Desktop PCs

HP’s 25.5″ TouchSmart PC puts a world of digital entertainment at your fingertips with its innovative optical touch screen technology and a tailor made Touchsmart suite. HP TouchSmart IQ820uk is the fourth of HP’s series of all in one touch screen Pcs and is essentially an upgrade from the HP TouchSmart IQ500 next to the IQ10. This model, as its immediate predecessor, has got a full HD screen, a slot loading Blu ray drive, strong multimedia capability and a wide range of other powerful internal extras. The HP TouchSmart IQ820 is a pretty major step-up  from its predecessor and has managed to maintain the DVB-T TV tuner, which makes the system a very capable home theatre system. HP TouchSmart IQ820 has managed to stand out from the crowd with its much faster components and a comparatively large 25.5″ display.

A Massive style icon:

Once the giant package of IQ820uk is removed, its stylish design will never fail to impress you. Similar to one of its predecessor’s it resembles a flat panel TV. The only few ways that allows you to recognise it as a PC is its long Perspex legs on its base, a hinge in the rear that helps in adjusting the angle of tilt and HP logo on its bottom left corner. In short, the HP TouchSmart IQ820uk Desktop PC has a clean design with a piano black design. The casing around the screen is glossy black, a finger print loving kind. The webcam has been subtly integrated over it. The glossy casing of the unit is offset from a matte black speaker bar beneath it by a silver trim that runs around all over its edges. You will find the TouchSmart button which launches HP’s TouchSmart Software in the front bezel. Apart from this, all the other buttons, card readers, drives and ports are either located in the side of the PC or in its rear. The memory card reader accepts SD/SDHC, MMC, MS/Pro and xD. The volume controls are very large and easy to use without having to look around the side. All the bays and connectivity are well hidden and nicely integrated, making the sides of the PC also to look very attractive.

Ample connectivity, with a basic HD left behind:

The top part of the PC has the ventilation slots and a HP Pocket Media Drive bay that takes the proprietary HP drive through the USB. Whereas, on the left, you will find a large button that switches on a blue LED lighting along the underside of the unit, illuminating your keyboard. This can be set in to various strengths by repeatedly pressing over it. And below that you will find two USB ports that are closely located to each other, a standard 3.5mm jack and line-in jacks. Just behind this, there is a removable cover and hidden behind is a plethora of a few more connectivity options. They include three more USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet jack, digital and analogue audio outputs , an S-video input and an IR port for the supplied IR extender cable. By now you must have realised that HP has not supplied with high definition video inputs which is just pity as its having a great display and now a hurdle for it being enjoyed to the fullest.

The large 25.5″ touch interface:

While TouchSmart IQ820uk’s ancestor models 1Q770 and IQ500 sported quite normal 19″ and 22″ displays, the IQ810 and IQ820 have managed to adopt a mammoth 25.5″ panel. The display has a thick black border that runs down on both of its sides. One thing that is maddening about the display is that, it has got an extremely glossy and reflective coat over it, that makes it almost a mirror when not in use. This mirror effect would make the PC look absolutely stunning when not in use, but the mirror effect that is apparent even while under lighting and at work, does not sound to be a good news. Another thing that comes on the drawbacks list is that, while the horizontal viewing angles are quite good, as in the case of most of the other TN panels, the display exhibits some colour and contrast shift and some occasional flickers and noises. But over all, it is a pretty good display.

Speakers:

Unfortunately the speakers are not the best ones in the market. Though they deliver a great deal of clarity even at high volume levels, lack of bass lets it down and hence leaves a few explosions that makes it sound a little tinny.

The peripherals:

The peripherals include a black media remote control, wireless mouse and keyboard. The remote control offered is quite large, but is easy to hold. All the buttons are soft and of high quality, which is very prominent and they are logically laid out. Since both the wireless mouse and keyboard comes pre paired with the PC, all that you will have to do is, insert the AA batteries on the mouse and AAA batteries on the keyboard, and that is it, from then on, everything works fine. Once we saw the glossy finish over the mouse, we feared if it would be a kind of those finger print magnets, but surprisingly that was not the case. It is a perfect match for the PC and is having three buttons including the two way scroll wheel. The mouse makes use of optical sensor to detect motion as any other modern mouse. One of the features of the mouse that makes it strikingly different from rest of the crowd is its thin profile.

Basic features:

The IQ820uk from HP is one of the most powerful PCs yet, as it uses a relatively powerful Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor P7450 that runs at 2.1GHz with an ample RAM of 4GB. And even before you start worrying about the fact that 32-bit operating systems will not be able to access the complete 4GB RAM, we would like to clarify to you that the IQ820 ships with Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition and hence, you can take the complete advantage over the full 4GB that is available. But we do not think that installing Vista 64-bit edition in a home PC is a great idea as some of the 32-bit peripherals and some older pieces of software would refuse to work properly. Even with future purchases, you have to make sure that the product is compatible with the system.

