HP TouchSmart 610 touchscreen all-in-one PC
Quite literally, laid back
Review This is going to be good. I reviewed the first TouchSmart 600 all-in-one home desktop computer in January 2010, and loved it, frankly. I fondly remember Reg Hardware readers expressing their admiration for my gushing praise at the time... That was sarcasm. Enough, I’m over it.
Finger friendly: HP's TouchSmart 610
The TouchSmart 600 was a shiny, black, all-round entertainment party box, jack of all trades and master of fun. HP seemed to have 'got' what a shared family computer is supposed to be all about: not so much home office as home video, less Portal 2 and more Club Penguin.
Now with the TouchSmart 610, HP is trying to help you get more out of the touchscreen by making it ergonomically better to use. More on that later.
As an all-in-one computer, the TouchSmart 610 mimics Apple’s iMac series, with the meat of the machine built into the back of the display, accompanied by a matching black wireless keyboard and mouse. The keyboard has that soft-touch feel of a notebook keyboard that I happen to like, but those who enjoy hammering keys with big action might not. The mouse is unremarkable.
Convenient USB, audio and camera card connections are located on the left-hand side, along with audio volume controls
Also provided is a TV-style remote control handset, helping you operate the media playback functions of the computer from a sofa across the room. If you feel at ease with remote controls sporting dozens of little buttons labelled with partial words and arcane icons, you’ll like this one. However, if you feel that the whole remote control design concept has lost its way and needs rethinking from scratch – this is my wife’s opinion, by the way – then it’s every bit as bad as any other.
Next page: Pointing the finger
COMMENTS
Reply to post: How Much?!
For that much I could get a whole new family.
Hey, you think you can write ONE review without a gratuitous Apple reference??
Has everybody fallen to the 'Apple invented everything' hypnosis?
A little over 30 years ago, most smaller computers were all-in-one.
I don't hear automobile reviewers relating every single car review to how its "similar to" Mercedes or Ford, by being packaged in a boxy shape with 4 corners and 4 wheels and a motor. The all-in-one car vs having horses in front?
Its getting tiresome and retarded.
If the media would stop feeding this hysteria, maybe the ass-hats at Apple would one day be forced to let go of their horrible business practices, walled gardens and control freakishness, that prevents anyone with an IQ over 100 from buying their great-looking crap.
"As an all-in-one computer, the TouchSmart 610 mimics Apple’s iMac series...."
That roaring noise you can hear is a suborbital writ delivery system taking off from Cupertino as we speak.
Is that necessary?
"USB 3.0 devices are still rare and specialised, HP reckons an owner of a family computer may want to connect two of them. Gosh, I’m seriously behind the envelope compared with those bleeding-edge home users."
Is the sarcasm really necessary? I imagine the chip supports (at least) 2 ports, and the physical connector comes as a dual block, so it's no difference in terms of design and manufacturing to have 2 instead of just one.
Please don't marr an otherwise fair review with a bit of misplaced 'humour'.
