HP TouchSmart IQ840 Desktop PC
The TouchSmart IQ840 is HP’s new addition to all-in-one computer. Though there are other all-in-one computers in the market: Apple’s iMac series, Gateway or Acer has Gateway One, Dell offers XPS One, but HP’s TouchSmart series is very different from its competitors not only because it is built on the touch screen concept, but it has more to it. Apart from the fact that the TouchSmart PC is very much like a typical modern day computer and includes all most all the necessities of modern day computing including a slot-loading and Light Scribe-enable DVD burner (standard definition), 5-in-1 Digital Media Reader, PAL TV-tuner television receiver with Personal Video Recorder Functionality, Pocket Media Drive bay for cataloging your movie and music collection, integrated 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a Webcam on the top edge of the screen, a microphone, 25.5-inch HD monitor with in-built touch screen technology that works as a PC or TV adding greater flexibility to your day-to-day computing needs. All these are packed into a 16Kg box.
Build and Design of TouchSmart IQ840:
This light weight system takes a hold of your attention due to its glossy black finish exterior. Even the functionalities the display provides have a more flexible range of features than any current all-in-one. When you position the classy, 25-inch wide-screen LCD (662 (L) x 139 (W) x 499 (H) mm) and pull the screen out and tilt it upward, it smoothly positions itself according to your requirement.
The best part of the monitor is its Touch screen capability which is extended by MS Windows Vista Home Premium. HP’s effort in implementing TouchSmart technology in such an intuitive manner is definitely commendable. Use either your finger or an included stylus stored in a slot on the top of the screen to drive the Windows cursor way all through the screen. Windows Vista provides configuration software for setting up the touch screen sensitivity and customizing features like double-click and drag-and-drop strokes. HP implements the touch screen to use in its SmartCentre application. It is a custom program in which HP uses Vista’s touch screen capability to add the TouchSmart feature to its family computers.
Apart from the technical simplicity HP has put a lot of thought into the design of IQ840 Desktop Computer PC. In the first place there is minimal use of cords, buttons. The system rests on two clear acrylic wedges with the folding stand in the back. This gives the effect that the TouchSmart actually floats about an inch above your desk. The hinge attached to the stand falls into place with a very loud click which guarantees that the system will not fall over.
The interesting design feature is the way the slot-loading optical drive and multiple ports are hidden behind the monitor. Even when sitting in front of the computer you can barely see the optical drive tucked at the rear side of the slim exterior.
Keyboard and Mouse:
With TouchSmart PCs, HP includes a wireless mouse and keyboard, which work perfectly well with the main unit. A fair amount of engineering went into creating keyboard and mouse that come with the TouchSmart line of computers.
The wireless optical mouse that comes with IQ840 has left and right buttons, and a scroll/click wheel. Both peripherals need two ‘AA’ batteries, the charge of which is monitored by little icons that sit in the taskbar. The keyboard, however, really shines.
The keyboard is flat, looks almost similar to Mac keyboard. The keys are spread wide enough to allow for smooth and clear typing, and enables you to type faster. The keys are mounted with same double-hinge mechanism seen on most laptop keyboards. In addition to the traditional keyboard keys, there is a small button in the upper left-hand corner that puts the machine in sleep mode and three buttons on the right for mute, volume down and volume up.
HP also included a remote control to operate Vista’s media centre features. The remote control is nicely designed and perfectly functional, it does suffer from button creep. Too many buttons can make something difficult to use effectively. Sometimes, less really is more.
Inside the PC:
As you unlock the system you will have complete access to its upgradeable internal components. The arrangements of the components are similar to that of small notebooks.
Even the way the system is built it owes a lot to the built design of notebook. The design definitely helped in putting all of this technology in a pretty compact package. But IQ840 PCs hardware specification is not limited to only notebook components, HP added full desktop-sized hard drives to its TouchSmart series desktop PCs. This is helpful since desktop drives are typically faster than notebook, adding a little more power to the everyday functions of the TouchSmart PC. When comparing the internal design of notebook and TouchSmart PCs you will find quite a lot of similarities. Such as RAM is located almost in the middle of the machine, each of the 2 SO-DIMMs is 2GB. On the right rests the 500GB 3.5-inch hard drive and slot-loading optical device.
However, there are differences in terms of hardware components depending on the versions of IQ840 TouchSmart PCs. HP TouchSmart PC is available in two models: IQ843hk and IQ848hk. However, at the core of both the models dwells Intel® GM45 Express Chipset that powers the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Mobile processor. The processor is supported by 2MB L2 Cache. It works at 1066 MHz The permanent storage unit is not only roomy but works with hand in hand with the processor speed to add maximum power and performance. The large storage space makes it easy to manage all the files in a single location. The 500GB SATA hard Disk Drive is enough for accommodating pretty much anything. It works at the speed of 7200 rpm. The real time access allocated is 4GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 RAM.
