This is a compensated review by BlogHer and HP.
A few weeks ago I got an email asking if I’d be interested in reviewing a new HP TouchSmart 600 computer. And yes, I was interested, because I am a nerd and always terribly entertained by anything that plugs in and has a screen, but since I’d never seen the TouchSmart before, I had a mental image of a big, clunky desktop coming into the house. Besides that, we haven’t owned a PC in about ten years, and part of me wondered if accepting the HP was some unforgivable act of Mac betrayal.
But then I remembered the 10 year-old Mac desktop in my office (that, bless its heart, can’t run more than two applications at a time before it starts to wheeze), and I got over my reservations. BRING ON THE HP.
The new TouchSmart arrived a few days later, and y’all, I cannot tell you how impressed we have been by this computer. We love it. It looks great (do you see how skinny it is?), and when David was setting it up, I actually asked him where the rest of it was. It’s essentially the same size as a flat-screen TV. In fact, it can work as a TV – you just plug in your cable and you’re good to go. It can also work as a DVR (CAN I GET AN AMEN?) or a BluRay movie player. There’s even a remote. Be still my heart.
And I wish y’all could have seen my husband’s reaction when he realized that you can mount the TouchSmart on the wall. Suffice it to say that his eyes lit up and then glazed over and I thought for a brief moment that he might need to sit down and put his head between his knees.
We started using the TouchSmart approximately 53 seconds after we set it up, and while I didn’t know how much I’d use all the bells and whistles in our day-to-day routine, I have to say that the touchscreen features are actually my very favorite part. Besides the fact that it makes me feel like Tom Cruise in “Minority Report” when I move my finger around the screen and resize pictures and create collages and pretend like I’m some sort of technological wizard, it’s just so EASY. I can write notes, save recipes, browse the web, play a movie via our Netflix account, laugh at something on Hulu, listen to my Pandora playlist, edit photos and so much more – all without touching a keyboard or a mouse. The computer HAS a keyboard and a mouse, of course (they’re wireless!), and you can use them with any of the TouchSmart applications – but once you get the hang of the touchscreen, it’s oh-so-convenient and fun.
I really could go on and on – about how Alex loves it, about how the touchscreen is COMPLETELY intuitive for a child, about how I adore the Recipe Box feature that lets me add any recipe I happen to run across on the web and will even READ THE RECIPE OUT LOUD TO ME while I cook. But I’m going to quit talking now because we need to get this giveaway started. I think it’s time.
So.
If you’d like to win an HP TouchSmart 600 computer, leave a comment below and tell me where you’d put the computer if you won. Family room? Office? Playroom? Kitchen? Inside Mama’s closet where NO ONE ELSE CAN TOUCH IT? On top of a thrift store desk that you overhauled with turquoise spray paint?
Or, if you’d like, you can leave a comment with a link to a post about the HP on your blog.
And whatever you do, please make sure that your email address is correct.
This contest will begin December 9th and end December 24th.
Before I forget:
1) If you’d like more information about this computer, just click on over to HP’s official site.
2) Rules!
• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by linking on Twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
• You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
• This giveaway is open to US Residents, aged 18 and older (I’m so sorry, Canada).
• Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
• You have 48 hours to get back to me; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• Please see the official rules here: Official Rules.
The winner will be selected using random.org.
Also, there are four other bloggers giving away the HP TouchSmart 600 (that means there are five free computers up for grabs, people), so check out the BlogHer.com special offers page for links to their sites. You can enter to win on all five blogs.
Happy TouchSmarting, everybody!
Thursday 12/10 at 8:40pm – comments seem to be working just fine again. Thanks for your patience!
This giveaway is now closed.
While I would really like this in my home office, it would probably go on my kitchen desk – LOVE that recipe feature!
In my bedroom where only I could use it – and (can it be true??) use it as a TV as well!
Our current computer is in the basement family room, but if it will read my recipes to me I just might have to find a spot in my kitchen! :)
In the study, which is actually a baby nursery right now.
Tweety tweet.
http://twitter.com/vitafamiliae/status/6503633909
What a great excuse to buy a desk!! If I win, I’ll buy a cute little desk for my great room! AWESOME giveaway! Thanks BooMama!
I would put it in my daughter’s bedroom as she really would love to have a computer!
Um, that closet thing sounds REALLY good to me. Just sayin.
I would put this computer on the table that I salvaged from a shed on the back of my parents property!
I would put this in my living room right next to my lazy boy and never get up again!! Thanks for the giveaway!
It would go in the spare bedroom. Move over sewing machine there’s a new sheriff in town!
I would put it in my office… and it would look quite nice in there. :)!
