Hybrid OF CONVENIENCE
New laptop/tablet HP Pavilion x2 is light, good for movie-watching and Microsoft Office but a little pricey
It’s been a while since a hybrid laptop/ tablet was introduced into the market. The idea is to satisfy those who want both: an easy-to-carry portable device that also resembles a conventional notebook with touchable screen. Following the path of Microsoft’s Surface is the HP Pavilion x2. It looks similar in both design and purpose — a Windows 8 tablet that comes with keyboard accessory.
The 10.1-inch screen will serve you well for movie-watching, word processing or web browsing. The size is reasonable for carrying around and offers adequate work space. Just be careful about using it in the sunlight as there’s a brightness issue that makes content look pale. You can go big with the HDMI port for a more immersive big screen experience or just when carrying out a presentation.
The Pavilion x2 comes with built-in dual speakers which give an experience similar to small desktop speakers. This gave me (a TV series addict) an experience most tablets fail to do.
Typing on a touchscreen interface is quite difficult, with the screen divided in half to display both desktop and keyboard.
This is why a keyboard accessory becomes useful. A well-spaced keyboard helped me finish this review on the Pavilion x2 without straining my wrists.
Moreover, the keyboard also acts as a kickstand (same idea as Surface’s) to treat devices like laptops or adjust them to a perfect viewing angle for movies. It can go to two positions for the best angle. This keyboard has a trackpad that supports two-finger clicking as well as scrolling. It’s very helpful when navigating through a long window.
Trading off specs in order to make a hybrid device is unavoidable.
The first compromise is a powerful CPU. The Intel Atom (good performance but not really all that great) will perfectly handle your Word document, PowerPoint presentation, internet browser and movie player. However, Atom isn’t for gaming or handling large, multiple-layer Photoshop files.
Because of its specs, when performing a simple task like Windows updates on the Pavilion x2, the “update and restart” process took so long it led me to believe that the machine had crashed and almost shut down. Patience is crucial when using this device.
The 64GB (50.7GB user accessible) space won’t be enough for you so brace yourself for another micro SD card to expand the storage (a 64GB card should be around 1,000 baht), or you can just hook up with your existing external hard disk via its USB 3.0 port.
There’s no indicator that tells you whether the device is on or not. Is it hibernating or shut down? This problem showed when I pushed the power button and the device didn’t respond. Pretty weird since it took me almost 10 minutes just to boot it up. I’m not sure whether it is a hardware or software issue, but HP should take a look at this.
I carried both tablet and keyboard in my backpack and noticed only a slight weight gain. Carrying both weighs 0.92kg (without the keyboard it is 0.59kg). Portability as well as battery life are the main selling points. When I wrote this review while enjoying YouTube playback with 50% brightness setting, it left me with over two-thirds of the battery left.
So it’s a good buy, but for who? At 13,990 baht, it’s very difficult to say as the price it quite high, although those dependent on Microsoft Office — such as account executives, accountants, teachers and secretaries — will be tempted.