power, has built-in surge protection and includes a rubberized strap that keeps the cables organized and the adapter from slipping off a slick surface. An optional HP USB Ethernet Adapter also is available.

The performance powerhouse: ENVY 15

This lean, mean, dream machine is HP’s fastest consumer notebook. The full metal case features a sleek, subtly crafted, laser-etched metal design on the lid that is repeated on the palmrest. The magnesium alloy casing provides lightweight durability in a 1-inch thin, 5.18-pound package.(1)

Customers have maximum speed and mobility with the future Intel Core i7 processor(4) and up to 16 gigabytes (GB) of DDR3 1,066-MHz system memory in four SODIMM memory slots. Versatile storage options include the ability to add two solid-state drives in a RAID-0 configuration to improve the overall speed of the ENVY 15 while providing excellent disk performance. Creative users will appreciate the ENVY 15 notebook’s performance and full versions of Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo X2 and Corel VideoStudio® Pro X2 for creating photo and video content.

Power users and gamers can take advantage of premium graphics performance via ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 graphics with 1 GB of dedicated video memory for visually intense applications, DirectX® 10.1 games and high-definition video playback.

A choice of two 15.6-inch HP Brightview high-resolution LED backlit displays, including the Full High Definition LED HP Ultra BrightView Widescreen Display with up to 300-nits brightness, provides a superb display experience for a notebook in this class. A Nightvision VGA webcam that is optimized for low-light or zero-light conditions is standard on the HP ENVY 15, incorporating an infrared LED that assists the webcam(3) by providing the necessary illumination in dark environments.

The ENVY 15 has an optional Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery, giving users up to seven hours of battery life.(2)

Designing the ENVY experience

The HP ENVY line includes a 360-degree approach to product design – from the products to the packaging:

Building upon HP’s success with instant-on technology, HP QuickWeb allows customers to access key applications without booting the PC. In less than 30 seconds, users can access the Internet, music, videos and photos, and email.(3)
HP Clickpad integrates the buttons into the touchpad and allows for fluid movements, while also allowing users to disable the clickpad if desired.
The keyboard’s direct-action keys (versus typical function keys) allow users to quickly access often-used commands such as print and volume adjustment.
Minimal desktop clutter and trial software adds to notebooks’ simplicity.
An optional external optical drive complements the ENVY design and gives users the flexibility to carry the extra weight only when necessary. Two USB ports also transform the drive into a dock for additional capability.
The ENVY 13 and 15 are presented in streamlined paper carton boxes using minimal ink. Included in the packaging is a simplified setup poster and documentation contained within an SD card.
Concierge service and support

The ENVY experience extends to premium service and support via the award-winning HP Total Care program. This includes expert agents dedicated to addressing ENVY customers’ questions via phone, online chat and email as well as next-day shipping for hardware customer service.

Pricing and availability

The HP ENVY 13 and ENVY 15 are expected to be available in the United States on Oct. 18 with a starting price of $1,699 and $1,799, respectively.(5) Register for availability notification at www.hpdirect.com/go/newfromhp.

Additional information about HP ENVY will be available the morning of Sept. 15 at www.hp.com/go/ENVY.

About HP

HP, the world’s largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

Introduction

The Lenovo ThinkPad W Series is a class of notebooks so powerful that they are considered mobile workstations (hence the “W” moniker – aren’t marketing types clever?) and as such the design priorities for these desktop replacement systems are power, speed, large clear displays, speed and power. Battery life is, at best, abysmal. Were it not for the fact that to be considered a mobile device the unit needs to run unplugged, Lenovo engineers would be tempted to forgo batteries entirely from this model in order to save weight.

So what is the target market for this beast?

Professional photographers.

It is not unusual for high-end professional photographers to schlep a full Mac Pro or PC workstation-class system out into the field. So much so that a cottage industry has sprung up around building shipping cases for Mac Pro towers and Cinema Displays. I saw several examples of this at the PhotoPlus Expo in New York last October. Why commit this act of lunacy? For several reasons:

Many high-end cameras, mostly medium-format digital (MFD) and especially large-format scanning backs benefit greatly from operating tethered to a computer. The images that they produce are so large (currently up to 65 megapixels for MFD and several hundred megapixels for large-format scanning backs) that a computer is required to store and manipulate them. Recent advances in the capacity and speed of flash media have alleviated this requirement in MFD, but large-format scanning backs still have to be tethered.

In some cases, strict deadlines require that the photographer’s work be processed as quickly as possible in the field. While the photographer is shooting, a photo technician is busy processing the images as they come in. It can get that crazy.

In my case, I wanted to publish some articles in the field and process the images as quickly as possible. I used the W700 for processing my coverage of the PhotoPlus Expo last October and I was very pleased with the performance.

Lenovo engineers studied these requirements and came up with a laptop design that I dare say can be considered a portable digital darkroom.

Specifications

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Core Extreme Processor QX9300 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 12MBL2)
• Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate 64
• Operating system language: Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate US English
• Display type: 17″ WUXGA 400NIT TFT
• System Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M 128-core CUDA parallel computing processor 1GB (dedicated)
• Total memory: 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
• Keyboard: Keyboard US English
• Pointing Device: Ultranav + Fingerprint Reader + Pantone Color Sensor + WACOM Digitizer
• Camera: 1.3 Megapixel Integrated Camera
• Storage subsystem: Internal RAID – Configured by Lenovo
• Configuration option: Primary SATA RAID 1 – (2 HDDs required)
• Primary Hard Drive: Dual 320GB, 5400rpm RAID Enabled Hard Disk Drives
• Optical device: DVD Recordable 8x Max Ultrabay Enhanced (Serial ATA)
• System expansion slots : Compact Flash + Express Card(34mm)
• Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN
• Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology
• Battery: 9 cell Li-Ion Battery
• Power cord: Country Pack North America
• Language pack: Language Pack US English
• Dimensions: 16.1″ x 12.3″ x 1.5″
• Weight: 8 lb. 10 oz.

Features

As noted in the specs above, the W700 is quite a powerhouse. But the features that make this laptop ideal for the mobile photo studio are as follows:

• Fast processor with buckets of RAM
• Oodles of fast storage
• 64-bit OS to break the 3.5GB limit and allow you to bump up the RAM as far as you can afford
• A high-gamut, high resolution display with a 1GB discrete professional video card
• A built-in color calibrator
• A built-in Wacom digitizer tablet
• Integrated Compact Flash reader (finally!)
• 802.11 BANG support

Software

I added the following software to the system to complete the digital darkroom and adapt the system to my desktop workflow:

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3
• Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Breeze Systems Downloader Pro

Performance

Benchmarking this beast would be a fairly pointless exercise as the majority of benchmarks are gaming oriented. However, my subjective impressions using the software set I installed have led me to the conclusion that this system has everything needed to meet the demands of a professional photographer. The Adobe products were very responsive and took advantage of the Wacom tablet (Lightroom’s new brush based tools were exceptionally useful here). RAW image processing was brisk and I was able to process and prepare hundreds if not thousands of photos with ease.

The 17-in display (1920×1200) was a joy to use compare to the paltry 1280×800 of my Alienware laptop. Lightroom had plenty of room to stretch allowing all sidebars, filmstrips and menus to be available at the same time. While Lightroom’s space saving tactic of allowing the sidebars and filmstrip to slide offscreen is often necessary on laptops, doing so annoys me because as I swing my mouse pointer around, I usually cause one of them to pop up. Bugs me no end. Such was not the case here.

Calibrating the monitor is very important to the workflow of a photographer. A properly calibrated monitor can save you hours of work color correcting your images. Usually this involves dangling a spectrophotometer in front of your display and allowing the software to take a series of measurements in order to profile your display. This profile can be affected by the ambient lighting of your work area, so many color calibrators take ambient light readings to account for environmental effects. A laptop, being a mobile device, has a problem with this as the lighting situation can vary every single time it is used. Lenovo engineers solved this little dilemma by incorporating the calibrator into the body of the unit (next to the fingerprint reader) and calibration is done with the lid closed, eliminating those pesky lighting changes from the equation. All you have to do is start the software, close the lid, wait till it beeps and voila! You have a calibrated monitor.

I have tried Wacom tablets in the past. While the current crop are technologically superior in every way to the ones I’ve used, there is a fundamental flaw in their design.

Me.

I have trouble not looking at what my hands are doing. I have used a computer for decades and have never mastered touch typing. I don’t have the gene for it. Same goes for the Wacom. I have to look at the pen when I am working with it. Can’t do it any other way. Guess that’s why Wacom invented Cintiq (for throwbacks such as myself). If this system could swing the display into a tablet layout (the swivel hinge would have to me made of adamantium) and allow me to use the pen directly on the image, they would have to pry this system from my cold, dead hands. Still, the onboard 3×5 tablet and pressure sensitive pen make a formidable combo if you can swing looking at the screen and moving your hand with a pen in it. Oddly, the same does not apply to a mouse – must use a different part of my brain.

Portability
At just a hair over 198 sq. inches, the top of this machine is a vast expanse of matte black. For a laptop, it’s not that portable. In fact, had Lenovo not come through in a pinch, I would not have been able to take it with me on an assignment. I couldn’t fit it into any of my laptop ready camera bags and I didn’t have a laptop bag big enough to hold it. But lets look at this from a professional photographer’s perspective. As I mentioned earlier, it is not unusual for a pro photographer to pack up his entire Mac Pro or PC Workstation (monitor and all) in a custom made suitcase and fly off to parts unknown. A Mac Pro weighs in at about 41 lbs. in an 8-core configuration and the monitor can add up to another 21 lbs. for the 24-in LED Cinema Display. PC weights are comparable. So that’s 62 lbs. in tower + monitor plus accessories and the weight of the cases themselves. Nine pounds doesn’t sound so bad now.
Pros and Cons

Conclusion

Despite its weight and high price, the Thinkpad delivers on its promise of being a portable digital darkroom. Any serious amateur or professional photographer would do well to add this unit to his/her arsenal. Granted, a new Macbook Pro weighs 2.3 lbs. less, but you only get half the CPU power, half the video memory, and no built-in Wacom tablet. The new W700d model adds a second pop-out display. This one’s a keeper. Wish I could have kept mine.

The HP Pavilion dv4 -1145go is an Entertainment Notebook PC powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5800.

It comes with 4GB of RAM, 360 GB hard drive, and is pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1.

With it’s 14.1" HP Brightview, the units native resolution of 1280 x 800 demonstrates it’s ability to display rich colors and deep blacks, while doing daily computing tasks, as well as watching entertainment media, or playing games.

Product: HP Pavilion dv4 -1145go 
Author: Jose Perez
Published on: December 7th 2008
Product cost: Range $949.00
Manufacturer: HP
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64 Staff

{mospagebreak title=Specifications}

• Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology featuring Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T5800
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit with Service 
  Pack 1
• 14.1” Diagonal WXGA High-Definition (8) HP Brightview Infinity Display
  (1280 x 800) 
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (shared) with up to 1759MB
  Total Available Graphics Memory
• 4096MB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) 
• 320GB (5400RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel® WiFi Link 5100AGN
• HDMI Port
• Webcam
• HP Remote Control

{mospagebreak title=Pros and Cons}

Pros:

• Media Center Implementation
• Port Availability
• Display
• Performance

The dv4, handles media playback very well, and is tightly integrated with HP’s hardware/software/remote combination. Ports galore here, give it a thumbs up in the connectivity department, including among the standard ports, an HDMI port, e-sata, and a Photo-ready with 5-in-1 media card reader. The bright display combined with the media accelerator seem to be a good performance implementation. In general, the machine seems very snappy and responsive, handling both everyday tasks, and media intensive applications.

Cons:

• Trackpad Feel
• Remote

There’s not a whole lot to dislike here. That said, I had somewhat of a usability collision with the trackpad. It seems to be a very chrome looking mirrored surface. Which is fine until you slide your fingers across it. It does not feel natural, and makes it somewhat hard to drag and scroll on it. Like other such glossy surfaces, it also smudges quite a bit. I think a more matte material here would work slightly better.

The remote performs it’s functions well and slides away nicely on the side of the notebook. However, the buttons feel a bit clunky so the feedback is not always acknowledged. Hence you have to click a few times for it actions to take place. Again, once it clicks it works fine, it just seems a bit uncomfortable to assure a proper click.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusions}

Overall, the dv4-1145go seems like an excellent  mobile entertainment notebook. With it’s 4GB of RAM running in 64-bit windows, the machine performs admirably using its 2Ghz Core 2 Duo Processor.

HP also pre-configured this unit with Windows Live services including: Mail, Writer, Messenger and Photogallery, accessible via an elegant on-screen floating dock. Port availability is abundant, as well as a 6 Cell battery for long lasting charges.

If you’re a fan of Lightscribe, then you’re in luck here too. HP has included a SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW Lightscribe drive with Double Layer Support. Standard webcam, a generous 320 GB of hard disk space and audio ports round out what is a solid unit for the on-the-go mobile warrior.

The HP Mini 1035NR Netbook (aka. HP Mini 1000 line) is HP’s next addition to the growing netbook market. Given the current flood of netbooks, there appears to be some room for vendors to provide a better experience to different users at varying price points.

That said, the HP 1035 is a good performer when compared to it’s predecessor the HP Mini-Note 2133 which was slightly under powered by the Via C7-M (1.2G) processor. The 1035 is powered by Intel Atom 270 (1.6 Ghz) Processor with 1 Gig of RAM, and a 60 GB hard drive running Windows XP Home. Having experienced both the MSI Wind and the eee PC line, I’ll be using my knowledge with those as a reference point.

Product: HP Mini 1035NR running Windows XP Home 
Author: Jose Perez
Published on: December 6th 2008
Product cost: Range $449.00 – $500.00
Manufacturer: HP
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64 Staff

{mospagebreak title=Specifications}

• Intel Atom N270 Mobile Processor
• 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
• 60GB 4200rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 10.2" WSVGA (1024×600) LCD Display
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• Webcam
• Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wireless, Bluetooth v2.1
• Two USB 2.0, 2-in-1 Card Reader
• 10.3" x 6.6" x 1" @ 2.4 lbs
• Windows XP Home

 {mospagebreak title=Pros and Cons}

Pros:

• Design
• Keyboard
• Display
• Trackpad

Having tried the eee line and the MSI, the trackpad response and sensitivity on the HP was refreshing. It felt very responsive, and none of the jittery tracking, which we tend to get on trackpads of this size. Adding more functionality to the trackpad is a trackpad toggle on the surface. This is a huge help when using a USB mouse & typing. Trackpads this close to the keyboard tend to pop the cursor around when you are typing, via your palm. The toggle helps alleviate that problem by turning off the trackpad temporarily.

The display is crisp, clear and bright, maxing out at the similar resolution of 1024 x 600 for netbooks using 10.2 inch displays.

Something in common with the Wind is HP’s more roomy keyboard. It feels more natural than most cramped netbook keyboards evident on the early models to the market. It would seem that HP, among others have finally found the sweet spot for typing on this small format. The keys have good tactile feedback and yet are both sleek and quiet.

I consider the external design of this HP to be very elegant with a certain thin flare to it, not common with some of the more bulky designs out there. The design on the top cover helps distract from the obvious smudge problem on most glossy surfaces.

Cons:

• Only 2 USB Ports
• Low Hard Disk Space
• Memory

These would be more of a problem to power mobile users. Otherwise, they might come across as nitpicking. For myself, 2 USB ports aren’t enough. However if you travel lite, and all you need is up in the cloud, then this may not be an issue for you.

Likewise, the hard disk comes in at 60 GB. After OS and system formatting you are left with considerably less space. Again, not a problem if your usage will be primarily web-based. However, if you plan on carrying plenty of photos and large files, a beefier 80 to 120GB Hard Drive may serve you better.

Then there’s the 1 GB of RAM. This works well in most cases. Start opening many applications and multitasking, and the shortcomings become evident. You take a performance hit. This is not a problem with this netbook alone, but rather an operating system requirement to begin with. If you want to experience a more satisfying Windows XP performance from this and other netbooks, I recommend bumping it up to 2 GB of RAM.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusions} 

The HP 1035NR or HP Mini 1000, is a solid performer in it’s category. With very few shortcomings, the machine does what it’s supposed to do and does it well. wifi, bluetooh and webcam all perform with flying colors. The machine performs just as well as others using the new Intel Atom N270 processors.

