HP Pavilion tx2500z 12.1" High, Vista Home Premium

by HP

Product Details

• ASIN: B001EK0GP4
• Item model number: tx2500z
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,568 in Computers & Accessories (See Top 100 in Computers & Accessories)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 19, 2008

Product Description

The tx2500z sports a high-gloss look and wears the "Echo" inlaid finish, a subtle grid pattern that extends from the black lid to the silver keyboard deck and palm rest. Measuring 12.1 x 8.8 x 1.2-1.5 inches, the tx2500z weighs 5 pounds with its 8-cell battery.The optical drive can be swapped out for the in-the-box weight saver to bring the system to a slightly more reasonable 4.8 pounds.On the right side of the tx2500z is a VGA port, an expansion port for HP's dock, Ethernet, S-Video, and one USB port. Along the front are two headphone and one mic jack, and on the left is the DVD burner, an ExpressCard/34 slot and a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Two USB ports, a modem jack, and a Kensington lock are positioned on the back.The tx2500z's has a spacious keyboard. The keys are full size, the spacing between them feels much like a standard desktop, and the coating makes for a comfortable and smooth typing experience.HP uses its unique inverted nub design on its touchpad, which provides precise cursor control. A separate column of nubs on the right makes scrolling easier and less error-prone than conventional touchpads.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to love this tablet but it really let me down..., May 6, 2009

By 

P. Meyer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion tx2500z 12.1" High, Vista Home Premium (Personal Computers)

PROS:
- Its the least expensive tablet on the market
- Removable DVD Drive with Bay Cover
- Very nice keyboard
- Looks great

CONS:
- Short battery life (2.5 hours)
- Touchpad lacks horizontal scroll
- Super high-gloss screen is a pain in 80% of lighting conditions
- Comes pre-loaded with so much bloat-ware that it renders the computer unusable until you install your own OS
- Too heavy
- Its cheap for a reason--mine has been sent in for repair twice in 6 months

I really wanted to love this tablet. It was my first tablet and I had been looking forward to it for a while. Unfortunately I've been let down. After 3 months of ownership the RAM failed and I had to send it in for repair. After 6 months of ownership the tablet began making high-pitched digital noises, the SD card reader broke, and 1 of the quicklaunch buttons stopped illuminating. After getting it back from repair the second time, I posted it to eBay.

This laptop is really too heavy to be comfortably used as a tablet. It is impossible to use standing up, holding in the left hand and writing with the right. Your left wrist will quickly become exhausted.

As I said above, this comes loaded with so much proprietary software (bloat ware) that the computer is literally unusable. I reformatted the harddrive and installed Windows 7 beta and the laptop worked so fast that it was like an entirely new machine.

For the price, this tablet is unbeatable. Problem is that it is cheap for a reason. It is poorly made, it will break, it is a power hog with bad battery life. If you're looking for mobility, get a netbook. If you really must have a tablet, buy something slightly more expensive from a better company and save yourself a hot of headache in the long run.

PS. HP customer support has been very responsive and useful. I have no quarrels with them--just with their products.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TX200z Review, February 1, 2009

By 

Cara Antonelli (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion tx2500z 12.1" High, Vista Home Premium (Personal Computers)

I have wanted to buy a tablet pc for a long time now, and I did some serious research before making this purchase - and I'm glad I did. It's wacom penabled, which is a must for any artist, as well as being within a normal consumer/starving artist budget. All other tablet pcs were over $1000 which was just out of my budget.
There are a few things that I could live without however. The battery life is about 2 hours when running on high performance, which is nearly essential if you want to use it in tablet mode. The pen is delayed, but not enough to affect my artwork in a negative way. Sometimes when converting into slate mode the screen does not switch, and requires a restart. The processor runs very hot, but I usually use my laptop while wearing pants so its never uncomfortable. I can run firefox and Photoshop simultaneously with very little lag but if the processor gets hot it will slow down. All in all a great product for the price, with a few minor problems but the savings makes it worth it.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars do not buy, October 18, 2009

By 

M. A. Banuelos "mabcat" (illinois, usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Pavilion tx2500z 12.1" High, Vista Home Premium (Personal Computers)

I bought this laptop in 2008. Esthetically, it's beautiful, glossy. The swivel screen is great, especially when travelling in tight airplane seats. However, after only a year I've had to reformat the hard drive once, I've lost icons to programs and have lost all wi-fi access. The computer does not recognize there is even a wireless card installed. Even the regular ethernet port is inaccessible at times. The worst part, is that HP has horrible customer service and they do not recognize the problems. It comes down to a terrible design flaw that makes its pieces incompatible with one another. The motherboard can be replaced, but eventually the computer will have the same problems. The pieces such as the wireless card and motherboard are perfectly fine. It's the way this computer and their pavilion laptop line have been designed and built that is defected. Even if you get an extended warranty, it will not make a difference because your computer will crash. No amount of repairs will fix it. I think HP has done something incredibly unethical for continuing to put these models out on the market knowing they have inherent problems. DO NOT BUY!!! It's one of the most affordable for a reason- it sucks!