hp TouchSmart 300 PC -Review

In our home we have 2 desk top computers, 1 ancient laptop and my beloved HP mini.  I take her everywhere!  So when I was contacted by the people of HP to see if I wanted to give their hp TouchSmart 300 PC a try I thought – meh- okay.  We are pretty computer heavy in this house already but the technology sounded cool.  So, I accepted.

The TouchSmart arrived and I waited for my Hubby to get home to help me set it up.  Yes, I will admit it, I usually find all things computer intimidating.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about.  Set-up was a snap!  Easy to follow instructions were included on a step by step poster. We were ready to go in no time. 

Turned it on and OH MY GOSH!!  Would it be weird to say it’s pretty?  Beautiful even?  Oh, and so thin.  We had a discussion about where to put it. and then all four of my family members sat, some of us oooohhhing and some us giggling through the on screen tutorials.  This baby packs some wow factor. 

We have had the computer for nearly three months.  One little hiccup was quickly cleared up courtesy of the very friendly 1 –8oo HELP ME HELP ME line.  Okay so it’s not called that, but it was a stupid problem that was frustrating the heck out of me, and the computer tech man fixed it in like a minute. 

Some of the things I love about the HP TouchSmart 300PC:

The wireless keyboard and mouse.

The super thin, and as I already mentioned pretty monitor.  It would fit anywhere in your home.  Is it wrong that I want to re-do my kitchen and make the little pretty a permanent home?  You know, keep it?  I adore that it is so thin and compact that it really could go anywhere.  So important when you want to keep an eye on what your kids are doing while on the internet. Of course the incredibly cool Touch Smart Screen.  It is very “George Jetson”.  We were all flicking, scrolling and pinching our way like pro’s in no time. 

The Touch Smart Photo Program.  I don’t post many personal photos on my blog but I have been branded the “Paparazzi” in my house.  I take a million photos, even the pets are tired of me chasing them around.  I loved the photo program. 

The ability to easily have multiple windows open at the same time and switch back and forth.

The Speed!  Oh my goodness the speed. 

My girls enjoyed the experience of actually writing notes back and forth to each other using their finger tips, and Webkinz and other family friendly games were taken to a whole new level with the ability to use a touch screen. 

I have to admit the girls were much quicker then I was to catch on to the best ways to slide, touch and manipulate the Smart Screen,  perhaps because they have an IPod Touch while my biggest love is my Blackbery. There is a bit of a learning curve, but I caught on.

The kids now battle over who gets to play on this pretty little computer. I fixed that by putting it in the dining room and calling it mine!

Of all of our new experiences on the HP Touch, my favourite is the last project we tackled.  I went to my dear daughters school and took about 100 pictures of her and all of her classmates playing, jumping, dancing and hamming it up.  When she came home we downloaded all those crazy shots by taking my camera card and sliding it into the designated slot on the side of the computer.  Brilliant!!  (No need to track down that camera cord)  We then edited the shots we liked and created a video slideshow with the HP Touch Smart Photo Program.  Added the song Hey, Soul Sister courtesy of my recent Train CD purchase, and created the coolest  slideshow ever!  BlueEyes was so proud to present a burned copy of this CD as part of her teacher gift!  Fun.

We had a great time with this computer, my only problem at this point, I don’t know how this little family is going to function without the HP Touch Smart.

Thanks HP!

Disclosure: I was provided with an HP TouchSmart 300 to use for 3 months in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions of it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the product provided.

*Photo credits www.hp.com

Linky Love: Wii Game Giveaway Ends Friday