However, make sure you know what you are getting here. It’s a lite computing platform for web use, and general computing. You will not be doing any fancy 3D gaming on this or any other netbook.

It comes with Windows XP Home. I believe there is an optional Linux version as well with a simplified UI frontend. If you’re in the market for a lite, sleek, and well equipped netbook, give this HP a look. It may just be what you need.

The Victim: An MSI Wind U100 Netbook. This slick little machine comes preloaded with your choice of Windows or Linux. Armed with an Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HD, built-in ethernet, wifi, webcam and bluetooth. That said, the most enticing feature is its crisp & clear 10 inch screen.

To accomplish this procedure, you will be opening the MSI netbook to upgrade the memory and swap out the factory wifi card (which will void your warranty). So think twice if you are not comfortable doing such a thing. We need to do this because having more memory always helps any operating system run snappier. OS X is no different. The MSI Wind takes up to 2 GB of RAM. More importantly the factory wifi card that it comes with, does not work in OS X out of the box. So you’ll need to acquire a Dell Broadcom DW 1390 or 1490 internal mini pci wifi card, which are both inherently supported in OS X.

I found both the 1 GB memory upgrade stick and a 1390 card on ebay for no more than $20 each. You’ll need a special Leopard build titled “MSI WINDos x86”, of which the Hackint0sh community should be credited for assembling.  It’s a slipstreamed “Kalyway” build which includes all the proper Kexts, drivers, Kernel modifications, and other files necessary to achieve a fully working installation on the MSI wind.  Please do not inquire about where to find this disk image, it’s in all the typical shady places on the net.

Additionally you will need an external dvd drive to do the install, since the MSI Wind does not have an optical drive. You can acquire a cheap external USB DVD drive from Tiger Direct or your favorite online electronics shop for about $50. Lastly, I do not advocate piracy, and highly recommend that you purchase a copy of OS X Leopard to be legit. Well then, let’s get into it.

Product: MSI Wind U100 running OS X
Author: Jose Perez
Published on: September 28th 2008
Product & Parts cost: $634.00
Manufacturer: MSI
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64 Staff

Requirements

You will need the following:

• MSI Wind U100, Specs as follows:
  1GB Ram, 80-120GB HD, Wifi, Ethernet, 3 USB, SD Card Reader, VGA output, Bluetooth, Webcam Price: $549 – at Amazon (Free Shipping) Check Newegg and other places for alternate pricing…You mileage may vary
• 1GB SODIMM PC5300 DDR2 Notebook RAM (for a total of 2GB)
  Price: $20 E-bay ….Check Crucial or other online store, RAM is CHEAP
• Dell Broadcom DW 1390 Mini PCI Express WLAN card, or the 1490 version
  Price: $15 on E-bay
• An External USB DVD Drive
  Price: $50 at Tiger Direct
• “MSI WINDos x86 Disk Image”
• Blank Dual Layer DVD Disk
• Phillips Screwdriver

Total Invested $634

Hardware Modifications

Opening the Casing:

1. First, flip the Wind over and remove the battery (Figure. A)
2. Next, unscrew the 8 visible phillips screws (Figure. B). There is a ninth screw hidden under the warranty void sticker. You will need to puncture thru with your screwdriver. MSI allows you to open the Machine to upgrade the memory. However, every other modification voids the warranty, including the wifi card you will be replacing here.
3. Slowly wiggle the case edges from one side to the other until case pops up. Take your time, patience is a virtue here. Once it’s open, make sure you ground yourself before proceeding towards the innards.

We’ll begin with the memory upgrade, followed by the wifi card. There is a standard notebook memory slot (Figure. C) visible on the surface to the left of the Hard drive.

1. Slide your memory chip (Figure. D) in at the inclined 45 degree angle, and then gently push down until the post clips snap into place. Next we’ll replace the wifi card (Figure. H).
2. There are a few steps required here. First remove the 1 phillips screw (Figure. E) holding the card in place right under the antenna block.
3. Slide the card out slowly, while lifting the tape (Figure. G) holding the antennas in place.
4. Once you have the wifi card out of the socket, slowly disconnect the 2 aerial antenna connectors (Figure. F) from the block. (On a side note, while you are in there, you can upgrade the 2.5 inch notebook hard drive. It slips out easily and it’s only held down by one screw under the wifi card). Grab your replacement 1390 or 1490 wifi card, and reverse the procedure.
5. Slide the card in, and reconnect the 2 aerial antenna connectors (Figure. F) into the block.
6. Don’t forget to place the tape (Figure. G) back over the antenna holding the wires down over the card.
7. Place the screw back onto the wifi card edge, and tighten it (Figure. I).
8. Position the bottom case lid back on, and snap into place slowly.
9. Finally tighten all 9 screws back into place (Figure. B).

OS X Leopard Installation

Before you begin, you will need to burn the “MSI WINDos x86 ISO Disk Image” you acquired, onto a blank Dual Layered DVD from an existing pc or mac. If you are not familiar with burning an ISO image, then Google it. There are plenty of ways to accomplish this on all platforms. Once you are done, we are ready to begin.

1. Connect your external USB dvd drive to the MSI wind while the computer is off.
2. Turn on the dvd drive and eject the tray. Place the MSI Leopard disk in the drive and close the tray.
3. Turn on the MSI wind. After the MSI logo screen, you will be prompted for 5 seconds at the darwin screen. Just tap the space bar within the 5 seconds provided in order to boot from the disk. You will see the installation commence.
4. The process will take around 5 minutes before you get to the main OSX installation GUI screen. On your way there, you will see a blue screen with the spinning multicolored beach ball as your mouse representation.
5. Shortly thereafter you will arrive at the language selection screen. Select English and click next.
6. You will arrive at the Welcome screen for the install. At this point you need to stop and blow away your drive partitions to start fresh. Drag your mouse to the top edge of the screen, and click on “Utilities”.
7. Then go down and select “Disk Utility”.
8. Click on your main drive in the left side.
9. Select “Partition” on the right side.
10. In “Volume Scheme”, select  “1 partition”.
11. Assign your disk a name. Then Click on “Apply”. It will take a few seconds to process the disk.
12. Click on  “Quit Disk Utility” from the menu.
13. It will take you back to the main installer “Welcome” page. Click on “Continue”.
14. Click to accept the licensing agreement.
15. Select your drive destination which you just partitioned.
16. Very Important to STOP on the next screen titled “Install Summary”. In the lower left hand corner there is a “Customize” button. Click it.
17. Go into Patches, then Kernel, and Uncheck it.
18. Click on done, and you will be taken back to the “Install Summary” page and click on “Install”.
19. Sit back and have a cup of coffee while the machine goes thru the whole install process. Don’t be alarmed if it loooks like no activity is going on. If you don’t see the dvd drive light going, you will notice the HD light on the MSI blinking while installation happens in the background.
20. Once it is finished and reboots, unplug the dvd usb cable.
21. This time when the “Darwin” boot screen comes up, don’t click space bar. The grey Apple logo screen should come up upon booting. If all went well, core animation and sound were installed, and you should see the welcome intro movie playing smoothly. That’s it, you are home free.

Some Caveats: You can install any application, and do your security updates and patches. However, you can’t do the point upgrades. This install will leave you patched all the way up to 10.5.4. So for instance you can’t update to 10.5.5 unless you are using a patched kernel for 10.5.5. Basically you stay on 10.5.4 until the Hackint0sh community releases the next build fix for the wind (ie “Kalyway 10.5.5″). Everything should work except the Internal Microphone, Mic port & headset port. Fortunately, External Audio , wifi, bluetooth, ethernet and Webcam work fine, and you have the option to turn that hardware off with the notebook function keys.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Power management/Sleep work normally for the most part. The only difference from actual Apple hardware, is that you need to tap the power button to wake from sleep, as opposed to screen lid, mouse movement or space tap. Fans work properly, same as on a macbook. They kick in on heavy CPU usage and high temps. However, I must say, the device keeps very cool most of the time.  Other pluses include Portability & Price.  The 6 cell battery gets you around 5 hours of usage.

Working perfectly:

• Core image
• Core animation
• Core audio
• Video Out & Graphics in general
• Wired Ethernet
• Webcam
• Internal Speakers
• USB
• SD Card Slot
• Sleep
• Bluetooth
• Wifi
• TouchPad
• Function Keys

Cons

Not able do perform Major OS point upgrades. There is no support for this. Warranty becomes Void. You are totally on your own. Web Cam, Wifi & Bluetooth, need to be activated via the function keys before the OS will see them (very PC like). The trackpad feels a little clunky, however I prefer a small mouse (wired or bluetooth). If you try to save a few dollars by going with the 3 cell battery, you will only get 2 hours of usage.

Not working:

• Internal Microphone
• Microphone port
• Headset port

Conclusion
Previously, the OS X Hackint0sh community has been able to get several versions of OS X including Tiger and Leopard onto these devices using Intel CPU’s. It was cumbersome to install, and a half-baked install at best leaving certain features not fully functional. This all changed with the release of MSI’s Wind notebook running on Intel’s newest Atom CPU.

Why would you want to install OS X on an MSI netbook?  We all have our reasons. Mine however, was portability and price point. Filling a missing gap in Apple’s mobile product line. The Macbooks are fantastic, but still to big and start at around $1,000. The Macbook Pro’s are even better, and yet more expensive (Granted you get what you pay for). Macbook Air’s are very attractive and portable, but the premium price is a bit in the higher range as well.

Using the Hackint0sh community resources I was able to get a fully working copy of OS X installed. Well actually, more like 98% working, however that’s pretty good if you ask me. This leaves you with an affordable Non-Apple Intel based 10 inch notebook, which is usable for most daily computing tasks. Obviously you will not be running Photoshop or 3D software on this tiny screen (1024×600) & cpu, altho you could (barely). However, for a $600-650 investment, this is a no brainer compared to the sleek Macbook Air for 3 times that amount in it’s base configuration.

There is in my mind, no substitute for the marriage of software and hardware combination that are Apple products. However this is a good alternate portable solution, at an affordable price, providing you all the goodness of OS X Leopard.

Discuss this here.

Product: HP Pavilion HDX 9399sx "Dragon"     
Author: Sean Kalinich
Reviewed on: May 10^th 2008
Product cost: $4037.99 (as reviewed)
Manufacturer: HP
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Planetx64.com Staff
Discussion Thread

{mospagebreak title=Packaging and Accessories}
Packaging and Accessories:
The box that the Dragon showed up in was plain HUGE. I mean, yes it is a 20.1” notebook, but the box was much larger than I thought it would be.

Inside were the usual suspects and quite a bit more, everything from the brick sized 180Watt power supply to a fully functional remote, to a hi-density HD-TV antenna. There was a lot of stuff packed in there all in a flat box that covered filled the upper 3 inches of the box. I will cover the contents in more detail later.

On top of this was a wall poster that doubles as a quick launch guide and explanation of all of the buttons on the Dragon. Underneath all of this and secured in some serious looking foam brackets was the HDX9399sx. Even covered in plastic and cradled by the large black foam caps it looked impressive. Lifting it out of the box (after putting on my back brace, this thing does weigh over 15 pounds after all) I removed the end caps and plastic. It was then that I was able to get my first up close look at the Dragon.
Simply put it was love at first sight, everything I loved about the look and feel of the tx1000 was magnified in the Dragon. The glossy black lacquered look, this time with subdued swirling designs visible “under” the surface of the high-gloss coat. The HP logo on the top looks silver and has a 3D effect when the Dragon is off; I found out later that this is due to the logo being illuminated by the displays silver backing. Since the black surface of the top is not directly on this backing it gives the HP logo the impression of depth.  A large silver “arm” meant for support of the 20.1” display enhances instead of detracts from the look of the closed book. The rounded corners and lack of sharp angles is again a major feature of the Dragon and add to the artistic look and feel of the Dragon.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part I}
Appearance and Walk-around:
Appearance Part I
Now that we have enjoyed the spectacle of the top of the closed book, let’s look around the edges.
Starting at the front we see a similar arrangement as the tx1000, with two headphones ports, a microphone port and an IR receiver. Missing are the power and wireless switches, something on the Dragon that was not on the tx1000 is the cluster of activity lights on the left hand side. These small blue lights indicate HDD activity power, and if the notebook is charging or not HP has added very faint icons on the back of the screen to indicate which is which if you have the screen down. The charging indicator only lights up if your battery is actively charging. If you are plugged in and the battery is full the light is out.

Another conspicuously absent item is a latch for the screen. There just isn’t one; this is due to the clever method HP used to connect the screen. This hinge has coiled springs in the hinge that helps to keep the screen down when closed. I will cover the hinge in more detail later. Turning the Dragon ¼ turn clockwise we are now looking at the right had side of the Dragon; here we find a pair of USB 2.0 ports and something rather nice. A Blu-Ray DVD-RW drive, this high-end feature is a very nice touch and one that I wish had been an option on the tx1000. At the back of the right hand side is a small opening for a locking cable to keep your Dragon secure (although any would be thief might get a hernia trying to snatch this one and run…).

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part II}
Appearance Part II
Another quarter turn clockwise brings us to the back. The first thing that grabs your eyes here is the massive hinge for the 20.1” display. Once you have gotten over this you will find (from left to right as you are facing the back) an IR port for a TV or perhaps even a Set Top box, a Line-In port, S-Video and an Antenna/Cable port.

In the middle is the hinge for the display. This heavy duty object takes up about 6-1/2 inches of the back of the Dragon. This hinge is roughly 1/2-inch thick at its base tapering to 1/4-inch after a curved 90 degree turn. The hinge wraps under the Dragon and is secured to the body from the bottom. The pivot point is designed so that when the book is open the display “stand” rests down into the curved surface of the mount this gives the hinge more durability than your average notebook hinge, which is a good thing as it has to hold up a 20.1” screen.
This hinge is a very clever design. When you open the screen and the hinge reaches its fully extended position a latch is released that allows the screen to pivot giving it a range of 90 to 45 degrees of tilt. This is done without changing the distance to the screen unlike traditional notebooks.

Now that we have marveled over the engineering of the hinge we come to the true 7.1 analog audio-out ports. The Dragon boasts a port for Side, Rear, Center/Sub, and Front speaker outputs. These are 1/8 jacks so you will need adapters if you want to use most home theatre speakers. The final port is the power port; this is your power umbilical and connects to the massive 180Watt power “brick”. A small blue LED is located on the back corner of the deck to let you know when you are connected to external power. In addition to the ports and of course the hinge there are two exhaust vents one is for the GPU and one for the CPU, they are located on opposite sides of the hinge and multi-media ports.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part III}
Appearance Part III
Taking our third ¼ clockwise turn we are looking at the most crowded side of the Dragon. Here we have (again from left to right as you are looking at the side) two USB ports, a LAN port (1Gb), HP’s 3-port expansion port, a 15-Pin VGA port, HDMI port, and an e-SATA Port.(powered by a Silicon Image Sil 3531 SATA controller) A word on this e-SATA port, I was not able to test this port as my e-SATA enclosure died a horrible death but I can tell you to approach this port with caution, I have read (no confirmation) that it is enclosure picky and does not work with SATA I drives. This means you will want to make sure you have a good e-SATA enclosure and a SATA II drive before plugging in. next to the e-SATA port is a 4-Pin FireWire port, a multi-card reader (it can read Sony Memory sticks (including Pro) SD cards, MMC cards and XD cards) the last thing on this completely packed side is the PC Express 54/34 slot.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part IV}
Appearance Part IV
Giving the Dragon our final quarter turn we now get to actually open the book up and see the inside.
Lifting the screen, and you can feel the spring resistance from the hinge, you get your first glimpse at the working end of the Dragon. As mentioned above once the hinge is fully opened you will feel the screen release and can adjust it to your viewing comfort. Now that we have the Dragon opened and ready let’s look over what we have.

The front portion of the deck is a matte silver color with a glossy coating, under this coating is a similar patter to what is on the back of the screen.
This pattern is in white and does not stand out from the surface, in fact when under direct light the pattern fades from view. In the right corner are the usual stickers proclaiming CPU and GPU as well as an OS logo, as well as the words “HP Entertainment Series”.