I would build a whole brand spankin new office area in my bedroom corner and place this little beauty there. :)
I would probably put it in my garage so it could help me with DIY projects. Lord knows I need it!
I’d put it in my dining room right where my dinosaur computer is sitting right now.
I would put it in my desk in my craft room and use it for all my craft things that aren’t MAC compatible!
I would put it in my bedroom and give the children the one that is currently occupying our computer desk.
I would put it in my office. I love it. My laptop is about 100 years old!
If I won that computer, after I hugged it for an inappropriately long time, I would put it on my sewing machine table/desk/craft area. Little spaces need skinny computers!
DH and I were just talking about getting a desktop for the family room. Time to start playing computer games with the boy!
I would put away my old dell and put that handsome fellow up in my office.
I would put it in the study for now then move it up into the loft for the kids in a year or two.
Awesome giveaway! How exciting! {grin} I would put it on the computer desk in our kitchen. The heart of our home and the perfect centralized location!
http://everydayblessingsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/check-out-this-giveaway.html
I would put it on the desk in the guest bedroom..which is one that my mom refinished for me. It’s red and gorgeous and would look GREAT with this HP sitting on it!
I would put the computer in my office. :)
Oh, my! This is AWESOME!! I so desperately need a new computer!! It would sit on the desk in the study – but I might lock the doors so no one else can use it. :)
I would put it in my office IN PLACE OF THAT SUPER-SLOW desktop I have now!!
I would love to put it on my new desk in our office!
Oooooh weeeeee, that bad boy would be going in my room to where I retreat when the rest of the family is grating on my last nerve. I could hide out in there surfing the web while waiting for my blood pressure to drop back to normal levels. I’d let the rest of my bunch use our “wheezy” laptop and bulky desktop PCs whilst I tip-tapped on this one’s fancy-schmancy touch screen.
Wow! If I were to win this fancy-schmancy computer, I would put it in our kids’ playroom downstairs! It would likely be the focal point of the room. :)
i can’t even tell you how badly i need a new computer!!!
this is so awesome-I may actually sleep with a computer so lovely. Just kidding..I would keep mine in the living room for EASY access.
what a great giveaway!
I would put it in our office! But, it would probably be moved around:)
I’d say we’d put it in our finished basement. It’s where we relax most of the time, and it would look great mounted on the wall down there!
I would put this in our family room. With 5 kiddos- 2 of them being teenagers who use the computer for school everyday- we’d use the heck out of it!
Good luck to all!
I would put it in the kitchen or family room, tough choice!
Definitely bedroom!!!
My Gosh! What a wonderful giveaway! I would love to put a new computer in our office/spare room. It would be a wonderful asset!
Samantha O.
I tweeted the contest!
http://twitter.com/kmommy09/status/6503629255
It would go great in the office (I mean scrap room)!!!!
I would put it in our new sunroom.
I hope I win, I hope I win, I hope I win…(I am clicking my heels while I chant this :-))
I’d put in my kitchen, since it’s also my office.
This lovely would totally go in our office at home. I will be working from home once this baby comes and it sure would be nice to replace the DINOSAUR that is in there now! :)
I would put it in my bedroom on my desk, I think. Oh man, sweetness!!
WOW! Awesome giveaway. And I have the perfect spot for this great computer. We recently renovated our third floor, which gave me a new office. This computer will look great on my Target cheapie, cheapie Pottery Barn looking desk! Perfect!
DO NOT TELL MY HUSBAND WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN NAMED MAC FOR REASONS I WILL NOT GO INTO, but I would put it in my bedroom. For a quiet little work space. And then I would post a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on the door. :)
I’d put it in my office.
It would probably replace the one my fiance threatens to toss out the window in the extra bedroom.
I would put it in my Mom’s living room so she would be able to link up and skype with us, read the blog, etc. She needs a new computer BADLY!
It would absolutely go on the folding table in the corner of the living room that I call my “office.”
mounting it on the wall might just be the best thing i’ve ever heard. this one might could go in the homeschool room because of that.
OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH! who cares where I put it! But I want it! :D
I’d put it on the round oak table in the corner of my kitchen, far from little hands but close enough that I could hear the recipe without getting dough on my keyboard.
(Again.)
OMG I would definitely put this in my living room for everyone to play with , err i mean USE :)
As much as I want to keep this and put it right in my kitchen… I would sneak over to my mom’s house and set it up, and TOSS out her old horrible one she’s managing with!
I would put it in the living room for the whole family to enjoy! Great giveaway!
