The HP TouchSmart tx2 is an ultra-portable laptop that seeks to impress with a multi-touch, rotatable screen and other features generally reserved for business laptops like the Dell Latitude XT. The touchscreen interface can interpret gestures involving up to two fingers, as well as input from the included stylus. The 12.1-inch LED screen rotates 180 degrees, and can be folded into a tablet PC-like configuration. In keeping the touchscreen-for-the-masses strategy that defines all of HP's TouchSmart computers, the tx2 is bundled with software that translates your gestures into common keyboard and mouse inputs for popular web browsers, word processors, and other tools. It also includes HP's own MediaSmart program, which enables the display or manipulation of photos, videos, and other media using the touchscreen.

Other bonuses unusual for personal laptops include an optional fingerprint reader and dual headphone jacks allowing media to be enjoyed by both you and a friend, although the screen is small so this would rarely be practical. The hardware specifications are par for the course at this price, and are customizable to match your budget: AMD Athlon X2 dual-core processors ranging from 2.1 to 2.4GHz, between 3GB and 8GB of RAM, hard drive options ranging from 250GB to 400GB, a display resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, and a modest ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor with 64 MB of dedicated graphics memory. The system ships with either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition.