HP TouchSmart IQ500 review

Thankfully, HP has included a touch-centric user interface called -- funnily enough -- TouchSmart. This can be launched from the desktop, or from a touch-sensitive button on the bottom right of the screen bezel. TouchSmart's GUI incorporates two rows of icons, called tiles, representing the most commonly used applications on your PC. You can browse applications by sliding your finger across the icons -- dragging them in and out of view across the horizontal plane. Touching an icon launches one.

Whether there's a point to having a touchscreen is still up for debate. Some of us in the CNET.co.uk office think it's something of a gimmick, while others say it's useful. It certainly doesn't hurt the machine to have touch capabilities -- except possibly by adding to the overall price. Let's just say there wasn't a single point in our time with it where we thought the touchscreen was an indispensable feature.

We can't object to is the presence of a digital TV tuner card in the IQ500. In this case it's the AverMedia A326 -- a hybrid card that supports both analogue and digital signals. Unfortunately you can't pipe the TV signal to a larger display via a digital connector -- there's no HDMI -- but you can enjoy your favourite terrestrial Freeview and analogue shows on the machine itself. Just make sure you buy yourself an aerial -- there isn't one in the box. You can change channels using the bundled wireless keyboard, mouse and infrared remote control.

Importantly, the TouchSmart IQ500 has wireless connectivity, so you can browse the Web without first having to trail an Ethernet cable halfway around the house. The adaptor is of the USB variety and plugs into a dedicated port on the underside of the PC. It supports 802.11b,g and high-speed 802.11n Wi-Fi, which is handy.

Performance
The TouchSmart IQ500 has a decent combination of processor and memory, but delivers average performance. It scored 3,421 in PCMark 05, which is actually slightly slower than the old IQ770, which achieved 3,765 with a 1.6GHz AMD Turion TL-52.

It refused to run our 3DMark 2006 benchmark -- possibly due to incompatibilities between the touchscreen and our graphics test -- but it'll let you play the odd game, provided you don't go overboard on the resolution and detail settings. Like its predecessor, the IQ500 ran extremely quietly and remained cool. This is good news for anyone who's thinking of using it in a bedroom or other quiet room.

Conclusion
The IQ500 is the best all-in-one PC we've seen to date. It's the epitome of style, has very useful features such as a TV tuner and wireless remote control, and offers plenty of versatility. The jury's still out as to whether a touchscreen is absolutely necessary, but those who want a compact, fun PC that's a little out of the ordinary, you should definitely consider it.

Edited by Nick Hide