I would put it in our family room for all of us to fight over (I mean share)…
This computer would totally replace the one I’m typing on now in our den. My husband would do flips! Too bad your blog isn’t really read by only tens of people every single day ’cause my chances would be a LOT better. :)
I would totally put it in the family room – up high where my toddler couldn’t constantly “rearrange” the applications! Great giveaway, Thanks!
This would be a great since we are in need of a new one desperately!
I would love to have it in our bedroom, on our EMPTY computer desk!!!!
I would put it in my office. I just started a new business and I am in the process of creating a web site for it (www.pickledsweet.com) and a new computer would be incredible!!
What a great giveaway!! I’m a schoolteacher, so I’d probably end up using it at school.
I would put it in my tiny tiny office and it would be PERFECT!!!!!!!
I would put it in the living room in the computer cabinet(our laptop just crashed!)…but I might have to put a lock on the door! HA!
I’d probably give it to my husband and so it’d probable sit on his desknon our office!!
I blogged about the contest.
http://whynotdancewithus.blogspot.com/2009/12/wowie.html
It would go on my lap. Next to my husband where I will work on PTO and bible study stuff while snuggling with him.
Oh, it’s beautiful! I’d probably put it in my dining room. I know, weird. But my dining room is also where I homeschool, so it would function well in there.
I tweeted the contest
http://twitter.com/aleighasmomma/status/6503908765
I would put it in the bedroom … because it is small enough to FIT in the bedroom … and the bedroom is a MUCH better place to get away from the kids than the LAUNDRY ROOM … which is where our quickly dying PC currently is.
This looks like a great computer! I would put it in my closet, except that the shelf in there is too high! I think that since the hubs doesn’t use his desk anymore, I’d put it on there and it would be all matchy… Then the kids can use this one and open all the windows they want and freeze it up until the cows come home!
I’m thinking the kitchen would be a great place for it – reading the recipe to you while you cook? You can’t beat it!
Oh how fun! Since my mac is fairly new and my mom’s computer is quite old, I would probably give it to her. Obviously I would love it, but I don’t think I could keep it, knowing how much my mom would appreciate it! I hope I win!!!
In our office / craft room / laundry room and if I win I am going to paint my old desk turquoise!
Wow! What an amazing piece of machinery! I so want one.
My first instinct was to put it, duh, in my office. But I really think I’d put that bad boy in my bedroom, where we want to put a computer (so I can edit photos and not be away from my dear man) but just don’t have a lot of room. That thing is gorgeous!
It would go in my kitchen and READ RECIPES TO ME… ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?
I posted about it myself, I was so excited…http://sassinsouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2009/12/oh-my-gosh.html
the office….that would be wonderful!!
It would go in my kitchen! I love to cook and am always hauling my laptop into the kitchen to follow recipes I find online. Mounting on the wall is fabulous – it would keep my 3 year old away (for now).
I would put it in our family room on the desk.
This would look mighty fine in our office!!
i am moving in about a month and this would be great to use in our new basement!!
Well, I think that a computer of this magnitude would require a complete living room redo – with a new desk/armoire!! Or, if I couldn’t pry it from my hubby’s hands, it would be in our basement office – where I stick all of his techy stuff.
I would put this in my room and give my laptop to my mom!
I would put it in my family room!!!
I’d put it in my office, in place of the laptop I have from (are you ready for this?) 1999. (I primarily use a work laptop, but winning this would be timely, as I’m quitting work and ceding my laptop in the spring in order to stay home with our new baby!)
I would put this awesome computer in my kitchen so I could keep an eye on it!
I would definitely put it in the office/playroom! The old one is on it’s last leg!
Oh I am all about the “in mama’s closet where no one else can touch it!!” plan.
I would put it in the dining room so the whole family could enjoy it!
vvolz3@verizon.net
in my office! It would make all those grad school assignments soooo much better!
The Kitchen. It’s needed! :)
I would put this amazing piece of technology on my antique library desk in my office…and all would be right in the world ;) – skb
In the office, after I knock my practically antique computer off of the desk!
Just tweeted (at) portraitwriter!
Tweeted about the contest!
http://twitter.com/faith_gal220/status/6504045352
I would put it in my office!!
I blogged about it
http://allaboutaleigha.blogspot.com/2009/12/boomamas-h-touchsmart-600-giveaway.html
Dear HP TOUCH SMART –
May I call you HPTS? Awww, thanks!
Since I’ll be mostly by myself after the holidays, I sure would love it if you’d come to my home in Memphis. There may not be snow, but I promise to show you a rockin’ good time in our fair city. We will go to Graceland together (sure, I’ll take your picture there!) and the Peabody where we’ll hold…um…hands (?) and sip coffee and talk about our future together.
Think about it, won’t you?
xo,
April