Tablet Functionality

Let's get started on the tablet functionalities and eventually move on to design and other features. The most obvious thing that comes to one’s mind when talking about a tablet PC is its ability to take inputs from a stylus or even your fingers. It’s a nice and convenient digital way of taking down notes, also these tablets come with handwriting recognition ability i.e. your handwritten notes are converted into computer generated text. But not all tablet PCs employ the same technology to take inputs from a pen or stylus.

There are two technologies in existence - Resistive and Inductive. In resistive digitizers, which are mostly used for PDAs and now smart phones, there is a thin membrane on the top of your LCD screen that registers inputs when pressing on it and then passes on the information to the processor to execute necessary actions. Whereas in the inductive digitizers, the sensor sits underneath the LCD display and emits electro-magnetic signals which are then detected and responded by a special electromagnetic pen or stylus.

Resistive technology is lesser expensive and can also take inputs from your finger or any other object besides a stylus since the screen is on the top of the LCD. That’s the reason why it is also called a touch-screen. Whereas, with inductive technology one can only use the specialized electro-magnetic pen but on the positive side is not prone to accidental touches.

Since the resistive technology puts a thin membrane on the top the LCD screen, the quality of the display is reduced in the form of lesser contrast, reduced brightness levels and reduced clarity and this was very evident in the case of TX1016 AU too. Yes! the TX1016 AU uses the resistive digitizer for its tablet functionality. Also, because of the film there are transparent lines running diagonally across the screen affecting the clarity. Another thing to note is that with resistive technology it gets a little difficult to write as you have to maintain a continuous pressure while inputting and you most likely will end up missing parts of letters while writing fast which in turn will not be recognized by the handwriting recognition software.

That’s the reason why most tablet PCs use Inductive digitizers. In fact even HP sells tablets with inductive digitizers.

Design and Usability

The HP TX1016AU is an extremely handsome laptop, almost masculine in appearance. It comes with a black glossy lid with HP written in silver, making for a very classy looking laptop. The power button is intelligently placed on the outside in the form of a spring loaded slider. This is primarily done so that the power button is accessible even in the tablet mode, otherwise if placed along the keyboard, it would have been inaccessible. Even the Bluetooth cum Wi-Fi slider switch is placed on the outside. The keys on the keyboard are well laid out. With small form factor laptops like the 12.1-inch ones, some of the keys are eliminated, re-oriented or reduced in size. With the TX1016AU, the function and the right shift key is reduced in size which according to me is very much manageable. Otherwise all the other keys are laid out in a standard format and are comfortable to work with. There are dedicated back-lit up, down and mute volume keys outside the keyboard panel. This is a convenient addition as finding the volume keys in the keyboard and then using them as a combination with the function keys can get a little tedious, especially when watching a movie in the night. And just for that the keys are backlit. Also the mute key turns orange in color when active. Then there is a hot key which when pressed brings up a panel with a whole lot of options including the brightness control.

All these things show that the designers have done their job right. Though I have one problem and that’s with the USB ports. I am a strong advocator of the fact that all ports and especially frequently used ones like USB, should be on the front or at the side of the laptop and not behind. In fact most laptop manufacturers adhere to what I have just mentioned. The TX1016AU has three USB ports out of which two of them are at the back. Now, in most circumstances one USB port is used for a mouse and when you need another one, for example—to plug in a pen drive, in TX1016AU’s case you have to begin the blind hunt of locating the port at the back. It doesn’t seem that much of a big deal but if you can implement it which most manufacturers are doing, then why not.

The touch pad is not a separate entity and is in the form of dented dots on the body itself. It works perfectly fine and adds another stylish element to an already good looking laptop.
The laptop weighs 1.88 Kgs with the 4- cell battery and weight saver. By weight saver HP means the optical drive, a LightScribe DVD writer in this case, is removed and replaced by a lid, provided in the package.