Slightly off from center and, in a shallow depression, we find the touch pad. This is the same dimpled surface that I loved from the tx1000, it is smooth and easy to use with the tactile reference coming from the small dimples in the surface. The scroll bar is separated from the main touch pad by about a ¼ inch making it easy to feel when you are using it and preventing accidental mouse movements while using it.
The right and left mouse buttons are large and comfortable to use, they are also very quiet which to me, is a very nice touch. I do not like the large clunky buttons that make loud clicks that you get on most notebooks. In the left hand corner of the deck are the same three activity LEDs that I talked about earlier. Here they are also labeled with small icons to indicate function.
Next on the deck is the keyboard area, as we transition to this area we see a similar look to the tx1000 with an oval shaped depression around the keyboard and another glossy black bevel, this is even with the level the touchpad is on.

Speaking of the touchpad, in the bevel area just about it is a small button to disable the touchpad surface if you are typing or using a USB mouse. Next to the button is a small LED to indicate status Orange for disabled and Blue for enabled. The Dragon features a full keyboard complete with number pad, the keys themselves are rough surfaced, and short throw keys that are also very quiet. One thing I do not like on many notebooks is the clunky keyboards with long and stiff movements. You end up feeling like you are typing angry to get anything done. Even with the great surface and movement of the keyboard it was not all Mt. Dew and Funoins, the same small right-side shift key that gave me so much trouble on the tx1000 was back, the same one that cause me so many typing errors (/. Instead of ?) The number pad also threw me but this was more getting used to it being there than anything else.

The dragon also has a space for the included remote; this fully featured media center remote clips in securely to the Dragon and is released with a lever on the right hand side. Now this is great in theory but the Dragon that I reviewed would not come out so easily, although I think this was just an issue with this unit as the spring meant to push the remote out felt very weak. One other issue with the placement of the remote is that the keyboard is not centered in the deck; this puts your hands in an awkward position when typing or gaming. The palm of your left hand almost rests on the touchpad, it is not uncomfortable but it is awkward and takes a while to get used to. I can tell you that I appreciate the ability to quickly shut off the touchpad with the keyboard set up this way. One good point about the way HP setup the keyboard is that it is close to the front and not set back on the deck like many other large display notebooks, this makes typing easier and more comfortable (with the exception of items noted above).

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part V}
Appearance Part V
Behind the keyboard is a row of touch sensitive buttons, the power button, and a finger print reader.
The touch buttons worked very well and were neither overly sensitive nor hard to use. HP struck a very good balance with these to get them working as well as they did.
The power button located at the left end of this row is the standard type push button. Next to this are a series of QuickPlay buttons that allow you to quickly (imagine that) launch applications to support playback of multimedia. From left to right (again) the QuickPlay buttons are Launch the QuickPlay application, Play DVD, and watch TV. The DVD and TV buttons launch the portions of the QuickPlay application that support those features, for TV it allows you to watch Analog, Digital, recorded TV, SlingBox, Vongo, and Internet TV while DVD playback supports standard and Blu-Ray HD DVD playback. SlingBox and Vongo I will cover later under the software bundle.
The next group of touch buttons is the playback controls (stop, play, pause etc). Next to these is a single button that looks like a movie projector. This is a most useful button as it turns off all (with the exception of itself) LEDs when you are watching a movie or TV, it makes watching easier on the eyes as your eyes are not drawn to the brighter points of light on the deck.  Centered in this row of buttons is the finger print scanner.

This is a cumbersome place to put the finger print reader as it is most difficult to get your thumbs in place to use it. Since you cannot use your thumbs as your ID you are left with using the less secure (as it is less unique than your thumb) fore-finer or index finger. Even using that is awkward as you have to rotate your hand to line up with the reader.
Next on our tour of the touch buttons are the Wireless on/off button and the Mute button, these are different in that they change color from Blue to Orange with orange indicating that the device (sound or wireless) is also off. Next are the volume slider/ up-down buttons. Here you can adjust the volume in one of two ways; you can tap the + or – to turn the volume up or down respectively or you can slide your finger along the graduated hash marks. For treble and bass you have a slider that is similar to the volume but in addition you have labels for each control touching the text treble or bass shifts the slider to control that audio out-put. The last button is the eject button. This is another handy little button that removes the need to hunt for the tiny little eject button that is on the Blu-Ray drive.
Behind the touch button row is a large expanse of nothing, this is the extra space left over on the deck to fill out the area needed for a 20.1” wide screen display. Now HP could have jammed it full of lights and LCD/OLED/LED displays but they went for a more aesthetically pleasing glossy black with a curvy almost Oriental art print on the right side and two long back rubber bumpers to prevent the screen from rubbing on the deck. Leaving this free of gaud not only cleans up the look but also allows for extra cooling, this surface area is a great heat exchanger. I am not sure if that was by design or just happened but it does help to keep the Dragon’s fire cool.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part VI}
Appearance Part VI (the Screen)
After wandering all over the deck we finally take a look at one of the highlights of the Dragon. The 20.1” Widescreen 1080p (1920×1200) display. This eye-popping monster is contained by a bevel that is made of more glossy black plastic. Along the bottom HP has added the same dimple pattern that is seen on the touch pad. This is to disguise the Altec Lansing speakers just under the surface. The HP logo is present in the center of the lower bezel with the Altec Lansing logo in the left corner and the HP Pavilion HDX logo in the right.

Above the dimpled area on the sides of the bezel are small round rubber pads and two longer pads, the round ones cover screws used to secure the bezel and the longer ones at the top mimic the purpose of the ones located on the deck by preventing the screen from rubbing on the deck.
The top of the bezel contains a pair of microphone receivers for the dual-array mics built into the Dragon.
In the center is a Webcam, this web cam has a twist you can actually tilt it so that it remains focused on you even with the screen tilted back to about 15 degrees.
Last but certainly not least is the 20.1” Ultra Bright HD display, this display is very clear and crisp with surprisingly little glare or reflections. Color is also very vivid with good visual depth.
The lack of an easily accessible brightness control for low light viewing is annoying but is not too big of a deal.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance Part VII}
Appearance Part VII
Closing the Dragon (I know it is hard) and flipping it over we take a look at the underside.
The bottom of the Dragon continues HP’s trend of attention to detail. There are eleven rubber feet that keep the Dragon up off of any desk it is on, these vary in size with the largest being along the back edge.
Starting from the front edge of the Dragon and moving back I will cover the highlights here. At the front edge there is one long and one short removable panel. The longer panel covers the space for the two 250GB Western Digital 5400 RPM drives. These two drives are easily removable so if you should want to move up to larger or faster drives it would not be an issue nor take all day.

Next to the HDD space is an opening for the Intel Wireless card (Draft n) this is noticeable by the three distinct antennas that are used for the extra range and performance. Next to this is a slot for an “integrated” Cellular wireless card. This is a nice option, but as I do not know where you would be able to buy the cards on their own it is useless if you do not have it installed at the time of purchase.

To the right and at a slight angle to this is an air vent this would appear to be for the PC Express slot and Multi-Reader. In the center of the book and behind the HDDs bay you will find covers for the memory and the built in HD TV tuner. The covers here are a little odd. You cannot just open the cover for the TV tuner. You have to open the RAM cover before you can remove the TV Tuner cover. Once you do get the covers off you will see that HP has made things nice for you again. Unlike many notebooks, where the RAM is on both sides of the board, the Dragon has both DDR2 slots accessible to you under this single cover. 

Behind all of this is the battery. This heavy brick sized item is capable of giving you roughly 2 hours of regular usage. (Battery life is another topic).
On the left of this is the 5^th part of the amazing sound system HP has stuffed into the Dragon, the HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer. This desk firing speaker provides some impressive low-end range to your audio experience. By having it in an area with a higher weight density it allows it to produce low frequencies without vibrating the notebook.  This prevents distortion of the sounds and helps to create richer lows, but I will cover the sound from this setup later in this review. To the left of the Subwoofer is another fan grill, this one is for the 8800m GTS 512MB card that is the muscle behind the 20.1 display. To the right of the battery is a panel with your OS key and model information. Here you will find the books serial number, part number and other items you might need for tech support. Along the very back edge you can see the bottom mount of the screen hinge, as I mentioned before this monster of a hinge does an amazing job of keeping the 20.1" display steady.

After looking the Dragon over I have to say that HP’s Dragon, with a few minor exceptions, has one of the most well thought out and stylish designs I have seen in a larger notebook. At lot of careful planning went into this design and it shows.

{mospagebreak title=The Bundle}
Bundled Software:
The Dragon ships with a laundry list of applications, some are useful but most just take up space on your hard drive and should be removed. As with all my system testing I run the systems as if I had bought them and like to set them up as I would. Most times I will do a fresh install of Vista x64 Ultimate but since the Dragon actually shipped with Vista Ultimate x64 I decided to simply remove applications that I would not need or use to make the copy more my own. I removed the following applications before testing (I will cover other applications that you might not want from the software bundle later).

AIM 9 (never use)

Office 2007 activation wizard and student edition (Installed Personal copy for use)

MS Works (Never use and can conflict with Office)

PowerPoint viewer  (Installed Office 20.107 with PowerPoint)

Yahoo Toolbar (resource hog and potential Malware portal)

HP Photosmart essentials (not needed)

Norton Internet Security (Installed NOD32 did not want to use the 60-day trial)

HP Customer Experience Enhancements (did not do anything that I could see)

HP Update (ran often only to tell me there were no updates)

Acrobat Reader (Installed Acrobat Pro)

HP Help and Support (did not need)

The following applications had to be updated to work properly:

HP QuickPlay – prior to updating BluRay playback would fail (to get working I had to run the 3.6 update from HP’s site then install the Auto Update from the application, when I tried to just run the update from inside QuickPlay I would get an error on restart or shutdown)
Other wise this application was fairly useful, although in reality it was only CyberLink/HP’s version of Media Center with Blu-ray playback enabled.

CyberLink Youcam – (would not start the Web Cam until upgraded)
This application allows you to capture and manipulate small video clips and still images using the built-in webcam. There are built in templates that add a dash of fun to any picture or clip.

The following applications worked out of the box:
Muvee – This is a home movie making application similar to windows movie maker, but perhaps with a bit more style. You have options to burn your movie to disk (DVD, VCD, SVCD) as well as create files for e-mail, the web and simply store them on your system, you can even send them to your mobile phone. Muvee is very easy to use and can get you on your way to making your own slide-shows and home movies in no time.

WebPlus 10 is a very interesting application. It is a very easy to use HTML content creation utility. This application has quite a few built in templates that you can customize to your tastes. Everything from a Photography site to a dating site is available in the templates section.

CyberLink DVD Suite Premium – This handy little package allows you to burn DVDs CDs, as well as watch DVD movies. CyberLink’s DVD Suite Premium also includes a label making application and DVD authoring software in the form of PowerDirector. This is a very functional editing and authoring application, unfortunately it will not allow for authoring of Blu-Ray disks so you are limited to Dual-Layer DVDs as your largest format.

DigitalPersona Professional – This application allows you to use your fingerprint scanner to log into the Dragon. Unfortunately that is all it allows you to do. I would recommend getting something like PSQ protection suite ($20) this will allow you not only to login with your finger but also to register commonly used websites and even applications.

The Sims Life Stories  – This is another chapter in the Sims anthology.

My HP Games – Web based games from various authors provided by HP

Recovery Manager – This is an important utility as it allows you to restore drivers and applications on the fly without having to do a complete restore. You can also create your own complete restore DVD from this utility.

Vongo – Vongo is an internet streaming video rental service. The application can be run stand-alone or as part of QuickPlay.

Sling Player – this application allows you to watch TV from your home as long as you are connected to the Internet. The down side of this is that it does not work unless you have a “SlingBox” setup at home.

I actually ended up uninstalling both Vongo and Sling Player as neither were application I would use and they both launch at start up and take up memory space.

{mospagebreak title=Performance Day to Day}
Performance:
The Dragon:
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 (45nm 2.8GHz 6MB cache 800MHz FSB, Stepping 6 Revision C0)
4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 667 RAM (5-5-5-24)
2x Western Digital (WD2500BEVS-60UST0) 250GB 5400RPM 2.5 inch HDDs (One OS, One Data)
nVidia GeForce 8800m GTS (G92) 512MB (Driver version 175.16)
HP 20.1 Inch Ultra Bright 1080p HD LCD Display (1920×1200)
Intel GM965 Northbridge
Intel 82801HBM (ICH8-ME) Southbridge
Sil 3531 SATA Controller (e-SATA)
A2ML9I9A IDE Controller
IDT HD Audio Codec
HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner
Optiarc Blu-ray ROM BC-5500A ATA
Microsoft Windows Vista x64 Ultimate (w/SP1 and all updates)
Dimensions – 18.7W x 13.4 x 2.23 inches
Weight: Approximately 15.5 Lbs

Day to Day use:
Using the Dragon as my primary workstation at home and the office was both a blessing and a curse.
Weighing in at over 15 pounds and with dimensions of 18.7 x 13.4 x 2.23 inches the Dragon is not easy to haul around. There are very few cases that will fit this behemoth; most of them are over $150 while the only reasonably priced one is commonly out of stock. I found myself packing all the cables and cords into one bag (an Oakley 12.1” bag) and carrying the Dragon under my arm. Not the recommended way to port a notebook, especially one this expensive. Taking it with me camping or on a photography outing was out of the question as it would have been too much weight to lug around on foot for a couple of hours and there is not enough room in my camper to fit everyone and the Dragon at the same time.
The flip side of that is the sheer performance. There is nothing like having a (semi) portable workstation with a 20.1” display and the raw power they Dragon has.
Photo editing was a delight as the large display gave me plenty of room to work; the 8800m GTS 512MB GPU and 2.8GHz CPU ran through filters like butter. Video encoding was also very quick, although the 5400 RPM drives did slow the process down.  Normally while at my office I run a virtual machine loaded with Vista x86 Business and Office 2007. On many notebooks I have used simply starting this brings the system to its knees and makes using the host virtually impossible. On the Dragon I could run this as well as an Ubuntu VM and still work in the background. Office was a breeze, as were DreamWeaver and Flash.
Simply put, there was nothing I was not able to do. The screen was large enough that I had plenty of room to run multiple applications without them getting confuse. The X9000 and 4GB of RAM gave me enough horse power to run them all without any slowdowns.

{mospagebreak title=Multimedia Performance}
Sound Reproduction:
Sound: that simple word does not convey what I experienced with the Dragon. I have never, ever heard such clear and vibrant sound from a notebook. The Quad Altec Lansing speakers combined with the HP triple bass reflex subwoofer made this possible, Blu-Ray movies with their Dolby Digital sound and HD uncompressed sound were reproduced flawlessly. Standard DVDs, CD-audio, games and TV all benefited from this configuration. This sound also seemed to fill the room there was no hunching over the speakers to hear what was being said in a movie, no disappointing game play due to shoddy or tinny sound here.
Granted, sound is a subjective item so per my usual I asked five people to give me a number from one to five in order to rate the sound, I asked them to compare this to other notebooks and to other audio reproduction equipment; the results will surprise you.

Some words used to describe the sound quality were: Full, Wow, Deep, Clean, and Ballsy.

Video Reproduction:
As I mentioned above the 20.1 Ultra Bright 1080p (1920×1200) screen has an amazing picture, clean, sharp, vivid. It is great for gaming, movies, video editing, and picture manipulation whatever you want to do on it.
I really could go on and on but I also wanted to cover your options when it comes to Multimedia.
HP has thrown the kitchen sink into the HDX 9399sx. Everything from avi’s to streaming internet movies is supported. With a built in Blu-Ray drive and their QuickPlay application the Dragon is not only a work and gaming notebook but a complete entertainment system, one that could replace your living rooms complete setup. Now most people would want a larger screen to watch TV in their living room but HP has that covered with the HDMI port. An included adapter and IR repeater lets you plug in a set-top box (cable or satellite) with an S-Video port available for HD boxes that do not have Coaxial out.

Granted it would have been better to have DVI-in or Component but that would have probably been out of the question with current space and technology limitations. Now some of you might be thinking about sound, well again HP has that covered with full 7.1 analog outputs for surround sound. I actually ran this in my bedroom for a few days to see how well and if this would work and I was amazing and very happy with the performance. I now had a portable media center that gave me everything I could want.
As per my usual I will not limit you to my opinions of the display quality or the quality of performance as an HTPC. Here are five other people’s opinions as well.

