HP Touchsmart IQ506 not an iMaclone

Gizmodo reviews the latest touchscreen all-in-one desktop from Messrs. Hewlett and Packard, concluding that despite rough edges, it's a good machine that offers plenty the iMac doesn't have.

The real hook here is whether or not the touchscreen features are as good as advertised. The short answer is that they're satisfactory within the custom interface, and not so great in the normal Vista environment. ... If you want a kitchen computer that looks nice, functions well with a keyboard and mouse, and has a few neat touch functions to boot, this $1500 machine, or the IQ504, isn't a bad deal.

The Touchsmart has a 22" display, 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo processor, TV tuner, 4GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive, 5 USB ports and a card reader, and starts at $1,500. Seeing that bristling array of A/V inputs and outputs is a reminder of things that the iMac should have, but doesn't.

Review: HP Touchsmart IQ506 PC is NOT Just an Imitation iMac [Gizmodo]

[#1 posted by royaltrux , June 26, 2008 8:31 AM]

Please don't merely say "TV tuner" anymore. Maybe in a year or two that will be OK, but for now, that is not enough information. HD or SD?

[#2 posted by royaltrux , June 26, 2008 8:37 AM]

Ahh - it is an HD tuner, and after a little research I see that by now ALL tuners SHOULD be HD...

[#3 posted by Rob Beschizza , June 26, 2008 9:41 AM]

Right! If it wasn't, I'd say "BOO SD"

[#4 posted by royaltrux , June 26, 2008 10:05 AM]

heh.

[#5 posted by rollerskater , June 27, 2008 11:22 AM]

analog i/o is missing from the imac? so is the 5.25" floppy. firewire, dvi, optical audio i/o are fine, plus you can buy a little $20 dvi-to-analog converters if you really need to hook your imac into your U-Matic deck or CRT tv, grandpa.