Conclusion

So, how does the IQ770 stack up after several weeks of daily use? Firstly, our suspicions that the SmartCalendar’s limitations would become more obvious over time were confirmed. While at first it’s fun to pin virtual notes to the touchscreen surface, the time and effort this requires, especially if you have to wait for the machine to power up and switch to SmartCalendar mode, becomes increasingly irritating. Scrawling a note on old fashioned paper, rather than waiting for the SmartCalendar interface to appear, is so much quicker and simpler. And frankly every bit as effective.

But much more problematical is the system’s frankly woeful all round responsiveness and performance. Switching between the various SmartCenter applications can take an age and boot times are extremely lengthy. Even going in and out of sleep mode can be a lengthy process, as can switching TV channels.

It’s also worth noting that the quality of the analogue TV tuning is borderline unwatchable, even with a roof mounted aerial delivering a strong signal. The digital tuner works well enough, though the image quality on the glossy LCD panel is mediocre at best with SD content.

Moreover, the longer one uses the IQ770, the flakier and glitchier the machine feels. Part of that is probably down to the frankly woeful state of the Windows Vista OS. For a consumer electronics device, it’s simply not acceptable to have to audio driver fall over now and then, requiring a reboot to restore sound. Likewise, the general errors, hangs and stalls that Vista delivers might be bearable for a conventional desktop PC. But with a kitchen-based entertainment device, they really jar.

Unfortunately, not all the blame can be laid at Microsoft’s doorstep. The IQ770 also sports an extremely unreliable IR remote control unit. Most kitchens feature large windows, allowing plenty of natural daylight in. Unfortunately, it seems the IQ770’s IR sensor can’t cope with that. When the room is brightly lit, inputs on the remote control can deliver all kinds of weird and random responses. It’s bad enough at times to make the remote control handset virtually useless.

With prolonged use, therefore, the IQ770 will leave you wishing you had a regular TV at your disposal. A TV, in other words, that simply did what you wanted, when you wanted. And did it quickly.

We’re still glad HP has made a stab at a genuinely innovative multimedia PC. But there’s no avoiding the fact that the IQ770 isn’t ready for the prime time. Best wait for the second generation model, we suspect.