Some of the words used to describe the display quality were: Sharp, Clean, Vibrant, Nice, and Crisp

{mospagebreak title=Application Performance}
Application Performance:
PCMark Vantage:
PCMark Vantage is a complete system test that was written by FutureMark specifically for Windows Vista. It like its predecessors is designed to tell you how well you can expect your system to perform with a variety of applications. There are tests for media streaming, media playback, memory usage, gaming, web browsing (with different types of pages) content creation, office applications, media encoding, and a ton of other items. Now no synthetic test can ever replace real usage there is no means of measuring real world usage that can be easily categorized.  This is why PCMark is good to use as a gauge.

The score for the 32 bit suite was impressive at 3788. This actually is better than some desktop systems. The Core 2 Extreme CPU and 8800m GTS are showing off their muscle here. The 64-bit suite came in roughly 180 points higher than the 32-bit suite at 3963, still not bad at all from a notebook (even a $4,000 notebook.)

Photoshop CS3:
There is nothing like being able to move through image manipulation quickly. As a photographer I appreciate the Dragon’s extra CPU and GPU power when running Photoshop. Raw image conversion was as simple as click and it was done. Filters were applied quickly. The 20.1” display had no noticeable color aberrations and gave a realistic representation of the color profile I like to use (8-Bit ProPhoto RGB 300 DPI). In order to give you a test to represent how well the Dragon works in Photoshop CS3 I used Driverheavn’s Photoshop benchmark. This uses a custom built action that runs a stock image through a series of filters that build off of each other.  The time it takes to complete each filter is recorded and I also include the total time for the test to complete.

Again the Dragon shows off its power even outperforming the X6800 desktop CPU in many of the filters and in total completion time. This is certainly a book for any pro photographer to consider. In fact while I was testing I had a few inquires about this book by photographers that worked at some of the Big Theme Parks here in Central Florida. After showing them the abilities, I saw looks of eagerness and the gleam of a future purchase in many eyes.

HyperPi 0.99b:
HyperPi is now my favorite test to determine stability and performance of the connection between CPU, Memory and HDD. If you have any stability issues with any of these parts HyperPi will crash. As for performance, well that is obvious, the better the performance between these three parts the quicker HyperPi can calculate the number Pi to the Decimal Place you choose. For testing I ran the 16M and the 1M run.

The times were very impressive for a notebook here as well. I am sure with faster Hard Drives and tighter memory the times would be even better.

Lightwave 9.3 x64:
Keeping on the train of thought that the HDX 9399sx would be a great workstation I decided to run some rendering tests with Newtek’s Lightwave 9.3 x64 edition. To run the tests I ran in discovery mode and used content from the Lightwave 8.0 disks. My favorite render scene is called moonbase and for single frame rendering I use frame 32. Render options were set as follows:
Resolution 1920 x 1080 (1080i HD resolution)
Antialiasing PLD – 7 Pass
Reconstruction Filter Gaussian (Sharp)
Segment Memory was set to 512
Threads were set to 2

Even rendering HD resolutions did not phase the Dragon as it was able to render the single frame in under nine minutes.  This comes close to the performance of some desktops, considering the slow spindle speed of the hard drive and the memory only being 667MHz this is a rather impressive performance and one that should put the Dragon in the running as a viable mobile 3D Animation studio, especially if you use an external SATA drive for capacity and speed.

Xvid Encoding with AutoGK 2.4.5:
Video encoding is a big item, these days, with the most common reason for its use being to backup DVD movies that you purchased to prevent them from being damaged. While there are many applications out to take your DVDs and make them into DivX or XviD files the one I like to use and the one that seems to be the best test of a system (again CPU, Memory and HDD performance) is AutoGK.  I am using the 2.4.5 full release, this application combine several independent pieces to make an easy to use application for converting DVDs to Avi files. For my testing I used a personally made 2-hour DVD, this is SD DV footage that was edited using FinalCut HD and Authored to DVD using DVD Studio Pro HD.

Unfortunately Encoding is where the slow HDD and RAM do come back to hurt us. The encoding took over an hour to run. If you are considering the Dragon for Video encoding, I would seriously consider getting at least one 7200 RPM drive.

Cinebench R10 x64:
Cinebech is from Maxon, the makers of Cinema4D. Cinebench is a CPU/GPU based rendering test and is designed to show the rendering potential of your system. I say Potential because it is a static test and not real world rendering.

The Cinebench scores were just as impressive as other applications I ran and bring to light the workstation replacement role for this “breed” of Dragon.

{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance Part I}

Gaming:
For all in-game testing I used FRAPS 2.9.4, game levels were played through three times and the average of each range were used in this article.
 
3DMark Vantage:
The second of our FutureMark testing suites we use on Planetx64, 3DMark Vantage is a DX10 based testing suite that is designed to give you a good feel for how capable your system is for DX10 gaming.
The suite includes two intensive graphics tests and two CPU based testing for physics and AI.

Prior to playing with the 9399sx version of the Dagon my highest notebook based score was under 1000 points. The Dragon smashed that mark and then some, coming in over 2600 points.  This is a very impressive number for a notebook of any kind.

HalfLife 2 Episode 2:
In other reviews I have gone on and on about Valve and HalfLife, I still consider this one of the best titles ever released. Gordon Freeman has become an underground Icon, and (so the rumor goes) he might soon be a big screen hero as well. For testing I used the “To the White Forest” level and played from your descent into the mines with the Vortigaunt and Alyx until you reach the hide out where Alyx is to be revived. Settings are shown below.

Right out of the gate the Dragon shows its power, Episode 2 was snappy and responsive with an average frame rate of over 50. Sound was also clean and crisp and allowed the aural ambience that Valve brings to the HalfLife series to come into play.

HalfLife Portal:
Although not developed by Valve Portal has the same flavor and elements that made HalfLife such a compelling game. Set in an underground lab you are a test subject undergoing what appears to be a series of “rat in a maze” type tests, as you move along you are directed by a quirky and buggy computer (almost like System Shock and System Shock2). But all is not well, the tests become more and more dangerous while the computer (GLaDOS) becomes sweeter promising you a party and cake when you are done. For testing I ran through tests 8 through 14. Settings are shown below.

Portal was also very playable at 1920×1200 with frame rates in the upper 40s. The Altec Lansing sound provided for a rich gaming experience, as with HalfLife Portal adds that extra level to the game experience with the rich and immersive sounds.

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare:
COD 4 Modern Warfare is one of my new favorite games. Although it still uses the COD “Bar Fight” AI, the levels and combat experience are impressive. You play different Special Operations Soldiers (SAS Marine Force Recon etc) and move through a series of low level conflicts and missions. From the Barents Straight to the Middle East, you are thrown into one fire-fight after another. For testing I ran the “Blackout” level from insertion to the rescue of the informant. Settings are shown below.

COD4 is another very playable and smooth game with average frame rates around 30. The Dragon just keeps knocking down everything I put in its path. In game sounds were great and provided for even more enjoyable play.

Company of Heroes:
Company of Heroes is a Historically based real time strategy game that puts you right in the middle of World War II. Starting off with the invasion of Normandy you work your way through some of the major battles of the war as well as some of the lesser known struggles. Company of Heroes is a very addictive game and one that can occupy hours of your day if you let it. The graphics are very well done for an RTS and the enemy AI is fairly competent. For my testing I ran the Normandy invasion from entry on the beach to the final destruction of all the 88s. I also made sure I completed the secondary objectives.
Graphical settings are shown below.

Company of Heroes was no match for the power of the Dragon; it never even broke a sweat. Average frame rates here were over 50. Sounds were also reproduced well by the Dragon; in COH there are many voices that are talking sometimes though gunfire or explosions. These sounds make the game more immersive and fun to play.

{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance Part II}
Bioshock:
Bioshock comes to us from Looking Glass Studios and like HalfLife has older brothers to draw on(System Shock I and II as well as the Thief Series) and that we can still see when we look at it. Set in an underwater utopia where people tamper with the human genetic code you have to work your way through the collapse of this city called Rapture in an attempt to find and destroy the evil creator of this Place. Along the way you find that your kind benefactor who has been helping you, is actually the bad guy. In a twist reminiscent of System Shock II (where you find out the person that is helping you is the crazed computer from System Shock I) you find out you were … Well I won’t spoil the game for you.
Graphically Bioshock is impressive even if the colors are cartoonish. The AI is a little straight forward and rough but it is still a very enjoyable game. For testing I ran the Welcome to Rapture level from just after getting the “Electro Bolt” Plasmid to your first meeting with the Little Sister and her Big Daddy.
Settings are shown below.

Score another 30+ FPS game for the Dragon I am beginning to think there are no games the Dragon can’t play. Here again the sound system comes into play Bioshock has a lot of in game sounds and voices that are important to the atmosphere of the game. The Dragon’s sound system was able to reproduce these very well and maintain the frantic game environment.

Assassin’s Creed DX10:
Assassin’s Creed came on the scene a few months ago and has proven to be a controversial game indeed. With patches that disable DX10.1 (a better version of DX10 by far) and dubious “improved 64bit support” people are talking about this game. The actual game itself is loosely based on historical events and persons. What this means is that, yes there were Templars in Jerusalem, and yes there were assassin cults as well. Throw in a few historical names as characters and voila! You have a game. The actual premise of the game is that an assassin turned bartender (there is a switch) is being used by a group to find out information about one of his ancestors buried in his genetic memory (the collective subconscious). But the piece of genetic memory is blocked, so the bartender has to “sync” with the memory by progressing through each stored memory, the more he follows what his ancestor would have done the more in sync he is. For testing purposes I ran through the opening level from the beginning of the siege of the small town to the part where you drop the logs onto the Templar soldiers.
Settings for play are shown below:

All I could think at this point was Wow!, I was (and still am) extremely impressed with the Dragon’s power. To be able to play Assassin’s Creed at 1920×1200 and come in just under 30 FPS (considered by most as full motion video) is simply amazing. I thought for sure that this one would drag it down. In-Game audio was amazing here as well, voices were rich, sharp and easy to understand. Other game sounds were also well reproduced.

Grid (Demo):
Grid is a new game coming out from Codemasters, the same people that brought DiRT to us. Unlike DiRT, Grid is set in the world of high-performance road track racing. Graphically the Demo is amazing; driver AI and car physics are horrible though. Cars simply do not handle like that. I do not know what it is about game developers when it comes to driving games. They seem to think that racing is all about sliding through turns. Yeah you would do that on a Dirt track but never on asphalt. No matter the developers intent Grid is a visually stunning game and one that uses a lot of heavy rendering. For my testing I used the BMW teams race one I ran all three laps regardless of finishing position. Settings are below.

Grid fell into the same range as Assassin’s Creed with average frame rates at about 27 FPS. The game sounds were incredible; I kept waiting to smell the rubber and engine oil.

Gaming Conclusion:
Gaming at 1920×1200 on a notebook! I am amazed and overwhelmed by the gaming performance I witnessed from the Dragon; every game I threw at it was playable with average frame rates never dropping below 27 and most over 30. When I started to evaluate the Dragon I had four games in mind, but after the Dragon breezed through those without breaking a sweat I added two more just to make sure I had not chosen easy games, I dropped in Assassin’s Creed (DX10) and the Demo of Grid. I am glad I did as they were the two that had average frame rates of 27. This shows that the Dragon still has muscle to spare even for the latest titles and DX10 play. I could see the Dragon as a serious gaming station all on its own. Yes it does not have the power of SLI or even a stock 8800GTX but for a portable gaming station I cannot think of a better choice (once you find a carrying case for it).

{mospagebreak title=Battery Life}Battery Life:
You would think that with everything the Dragon has under its hood that battery life would be in the dump. Well, I am happy to say that you would be wrong. I found that during normal usage (word processing, web browsing etc) you can get roughly two hours out of the battery.
If you are gaming (any game) your battery life is reduced to about one hour and fifteen minutes.
Playing a standard DVD yields about one hour and forty-five minutes and finally Blu-Ray movie playback drops you down into the one Hour range.  This is with the default power profile; I am sure that if you setup profiles for each type of usage you will be able to get more out of the battery. I still would make sure you keep close to a power source to feed the Dragon’s power appetite.

{mospagebreak title=Price/Warranty}
Price/Warranty:
Ah, yes… I knew it would come to this one. How can I put this? The a standard Dragon can be picked up for about $1,799.99, which is a great price; this gives you the same size as the Dragon I tested but not the ferocity. To get the HDX 9399sx you will have to shell out the credit card maxing sum of around $4,037.00 USD before shipping and tax. (This was generated using the HP product website.) Granted you do get a lot for this amount but on the whole it is one major investment.
Warranty for the Dragon was disappointing at best. HP offers only a one year warranty on this expensive monster. I was hoping for a better standard warranty, although you can purchase up to four years with HP pick up and return. This will add an extra $270 to your price tag. With the Dragon I had in for testing, in the lower right hand corner of the screen there was one single stuck pixel. This tiny blue dot stands out like a spot light on dark back grounds. Unfortunately HP does not cover a single stuck pixel under warranty (I think up to 6 are not covered).
But there is a good side to this, I spoke to the people sponsoring the contest and they are going to make sure a brand new HDX 9399sx is sent out to the winner of our contest.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
There is not a lot that I can add to what has been written above, the HDX series is a real winner and the HDX 9399sx is simply amazing. It is more than an entertainment notebook it is a power house of a workstation, a mobile render station, photo finishing system, gaming box in addition to being able to entertain you with movies, music and TV. Stunning and sharp video, spacious, rich and vibrant sound, amazing game play all go to make up this incredible notebook. Once you have spent any time with it the weight and size no longer matter, all that matters is the performance and functionality of the Dragon.
HP really outdid themselves with this one, I am already envious of our winner for this amazing book. I think that I may have to pick one up and replace my current desktop system with a Dragon of my own. In the words of Ferris Bueller – "It is so Choice, if you have the means I highly recommend picking one up"

For its simply jaw dropping performance we (and I) are proud to award the HP Pavilion HDX 9399sx "Dragon" our Best on the Planet award and are calling it a Must Have.

Discuss this review here

Acknowledgments:
We would like to thank the folks at HP, Chris Aarons (Buzz Corps) and everyone who has entered our portion of the 31 days of the Dragon.

Product: Asus G2S-X1 Gamer’s Notebook      
Author: Sean Kalinich
Reviewed on: March 10^th 2008
Product cost: $1,850 (Best Buy)
Manufacturer: Asus
Spelling and Grammatical editor: Jason Hambly, Paul Mercer
Discussion Link
 

{mospagebreak title=Packaging and Accessories}

Packaging and Accessories:
“I’ll put him in a box, then put that box in a bigger box”
The box the G2S comes in is a fairly attractive item, it is black with a large graphic of the “angry eye” (as my kids call it) and a full picture of the open notebook on both sides. The words “ASUS Gaming Series” and Let’s Game” are also displayed prominently on both sides. On the front of the box is a large Vista Ready logo and a Microsoft Office ready logo is on the back. The sides of the box show the G2 series number and the Asus “Green” logo.
Inside the box everything is well protected with multiple layers of cardboard. The G2S itself is inside a foam jacket.
Goodies that arrived with the G2S were pretty impressive as well; the optional Logitech MX518 mouse and roomy backpack were very welcome and fitting for a 17” gamer’s notebook.

{mospagebreak title=Construction and Appearance}
Construction:
The G2S has a beefy feel to it, although it is made primarily of plastic the aluminum plating on the top and just in front of the keyboard give it an industrial feel. The numerous rubber feet on the underside make it feel rock steady while on just about any table. In all the impression you get is that Asus built the G2S to last.

