TX2Z - 5 days of use: my initial impression, issues and need for advice

Question

Hello All,
I have had my TX2Z for a complete 5 days now. Prior to purchasing, i had a Dell 700m for almost 4 years. When I bougt the Dell, i got it loaded with a 2GHz Intel processor, 2GB RAM, 120GB HDD, XP Pro, etc.  It is a brilliant machine and I really enjoyed it...it was good to me and I really can say I never had any issues with it.  I took care of it and it returned the favor.  I upgraded to Vista Business back in November and it was still great.  In fact, I still think it out performs (in terms of speed and stability), most other new laptops owned by my collegues. However, for work, i really needed a tablet and although i read some bad reviews about the TX2Z, i read many more good reviews.  So a couple of weeks ago, I called them and ordered a pretty loaded one.  I have the 2.4GHz processor, 4GB RAM, Vista Ultimate 64 bit, 250GB 7200 RPM HDD, etc.  I assumed it would be quite fast since reviews i read stated the standard 2.2GHz processor was sufficient.
So it came in last Tuesday and I began the migration process.  I did a lot of reserach online about what bloatware to remove and did so.  Between work and time at home, it took me 2 days to get everything to migrate over from my Dell and install my applications. I partitioned the HD and put my data on the new partition.  Outlook migration was quite bothersome to say the least.
I've had a lot of strange issues and had to do a lot of reserach to find fixes but it seems random new issues pop up from time to time.  They may be small, but i'm not too technical so I just expect things to work as they did on my Dell for so long.  
1. I feel its very slow. When you click on something, like when going through email in Outlook, the email just doesn't show up in the preview pane right away...it takes anywhere from 3-5 seconds...something that was instant before.  Same thing when doing many other things...I feel like even web browsing has slowed down. i have defragmented, cleaned, optimized, etc...still inadequate.
2. I feel its very delicate.  I've had it freeze on me a couple of times and today, i booted up and logged in and it went to some other profile on the computer with a message stating that there was an issue with my user profile.  scared me, but i restarted and then it booted into my profile.  then when i booted up again later, it did the same thing!  thank God this time it was fine on the first go, but now i feel i have to worry about that every time i boot up...not a cool feeling.
3. I'm trying to get used to the tablet portion of it, but i feel it can be a little annoying sometimes.  i won't complain much about it though because I think i need more practice first.  i can write pretty well, but drawing on teh screen, the main reason for my using it, isn't that friendly...i always have to put the screen up to access teh keyboard and touchpad to really have what i want happen...i can't just do everything from the tablet.
4. heat: ive seen many people complain about this...it really is annoying how much heat comes out of this thing.  i have to keep a folded cloth on my lap so it doesn't bother me.
5. fan: again, another concern i see expressed a lot...very annoying so i try to use only when unplugged and charge when i'm not using it.  for the heat issue and the fan...i don't understand why HP doesn't use something else...i mean in this day and age, when they know this is a known issue on other models, why would they use it again?
so that's pretty much all i can think of now.  i do like a number of things too, but i really would like advice on the above.  i know a lot of you will say just to wipe everything out and start over, but is there any other way to run some tests to see what the issue is?  i really don't want to go through another 2 day process. also, if i have to do this, is there a better way to migrate programs and data to an external HD and then back?  i just moved my data to an external HD and basically just installed software using discs and internet downloads...took forever!
what about these recover discs i hear a lot aboutt?  if i make them now, will they keep all current data and configurations too or just the original OS?
sorry for the long post, but would like some help on what to do.  i need to have some confidence built in me about this machine and some reassuracne that i should be happy for the next 2-3 years.  TIA.

Answer 1

4. A swipe gesture to the apps screen.
hmmm this is actually a not bad idea!