HP Touchsmart 520-1130ea review
Not the most exciting all-in-one, but it’s a well-made and reasonably priced living room PC
Specifications
3.3GHz Intel Core i3-2120, 4GB RAM, 23in 1,920×1,080 display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
HP’s all-in-one PCs typically occupy a competent middle ground – powerful enough to ensure that running multiple programs and keeping several browser tabs open at once won’t be a problem, while still being sufficiently quiet and attractive not to look out of place in your sitting room. With unassuming looks and a respectable overall score of 62 in our benchmark tests, the TouchSmart 520-1130ea fits comfortably within this vision of a family PC.
The size and brightness of the 23in touchscreen display are immediately appealing. There’s plenty of room on the 1,920×1,080 screen to work with images or spreadsheets, and the intense colours are pleasing, although they can seem a little harsh in combination with the reflectiveness of the glossy display. Unlike some all-in-ones, you can’t connect a second display. Neither can you use the TouchSmart’s screen as a standalone display for other devices, such as games consoles.
The display has intense colours, but it’s a shame it can’t be used for external devices.
The PC has an Intel Core i3-2120 processor and 4GB of RAM. As well as putting in a decent performance in our software tests, the processor includes an Intel HD Graphics 2000 on-chip GPU. This isn’t powerful enough for modern 3D games (the TouchSmart even failed even our 720p Dirt 3 tests), but it’s great for movies, casual games and even some older 3D titles, such as Valve’s Portal.
The 1080p display is great for watching HD movies, although you’ll have to get them from online services or use an external Blu-ray reader because the PC only has a DVD drive. For added entertainment value, a DVB-T tuner lets you connect an aerial and watch Freeview TV.
An integrated TV tuner means you can use Windows Media Center to record and view your favourite TV shows.
Basic Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Rating | **** |
| Processor | Intel Core i3-2120 |
| Processor external bus | 100MHz (DMI) |
| Processor multiplier | x33 |
| Processor clock speed | 3.3GHz |
| Processor socket | LGA1155 |
| Memory | 4 |
| Memory type | PC3-10666 |
| Maximum memory | 8GB |
| Motherboard | Pegatron Corporation 2AC3 |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel H61 |
Ports | |
| USB2 ports (front/rear) | 2/4 |
| Firewire ports (front/rear) | 0/0 |
| eSATA ports (front/rear) | 0/0 |
| Wired network ports | 1x 10/100/1000 |
| Wireless networking support | 802.11n |
Internal Expansion | |
| Case | all-in-one |
| PCI-E x1 slots (free) | N/A |
| PCI-E x16 slots (free) | N/A |
| Free memory slots | 1 |
| Free 3.5in drive bays | 0 |
Hard Disk | |
| Hard disk model(s) | Hitachi DeskStar (HDS721010CLA) |
| Interface | N/A |
| Total storage capacity | 1,000GB |
Graphics | |
| Graphics card(s) | Intel HD Graphics 2000 |
| Graphics/video ports | none |
Sound | |
| Sound | Intel HD Audio |
| Sound outputs | 3.5mm stereo line out, 3.5mm mic in, 1x Beats headphone/mic port, 1x Beats subwoofer out |
| Speakers | integrated |
Removable Drives | |
| Supported memory cards | SD, SDHC, SDXC, Memory Stick Pro, MMC, xD |
| Optical drive type(s) | DVD+/-RW +/-DL |
Display | |
| Viewable size | 23 in |
| Screen model | integrated |
| Native resolution | 1,920×1,080 |
| Screen inputs | none |
Other Hardware | |
| Keyboard | HP HPK-KG-1061 |
| Mouse | HP MG-0982 |
Software | |
| Software included | HP TouchSmart software suite, Microsoft Office 2010 Starter |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit |
| Operating system restore option | restore partition |
Buying Information | |
| Warranty | one year collect and return |
| Price | £749 |
| Supplier | http://www.hp.co.uk |
| Details | www.hp.co.uk |
