HP Touchsmart 520 review: HP Touchsmart 520

Hewlett-Packard missed the mark with its retail-only HP TouchSmart 520-1050y. Yes, this system hits most of the major notes I expect of a $1,049 all-in-one, but the fact is that you can buy an identical version of the TouchSmart 520 directly from HP for $50 less. You can also buy a more useful, though slower, Toshiba all-in-one for $899, which--unlike this HP system--has a versatile HDMI input. Or you can add an HDMI input to the TouchSmart 520 on HP.com to bring the price back up to $1,049.

6.2

HP Touchsmart 520

The Good

The retail-only <b>HP TouchSmart 520-1050y</b> offers solid performance for its price, and has most of the features we look for in a midrange all-in-one.

The Bad

The lack of an HDMI input is inexcusable, but worse is the fact that you can get the same model for $50 less via HP.com.

The Bottom Line

HP does shoppers a disservice with the inconsistent pricing between this otherwise decent retail-only desktop and the more affordable, identical model available via HP's Web site.

In short, as I hope is obvious by now, I can't recommend that you buy this retail model when you can get the same thing for less directly from HP.

As of this writing, you can buy a TouchSmart 520xt that's identical to the retail-only TouchSmart review unit for $50 less on HP.com.

The TouchSmart 520-1050y is the lower-end cousin of the TouchSmart 520xt we reviewed a few weeks ago. We found that model bumped up too closely to HP's flagship TouchSmart 610 line, but had HP sent me a 520 configuration around $1,000 or so, it would have seemed just about right for a midrange all-in-one. Too bad, then, that HP didn't get the pricing right on this in-store-only TouchSmart 520, since it mostly makes sense on paper.

Next to the competing Samsung Series 7 all-in-one and Toshiba's lower-end $899 DX735, the TouchSmart 520-1050y seems reasonably, almost aggressively priced given its Blu-ray drive. But, again, not listed on the above chart is the rather salient fact that the HP unit lacks an HDMI input.

HDMI inputs bring more versatility to all-in-one desktops than almost any other feature. By letting you use the large all-in-one as a standalone monitor for a game console, a cable box, or some other external video device, an HDMI input essentially fulfills the promise of the all-in-one as a one-stop home entertainment kiosk.

I'd trade a Blu-ray drive for an HDMI input in an instant, and especially if you care more about using a computer for consuming digital entertainment than for productivity, the cheaper, HDMI-equipped Toshiba will look very tempting next to this HP system. Or you can purchase the HP TouchSmart 520xt from HP.com and configure it with the HDMI input option for an additional $50, taking it up to the same price as the retail HP TouchSmart 520-1050y.

CineBench 11.5 (score)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Rendering multiple CPUs

Rendering single CPU

Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 (Core i7-2600, summer 2011)

5.97 

1.45 

HP TouchSmart 520xt (Core i7-2600S, fall 2011)

5.62 

1.36 

Dell Inspiron One 2320 (Core i5-2400S, fall 2011)

4.91 

1.25 

HP TouchSmart 520-1050y (Core i5 2.5GHz, fall 2011)

4.14 

1.29 

Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Core i5-2400, spring 2011)

3.96 

1.25 

Samsung Series 7 (Core i5 2.7GHz, fall 2011)

2.96 

1.23 

Toshiba DX735-D3201 (Core i5-2430M, fall 2011)

2.66 

1.14 

The value confusion is also frustrating on this model since it's a decent performer for its price. Our benchmark tests show that the TouchSmart 520-1050y is at least as fast, and in most cases faster than, the competing systems from Samsung and Toshiba. I don't believe that performance is the prime driver behind all-in-one sales, particularly models like these designed with home entertainment in mind. Still, it's fair to demand a certain baseline capability, and the scores show that this TouchSmart indeed meets those expectations.

I've already lamented the absence of an HDMI input on this PC, but I can at least give HP credit for providing a pair of USB 3.0 jacks. USB 3.0 is becoming more common on mainstream PCs; the industry is perhaps even at the point where you would be right to demand USB 3.0 in a PC at the $1,000 price point. I thought that was the case with HDMI inputs as well, though, so you never know.

For other inputs, the TouchSmart 520-1050y has the usual assortment of older USB 2.0 and analog audio jacks. The one standout hardware feature other than USB 3.0 on this system is its TV tuner. Not that TV tuners are all that exotic, but it at least gives you one point of interactivity with the non-PC-based media world.

The only other factor of the TouchSmart 520-1050y that might draw you in is HP's TouchSmart 5.0 touch software suite. HP has put more resources into the PC-based touch experience than any other vendor, and it shows in the overall polish and breadth of its software.

The newest version of the TouchSmart Suite is no longer a standalone software environment: it now serves as the background to your main Windows desktop when you launch the TouchSmart Magic Canvas application. The resulting experience can be cluttered if you "pin" a lot of virtual notes to the screen alongside your standard desktop icons, but if you primarily want to use this as a touch-driven entertainment center, you will likely forgive the visual mess thanks to the polished look and feel of the HP touch experience. The 12 touch-specific programs for media viewing, Web browsing, and the like don't hurt, either.

Juice box
HP TouchSmart 520-1050y	Average watts/hour
Off (watts)	1.08
Sleep (watts)	1.84
Idle (watts)	24.52
Load (watts)	84.35
Raw (annual kWh)	118.13
Energy Star-compliant	Yes
Annual power consumption cost (@$0.1135/kWh)	$13.41

Along with this PC's solid performance, HP also deserves kudos for its power efficiency. The TouchSmart 520-1050y outperformed the Samsung Series 7 all-in-one on almost every test, and it used less power. We're only talking an annual difference of about $3, or about 25 cents a month. Not much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, but $3 will get you a cup of coffee and a bagel from a New York food truck, for which on some mornings I'd gladly pay twice as much.

HP includes a basic one-year parts and labor warranty with the TouchSmart 520-1050y. You also get 24-7 toll-free phone support and a variety of support resources available on HP's Web site, as well as on the system itself.

Conclusion
I've criticized HP many times in the past for its confusing product lineup, with multiple versions of each core model, and, as we found here, inconsistencies between online and retail pricing and value. The TouchSmart 520-1050y is not a bad computer, and it's even mostly competitive next to similar all-in-ones in its price range. But simple math dictates that I can't recommend this retail-only model when you can find the exact same configuration on HP.com for $50 less.

Find out more about how we test desktop systems.

System configurations:

Apple iMac 21.5-inch (Spring 2011)
Apple OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.7; 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750 graphics card; 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive

Dell Inspiron One 2320 (fall 2011)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i5-2400s; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce 525M graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP TouchSmart 520-1050y (fall 2011)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Intel HD Graphics 1000; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive

HP TouchSmart 520xt (fall 2011)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2600s; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450A graphics card; 2TB 5,400rpm hard drive

Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 (summer 2011)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (SP1); 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-2600; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 555 graphics card; 2TB 7,200rpm hard drive

Toshiba DX735-D3201 (fall 2011)
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-2430M; 4GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 64MB Embedded Intel HD Graphics 3000; 1TB 7,200rpm Seagate hard drive