Black Orange – Peter Du’s Blog

This is short summary and review for the newly release HP Touch Smart IQ500 has launched in Singapore. I was invited by Melvin Yuan to take a look at their releasing product in this coming July in Asia last Tuesday.

After talking with the HP product manager Daniel for TouchSmart IQ500 in Singapore, and tried first hand on the set. I’ve discovered that there are 10 things you might not be aware of HP TouchSmart through merely looking at the Ads or some online review, here they are:

1. No Apple-like multi-touch yet, which means no pinch to zoom nor three fingers to go back, but the multi-touch screen is designed to be object-sensitive rather than pressure-sensitive, so you can actually use your fountain pen to write on the screen.
2. The native screen resolution is 1680 * 1050, which means you can view HD1080p with large amount of pleasure due to its clarity because of many pixels are present, but you can’t take the advantage of the full resolution of 1080p because it still lacks quite a number of pixels according to that.
3. The keyboard and mouse came with the computer are both wireless. To me they feel just alright comparing with those magnificent ones on my MacBook Pro and my Logitech DeNovo Edge. And the wireless duo doesn’t come with a dock + charging station like that of DeNovo Edge – Yes, you need to replace the battery.
4. Don’t eat KFC and play with the screen at the same time! the screen is not oil-proof, though it could resist a certain amount of normal grease on your fingertips.
5. The PC comes with a remote control, which is designed for Windows Media Center rather than the HP TouchSmart Center, which is the piece of software HP developed for this TouchSmart PC.
6. TouchSmart Center can’t do TV, nor could it easily help you to transfer photos from your memory card to computer just yet. And yeah, you can’t delete the photos or videos through the interface either, which might be a good thing for people who like to press the X button all the time.
7. The plainly washed white and bright ambient light makes me want to buy a nice lava lamp and put beside the PC to create some nice ambience  instead
8. They are many pieces of pre-installed software on the PC. Many are quite useful, unlike that of Sony. But for that many games installed, you have only 4 free credits to play, so pay more to play them all.
9. HP software does not use the native resolution, which causes screen to flick  and computer to hang for a period when switching out of the TouchSmart center program using Alt+Tab
10. Vista still hangs now and then, and many applications take a while to start.

And here are the ten things you might know about:

1. HP produces some of the best Ads in the market today, including a nicely composed tune
   
2. The product looks really nice from afar, a giant photo frame sitting there.
3. You can use your stylus to write on the screen and play ink ball with your thumbdrive
4. Playing Solitaire and BeJeweled with fingers are really neat with friends together, a multi-user hot-seat scenario.
5. Coverflow on the machines is nicer than that of Apple, there is more context visible when spreading like a fan instead of vertically stacked.
6. You can watch TV on your desktop without bothering to buy TV cards and install them
7. They have wooping 4G RAM pre-installed to use on the system
8. It runs a 64-bit Windows Vista!
9. Telling Mom how to use the computer has never been easier, MA, just use you hand to press that red button!
10. It has built-in audio and video recording capability, you can do audio notes and voice memo easily.

Check it out for yourself when this coming July, you just find the perfect PC to sit in your living room.

PS: I think Apple’s iMac 24 inch’s look is cool comparing with this as well, but it lacks the Touch function and many more. And there are many reviews out there, if you will, take a look at them as well. But you really gota touch this HP TouchSmart IQ500 first to experience for yourself.