HP tm2 Touch 12-inch Tablet Laptop

HP tm2 TouchSmart tablet notebook

The HP tm2 is a convertible, ultraportable laptop with a swivel screen that can transform into a tablet computer. It's become a popular portable notebook because of it is so powerful compared to most 10-inch and 11.6-inch "netbooks," which can't do a whole lot more than surf the Web, and because it's price has stayed pretty reasonable, cheaper than the much-hyped Lenovo ThinkPad X201 tablet.

Before HP's refresh of its laptop product line this May, the tm2t (by the way, a "t" on the end of HP model numbers means it's customizable and it has an Intel processor) used to run on Intel Dual Core or Core 2 Duo (faster) chips. Now the little HP tm2t has the latest Intel Core i3 or i5 ULV (ultra low voltage) processors, for better performance and maximum efficiency. When you're customizing your tm2t, notice the "UM" on the end of the processor numbers: Core i3-330UM or Core i5-U430UM.

Of course, the new Core ULV processors lift the tm2t above mainstream netbooks, and so does the memory and hard drive guts. You can get the tm2t with 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB RAM, and hard drives come in 320GB, 500GB, and 640GB sizes.

The convertible display is a 12.1-inch diagonal LED-backlit touchscreen with 1280 x 800 resolution. It comes with an HP TrueVision Webcam built right in and a FingerPrint Reader.

Note: There is no internal optical drive. You do have the option to buy one as an external accessory.