Desktop PCs

The Hewlett-Packard Company that specialises in building desktop PC has bought a spectacular looking product, HP TouchSmart IQ500 into the PC markets. HP has made a major leap forward in its technology with this PC. The IQ504 and IQ506, collectively known as the IQ500 series follow a philosophy of all-in-one design technology. Though the touch technology is not very new, it still remains to be a novelty. The fun of the touch-technology can be enjoyed to the fullest with this desktop PC of HP. IQ500 possesses a better look and much better technical features than IQ770 and has a bigger screen too with the same touch sensitive panel.

Design:
Body design:
When you have a look at this extremely stylish PC, you would end up feeling that its predecessor TouchSmart IQ770 looking ugly all of a sudden. This PC has a TV like chassis along with a flip-down stand that allows the stand to be tilted for 40 degrees. The whole unit is slim as it is just six centimeters thick and 46cm tall. It stands on two clear plastic legs under the screen and also has a larger tilting stand at its back. When the PC’s monitor is placed on the table, it would look like a magnified hi-tech version of a digital photo frame. There is only a little fat behind the screen where all the parts of the PC are stashed. It is undoubtedly having a spectacular design. This PC is surely going to add lust to your room.

The 22” display:
HP TouchSmart IQ500 Desktop PC comes with 22 inches LCD display; next to its whooping 4GB RAM, seems to be neither too small nor too big. The front fascia is button-less adding to its already over-whelming beauty. This display seems to be very glossy and reflective making the display exhibit the colours in a very vibrant way with improved contrast levels. But this glossy and reflective nature is undesirable if there is too much of sunlight in your room as it might result glaring. Though the screen does not have high resolution, it comes very close with 1680×1050 pixels.

Connectivity:

HP TouchSmart IQ500 all-in one Desktop PC’s wealth of connectivity is hidden in the sides and in the rear side of the system. The input and output ports of the PC are well-masked by limiting the number of ports on the display. This unit has 2 USB ports, mike and head-phone audio jacks and the light switch is a very interesting addition. This switch activates a downward facing LED that can be either used to illuminate the keyboard or set an ambient mood. While all these are presented in the left and the right side of the PC sports a slot that loads DVD, four-pin FireWire port, volume controls, a memory card reader, a webcam, a microphone and headphone ports. The other ports that are in the rear side of the system are hidden behind a flap and the ports include Gigabit Ethernet, an audio-out port, an RF aerial socket, an RCA S/PDIF port, S-Video port and audio in.

Features:

Though HP IQ500 TouchSmart 4gb RAM Desktop computer is not a hyper-quick PC, it works very satisfactorily. This PC boasts a powerful configuration by using Intel T5850 Core 2 Duo CPU which runs at 2.17GHz, and a very attractive 4GB of RAM, a good upgrade from the 1.6GHz AMD and 2GB of Random Access Memory which was the case with the original.

HP has provided us with the latest software that includes touch-sensitive media browser, note taking tools, original photo cropping and many more. The 22 inch screen is a welcome technology for us to view the videos but it is disappointing that HP has not included a Blu-ray player, the ultimate winner of the hi-def war in the PC. HP could have considered this at least in the higher end between the two models, ie, IQ506. Both the PCs have 64-bit version of windows Vista Home Premium and 4GB of RAM. HP TouchSmart Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS card is quick enough to run high-definition movies, but it can be just equivalent to some mediocre laptops.

IQ500 has an AverMedia A326, a hybrid Digital TV tuner card that can support both the digital and analogue signals. The PC does not have HDMI and so, the TV signal cannot be piped to a larger display with the help of a digital connector. The aerial must be bought as the package does not have one. You can browse through the channels with the Infrared remote control or the wireless keyboard and mouse.
The built-in speakers provided full sound and performs more than what you may expect out of it but at times they rattle when the volume is very high. In order to adjust the volume, you can use the controls provided in the right side of the screen.

TouchSmart technology:
The touch-technology of the touch sensitive screen works in a similar way of that of its predecessor. The screen has a set of LEDs around it which detects the movement of your fingers. This works well and also enables the multi-touch capabilities. But it is very tricky and difficult when you want to point to the icons that are petite such as the closing button of a window or the icons in the system tray. HP Touchsmart IQ500 Desktop Computer has also included TouchSmart, a touch-centric interface which can be launched either from the desktop or from the touch-sensitive button that is placed in the bottom right bezel on the desktop. TouchSmart has two rows of tiles that represent the mostly used applications in your PC. You can browse the tiles by sliding your finger across it and touching an icon launches it. This interface allows you to interact with the PC by holding, dragging and tapping on the screen reminding you about Apple’s iPod-touch, though it does not support multiple inputs. You can use your fingers even to draw and write, but you have to use the wireless keyboard and mouse while using the conventional tasks such as the internet and office applications.

Since the TouchSmart does not have the Express Card Slot, we can understand that the screen technology is not completely based on the mobile technology and as a replacement, IQ500 comes with a 3.5” 320GB hard drive which spins at the rate of 7200 rpm hence providing a great speed.

Wireless freatures:
HP TouchSmart IQ500 retains the Bluetooth 2.0 technology and 802.11b/g wireless support that was found in the previous version and has also upgraded itself with the new support for a high-speed wider-bandwidth 802.11n Wi-Fi.

The PC’s overall performance was average and like its predecessor, the PC was noiseless and kept itself cool. IQ500 performed well with the multimedia and office applications and its multi tasking capabilities are good too.

The IQ500 costing lesser and also with a faster hard drive, a TV tuner and a faster CPU is very pleasing. It can be said as one of the best all-in-one PC in the current PC markets. You may still think that a 27″ or a 30” version of the system with a built-in Blu-ray player and a TV tuner would have been spectacular. This style icon is recommended for sure for both a home and office environment.

Technical Specification Details of HP TouchSmart IQ500 Desktop PC