Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion TX1110us with Rebate Offers Compact Design and Maximum Portability

Our brand new HP Pavilion tx1110us is a non-touchscreen version of HP’s Pavilion series of compact 12-inch screen notebooks designed for entertainment as well as business use. This non-touchscreen model still lets the screen rotate like the tablet versions and it also folds down and flat over the keyboard with the screen facing upward to give you tablet viewing. A rotating screen is still useful for presentations or watching a movie; the lack of touchscreen features is a personal choice that can save your $100 or more.

Our family has several 15, 14, and 13 inch notebooks in use, and each time we buy a new one, we go smaller. The 12-inch HP Pavilion tx1110us proved that smallest is best. The first thing you notice about the HP TX1110us and its sister models such as the TX1000us, TX1305us, tx1000z and tx1000us, is just how attractive the unit is. The outer case is shiny black with subtle swirls deep in the shell that make the computer look classy and top-end. You do have to be careful in handling it because it is prone to leaving fingerprint marks; HP includes a cleaning cloth with the unit.

The keyboard and touchscreen are state of the art designs for ergonomics and functionality as well. Many important features are controlled by buttons right around the screen perimeter or status indicated at eye level around the screen. The glowing blue multimedia buttons are a very nice touch and come in handy when you need quick access for playing your multimedia files. My favorite button is the Windows Mobility Center button which brings up a menu that allows you to adjust the brightness, volume, wireless, battery, and display settings just to name a few all on one screen. Also, on the right side of the screen, there are buttons to play/pause, stop, and skip tracks on your CD/DVDs.

The keyboard layout is spacious enough to use for extended periods of time and is as close to a full-size layout as you can get on a notebook this small. One of the unique aspects of the TX1000 is the touchpad mouse which seems like it’s assimilated into the casing with a field of depressed dots. I find it a bit difficult to get used to, and requires a very light touch. But after getting used to it, which is true for just about every notebook because the touchpad designs are frequently changing, I find the design to be great.

On the left side, there is a built in card reader that takes SD, MS, MMC, and XD cards so you can pop in your flash media from your digital camera when it becomes full and then take some more pictures. Just under the card reader is an Express slot that also holds the included Media Center remote (remember to push in to eject, not pull out). On the right side, there are S-Video and VGA video outputs, and Expansion Port, networking port, and a single USB port. There are more USB ports on the back of the notebook. On the front, we have a sliding power switch, an infrared port for the remote, two headphone ports, a port for a mic, and a switch for the Wi-FI. The sliding power switch insures that you will not power up unintentionally but also takes a firm slide to switch on. The eject button on the DVD-RW drive can be difficult to push because of its small size.

The 12.1-inch widescreen displays at 1280x800 pixels and is very bright and visible in all lighting we have used it in so far. One of the most notable features is that it swivels 180 degrees clockwise. Even though this is the non-touchscreen version, it comes in handy when watching a movie in bed or reading an article. But there are no buttons to allow you to scroll the screen up and down while in tablet mode. This is where I wish I had the touch screen. Other features on the screen aside from the built in multimedia buttons mentioned earlier are the built in mic and webcam. The touchscreen version would increase the notebook’s usefulness such as quickly jotting down notes or writing down information while standing. The reason I did not get the touch screen is very simple, I found this model new but on clearance at Office Depot, for just over $600 with a rebate. But recently in January 2008, Office Depot ran a special order direct for a touch screen model for $699; Office Depot didn’t mention but HP has a $50 rebate on any notebook with a “us” in the model number that you can find on its web site.

Weighing just 4.2 pounds, the tx1110us delivers the same screen resolution and performance as a 15.4-inch notebook, but weighs over 2 pounds less. We find it to be the way to go after lugging around our larger notebooks.

The 1.6 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-52 processor is adequate for VISTA. The 120 GB hard drive (5400 RPM) offers enough to room to hold a digital audio library of over 20,000 songs and still have room left over for movies, games, and a large collection of software. This Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0. The 1 GB of installed RAM (2 x 512 MB DDR2) is a good start, but you'll want to add more RAM to handle today's demanding multimedia and productivity suites. It provides two DIMM slots and has a 2 GB maximum RAM capacity. To receive the faster data transfer benefits of the dual-channel DDR2 RAM, any RAM additions require memory modules of same capacity and clockspeed.

This LightScribe DVD+/-RW drive lets you laser-etch silkscreen quality text and images on to CDs and DVDs . Your software, PC and discs work together for a no-hassle way to burn just the labels you want. After you burn content, just flip the disc over, reinsert and burn your label--anything from a simple title to a full-disc work of art.

The Altec Lansing speakers provide exceptional sound, and a pair of stereo earbud headphones with volume controls is included. You'll be able to privately share enjoyment of multimedia with a friend via the dual headphone jacks. One of the headphone jacks is also compatible with SPDIF digital audio output for home theater surround sound.

This notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's fully compatible with 802.11b/g wireless networks.