A MUST READ if you are considering this one.
Customer Rating: 
If you are thinking about purchasing this computer, this is a MUST READ.
I am not a complainer, this is for your knowledge only, too late for me.
I do believe in helping others, especially those of you that are like me,
struggling and stressed out during this "recession".
Long story short as possible.
If you have already purchased it, unpack it quickly, don't wait until the 30 day
"return period" has expired. I waited 30 days to open it, my bad, but I was preparing
a new space to operate my very small business in, with my new cool computer, Yeaaa:)
Wished that I kept my 9 year old Sony Vaio in operation. :(
Seems I have had more reboots, freeze-ups and shutdowns in one month than 9 years with
my Sony. Trying to use it for business, no time to take in for repairs, just reboot and move on. I can't afford another and am stuck with this. This is for those of you
that can not afford to waste time or money.
My Experience: 17 year working with computers.
Knowledge: Better than most, great at "not fixing it if it works"
Purchased Best Buy July 2009
ROOBOOTS to date: LOST COUNT. but counting now and at least 14 times in 4 days.
FREEZE-UPS: Lost count, see above.
DRIVERS WARNING: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE "Windows XP and Vista Compatible". It does not always mean "Vista 64 Bit!!!!!"
Hours and hours of wasted time, only to
hear the voice over the phone say,"oh, it's Vista 64 bit"
Some manufactures are telling me that they can't justify making drivers
for the 64 bit because there are not enough out there.
Trying to get NEW software and devices to work with this computer took hours
upon hours, only to find out that it can't be done.
Now I'm using two computers, the "TouchSmart" and a three year old
laptop to do my work. They are side by side, so much for saving desktop space.
SCREEN: Like it a lot, but unless you enjoy fingerprints all over a glossy screen,
forget about using the "Touch" part.
SPEED: Great, for about 7 days. Still good in some aspects.
INTERNET CONNECTIVITY: Keeps loosing the connection, and loosing the New Wireless Router for no apparent reason, over and over. Can't even find the router on the radar.
It's only about 20ft from the router.
[...]
PRO COMMENTS.
Looks cool and like a space saver, nice screen.
SORRY, Not so short after all, but I could go on.
PS I don't hate HP or Bill Gates.
Excellent All-In-One - Low graphics performance
Customer Rating: PROS:
I have used this computer for several months at work now. I am the IT/network support personnel for our company so my technical background is pretty good. This computer is actually well designed. The LCD is of great quality, the picture is bright with nice vivid colors. They keyboard and mouse are very comfortable to use as well, and both have a very good signal quality. The power usage of the computer itself is amazingly low. I have documented it's power usage here: [...] You can compare it's energy usage to other computer towers and LCD monitors.
The Touchscreen works as expected but may be a bit difficult to use to browse the web as you have to be very accurate with your finger to click on a link. When speaking of computer power, the IQ504 is able to keep up with many applications, but read below for my comments on graphics.
The built-in webcam and microphone are also excellent. I have used them in Skype and different chat programs and both have performed very well.
CONS:
The video card is a Mobile Intel 965 and many videos, and even screen savers appear choppy. This computer would be great for a family or office personnel that uses the computer for applications which do not require a powerful graphics card. The computer is well equipped for mult-tasking though. Sometimes I have up to 10 applications running at once and the speed is very good. At the moment I am using Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP2, and heavily use this computer on a daily basis.
I have also had several problems getting the DVD drive to read CDs and DVDs. Many times I will toss a CD or DVD in and it will spit it back out. I have updated the DVDs Firmware and also the BIOS and the same problem occurs. I try inserting the CD/DVD in many different ways and then it eventually works, but this can sometimes be very aggravating. The Wake on Lan feature on the Ethernet adapter (Realtek PCIe GBE) does not work. This adapter does have the feature, but there are no options to enable or disable this feature in the BIOS. After much testing I was unable to get this feature to work, so although it is advertised, it does not work on my model.
Recommendations:
If you are a gamer or plan to use heavy programs such as AutoCAD, MAYA, Adobe Premiere, etc., do not buy this computer, or try and see if they have a model with enhanced graphics. For the typical home or office user, this is an excellent space saving, green computer.
My recommendation is to try before you buy. Many stores have the TouchSmart PCs on display and you can play with them.
List of Hardware by Hardware profilers such as AIDA32:
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00GHz
Video: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family (448 MB)
DVD Drive: TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-T633A
Audio: SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio
Ethernet: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Wireless: 802.11n Wireless LAN Card
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Hard Drive: SAMSUNG HD320KJ
Other: Multi Flash Reader USB Device, Intel(R) ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850, Intel(R) ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller, Microsoft iSCSI Initiator, AGERE OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Everything at your fingertips
Customer Rating: After 6 months of using the Touchsmart IQ504, I have no regrets of buying it. It does have it's pros and cons, like almost everything does, but for me the pros have far outweighed the cons.
It works well in so many places where a normal desktop just won't fit. It has a much larger screen than a laptop which makes it great for watching movies and viewing pictures, etc. Combined with the touchscreen capability, it is also the absolute best computer for using in the kitchen while cooking (using the touchscreen for browsing the internet for recipes is a lot easier than worrying about getting flour in the keyboard!). It's also a spacesaver if you like to have a tv in the kitchen as some models of this computer include a tv tuner and remote. Here is a useful link about using it as a family orgainizer or kitchen computer: [...]
Only big fault I have with this pc is that it's impossible to disable the touchscreen function. Why would I want to do such a thing? With the windows open during the summer, even the smallest fruit fly buzzing around it's glossy bright screen is enough to cause the arrow to hop around the screen clicking on whatever it flies over. If a future software update fixes this (hopefully), I will be completely satisfied with my HP Touchsmart's performance and usefulness. I anyway love to use it and would definitely buy it again.
One other thing that makes me happy about using this computer is that it uses much less energy than the typical desktop reducing my household energy consumption. Whether for saving money or helping the environment (or both), every little bit helps. :)
