HP Pavilion tx1260ea review

HP clearly believes being small on its own isn't enough to make the tx1260ea beautiful.

It's made every effort to create a miniature gem of a laptop. Like HP's current range of full-size portables, it's clad in stylish silver and black gloss and inlaidwith an understated oriental-style pattern of fine strokes that the company reckons improves scratch resistance. We just think it looks nice. Altogether, it's a glorious thing to behold, and at under £750 from dealers it's pretty reasonably priced, too, for a laptop that just about qualifies as ultraportable, except for being a little bit heavy.As always, though, it's what's inside that you're really paying for - and that requires slightly closer examination.

The first thing that struck us on opening the tx1260ea's lid was that the screen, once open, can swivel through 180 degrees, enabling it to be turned away from the user or even laid flat on top of the keyboard. Yes, the tx1260ea is a Tablet PC, and it comes with a special version of Windows Vista that makes it usable without a keyboard. Instead, there's a stylus that tucks neatly away under the laptop's body when not in use. It's handily attached to a leash to avoid it getting lost. This can be used to control the mouse pointer, or activate Windows input functions such as right mouse clicks using a system called Pen Flicks. It also enables you to write directly onto the screen; you can enter text by tapping an on-screen keyboard or using handwriting recognition. Tablet PCs can also excel at tasks for which users might usually reach for a graphics tablet, such as drawing or cutting out portions of images.

Tablet PCs have been around for a while, but their popularity has largely been restricted to business, particularly in tasks like stock control, and hospitals, where they can take the role of electronic clipboards. The Pavilion tx1260ea makes the technology much more accessible, but we found its 12.1 inch touchscreen rather unresponsive, requiring a lot of pressure to get the mouse pointer to move smoothly.

If you prefer to use the keyboard, it has a positive, clicky action and sensible layout, with only the function keys much reduced in size. Rather than the usual roughened surface, the trackpad has tiny indentations. It takes a little getting used to, but it's accurate.

Aside from its Tablet PC functions, the tx1260ea boasts a couple of other features that set it apart from the average laptop. To the left of the screen is a fingerprint scanner, enabling Windows to be protected using biometric security rather than a password. We found it hard to get our fingerprint positively identified a number of times, so we suspect it's the kind of feature that's best left to users for whom security is paramount. Inland Revenue employees, for example.

Elsewhere around the screen are a few handy shortcut buttons. One provides access to mobility functions such as power saving features; another rotates the screen display, handy if you're taking advantage of the tablet functions, or for presentations. There's also a button to access HP's QuickPlay software, a sort of poor man's Windows Media Center (though that's also included as part of Vista). A TV icon raised our hopes for a moment, but sadly the tx1260ea comes without a built-in tuner. It does, however, have a DVD drive and a multi-format memory card reader, so there are plenty of entertainment options. At the top of the screen is a pinhole webcam, now a fairly standard feature in all but the cheapest laptops. We were impressed with its frame rate and the quality of its images, even in difficult lighting conditions.