Appearance:
As I mentioned above the G2S has a nice industrial look and feel to it. When you first view it with the lid closed it looks very sleek with tapered edges along the sides and front.  The top of the lid has brushed aluminum plating with a black plastic bevel along the sides and back.  If you rotate the G2S to the right you will find the DVD-ROM (complete with LightScribe) as well as the power port. I am not certain I like the power port along this side as with it in place it seems to stick out. I am sure this was just a personal dislike as it did not seem to cause and issues with usage. You will also notice a red “reflector” at the back along the top. This is not a reflector (as I first thought) but is a light that flashes whenever the system thinks it is running a Direct X game (see Direct Console below). In the end I had to turn it off as it would flash with just about any open application just under this is the end of the hinge bar for the lid/screen this has been tooled to look like it is a thumb screw that can be removed and adds to the heavy duty industrial feel of the G2S.
Continuing our clockwise rotation of the G2S we come around to the back of the notebook, here Asus has placed an S-Video, 15-Pin VGA and an HDMI port as well as three USB and one –SATA ports. The e-SATA port is a nice addition and is controlled by a J-Micron JMB36X controller. Turning one more quarter turn clockwise brings us to the left side of the G2S, here are the LAN and Modem ports, a single USB 2.0 port, what appears to be an infrared receiver, jacks for Headphones, Microphone, and Line-In, a small 4-pin Firewire port, the switch for disabling the Wireless devices, a multi-card reader, the PC-34/54 card slot, and one more IR port. You will also find the matching red light on the lid that was visible on the right side. Giving the G2S one final turn clockwise we are back to looking at the front. Here (while the G2S is closed we only see the latch to open the lid and what would seem to be a third IR port. I am not sure why there are three on the G2S, there is an option for a remote controller but I would think there would still only need to be one IR port, perhaps two at the most.

Opening the G2S and peering at the working end; the first thing that will catch your eye is the continuation of the angular look to the G2S, the same bevel is evident on the inside as you saw on the outside. On the front bevel you will see a set of controls right along the front edge as well as lights for Power, Battery (this indicates charging but not that you are on battery power), an e-mail notification light (if you are using ChkMail), and a light to indicate the status of the Wireless card. All light up blue with the exception of the battery light that glows red (almost pink) if you are charging.
There are also buttons for power, and controls for DVD/CD playback. These controls are set in another bushed aluminum plate that covers the first couple of inches of the lower deck (where the keyboard is).  Next in line is the touchpad, this actually extends into the aluminum plating as the buttons and bezel are of the same material, at the bottom in the center (and providing a visual separate of the left and right mouse buttons) is a small round indentation with a resin covered medallion that displays the “angry eye” again. When running any 32 bit version of Vista this eye lights up red while the G2S is powered on. The touch pad itself is unfortunately a little boring; it is made of a flat black material and has a diagonal pattern to it. The surface is a little rough (your finger seems to drag over it) but it is fairly accurate for a touchpad. Now something that is visually interesting is that neither the touchpad nor the controls are centered, instead they are shifted slightly to the left giving greater room for the right hand over the left. Now this is something normal in most notebooks; but since this is a gaming notebook and the left hand is used more often that the right for keyboard control I found it awkward to have touchpad here.

On the right end of the aluminum plate are the required stickers proclaiming CPU, and GPU type, what type of Windows the G2S was built for and there is even a sticker proclaiming Bluetooth 2.0 compatibility. Moving further up the deck we move from aluminum into shiny black plastic with a crosshatched pattern beneath the surface.  Moving up we arrive at the keyboard, this is set down in a depression that makes the surface of the keys level with the surface of the deck. The keyboard itself is a fairly decent one although it does respond better to a heavy hand than to a light one. This is probably meant to help with longevity as the stiffer a keyboard is the more it can take abuse.Asus has also shaded the W, A, S, and D keys red for easy identification.  I did have a few issues with the keyboard other than the need to type “aggressively”, the first is that it is too far back on the deck, this means that your forearms are resting on the corners of the notebook; after a few hours of typing or gaming this position becomes uncomfortable. The next is the size of the CTRL keys; on most standard keyboards these are larger than a standard key. Since the CTRL key is used in most games I was surprised to see these so small. When you add this to the awkward position of the keyboard it makes them even more unwieldy.

On either side of the keyboard are 8 rectangular indentations, these have red mesh grills at the bottom and cover up the speakers.  This little detail adds some needed flare to the otherwise dark deck.
Behind the keyboard is a mirror like area with an OLED display as well as some more familiar Icons that light up in Blue LED. There are also some additional feature buttons (From left to right) Powe4Gear+, Power4Phone, Splendid, Touchpad disable, and the Power Button. The touchpad disable button never worked for me regardless of the OS version I was using the software buttons I will talk about later in this review.

The OLED display is a great idea, it is capable of displaying a variety of items, the default is a clock but you can also customize it with emoticons, and a scrolling marquee you do this using Direct Console which I will cover later. But that is not the extent of its usefulness; it also integrates with outlook to flash when new mail arrives and to scroll the subject of the new mails. This is further complimented by the OLED display’s ability to flash when someone on MSN responds in a chat. It will flash and show you the name of the person that responded. Both Mail and MSN responses have Icons that will stay after the flashing stops.
Now that we are finished with this area we move up to the display. In simple terms the 17” display used in the G2S is stunning; it is crisp, sharp, clear and vivid all at once. I honestly have not seen a better display. And I am talking about desktop displays as well. It puts my 24” monitor to shame.
Surrounding this amazing display is a thick black bezel that actually helps to make the colors and clarity of the screen more prominent. Below the screen on the ridged lower bezel is the Asus logo in silver letters. Above the screen is a 1.3 Megapixel web camera and built in microphone.
Unfortunately the appearance is marred by the visibility of the locking latches; they are the old fashioned slider hooks and stand out on what is otherwise a very impressive looking notebook.

Flipping the G2S over on its back we see more of Asus’ attention to detail for this gaming notebook. There are eight rubber feet on the bottom to these feet range in size from 3/8” squares in the front to one inch long ovals along the back. The arrangement of these feet gives the G2S a very stable footing and allows for very good airflow underneath. Visible compartments for RAM, HDD and accessories (wireless card, TurboRAM etc) are also arranged on the bottom of the G2S.

A word on RAM, the basic G2S configuration comes with 2GB of RAM (2x1GB modules) but the bottom compartment only grants you access to one of these. The Manual does not shed any light on where the second module is. A quick call to Asus tech support and we find out that it is located under the keyboard.  To access this you will need a jeweler’s flat head screwdriver.  Look closely at the top of the keyboard, here you will see three “clips” VERY carefully slip the screw driver in-between the key and that clip, push the clip back and it should release. After you have released all three clips again very carefully lift the keyboard it is still attached by a fragile ribbon cable to the notebook. Removing that is fairly easy but not required. Once the keyboard is out of the way there is a small rectangular metal plate that needs to be removed and you have access to the other half of your RAM.

{mospagebreak title=Software}
Software:
The G2S comes preinstalled with Windows Vista Home Premium, plus a large amount of what some might call shovelware. In some cases I would say this is true, you can uninstall the applications you do not want or install your own OS and then install just what you want from the drivers CD.

Asus update:
This is a handy little application that will keep you up-to-date on BIOS versions, software patches and most items that are covered by Asus’ website. Having this installed had no affect on performance. I would recommend keeping it.

Direct Console:
Direct Console is the application that controls the flashing red lights on the side (called direct flash) This portion causes these lights to blink on and off while you are playing any game using directX, interestingly enough in Vista X64 the lights would flash for anything graphical including watching a movie or running a VM. The other portion of this application controls the OLED display, with this you can set it to the default (shows the time) or add scrolling emoticons or a scrolling customized text message. The only issue I had with this was in Vista x64 on occasion I would have to reboot because the shell app for Direct Console would fail. This would not prevent me from running but the OLED only showed the word ASUS.

This application also did not affect performance and is fun to play with.

Instant Fun:
This application is supposed to give you quick access to multi-media application (DVD Player, Photo display, etc.) but was, in the end, pretty worthless and can be considered expendable for most gamers.

Lifeframe:
This application allows you more functionality with the built in webcam. Offering the ability to make small video clips, still images and to even make minor edits to the videos and images, this application should probably be left on the system.

MultiFrame:
Another interesting but (in the end) useless application is MultiFrame. This allows you to rapidly move a window to different areas of the screen by clicking on an extra floating Icon on each window. I found this would cause periodic screen freezes and was no faster than dragging a window to the place you wanted it in the first place. This app can also be safely removed.

NBProbe:
This is a tool for checking the status of the system. With NBProbe you can check temperatures, HDD capacity and health as well as environment information (OS etc). It only runs when you start it and is handy for finding out information on the system.

Power4Phone:
This is a video conferencing software that works with Skype though your Modem or other internet connection as Skype now supports video conferencing it does not really serve a purpose. Power4Phone is another application with limited use and one that can also be safely uninstalled. The feature button, at the top of the G2S, that controls this function lights up when this is in use.

Power4Gear+:
Now, here is an application that Asus put some thought into. They have developed a power management application that allows you to choose from different types of workload.  For both battery and AC power there are; High Performance, Entertainment, quiet office, and Battery Saving.
Each of these is pretty self explanatory. These can be easily toggled back and forth using the Power4Gear+ button at the top left of the deck. Each mode can also be tweaked to provide you with exactly what you want.

Splendid:
This is Asus’ color correction technology and allows you to tweak the display to suit your tastes or the type of playback you are running (i.e. movie, games, etc). The application allows you to make a custom profile while the Splendid feature button allows you to toggle through the available presets; Normal, Gama, Vivid, Theatre, Soft, and My Profile.

Norton Internet Security:
What batch of shovelware would be complete without Symantec? This application is a 60 day trail and is something that I would remove as soon as possible and replace with a better AV application.

Asus Data Security Manager:
This handy little application allows you to make encrypted folders that you can also hide from outside or internal users, the normal folders are your media and documents folders but can be any folder you chose. The Asus Data Security Manager application also adds in a contextual menu feature allowing you to right click on a folder and encrypt it without the need to open the application and browse for it first.

Virtual Camera:
I never did find out exactly what this application was for, you can enable it, disable it or see the info screen. I would remove it.

Nero OEM Suite 7.5.13.0:
For disk burning and light scribe Asus provides the Nero OEM Suite 7.5 for use.
This is the standard collection of burning (Nero Burning ROM) and nothing special to write about.

SetPoint:
This software is only useful if you have the optional Logitech  MX518 mouse and allows you to use advanced features of the mouse as well as customize the extra buttons to your taste.

I will caution you that the G2S does not like to have XP or Server 2008 forced on it. I did find that it has no issue with Vista x64 of any type and the driver CD has all the needed drivers to get you up and running with the exception of the driver that makes the “angry eye” under the touch pad light up, although this is not a huge loss.

{mospagebreak title=Performance}
Performance:
I am sure you are wondering how well the G2S performed, is it up to par as a gaming system? Or is this just another expensive boat anchor with no real power? I wanted to test as many possible scenarios as I was able.  I didn’t just want to cover gaming performance, as I had a feeling that this notebook would be perfect for someone that wanted to game but might also be looking for a desktop replacement system.
I was curious to see if the G2S would be able to deal with gaming as well as other tasks such as video encoding, image manipulation and general office work.

The G2S-X1 as tested was configured as follows:
Intel Core 2 Duo (Centurion Duo) T7500 (2.2GHz)
2GB (2x1GB) Hynix DDR2 667 RAM
160GB Toshiba 5400RPM SATA 150 HDD
nVidia 8600M GT 256MB discrete GPU (DX10 capable)
17” Splendid video display
Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse
Windows Vista Home Premium (Pre-Installation)
Windows Vista Ultimate x64

FutureMark:
FutureMark is something of a staple here at Planetx64, although we do not claim that it is the end all of tests. Instead we use both PCMark and 3DMark to give you an over view of how well the system should perform under “perfect” conditions.

3DMark 06 and Vantage:
When I began my testing on the G2S 3DMark Vantage was still not out, however I went back and ran this test on the G2S just to see if the extra features of DX10 would hinder this system.

3DMark 06 shows off basic graphical performance but does not touch on any of the features available in DX10. This means that physics testing for the CPU is minimal as are the AI calculations.

 
For 3DMark06 I saw a less than average score and with it the beginnings of my doubts about the G2S as a gaming platform. However, knowing that this was only a synthetic test I did not let this concern me too much.

3DMark Vantage:
The latest and greatest from FutureMark 3DMark Vantage adds in DX10 to the mix while increasing the physics and AI calculations the CPU is tested for. In the end the majority of the score still comes from the GPU’s ability to render the graphics in each of the two graphics tests, both of these are heavy with Shader Model 4 features and other DX10 goodies.

3DMark Vantage also seemed to cast serious doubt on the G2S’ ability to play games and especially to render DX10 textures and surfaces. Again, I wanted to wait and not base my findings on these two tests.

PCMark Vantage:
Another test that is good for getting a feel of a system is PCMark Vantage, although it is not a replacement for real world usage it is good for finding weak spots in a system.

PCMark Vantage scores were about what you would expect from the G2S.

HyperPi 0.99b:
I like using SuperPi and especially multiple instances of SuperPi to test memory to CPU to HDD speed and stability. This requirement made HyperPi perfect; it automatically opens up the proper number of instances based on the number of cores on your CPU. HyperPi uses the Xtreme Systems Mod version of SuperPi.

The HyperPi times seem to show the 5400 RPM HDD as a weak link here, for with a normal 2.2GHz CPU using a 7200 RPM HDD times would be much faster.

Cinebench 10:
Cinebench is a free testing application that was developed by Maxon  (the makers of Cinema 4d) it is designed to test your GPU and CPUs ability to handle 3D Animation. It includes an OpenGL test and a CPU test which gives results for single and multiple cores (if they are present).

Cinebench R10 scores were surprising, I expected them to be much lower considering performance with other application tests.

Video Encoding with AutoGK:
As I have mentioned in other evaluations, video encoding is becoming a fact of life. There are dozens of products on the market to move your movies from DVD to XviD or DivX whichever is your favorite format.  Video encoding is very CPU, RAM and HDD dependent. If you have a slow HDD you encoding will take longer as the CPU and memory have t wait for the HDD to write to the drive. Video encoding is also a good test of the system bus as there is a considerable amount of data moving back and forth during the encode.

Time is in hours minutes and seconds lower is better

Here again we see the slower 5400 RPM HDD coming into play if Asus would use a 7200 RPM drive I think the overall performance would improve.

Photoshop CS3:
As with video encoding digital images (pictures) and the way things are now. Just about every phone has a camera and can send its pictures to your PC. Adobe’s Photoshop has been the industry standard in image manipulation for some time.

Time in seconds lower is better.

Photoshop was a surprise, as with Cinebench I expected Photoshop to be a poor performance but I was pleasantly surprised. This made the G2S even more attractive to me personally as I am a Photographer as well as a computer geek and use Photoshop for my image manipulation. The G2S’ performance under Photoshop combined with the amazing quality of the screen makes this an even more attractive pacakage.

{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance}
Gaming Performance:
The G2S is marketed as a gaming notebook, with an 8600m GT and a 17” LCD that is superb it would seem the perfect fit for the G2S. But is the G2S really able to keep pace with today’s games? Or will the extra workload from eye candy and heavy AI bring it to its knees. And with a DX10 compatible card will it really be able to run DX10 games? Or will it (like many other DX10 compatible items) stumble under the extra load from DX10 surfaces and textures.  I picked a variety of games from different genres. All frame rates were captured using FRAPS. Each level was run through three times and the average for minimum, maximum and average FPS were recorded for each game.

Bioshock:
This is my only DX10 title and also a game that I enjoy playing. If you are not familiar with Looking Glass Studio’s other releases you will want to look those up. They like Monolith (F.E.A.R. and The Blood series) have a way of taking you inside the game, with each title they give you someone that you think is an ally for the better part of the game, only to have them betray you. Once this betrayal is discovered you have to kill of the final bad guy.  The graphics in Bioshock are excellent although the colors are a little cartoonish.  AI in this game is a little brutish and straight forward cooperative tactics are not used by enemies making the AI load light. But even without a heavy AI load Bioshock can put a hurtin on your system. Game setting are shown below.
I played the “Welcome to Rapture” level from just after you get the Electro Bolt Plasmid until you first meeting with the Little Sister and her Big Daddy. This gives a few interesting spaces for the GPU to render and still gives you some fights to get into.
Settings are shown below:

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare:
The Call of Duty series is a great historical themed games series. Now they have moved from history into the present. Modern Warfare is based on realistic low-level conflict scenarios that are happening around the world today. Graphics are superb and with excellent lighting and surface textures to push your GPU.
AI is based on “Mob” tactics with very little cooperation amongst your enemies. I like to call this “Bar Fight” AI.  The sheer number of enemies on the field still creates a heavy AI load for your system to chew on.
For my testing I ran the “Crew Expendable” level from after you go into the cargo hold until you find the package. This eliminated the cut scenes and gave plenty of action. Settings are shown below.

