In case you are looking for an affordable laptop with good features, the HP Pavilion x360 shall do the job pretty smooth. Yes, you can regard this x360 as a younger sibling of the HP’s premium Spectre x360, this one doesn’t boast that “expensive” laptop look and also boasts less expensive hardware. Though for only around $399.99, what you are getting is an 11-inch laptop which can be used as both a tablet and a laptop.
Coupled with some nice features, the detailed description of the laptop is worth a go to see if it suits your needs.
Design
The HP Pavilion x360 might not boast a smooth hinge design like that on the Spectre x360, nevertheless, its hinges do the job pretty well. Courtesy the 360-degree hinges, the laptop lid can be rotated completely. Therefore, the laptop is able to serve two purposes: A complete laptop as well as a tablet.
Furthermore, the laptop body is made totally out of plastic instead of aluminum. The silver colored lid protects the screen and the black plastic deck from dust. In case you are the creative artsy type, you can also get the laptop in Modern Gold and Dragonfly Blue colors. Courtesy rounded back edges, rest assured of a comfortable grip while using it as a tablet or carrying it around.
The hybrid laptop measures 11.6 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches and weighs 3 pounds. The weight might seem a more than other 11 inches laptops out there, nevertheless, the laptop is still fairly portable and easy to carry around all day long.
Ports
The laptop doesn’t house a single of the latest USB Type-C ports, so that’s a bummer. Though it does it have a USB 3.0 port on the right side, along with a full-sized HDMI port and an integrated SD card reader. There is also a couple of USB 3.0 ports, a headphone jack and a Kensington lock slot on the left of the laptop. Alongside these are the dedicated buttons for power and volume.
Connectivity
The laptop features an 802.11ac Wi-Fi modem and a Bluetooth 4.2 radio for managing Bluetooth connections.
Display
Since the display is touch-screen it offers easy interaction during both the laptop mode and most importantly under tablet mode. The screen resolution of 1366 x 768 might sound a bit disappointing, though laptops in this range and size usually offer the same. For a casual user whose work doesn’t extend beyond surfing the web and using simple productivity tools like Microsoft Office, the screen would suffice.
What makes the display better is that it employs an IPS Panel. Thus, the viewing angle is considerably greater and color accuracy is quite high too.
Though, the laptop’s sRGB reproduction percentage at 70 percent is just below par. The Dell Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1’s has a 69 percent, while the HP Stream boasts a 78 percent.
On the contrary, the Pavilion x360 beats out other laptops by offering a brightness level of 193 nits, when laptops like the Dell Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1 and HP Stream 11 offer 146 nits and 188 nits respectively.
Audio
Courtesy the B&O Play Speakers, the sound quality is above par and the audio was loud enough. There is also a pre-installed B&O Play Audio Control software through which the treble, bass and dialogue volume can be easily adjusted.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The full-sized keyboard has square tile keys, and even with a key travel of 1.6 millimeters, the typing speed wasn’t hindered.
Furthermore, with a 3.8 x 2.2-inches trackpad, it isn’t totally spacious yet does the job. The trackpad also supports gestures, and the touchpad is clickable too, without missing a click.
Battery Life
With a low screen resolution and size, and lighter specs, we would have expected the battery to last out much longer, but sadly it doesn’t. The total battery life when the laptop is used continuously over Wi-Fi is 5 hours and 48 minutes. Maybe it is just above par when compared to Dell Inspiron 11 3000 2-in-1’s battery time of 5 hours and 30 minutes, it is nowhere near the HP Stream 11’s 8 hours and 23 minutes or the Asus Transformer Mini T102HA’s whopping 12 hours and 8 minutes.
Webcam
There is the HP’s Wide Vision Camera which shoots pictures at an 88-degree field of view, though it isn’t accurate. Therefore, you might want to purchase an external webcam for video conferencing.
Price and Configurations
There is only one model 11-inch Pavilion x360 you can buy, and that will cost you $399.99 if bought from HP. It houses a 1.1-GHz Intel Pentium N4200 processor with adequate 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and an Intel HD Graphics 505. Though with a larger screen sized Pavilion x360 i.e. 14 inches or 15, you can get a Core i3 or Core i5 model too. Good news is that this laptop is currently available on Amazon in a good discounted price.