The Optical drive pace and features varies with the model type. With IQ848hk, optical drive comes with Slot-load Blu-ray player and SuperMulti DVD burner with 8x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 6x DVD±R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD-ROM, 24x CDR, 24x CDRW, 24x CD-ROM, 4x max BD-ROM of Slot-load Blu-ray player and SuperMulti DVD burner. The optical drive for HP TouchSmart IQ843hk PC comes with SuperMulti SATA Drive with Lightscribe Technology and Double Layer (8.5GB) with 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 12x DVD+R DL, 12x DVD-R DL, 12x DVD-RAM, 16x DVD-ROM (max speed); 40x CDR, 32x CDRW, 40x CDROM (max speed).
The graphics output is controlled by nVidia Geforce 9600M-GS HD PCI Express Graphics card which processes its data using 512MB DDR3 Memory allocated exclusively for processing the graphics data. But the memory can be expanded up to 2303MB for video RAM. However, RAM allocation is decided by Windows Vista®.
The in-built Dual-format NTSC/ATSC PAL TV-tuner television receiver lets you record your personal video as well as live programs. This is further strengthened by Integrated High Definition Audio - 5.1 Surround Sound Ready audio and stereo speakers. The networking capabilities include 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth Wireless Networking, in-built support for Gigabit Ethernet.
Since expansion of HP TouchSmart is almost impossible and adding any additional card is complicated, the number of available I/O ports becomes important. Thankfully, the I/O ports are ample and all-encompassing. It includes 5 USB 2.0 ports, 1 FireWire, Headphone, line in, line out and digital audio out jacks. On the right side of the machine there is a memory card reader and FireWire port, while the left has two USB2.0 ports, a microphone port, headphone port and switch to control the under machine lighting. At the rear end there is one more USB port, but it’s built to fit and support only the USB dongle for the supplied wireless keyboard and mouse.
You will not find an HDMI port or an HD optical drive on the unit, but connect any old external hard drive through one of the many USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 ports and it works perfect.
The TouchSmart PCs are not flexible enough to be upgraded but in case of malfunction or requirement for expansion both the hard drive and optical drives are replaceable.
Performance
The best part of this IQ840 Desktop PC/Television system is its huge storage which fits in pretty much anything and everything. While permanent storage is the greatest advantage, but the real time access is not praiseworthy. This makes HP’s TouchSmart PCs barely friendly towards unlimited gaming adventure. The reason is due to the memory allocation of Windows Vista that comes preinstalled with the system.
But the video image quality is outstanding mostly due to the wide-angle glossy screen. Just be aware that you might get bogged down during intense digital media editing. Having Windows Vista may further mount up the problem. Good idea will be to downgrade to Windows Xp. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be disappointed with the TouchSmart PC’s overall power.
Among other nice features the exciting part of this system is that it works more like a photo kiosk. If you hook it up with HP’s Photosmart A510 and A610 printers, you can hide one of those printers behind the display, where it will sit atop the TouchSmart PC’s base (which also houses the guts of the system). This space-saving design hides the printer except for its output slot, which lines up in the space below the screen. The effect is very much like having your own photo kiosk at home, and it puts the design of the system’s chassis to very effective use.
Because the display and the computer itself are enclosed in a single box, they’re generally more space efficient than a traditional tower-and-monitor combination. This design on the other hand makes the PC components become obsolete faster than the LCD, one drawback of having the two so tightly integrated.
Working on your multimedia files is tedious. Especially, if your goal is digital design, this system is not the one you are looking for.
Check other Hewlett Packard Desktop PCs in this website.
HP TouchSmart IQ840 All-in-One Desktop Computer - Specification Details
| Manufacturer | HP |
| Model Name | TouchSmart IQ840 |
| Display | Touch-enabled BrightView LCD with integrated webcam and front facing speakers; Resolution: 1920×1200 |
| Display Screen Size | 25.5″ widescreen |
| Dimensions | 62 x 139 x 499 mm |
| Hard Drive Capacity | 1000 GB (1 x 1000 GB) |
| Optical Drive | IQ848hk: Slot-load Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner IQ843hk: SuperMulti SATA Drive |
| Graphics Hardware | nVidia Geforce 9600M-GS HD PCI_Express Graphics card with 512MB DDR3 Memory Up to 2303MB Total Available Graphics Memory as allocated by Windows Vista® |
| Memory | 4096 MB DDR2 |
| Processor | IQ843hk: Intel® Core 2 Duo Mobile Processor T6500 IQ848hk: Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile Processor P7550 |
| Processor Speed | IQ843hk: 2.10 GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz IQ848hk: 2.26 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz |
| Audio | Integrated High Definition Audio - 5.1 Surround Sound Ready |
| Keyboard | Wireless keyboard with hide-away bay and numeric keypad, wireless optical mouse. |
| I/O Ports | 5 USB 2.0 (2 front, 3 rear), 1 IEEE 1394, LAN, IR Blaster-Out (When TV Tuner Installed) WiFi Ready |
| Warranty | 3 years limited (3 years part, first year onsite) warranty with up-and-running phone support for first 30 days |
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