Leaving the OS issue aside, this Hewlett Packard TouchmartIQ820uk PC is having a great specification. Having a storage space of 640GB, it is really having plenty of room to have a luxurious library of movies, pictures and why not, Games too. This model ships with a NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9600M graphics card, which can be normally found only in the high end gaming laptops and hence, this configuration is just perfect for running the latest 3D gaming titles that are out in the market. This upgrade is a very relieving one as the IQ500 had a pitiful 9300.

The TouchSmart software:

The Touch Screen cannot be recommended for controlling the games or a lot of other things for that matter. The Touch screen is extremely sensitive and is extremely easy to click and double click.. Oh! Sorry, tap and double tap over the icons and scroll through the documents. It will turn out to be a great experience only if the elements that you try to tap over is on a large screen, but then clicking over the smaller icons like the ones in the system tray will be far too difficult and you will invariably end up searching for a mouse and keyboard.

However, HP IQ820uk all in one Desktop PC has come with a solution called the Touch Smart interface which allows you to browse through applications, open the multimedia documents and hence, launch them with ease. This custom application that allows you to perform a range of tasks only using your fingers, works well most of the time. But then, after using the TouchSmart application for a while, and having seen its clunky operation with some relative lack in sufficient functionalities, you will eventually get tired of waving your hands on air and just close it down. The TouchSmart will end up being used ever again. The TouchSmart software is turned on by default when the machine is start up and a few taps over it will bring you back to the standard windows desktop, and you can always call it back either using the software shortcut or the physical button on the IQ820.

Requires more maintenance:

Since the reflective display takes on the fingerprints very easily, it is important that you clean the PC after each use if you intend to boast about you PC to your friends. This brings in more work for using the system, which already demands additional effort for most of the tasks that can be done with ease using mouse and keyboard. Another disadvantage of the panel is that, it gets a little warm to touch and sitting in front of the panel can make you feel as though you are having your face close to the heater.

Great as a Media Center:

One area where the TouchSmart IQ820uk desktop computer PC simply excels is as a Media Center. The PC sports a TV tuner that picks in both the analogue and digital channels, not at the same time tough. HP has made a very wise move by including an infrared remote control using which you can control the video playback from anywhere in your room.

Performance:

The performance of IQ820 has certainly increased from what its predecessors were able to deliver. It feels much quicker and its Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P7450 processor and the NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9600M graphics card seemed to a much better job than its sluggish predecessor the IQ810. The graphics card is fast enough to handle the everyday 1080p games and deals well with the speed demons. The text is nothing less than sharp. If you have got any idea of using the PC as a second TV, you will not be disappointed as the picture quality and sound is very good for casual viewing. There is no banding at all and the backlight bleed is extremely minimal that it goes completely unnoticed and the greyscale differentiation is also very good. And at the cost of pure whites, you get deep black details, a compromise that is perfectly acceptable when it comes to the entertainment field. The high reflective panel alone will be a factor of worry. And this is when the supplied remote control will be very handy.

Silent operation:

One thing that HP deserves an appreciation for is that the IQ820 runs virtually silently. Even with careful listening to the device, it can be very difficult to say even if the device I powered or not. This property of the PC makes it an ideal one for the lounge or bedroom.

Comes in a mammoth package:

HP TouchSmart IQ820uk Desktop PC with Blu-Ray Drive comes in a huge package that requires atleast two men with a good built to carry it around. So it would be a wiser idea to get the PC delivered to your home unless you are more than willing to fancy your chances. And once it is delivered, you might probably seek some help from your friend to unpack it. You will find an excellent full colour start-up guide which is truly bigger than the PC itself which makes the simple setup of the PC extremely simple. The other stuffs that come with the PC are, an IR extender cable, 3.5mm to twin phono audio cable, USB A-B cable and a soft black cleaning cloth.

Warranty:

HP offers its TouchSmart IQ820uk desktop PC a limited warranty of one year for parts and labour.

Verdict:

HP’s TouchSmart IQ820uk all in one PC is a real heart stealer. The massive stylish design, speedy processor and graphics card being on the supportive side of the PC, the sluggish Touch software is disappointing. The remote control is a great addition. The PC cannot be complained at any means as a Media center, that being its highlight seller factor. If you are looking for a real capable multimedia media center PC, the IQ820uk will not disappoint you.

Read other HP Desktop PC Reviews in this website.



HP TouchSmart IQ820uk – Technical Specification Details

Other Desktop Computer Reviews

• Acer Aspire Revo R3600 Desktop PC Review
• Apple iMac 24-inch Desktop PC Review
• Gateway DS50 Desktop PC Review
• Compaq Presario CQ2009F Desktop PC
• Advent T9610 Desktop PC Review