COD4 was also very smooth; this game exhibited no lags, stutters and was very enjoyable to play. Frame rates were just under 30 FPS which is just under full motion video (32 FPS) There was  a 1 FPS difference between Vista Ultimate x64 and Vista Home Premium x86.

HalfLife2 Episode 2:
Rise and shine Mr. Freeman, back again is Gordon Freeman the Hero(?) of Black Mesa and City 17 but now he has escaped from City 17 with Alyx, but still needs to get some vital information to his buddies at a remote location so they can save the world again. This is an all too familiar scenario to those who follow Valve’s HalfLife series. And while this is repetitive they still manage to drag you into the story as Dr. Gordon Freeman. The graphics are well done with a HDR engine that simply out performs everyone else’s. The AI in HalfLife is really something, the developers at Valve have created a wickedly intelligent AI; your enemies will actually work together to kill you. There are cooperative tactics, flushing (ever had a grenade thrown at you to flush you out from cover?) and feints all bound up into a neat package.  For testing I ran the “To the White Forest” level from after the Vortigaunt rescues you from under the building until you extract the AntLion larva.
My settings are shown below.

With Frame rates between 29 and 33 FPS HalfLife 2 EP 2 was another game that was very playable. There were absolutely no lags or stutters at the above settings. Vista x64 was a tad slower with average FPS at 32

TimeShift:
Timeshift is a fairly good game that puts you on the track of a rouge scientist who has stolen a time manipulating suit. This leads to an interesting chase through an alternate time stream where you try to track down the other suit and restore time to its proper state. The suit allows you to stop, fast forward, slow down, and reverses time, this provides for interesting game play while you figure out which power to use in each new puzzle. Graphics are cartoonish although some of the water and rain effects are impressive. For my testing I used the entry level from after your escape from the resistance safe house to the point where you enter the court yard and face the tank.
Settings are shown below.

Timeshift showed less than performance with frame rates between 21 and 23 FPS. There were a few stutters and at one point movement felt like it dragged as you try to move quickly through an exposed area. It was still playable but not as well as on more powerful systems.

Company of Heroes:
Company of Heroes is a historically based game that puts you in charge of soldiers as the move through World War II. Beginning with the assault on Normandy, you follow through the campaigns as Infantry, Rangers, or Airborne soldiers. You are placed in control of squad and platoon sized units for each new objective. The graphics are quite well done for a real-time strategy game as is the enemy AI. Company of Heroes is an addictive game that can provide hours of game play.
For my testing I ran the Normandy assault from the initial beach landing to the destruction of the “88s”.
Settings are shown below.

Company of Heroes showed no performance issues at all, as with most of the other games I found myself playing farther into the game and would often play when not testing simply due to the sharpness of the screen and the ability to setup anywhere in the house and play.

Gaming conclusion:
Gaming on the G2S-X1 was great, the power was more than enough to run all of the games I like to play, the screen was sharp the colors clear and the portability of the G2S meant  that I was not tied down to my office. I could game anywhere that I wanted. The G2S-X1 is an impressive gaming machine.

{mospagebreak title=Battery Life}

Battery Life:
The battery on the G2S was probably the least impressive item. With a standard life of about an hour and 45 minutes, the G2S is not something you are going to take on the road without your power cord.
Gaming battery life differed with the game but was a little under one hour for the most part.  I would make sure that power is handy if you take the G2S on the road.

{mospagebreak title=Price/Warranty}
Pricing and Warranty:
The G2S-X1 does not come cheap, with a price tag of $1,850 from your local Best Buy it will set you back some cash, but when you compare this to other gaming notebooks on the market it is a pretty good deal. The optional Backpack and Mouse will add some extra dollars to the price but are both very nice additions and if you have ever searched for a good back pack for a 17″ notebook you will want to grab this one if they have it.
Asus offers a two-year warranty on notebooks purchased in the US. Asus has, on its website, a nice link so that you are able to locate the closest service center if you are in need of repairs.
Asus Global Notebook Service

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
After working with the G2S for roughly 60 days I feel I can give you an honest opinion of this notebook. We at Planetx64 made a decision long ago not to follow the usual path and crank out “8-hour” reviews. To that end I reviewed the G2S-X1 as if I had bought it for my personal use. I carried it back and forth to work with me, I gamed with it, I edited and printed my photographs with it. I did this for 30 days using the pre-installed OS (Vista Home Premium x86) and for 30 more with Vista Ultimate x64 installed. I can tell you that Asus has a formidable system with the G2S-X1, with its combination of power, clean graphics, and functionality it makes for a great portable gaming system and graphics workstation. I was very impressed with its ability to handle Photoshop as well as 3D Animation applications. Gaming was extremely smooth with even DirectX 10 titles being playable. The weight was not too extreme for a 17” notebook and the Backpack accessory is perfect for toting the G2S around with you. Wireless networking was a joy with the n specification wireless NIC, this kept me connected inside my home network with none of the lags associated with g spec wireless cards. The 5400 RPM HDD that hindered some application performance and that I thought would hinder the gaming performance was not an issue and did seem to provide a little better battery life as well. In all I feel the G2S is an impressive balance of gaming and workstation notebook and one that will find a home in any gamer’s or graphic designers home. I know that the day I have to box the G2S-X1 back up and send it home to Asus will be a sad one for me. I have said this before; the other players out there that have gotten complacent with the lack of real competition had better keep an eye on Asus as they may one day realize they have taken over their cozy market.

For its sharp display, performance, and features we are happy to award the G2S our Best on the Planet award:

Discuss this evaluation here

Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Charlton Ho for his help in arranging the G2S-X1 used for this evaluation.

Product: HP Pavilion tx1000 Entertainment Notebook
Author: Sean Kalinich
Category: Notebook
Reviewed on: March 27, 2007
Product Cost: $1584.98
Manufacturer: HP
Spelling and Grammatical Editor: Planetx64 Staff

We want movies, work, games, etc at our fingertips. HP has been providing powerful and versatile portable computing solutions (a fancy way of saying notebook) to consumers and businesses alike for well over 20 years (with the introduction of the handheld HP-75C). This year they announced the release of the tx1000 Entertainment Notebook which follows HP’s tradition of giving you the most power and versatility available all in a package that does not require a few annoyingly large trucks to carry it around in.  The tx1000 combines the best features of a notebook, home entertainment system, workstation, and a tablet PC all in one 4 pound package.

HP and AMD have been kind enough to arrange for us to put one of these to the test. Can the tx1000 really provide a consumer with what they really want? Can it perform well enough to satisfy a Prosumer’s needs? How far will this system take you?
Today we will give you the chance to find out.

{mospagebreak title=Packaging}
The Box- Arrival Day:
it sat there on the door step like and unwanted thought.

When the tx1000 arrived I was rather giddy, I do not remember being this excited about a piece of review hardware since my very first product sample arrived in the mail.

I was amazed at the size of the box, after being used to receiving items in boxes much larger than needed. The tx1000 arrived in a box that was only a little bigger than some of the mainboards that I have been sent.

Inside this small package was nestled the tx1000 itself and all the toys that come with it. To be honest I was impressed with the quantity of “loot” that came in the box. HP has thrown in two batteries, a four cell and a six cell Li-ion (Lithium Ion), the four cell offers a great weight savings advantage while the six cell gives you great battery life. Also present in the box is a cover plate for the optical drive slot this is for when you want to lower the weight and/or increase the battery life. Although I personally cannot think of a time when I would not want an optical drive, I suppose there could be times when this would come in handy. The next item on the loot list is two pairs of ear-bud style headphones. This is a nice touch and goes rather well with the dual head phones ports on the front of the notebook. Other items included were the obvious software and adds that seem to come with any purchase you make these days,  a stylus (complete with leash) for use with the tablet functions, the power “brick” , and a small soft cloth to be used to remove the greasy finger prints from your friends after they are finished “admiring” your new tx1000.  Believe me this last item sounds silly but the first day I walked around with the tx1000 I did not bring it and I found that the shiny surface of both the screen and cover were covered in print marks from people that just wanted to “look” at it. I will talk more about people’s reactions in just a minute though.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance and Construction I} 

Appearance and Construction:
they were of a size and shape that, more or less, exactly failed to please the eye.

For our guided tour of the tx1000 we will assume you are viewing it as if you were working at the notebook.
HPs tx1000 is a compact sturdy notebook that also functions as a tablet PC.  When you first get a look at it closed what catches your eye is an impressive glossy black surface reminiscent of black lacquered wood. This impression is added to by a subtle wave pattern that covers the back of the screen. This pattern seems to disappear depending on the angle you are looking from and adds a visual texture to the top.  In actuality the top cover is made of a sturdy plastic and has the HP logo and the words “Pavilion Entertainment PC” in silver foil embedded beneath the surface near the latch for the screen.

Along the back side of the top cover is a silver strip that is also the back of the speakers and the pivot point for the single hinge. You will also notice that the bottom “half” of the tx1000 is larger than the top or screen.
Flipping the tx1000 around to look at the back you will see the battery slot is located here. If you use the four cell battery the back is a nice completed curve the same color and texture as the under carriage. If you use the six cell battery, the battery sticks out like an afterthought. This does take away from the visual quality of the tx1000 it does provide you with a much longer battery life and a decent grip if you are using it as a tablet in portrait mode.  Flipping the tx1000 over ( I will deal with the sides and the inside later) I found that HP had not only put some thought into the placement of internal components but had decided to let us all know what is where and what screws on the bottom do what. I have repaired laptops in the past and nothing is worse than trying to figure out what screws you need to remove to get the keyboard or other component off. HP has taken the guess work out and just labeled them.

As you can see from the image here HP has moved the CPU to the back right of the system (when right side up) the fan here blows out to the back and side and does a pretty good job of keeping the AMD Turion X2 cool. The HDD ends up being under your right hand and the DVD-RW under your left.  The memory compartment is located in the middle while the wireless card is located just to the left. Again everything is labeled for easy location and access.
Now that we have covered the top and bottom let’s move onto the sides. After that we will open the tx1000 up and see how the working end fairs.

Starting at the front (always a good place to start) we find a power switch on the left front; this switch is conveniently placed but not easy to use. It is a “slide” type switch. To turn the system on you push it to the right, well that would be nice except for the small issue of the switch being extremely stiff and difficult to move with a simple push of your finger. I found that on most occasions I had to “hook” it with my fingernail to get it to move. Next to this in the center of the front side are: the IR sensor for the remote, two headphones jacks, and a microphone jack. The addition of the extra headphones jack was welcome as it eliminates the need for splitter if you want to share what you are listening/ watching with another person. HP has also included two sets of ear-bud headphones to complete this setup. To the right of the audio inputs and outputs is another slider switch and an LED. This one controls the wireless devices, both the Wireless LAN and Bluetooth and is blue while the wireless devices are enabled and red when they are not. Unlike the power switch, the wireless control switch is very easy to manipulate and provides a very easy method for enabling or disabling the wireless on the tx1000.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance and Construction II}

Rotating the tx1000 clockwise a quarter turn we find an odd looking hole, this is actually for the passive stylus that comes with the tx1000 and is for use with the tablet screen.  Close to this is also a place to attach a leash so that the stylus does not get lost. This hole is just below a single USB 2.0 port.  Next to that is a 1.0 Gbps LAN port, this is an awkward position for this as it blocks the potential use of a mouse and also increases the footprint of the tx1000.I would have preferred the LAN port to be on the back but there was no room, barring being able to put the LAN on the back I would have liked to see it further back on the side. With the LAN port in the position it is in it also interferes with the use of other ports on this side. Speaking of other ports on the right side there is an expansion port. This single port actually multiplies into three additional ports with an optional accessory the HP xb3000 Notebook Expansion Base you can also use the HP Notebook QuickDock. To complete the right side there are two video output ports; a VGA and an S-Video port. 

The right rear corner, as mentioned before is occupied by the exhaust for the AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60. Giving the tx1000 another quarter turn we are now looking at the backside of the notebook. Right next to the CPU exhaust is the battery port (I talked about that earlier) this stretches almost the entire length of the backside of the tx1000, only leaving enough room for a single RJ-11 Modem port and two USB 2.0 Ports. These are right on the left rear corner, but are easy to reach from the front without the need to close the lid or turn the tx1000 around.

With another clockwise quarter turn we come to the left side and all of its charms.
Here we find the power port. This port lights up blue when connected to power. The left side also offers us a combination media reader that is capable of reading SD, MS/Pro, MMC and XD media cards. Below this is an Express Card 34 PC card slot.  This is a 34MM PC card slot that can run using a PCIe 1x lane or USB 2.0 depending on the application and card used. This slot also happens to be perfectly sized to hold the IR remote that HP includes with the tx1000. At the time of writing HP did not have any accessories that worked with this form factor but we were informed that there would be products available later this year. A quick search on the internet showed that there are Express Card 34 devices available today but most are just port expansion (More USB 2.0, compact flash card readers, 1394b, e-SATA etc and a few Wireless WAN cards).  I am sure the TV cards, sound cards and other devices will be out very quickly. Taking up the rest of the left side is the 8x Dual Layer DVD-RW/ DVD-RAM complete with LightScribe. Having this much functionality in the optical drive is a nice touch. I did have one complaint, the eject button on the optical drive is very difficult to work. Although it is easily located and seems like it is easily pressed, the button does not always respond each time I went to change or put in a DVD or CD ROM I had to press rather firmly to get the tray to open. I asked one of my kids to give it a try and they were not able to get it open ether. This issue did seem to lessen after some usage but did not go completely away.

Another quick quarter turn clockwise brings us back to the front, now we are ready to open the tx1000 and see if it can continue to impress when in the working position.  
The screen is held in place by a series of latches and clips. Two of these clips provide stabilization for the rotating screen and are located on either side of the keyboard. The latches that keep the screen closed are located in the front on either side of the mouse buttons. These latches normally are kept below the surface of the palm rest by springs, yet when the screen comes in contact with the palm rest magnets in the screen draw the latches up into the screen securing it in place. Pushing the release button moves the magnets out of range allowing the springs to pull the latches back down into their housings.
After pushing the large and easy to use release button for the screen the first thing that you will find is that the central hinge is very stiff. This makes lifting the screen into position one handed almost impossible. Even after working with the tx1000 for 30 days the center hinge was still nice and stiff. This has its pros and cons; on the one hand a stiff hinge makes it difficult to open the screen, on the other the screen will stay in the position you put it in without fear of it moving.
Although I am sure that after time this hinge will loosen up I think that you would have to work with it for a very long time before it became too loose.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance and Construction III}
After opening the tx1000, viewing the business end shows us that the style that was present on the outside is still present within.

The same subliminal wave pattern is present in the glossy silver surface surrounding the keyboard. This surface is very smooth your fingers seem to just glide over it yet when your palms are resting on this surface it provides a firm and comfortable grip. Transitioning from this to the keyboard proper is a glossy black plastic bevel. This adds a distinct framing around the keyboard and lends to the already impressive visual impact. But even more than the framing or the wave pattern the one thing that will grab your eyes is the track pad. The track pad on the tx1000 is unlike any other I have seen. It seems to be a part of the palm rest and is only made obvious by the depression on each side, the two “mouse” buttons, and a pattern of small dimples in the surface. These dimples provide a visual and tactile reference for the track pad and the scroll bar. The combination of silky smooth surface and the dimples make one of the best track pads I have ever used. Another item that makes this track pad stand out from others is the physical separation of the track pad and the scroll pad. As you can see in the image below there is a small break in the pattern of dimples this allows for a tactile reference point between the track pad and the scroll pad making it easier to use. I actually found myself using this surface. Normally I would have plugged in my handy USB mouse but with this surface I found I did not have any desire to use the more traditional mouse. Above the track pad, in the black bevel around the keyboard, is a small button and a blue LED resembling a track pad. This can be used to disable the track pad if you do choose to use a traditional mouse and the blue LED will switch to red when the track pad is disabled.

