Digital Trends

HP TouchSmart IQ770 March 6th, 2007 | by Ian Bell

Setup and Use

Getting the TouchSmart IQ770 going is fairly straight forward: plug in the system, make sure the mouse, keyboard and remote have batteries in them, and then turn everything on. Follow the setup prompts from Vista so the system can connect to the Internet and your home network, and then you are in. You will need to go through the Media Center setup wizard if you want to use the system for TV viewing. If you plan on using the ATSC tuner, you will need to purchase an OTA (over the air) HDTV antenna to get your favorite stations. We used a $30 Terk antenna with this system, and received OK signal reception that was bested by our in-house plasma and LCD displays. If you plan on connecting a printer directly to this system, HP recommends their Photosmart A510 or A610 series printer which tucks in nicely behind the LCD and stays out of view.

If you do not plan on using AOL or EarthLink as your ISP, we recommend that you uninstall that software immediately to prevent any “auto” updates or reminders. You might even want to uninstall muvee autoProducer if you decide that Vista’s DVD Maker is good enough for you. Norton Internet Security 2007 software is worth having around in our opinion, and is less CPU intensive than other security software out there.

General Use

There are basically three options to choose from to access your data. You can either use the integrated Windows Media Center interface, HP’s integrated SmartCenter interface, or the Vista desktop. Windows Media Center will allow you to easily watch and record television, access your videos, music, pictures, and online content. It’s what you will see with any version of Vista Premium or Ultimate Editions. The HP SmartCenter interface will give you access to the basic Media Center functions like playing video or music, in addition to other programs and information such as your calendar, weather, Windows Live Local, and games. Basically the SmartCenter program is nothing more than a faceplate consisting of shortcuts to commonly used programs; but it works well and has purpose. If you plan on using the system in your kitchen, then this is the screen you will likely want to use. You can personalize SmartCenter to include specific programs, the order that they appear and even the appearance of the user interface. Both, the Windows Media Center and SmartCenter interfaces are very responsive to the touch screen, whether you decide to use your finger or the included stylus. We noticed that the system took considerable time entering and exiting both of these programs, but once you were in, they operated normally. This “lag” time could be the result of using a mobile based CPU and only 2GB of RAM (Vista could always use more memory). Worth noting is that the remote control does not come with a SmartCenter button, you must access it through the Windows Media Center interface, or by using the button located physically on the system itself.

 Testing

The TouchSmart IQ770 touch screen worked well in our tests and responded promptly to our requests using basically anything to touch the screen with. There were a couple instances of where we thought the touch screen would come in particularly handy. You might want to keep recipes handy on the system, and access them while cooking, maybe check your calendar by simply tapping it rather than whipping out the keyboard and mouse. Another cool scenario where the TouchSmart IQ770 touch screen would come in handy would be during a dinner party. Imagine showing the album art of the playing artist, and allowing your guests to browse your music collection at the tap of a finger. You could even plug the coaxial digital out connection to your home theater and play music through its speakers. And with its large hard drive and media bay, you can store plenty of songs. The TouchSmart IQ770 is certainly a system of utility.

As mentioned in the previous section, we found the lack of any sort of media keys a major downfall of the keyboard. You are forced to use the remote control at all times to use the basic functions of the system. Typing is also a pain due to the keyboards downward slope, although it might make sense if you have the keyboard in your lap. We had no problems running any applications on the system, Photoshop was quick to start and the system didn’t appear to feel crippled while multitasking. If you are a hardcore gamer, this is probably not the system for you. At first glance the 19” LCD screen and 256MB GeForce 7600 graphics chip sound appealing, but the system has an odd resolution (1,440 x900) that some of your games might not support. In our tests, the TouchSmart IQ770 seemed to really struggle at the standard resolution during F.E.A.R and Call of Duty 3. You will need to either leave your gaming to another system, or deal with a lower resolution in order to get the frame-rates you want.