HP Pavillion TX2530 Dual Core Tablet

Ever since my review of the Toshiba Equium U400 series, I have been on the lookout for a truly portable laptop that would beat the U400 specifications and portability while still being value for money. And now I have found one from the HP Pavillion TX2500 tablet series. It is the 12.1" HP TX2530 Dual Core 2.1GHz ultra portable tablet and its identical twin the TX2520 - both at a jaw dropping price less than £600.

I have no idea how HP have done it, but the they have managed to pack a hell lot of computer inside a really small chassis. All tablets in the TX2500 series use a similar sized deep chrome and black chassis. While smaller in dimensions from the Toshiba U400, the chassis is deep so the laptop is not as slim as the U400.

The laptop packs a powerful AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 Dual-Core Processor running at 2.1GHz with 2MB cache. 2GB DDR2 RAM1 at 800MHz, a 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard-disk and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 500MHz graphics card with upto 958 MB shared graphics memory. Now that is a lot of processing power and very high speeds, so expect things to get hot while working.

Besides this HP have thrown in a 0.3 megapixel webcam, two omni-directional microphones, dual layer DVD rewriter, integrated 802.11 pre-n wireless LAN, 56K modem, 5-in-1 card reader, fingerprint reader, 3 USB ports, S-Video port, 34mm express card slot, mini IR remote control, HPs expansion port 32 and Altec Lansing integrated speakers.

The unique thing about the laptop however is its 12.1" (diagonal) WXGA high-definition display with integrated touch-screen. The screen can be turned 360 degrees on its base and locked on top of the keyboard, so that it becomes a tablet you can write and draw on. The screen uses magnetic click locks and it snaps into place over the keyboard no matter which way around it is turned. The displayed image rotates to automatically face you. HP have also provided a rotation button on the display frame allowing you to hold the tablet which ever way you prefer. The fingerprint reader, microphones, speakers and webcam are all integrated into the display frame. Overall a very clever and well thought out design.

Besides this the keyboard has full sized typing keys, though the top row with F keys is tiny. It is comfortable to type on and the letters and numbers are all clearly visible. The touch pad is good and can be switched on/off using a dedicated button on top of it. A digital pen is provided and it can be comfortably tucked away into the base when not being used. The pen is also equipped with a click button. Dedicated light-up volume control buttons are also provided. The whole thing weighs about 2.1kg.

The downsides, well an HDMI port would have been better than s-video since the model already has an HD supporting graphics card and HD capable display. Also the overall build quality could have been better, it doesn't feel as sturdy.

So how does this laptop measure up to the U400-146? Here is a table summarizing the key differences:

Overall the HP TX2530 is a great laptop for the road warriors and the indoor home entertainment fans. You can buy the TX2530 here. Also check the identical TX2520 which has 3GB of RAM here and the very similar TX2130 here.

1. 1. There are no free expansion slots for increasing available RAM because 2x1GB modules are used instead of a single 2GB module.
2. 2. Expansion port 3 is HPs propertiary port and used to connect HP Expansion Base or QuickDock