In the lower right corner of the palm rest are four small stickers. These show off some of the more prominent features of the tx1000.
Moving to the upper left corner of the palm rest are three silver press buttons each with a blue LED in them. From left to right they are volume down, mute and volume up. The mute button also lights up red when the sound is muted.
Now let’s talk about the keyboard, HP has provided a keyboard on the tx1000 that is very pleasant to use. The keys have a slight texture to them that helps your fingers “stick” to the keys and makes typing a little easier. But there were some issues with the keyboard, with the small size of the tx1000; HP could not give a full sized keyboard. Granted while most of the keys are full sized there are many that are smaller than normal and can cause some frustration if you are used to the larger keys.
Of these keys the small right shift button was the one that gave me the most grief. Every time I went to punctuate a sentence with a “?” I would end up with “/.” . Of course as I got used to the layout this happened less and less but it still took some getting used to. Other smaller than normal keys are all of the function keys and the esc, page up and down, home, end, insert and delete. These occupy the top most row of keys on the keyboard while their small size would not be a problem the secondary function labels are small and can be difficult to read (especially in low light). A nice addition to the keyboard is little Blue LEDs in the black bevel to the left of the Caps Lock and above the Number Lock keys.
Directly opposite the track pad, at the back of the tx1000, is the dual direction hinge. This hinge allows the screen to rotate in two directions. The obvious one is opening and closing, but you can also rotate the screen clockwise to turn the entire screen around. This is a handy feature when watching a movie or TV from a TV tuner or if you simply want to share information without spinning the entire notebook around.  You can also rotate the screen around and fold it back down into the flat or closed position and watch a movie or for tablet use.
On either side of the hinge are the Altec Lansing speakers. These provide you with clear, if somewhat “tinny” sound.  These two speakers resemble the heads of an electric razor yet do not detract from the stylish design.

{mospagebreak title=Appearance and Construction IV}

The next item on our tour is the screen itself, this 12.1”, 1280×800 pixel HD ready screen is also a fairly good touch screen.  Most of the tablet/ touch screens I have worked with have been dull and not sharp. HP’s is anything but dull, they have covered the screen with a coating that resembles the same type of clear coating that you would normally expect on a regular LCD display yet is pliable and allows the screen to register input from the stylus or your finger. This coating provides a glass like appearance and offers excellent viewing quality. Surrounding this screen is another glossy black bevel between the screen and a silver outer trim. Now the bevel around the display is not merely cosmetic, HP has thrown in some nice hot keys. These hot keys are all clustered in the lower right corner. From left to right these buttons are;

Screen Rotation, this handy little button allows you to rotate the screen to suit your needs.
Mobile Configuration, this button opens up the Vista Windows Mobility Center.
Moving up the right hand side of the screen is a media/ audio repeat button, above that is the DVD auto launch button. Located on the silver trim near these two buttons are the labels for the DVD/CD controls. These buttons are actually integrates into the top cover but are easily accessed from the front of the screen. The only time these controls are not accessible is when the screen is folded down in tablet mode.
Now moving back to the left and keeping on the lower edge of the screen are the function LEDs.
These show power, charging and HDD access.
Moving a little more than halfway up the left edge of the screen we find a small fingerprint reader.
HPs fingerprint reader is provided by Authen Tec Inc, and is an AES1610, but the hardware is only one half of the system. The software component for this is provided by Verisoft and is capable of mapping different user names and passwords to the same finger print for easy access.
At the top of the screen HP has placed a 1.3 MegaPixel Webcam. This camera runs off of the USB 2.0 bus and is very good quality. On either side of the Webacm is a small Microphone. The combination of these two provide for very clean and full voice reception. Unfortunately HP has not provided a method to turn the webcam off, this would have been a nice touch and can help protect you from potential attack.

Now something you may have noticed about the tx1000 is that there are no sharp edges. This theme follows throughout the tx1000. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, there is the styling; rounded edges and corners do make for a nice stylish system. Second, there is the durability factor; here rounded corners and edges can absorb more stress and do not crack as easily as sharp corners.

In all I found the tx1000 to be a well laid out notebook, everything that you would need to operate the tx1000 is in easy reach and easily identifiable.
 
{mospagebreak title=Perceptions and Comments}
Perceptions and Comments:
Most of the products that I review are never physically viewed by other people. Instead they are observed through photographs. Even with my Case evaluations where I ask people about the aesthetics of the product I usually only put together a series of images to represent the product.
With the tx1000 people were able to see the product and physically interact with it.
This interaction provoked a number of comments and a number of greasy finger prints for me to clean off.
Here are some of my favorite:
“Oh my God, it is so cute!”
“Now that is a cool laptop” (This was said by some one that owned a larger HP)
“I want one! How much are they?”
“Do they come in pink?” (Said by my daughter)
“It’s got a touch screen and everything, can I have it” (Thank my son for this one)
“I have never seen a touch pad like that. Where can I get one?”
“That’s an HP?  I know what I am asking for for Mother’s Day”
As you can see the general consensus is that the tx1000 is a visually impressive piece of hardware.
Is this beauty only skin deep?  That is what we find out in the next section.

{mospagebreak title=Performance}
For performance testing I wanted to test the tx1000 as it shipped from HP, then with Vista x64 Ultimate. In the end I opted for testing in Vista Ultimate x86 and x64. for each OS I ran the tx1000 as a full production unit, brining this with me to work, using it at home and even carrying it with me on camping trips and photography jobs. The specifications of the tx1000 and the software installed on each version are listed below:

{mospagebreak title=As Shipped}
As Shipped:
The tx1000 ships from HP with Vista Home Premium (32Bit) this is a nice OS for most people’s use. However, since I use my laptop for work and would need to connect into a normal business network (Client/ Server) I would not have kept the tx1000 with this OS. The tx1000 ships with a fair amount of shovelware. I was simply appalled at the number of useless applications that were installed at the “factory” you could spend hours uninstalling all of the crap that you would not need for a working (and stable) installation. You would actually be better off simply formatting and reloading the OS only from the restore partition. Thankfully if you do decide to start all over to get a clean install HP does offer drivers for every bit of hardware on the tx1000 on their website.
Originally I was going to work with the tx1000 as installed but since I would be comparing this to Vista x64 Ultimate I decided to nuke the installation and start from scratch with fresh installs of Both Vista Ultimate x86 and x64.

{mospagebreak title=General Use}
General Use:
This product not intended for use with the other use

For general office use I found the tx1000 to be perfectly suited. The AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 had more than enough power to handle every business application I threw at it. Much of what I do on any computer system revolves around office applications and photography.  So for my general use I need a computer system capable of allowing me to have multiple Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Outlook, and even PowerPoint running at the same time. Throw into this mix the fact that I only shoot in Raw mode on my Canon Digital Rebel XTi. This means that I am working with image files that are an average of  8MB and up some as large as 15MB. So I need a system that is capable of manipulating these images for color correction, exposure, etc. I use Adobe’s Photoshop CS2 for and Canon’s Zoom Browser X for this image manipulation.
Now this is only part of what I do.  I am also an IT professional and often have multiple VPNs (Virtual Private Network), and RDC (Remote Desktop Connection) sessions open while I am working throughout the day. For my time with the tx1000 I wanted to work with it in a full production environment and subject it to what for me would be normal work as well as to explore the tx1000’s stated function as an entertainment notebook.
I will be testing the tx1000’s ability to deal with this punishment in both Vista Ultimate x86 and x64.

Now since this is a very subjective test I also wanted to run a standard synthetic test to give numbers to this subjective testing. For this test I used FutureMark’s PCMark05.

Vista x86:
PCMark 05:
Although I know PCMark is nothing more than a synthetic series of tests it can give a good indication as to how well a given set of hardware operates. The tx1000 did not do too badly, I was expecting a little more from it though. As you can see from the screen shots here the tx1000 that I tested did not do terribly bad but it also did not score amazingly high. Much of this is due to the speed of the hard drive and the lack of power the 6150 GPU possesses. In all the score indicates that the tx1000 is great for business and 2D application work (Photoshop etc) but that 3D and non-business graphics performance is not going to be something to write home about (unless it is to complain).

But not to worry, if you do need a little more power you can use Vista’s ReadyBoost.  I found that ReadyBoost gave a nice little kick to the system. With a 1GB flash drive formatted with 16KB sectors (this setting showed the greatest performance increase) I gained almost 200 points on the PCMark score. With a 2GB flash drive formatted with 32KB sectors (again the fastest settings) I gained another 200 points. Not too bad if you think about it.

On a more real-world basis the tx1000 provided me with a quick and responsive platform to work on. As mentioned above with the work I do (Evaluations and my normal “Day” job.) I tend to have multiple applications open. While under Vista x86 Ultimate I found the tx1000 quick and responsive. I was able to have multiple Word documents open, Multiple Excel spreadsheets and multiple RAW images. This was usually in combination with other applications such as Internet Explorer, Outlook, Skype, MSN Messenger and Firefox. While working I saw no slowdowns or other performance loss in any of my working applications. I was even able to have multiple windowed Remote DeskTop sessions running and not loose performance with my local applications. With the 2GB drive running ready boost it seemed like I could not give the tx1000 enough to do. All of my applications seemed to run like they were the only thing running.

Vista x64:
For those of you ready to take the next leap in computing technology I did not leave you out of my review. I installed Vista Ultimate x64 and ran it through the same paces as I did Vista x86.
To begin with let’s start with drivers. In most cases the reason people do not want to make the switch to 64-Bit is a very simple one, Support. I can tell you from personal experience there is nothing like having a perfectly working (not to mention extremely fast) installation of a 64-Bit OS only to find that few (if any) manufacturers choose to support it. I am not exactly sure why this is still happening even though Bill Gates and the MS Empire (insert Darth Vader theme music here) have stated that 64-bit is going to be the standard in 5 years. There are also multiple working 64-bit operating systems readily available, yet still many manufacturers seem to think 64-bit is a passing fad. Thankfully HP is not one of them (at least not with respect to the tx1000, printer drivers are another matter) Hp has available dual function drivers for every piece of hardware on the tx1000 except for the webcam. The webcam was not a problem though as Vista had a built in driver for that. I was able to everything working in Vista x64, even the fingerprint recognition device and software worked without issue in Vista x64.
For applications the only issue I had was with Acrobat 8. For some reason under Vista x64 Acrobat is not able to install the PDF Printer properly. This was not any fault of the tx1000 though and the only reason I mention it here is to note that the tx1000 had enough horse power to allow me to install VMWare 6  and run XP Pro (32 bit) as a guest OS for my PDF printing. In x64 I again made use of my 2GB ReadyBoost drive but even without ReadyBoost Vista x64 seemed quicker and more responsive than Vista x86. With ReadyBoost there was no comparison (except as mentioned below). I would not want to switch back to Vista x86.

So how did the tx1000 fair with in PCMark05?
Well here are the results:

Something odd happened here although I saw excellent performance and the system was very quick and responsive you would not know that from the PCMark05 scores, this is a good reason not to rely on synthetic tests alone to measure performance. In Vista x86 I saw a good performance increase from ReadyBoost, this went along with fairly decent scores in PCMark05. In Vista x64 those scores were significantly lower than their x86 counter parts. Also ReadyBoost did not provide the same level of performance increase as was evidenced in Vista x86. I am not completely sure of the reason for this but I suspect it is driver related. nVidia’s drivers for Vista x64 have been lacking in general but their Video drivers are simply abysmal. I will hold out hoping that the drivers will improve and bring the x64 performance up to where it should be.

{mospagebreak title=MultiMedia}
Multi-Media Performance:
The tx1000 is billed as an entertainment notebook, with that in mind I wanted to run it through the gamut of video formats that were available to me. While at the present time there is not a TV tuner option available from HP there is nothing stopping you from picking up a USB Tuner (even an HD tuner) and using this as a potable HTPC. For my testing I tested the tx1000 as it was sent to me with the exception of using Vista Ultimate instead of the Vista Home Premium that was preinstalled. The video formats I used for testing were, DivX, Xvid, Mpeg, Avi, WMV (Normal and HD) and of course standard DVD movies. For Audio I used MP3s, WMA, and CD audio. Another little multi-media hoop I put the tx1000 through was working with the new Internet TV application Joost. I was lucky enough to get on the BETA team for this application and while I cannot tell you too much about the way it works. I can tell you how well the tx1000 handled running Joost on its own and while running other applications.

Vista x86: Multimedia work is where the tx1000 shines, after I installed my favorite Codec pack (KLite Codec pack 2.85) I was able to play just about any format I wanted. I found myself leaving a movie or video file open in a Media Center window while I was working on other projects. In fact as I wrote this I was watching the movie “Man on Fire” on DVD in a small window beneath Word while watching the Indy channel on Joost Beta. Although this reduced the screen available for my writing, I found that it did not impact on the overall system performance. Even with multiple applications running (including Joost Beta).

As you can see from the screen shot above not only did I have both applications open and running but I also have a rather full sidebar. These are my usual gadgets that I have running when I am working.  I usually do this since my office is away from the main areas where we have TVs (or rather media centers). Now this feat might not seem like much to many desktop users but you have to remember that many notebooks do not have SATA drives and do not have 7200 or 10,000 RPM HDDs. Notebooks also usually have a system bus speed slower than your average desktop. This can cause the system to stutter and bog down when there is heavy HDD access, such as when you are watching an Xvid, DivX, or streaming movie.  If the tx1000 had a built in SD (or even better HD) TV tuner and an HD or BluRay DVD RW drive it would be the perfect entertainment notebook.
The screen quality is superb (thanks in no small part to the 6150s use of pure video technology).  Even in full screen mode the video quality was not diminished. Sound quality was actually quite good. I expected to have to deal with tiny and weak sound but this was not the case. The combination of the RealTek HD audio and the Altec Lansing speaker system delivered surprisingly full sound. Many notebooks do not have the dynamic range to give you clean sound across the high and low volume levels in an average movie but the tx1000 was up to the task.
I was able to hear voices quite clearly in every movie or video clip I watched.
The same can be said for MP3 audio, although here I did run into the tx1000’s lack of any real low-end sound range.  Some audio did not have the same punch as it should. Still, even without the bass the sound was crisp and clean.

Vista X64:
If the tx1000’s multimedia performance gained anything from running under Vista x64 I was not able to directly measure it. As with general usage, multimedia operations were quick and responsive. I noticed no stuttering at all. Sound was impressive considering the small speakers. One thing I did note that fall indirectly under multimedia performance was that CD and DVD burning was considerably faster in Vista x64. I used the same application, Roxio Easy Media Creator 9, for both systems. In Vista x86 my average burn times for a 4.3GB DVD were around 30-40 minutes with a disk to disk and 20-30 minutes from either and Image or Raw data from the drive. In Vista x64 those times dropped to 22-24 and 10-12 respectively.

{mospagebreak title=Tablet Functions}
Tablet:
Vista x86:
I have used touch screens before and found them to be a little awkward to use and not very precise.
When I first approached the tx1000 tablet features it was with a little trepidation, this was even reinforced by the first few times that I used it. I could not seem to get it to work properly. My letters did not complete, the handwriting recognition software did not seem to be working. But thinking that there had to be more to this, I quickly went through the tablet features in Vista and found the PC Tablet settings, here  I found the calibration button right on the general tab. One other item I found out was that calibrating for one orientation does not mean the tablet is calibrated for all orientations. If you are considering using the tx1000 in tablet mode I highly recommend going here first and calibrating the tablet to the orientation you will be using the most often. After orienting the tablet to the secondary portrait orientation, I looked through the rest of the settings and stumbled across the handwriting recognition tab. Here I found that handwriting recognition was turned off (this is the reason it was not working). Now with the tablet calibrated and handwriting recognition turned on I went back at the tablet functions including something called Flicks. Flicks are small movements of the stylus that are recognized by the system as certain functions.  As you can see from the image you can set your flicks to be either navigational or navigational and editing. I left the default flicks on I found them difficult to use at first but I quickly found them invaluable when working in tablet mode. Now something that I know will be on your mind is will the tablet work with applications like Photoshop. Well the answer is… yes. And here is where the flicks come in handy. Since many of the tools in Photoshop require you to sample with the “ctrl” or “alt” key, to get around this (since the keyboard is under the screen in tablet mode) I set up the forward and back flicks to toggle ctrl and alt respectively. So with a simple flick of the stylus I could sample if needed. In the screen shot below you will see the configuration I used for Photoshop. The really nice thing about the Flicks settings is that you can easily change them to suit your needs and style.  I have to say that the tablet mode in Vista x86 exceeded my expectations.

