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HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet full specifications; 16:10 multitouch, available for order

I’ve been waiting days for this and it’s finally here – the HP Touchsmart tm2 is available for (pre?) order on HP’s official website. But more importantly, the full list of available options and specifications are there as well. Processor options max out at Intel’s 1.6 Ghz dual core, low voltage processor with ATI Mobility 4550 graphics. Good news for “movie widescreen” haters too, the Touchsmart tm2 has a 16:10 multitouch widescreen with 1280 x 800 resolution – that’s a tinsy bit lower res than you’d find with a 16:9 widescreen (1366 x 768) but gives you 32 extra pixels of vertical resolution to work with.

The Touchsmart tm2 won’t have a built-in optical drive (though an external one is available separately) and currently lacks any option for backlit keyboard keys or 9 cell battery. However, 7200 RPM hard disks are standard and the notebook/tablet is merely an inch thick at its thinnest point.

HP Slate and HP Android Smartbook: both official!

HP has just announced their new Slate tablet with a full color display, multimedia and reader functions. They’ve also got their new Android-based Smartbook on the table. They’re keeping mum about specifications at the moment, so I’ll keep you posted once they come out.

HP Slate: This tablet appears to be a 9 or 10 inch device that runs Windows 7, probably with some enhancements and dedicated software by HP (Touchsmart UI anyone?) to enhance the ‘touch’ experience, seeing it doesn’t have any keyboard. The 9 (or 10) inch display is a touchscreen which supports multi-touch. Functions of the HP Slate include multimedia capabilities (music and video playback), photo viewing and “reading mode”, supposedly via the Amazon Kindle app for PC. Of course, you can do all sorts of other stuff you do on your computer as it runs Windows 7.

So far, we can see the HP Slate’s power on/off button at the top and what appears to be a volume control rocker. On the right side is a wireless on/off slot and 3.5 mm headphone jack. None of HP’s videos or photos reveal what’s on the left side of the HP Slate, which may or may not be deliberately hidden by creative camera angles.

HP says prototypes of the HP Slate will start appearing later this year (huh?!). Well, they’d better hurry up if they want to start selling these BEFORE Christmas 2010!

Here’s a little 18 second promotional/mini-preview video of the HP Slate, courtesy of Hewlett Packard USA:

HP Android netbook: The HP Android smartbook (or netbook, whatever you prefer call these things) is not nearly as exciting as the HP Slate, but it appears to be a white HP Mini (looks like the Mini 110) with a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor in it and it runs Google’s Android operating system. No word on pricing, availability or battery life so far.

HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet now official!

It’s here! The HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet PC! This notebook has a 12 inch multi-touch display, an all new design (versus the old Pavilion tx1000, tx2000 and tx2), is powered by a Intel Core 2 Duo processor and has ATI graphics. Here’s a list of the Touchsmart tm2’s main features:

• Intel Core 2 Duo low-voltage processor
• ATI graphics
• Full-sized chiclet keyboard “borrowed from the Pavilion dm3″
• 12 inch capacitive multi-touch screen (you can use either your fingers or the included stylus) with swivel function
• 3 USB ports, VGA connector, covered LAN port, headphone jack (no microphone port, probably shared with the headphone port), HDMI output
• Buttonless trackpad like on the Envy 13/15: it supports multi-touch but can also be set to conventional “single touch” mode
• New Touchsmart UI and Bump Top 3D desktop interfaces for interactive multi-touch
• New, slimmer and more solid design (new imprint patterns too!)
• External optical drive (there’s none built-in)
• 9 hour battery life
• Sub-$1000 starting price

In my opinion, the Touchsmart tm2 is a whole lot like a ‘tablet Envy’ with its new design and specifications. You can see a lot of HP Envy design elements on the bottom half of the notebook (keyboard, palmrest, buttonless trackpad, rounded edges and simple port layout) as well as in its features list (long battery life, multitouch trackpad support, an Intel low-voltage processor paired with ATI graphics) which make it sound much like the Envy 13. The upper-half looks like a mashup of the original Touchsmart tx2’s glossy display with the slimness of the Elitebook 2730p tablet’s display. And there are buttons on the edges of the screen too, to be used when the Touchsmart tm2 is in slate mode. Thankfully, the price of the Touchsmart tm2 is more reasonable than the HP Envy series, with a sub-$1000 starting price tag. If you asked me, all of a sudden, the Touchsmart tm2 is starting to look real tasty… it’s almost the perfect ultra-portable notebook/tablet, save for the glossy display.