Vista x64:
Tablet functionality was just as precise in Vista x64 as it was in Vista x86. I really cannot add much more to this section. The tablet simply worked and worked well. The handwriting learning and recognition API was significantly better at picking up my style of handwriting. I found myself playing around with the tablet more in Vista x64 than I did in Vista x86 just for this reason.

For screenshots of the tablet functions setup go here.

{mospagebreak title=Photo Processing}
Photo Processing:
As I have mentioned above I am also a photographer , a couple of years ago I finally made the jump from film (I still miss film) to digital. This leap of faith was only after Canon released a 10+ MegaPixel camera.
Although I would prefer to shoot with the 1Ds Mark II I settled for the Digital Rebel XTi (the D400 in Europe) this camera is capable of creating the equivalent of a digital negative. This is in the form of a RAW image file. The RAW image file contains all of the image information captured by the CMOS sensor at the time the picture was taken. In other words regardless of the color space, white balance and even exposure you can adjust the RAW image just like you would a film negative. The down side of this is the actual file size as each RAW file can be up to 15MB. Another down side to shooting in RAW mode is that fact that they are only viewable by Canon’s Zoom Browser. This means for me to work on RAW images I have to have the Zoom Browser open at the same time I am running Photoshop. Of course Photoshop is capable of opening RAW images but it cannot preview the files at all. So at a minimum I have Canon’s Zoom Browser and Adobe’s Photoshop open while I am working on images. For testing I shot a few RAW image files and timed how long it took to open, convert and run filters on each. These times are shown below. I also noted the performance impact while running additional applications while working on the RAW images.

Vista x86:
Photoshop CS2 under Vista x86 operates in the same way that it would under XP. RAW images opened up rater quickly and even batch conversion of RAW images was speedy. To provide a real world test I used the images I shot for this evaluation and converted them from RAW to Jpeg using a batch conversion action I setup in Photoshop. The time for converting the 47 files from RAW to Jpeg was:

No ReadyBoost  5 minutes and 14 seconds
1GB 16k Readyboost 5 minutes and 10 seconds
2GB 32k ReadyBoost  5 minutes and 5 seconds

So for Photoshop Readyboost is not going to give you that much of a performance gain. Adding to the Photoshop functionality are the tablet functions. This allows you to directly edit the image using the stylus. As any Photoshop user knows it is quite a feat to edit an image using a mouse. It takes a very steady hand to use the mouse alone for editing, and to purchase a quality tablet from someone like Wacom can cost you a sizable amount of money.

Vista x64:
Photoshop CS2 supposedly has optimizations for x64. What this means is that it is capable of making use of the larger 64 bit memory addressing, but it is not a true or native 64 bit application. The benefit comes from being able to manipulate larger images than under a 32 bit operating system. I found Photoshop to be marginally faster under Vista x64 while working directly in the application. There was no real way to measure this as I have found a standard filter test does not truly give an accurate depiction of system performance. I did measure the time it took to convert the same 47 raw files using the batch file I used in Vista x86. I used the same three setups:

No ReadyBoost:  4 Minutes 55 Seconds
1GB 16KB ReadyBoost: 4 Minutes 47 Seconds
2GB 32KB ReadyBoost: 5 Minutes 03 Seconds

Just on a whim I tried the 2GB drive with a 16k allocation unit size to see if would show better performance than at 32k.
The time improved slightly but still did not perform better than the 1GB 16k drive.
This is in opposition to the performance we observed in Vista x86, and verifies the performance we saw in PCMark05 where the 1GB drive also did better than the 2GB drive.

Here we see a direct benefit of the 64 bit version of Vista. Even the slowest conversion time outperformed the best Raw image conversion times in Vista x86. As mentioned above image manipulation was also much faster. A strange added benefit in Vista x64 that was not present in Vista x86 was that the pen seemed to be more precise. I was able to make very small and exact edits to images that were not possible in Vista x86.

{mospagebreak title=Portability}
Portability:
Well if you ever want to know just how portable a notebook is I suggest you take it camping with you.
I recently booked a lot at Lake Louisa in Florida for some natural photography work. Normally I would lug around my 17” Dell boat anchor and come back with a sore back and shoulders. My camera and other gear is heavy enough but that 17” Dell would make it even worse. This time I decided to bring the tx1000. What a difference! The tx1000 not only lightened my gear but also was easier to work within the close quarters of my pop-up camper. I was also able to use it to watch movies at night without keeping anyone else awake. I simply turned the screen, laid it flat in tablet mode and I had a 12.1” movie screen in my lap (although there were some issues with it actually being in my lap). I used the remote to work the DVD player controls and I was happy. The tx1000 was also more than powerful enough to let me manipulate the 10.1 Megapixel images that I shoot.

Another testament to the portability and power of the tx1000 has been its use in my day to day work.
My “day job” is working for an IT outsourcing company in central Florida. My normal work day consists of high level server and workstation support. In many cases I need to bring a notebook in to work with.
Normally as with my photography work I would bring my 17” Dell for this work. For the length of my time with the tx1000 (60 days) I chose to bring the tx1000 with me and use it in my normal production work.
The compact size of the tx1000 made it much easier to use and required less space to setup.  The battery life of the six cell battery meant that I could operate without the need for a handy power outlet.
This is something that my regular 17” notebook is not well suited to. I will discuss battery life in detail later in this evaluation. I was able to work the tx1000 into just about any environment. The swivel screen allowed me to show my presentations and other information easily to potential clients and clients that we give quarterly IT reviews to. The tablet function allowed me to quickly diagram information about network layouts and other information when several clients decided to move into new offices.

As with my camping trip the weight of the tx1000 made it much easier to carry with me from appointment to appointment.  The tx1000 would be perfectly suited to any portable office or classroom environment. Additionally, once HP begins offering a WWAN option the tx1000 will be exceptionally suited to these chores.
HP has informed me that this option should be available around midyear this year (2007).

Now I know that all of this sounds wonderful, but there were a few dark clouds in the otherwise sunny skies.
One issue with running on battery was that the screen dims periodically, now I know you are thinking that this is not something that is bad in itself and you can turn the brightness up. It is still annoying to have it turn down the screen brightness. When the screen does begin to dim it makes it difficult to work on certain tasks; tasks such as working with any type of graphics (yes that includes photo finishing work) writing (this evaluation) are some of the few that are impacted by this.
Another issue that I ran into was heat; the AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, while very powerful and capable of performing some heavy computing tasks also generates heat in kind with its performance. I found that keeping the tx1000 in my lap for a long period of time was not an option. This was even more apparent when I had the screen in tablet mode.

{mospagebreak title=Battery Life}
Battery Life:
The Battery life of the tx1000 is going to be different depending on what applications you are running, the actual battery you are using (6 or 4 Cell), what hardware you have active, and the power plan you choose. For my battery tests I ran Word 07, Outlook 07, Joost, MSN Messenger, Skype, and of course all of my normal gadgets in the sidebar. I also had Readyboost running as I would use this if I were working (to add a little more horsepower to the applications I like to run). Wireless and Bluetooth were both enabled and I did not allow the display to dim or to turn off for the length of the battery. The power plan was set to balanced. I timed the batter from the moment the plug came out to the time the system force me into stand-by.
               Vista x86:
Running the applications listed above the tx1000 had the following battery life times.
6-Cell- 1 Hour and 46 Minutes
4-Cell- 1 Hour and 1 Minute
Running Battery Eater Pro Version 2.70 the tx1000 had the following battery life times.
6-Cell- 1 Hour 51 Minutes
4-Cell- 1 Hour 20 Minutes

                Vista x64:
Running the applications listed above the tx1000 had the following battery life times.
6-Cell- 1 Hour 44 Minutes
4-Cell- 1 Hour
Running Battery Eater Pro Version 2.70 the tx1000 had the following battery life times.
6-Cell – 1 Hour 50 Minutes
4-Cell – 1 Hour 18 Minutes

{mospagebreak title=Gaming Performance}
Gaming:
For my gaming testing I ran 3DMark 06 as a static test and three popular game titles. One first person shooter (F.E.A.R.) one third person perspective game (Need for Speed Carbon) and one real time strategy game (Company of Heroes). With these games I felt I would get a very good idea of how well the tx1000 performs as a gaming platform. Now bear in mind that the tx1000 is not advertised as a gaming notebook but as an entertainment notebook. I still wanted to cover gaming to give you a complete picture of the tx1000’s abilities. All frame rates were captured using FRAPS 2.8.2.

Vista x86:
F.E.A.R:
As anyone knows that has played this game F.E.A.R. is not a game for the low of memory or the weak of GPU. It places you in the role of a soldier/ agent for F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) you are looking for former general with psychic powers that has mysteriously escaped from his cell. These powers allow him to command an army of replicant soldiers (the enemies you face).As you search for this general you encounter many enemies with some rather impressive AI. Particle and lighting effect abound in this title by Monolith. Monolith is known for its creepy atmosphere, immersive story lines and impressive gameplay.  Knowing all this and the fact that the tx1000 only has an nVidia 6150 with UMA (unified memory architecture a fancy way of saying shared memory).  
I have included screen shots of the settings I used for this test but I will list the resolutions and their corresponding frame rates.

As you can see from the chart and screen shots above the tx1000 did not perform too well under the stress of F.E.A.R. even at lower resolutions. This is due to the limited power offered by the 6150 GPU and the shared memory.

Need for Speed Carbon:
Another popular and system intensive title, Need for Speed places you as a street racer just getting back from a prison term and looking to reclaim your former glory, at the same time you are looking to figure out who set you up. This ridiculous plot line is helped out by some impressive graphics great racing and decent yet impossible physics.  As with F.E.A.R. I have included screen shots of the settings but will list the frame rates for each of the available resolutions in the results.

Our Need for Speed results are even more abysmal than the F.E.A.R. results. Again we are confronted with the limitations of the 6150 GPU.

Company of Heroes:
Company of Heroes is a real time strategy game that adds in great graphics and historical story line. Set in World War II you start on the beaches of Normandy and move through select portions of the European Campaign. Company of Heroes is similar in play to games like StarCraft, and WarCarft in that you have to build your forces and protect them from your opponent. (This time the Axis powers) while working toward completing the mission that is before you.

Company of Heroes fairs no better than the two other game titles we tested.

Gaming conclusions for x86: If gaming is your thing and you are looking for a notebook that can deliver fast frame rates at high resolutions then the tx1000 is not for you. The sad fact is that while the 6150 is a great GPU for 2D imaging and for standard video it simply does not have the horsepower to pull off any serious 3D gaming. Rolled into this lack of power is the bottleneck inherent in any shared memory setup.
Although this technology has gotten better as RAM speeds have increased and the shear amount of RAM available to a system has increased it is still not a replacement for dedicated memory when it comes to GPUs and 3D performance.

Vista x64:
Gaming in Vista x64 was not any better than in x86. All of the games used for testing were playable but just barely so. This is again due to the lack of 3D GPU power and the shortcomings of the sahred video memory.

{mospagebreak title=Price and Warranty}
Price\Warranty and Support:
The tx1000, while one of the smaller notebooks out, does not have small price tag. The model that was loaned to me by HP rings up at around $1600 that price gives it a rough per pound price of $400. This is not too bad when you consider what you actually get. The $1600 price tag is also comparable to other tablet PCs on the market.

HPs warranty provides for not only part replacement but also for online and phone technical support.
The support is on par with other large system builders and would provide and is more than adequate to help even intermediate users. This would not be much of a benefit (other than for arranging replacement services) to advanced users or enthusiasts but it is nice to have if you need it.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusions} General Conclusions and Delusions:
HP and AMD afforded me 60 days to pound on the tx1000, this gave me the chance to see how it would really perform under real world usage in Vista x86, Vista x64 and of course as it would be shipped out from HP. For the most part I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, speed and the portability the tx1000. There were a few things that I wished HP had done differently (such as adding Wireless Wan, an HD or BluRay drive, more powerful GPU) but on the whole I feel that HP delivered exactly what they promise in the tx1000, a small ultra-portable entertainment notebook.  The tablet features are a bonus and add to the value of the tx1000, they also add the additional capacity to use the tx1000 for normal business work as well as photofinishing.  The small size and weight of the tx1000 made it perfect for carrying around during my workday and when I head out on camping trips or downtown for my photography. The warranty and support provided by HP was more than acceptable and with the quality I saw in the tx1000 I reviewed would not be needed except in extreme cases.  The typical package system shovelware was unfortunately present on the tx1000 just like every other system you would buy from a large manufacturer. This also throws a small wrench into the performance of the tx1000. If you know how and want to spend the time I would recommend a “ground up” install of the operating system that you want. This may present some issues if you need to contact support but you will get more performance out of the system and be free of some annoying applications that want to run every time you power on. But before you do this make sure you grab all of the drivers you need from HP’s website and store them some place safe. Another item worth mentioning is that you will need to provide your own DVD/CD burning software. I personally use Roxio Easy Media Creator but you can also use Nero or whatever your favorite flavor of software is. Make sure that your burning software has the lightscribe plug-in or head on over to lightscribe.com to grab it from there.

X86 Conclusions:
The HP tx1000 entertainment notebook running under Windows Vista x86 was everything it was advertised to be and more. Once I got past the shovelware that was part of the default installation I found the system to be very quick and responsive. For multimedia the only things lacking were deeper sound, an HD optical drive, and a TV tuner.  Covering general usage I found the tx1000 to have more than enough power to run all of my work applications. In terms of Photoshop work the tx1000 was a dream to use, the AMD Truion 64 X2 had enough horse power to allow me to manipulate 15MB RAW images and the tablet allowed me to perform precise edits to images. The DVD burner with lightscribe allowed me to quickly archive the images and to label them at the same time.
Gaming performance was, unfortunately, simply awful. I would not recommend using the tx1000 as a gaming platform. But as I have mentioned before the tx1000 is not advertised or sold as a gaming platform so HP is not trying to pull a fast one on you there.  In the end the tx1000 is a solid, highly portable and powerful platform for you to run 32-bit Windows Vista on. I can highly recommend it for business and 2d graphics work. Battery life was good considering the work I was doing. If you are using less graphics and or HDD intensive applications you should get an even longer battery life. For those of you that need a little extra kick for the work you are doing Vista’s ReadyBoost provided a decent performance increase when set up the right way. The tablet functions were also an extremely nice add in and only add to the versatility of the tx1000 as a business and entertainment platform.

X64 Conclusions:
As most of you who have been working with x64 know the biggest reason it is not in more widespread use is a simple matter of drivers. If the big manufacturers would get off of their collective behinds and develop drivers for x64 you would see a major shift in x64 usage. Thankfully HP has provided 64 bit drivers for every piece of hardware in the tx1000, well everything except the webcam. This was not an issue since the webcam had native support in Vista x64. Even the Verisoft’s access manager for the finger print reader was available and worked in x64. The same applications that I was able to run on the x86 version of Vista worked in the x64 version with the exception of Acrobat Professional 8. The issue with Acrobat is an Adobe failing and nothing to do with the tx1000. Multimedia under x64 was as good as it was under x86. There was a slightly different CODEC that needed to be installed but other than that there was no issue. For Photoshop Vista x64 beat the x86 installation hands down. Even the slowest RAW conversion time was faster than the fastest RAW conversion time in Vista x86. Gaming in Vista x64 was just as awful as in Vista x86. General usage was outstanding; although there was an issue running PCMark05 for some reason the scores did not reflect the actual performance that I was getting from everyday use. Battery life was also just as good in x64 as in x86 the tablet functions worked flawlessly as well. Again if you are looking for a notebook that works right out of the box as an x64 platform for business usage, entertainment, and 2D graphics use. The tx1000 should be at the top of a very short list.

Discuss this evaluation here

Acknowledgments:
I would like to thank Matt Peterson from Porter Novelli, Kevin Wentzel from HP, and Chris Aarons from (formerly from AMD) for allowing us the opportunity to review the tx1000.