HP aims to make other hybrid computer makers envious with its x360 systems
In the past few months, HP has launched a series of products all labelled ‘x360’, which feature a hinge that allows them to transform from laptop to tablet and a few modes in between.
The Envy x360 is one of the physically larger models of this product range, featuring a full 15.6” ten-point touch display. The review model came with a Core i5 4210u CPU, 1TB hard drive and 8GB of RAM. HP also offers variants with more modern Core i5 and also Core i7 processors if you need that power.
They’re all designed for those who really only have access to one PC and need something powerful enough to do most things, while offering a degree of portability.
I say ‘a degree’ because at 2.4kgs I’m not sure you’d want to carry this for extended periods or use it in tablet mode unsupported.
But before I get more critical, there are some things about this design that HP definitely got right in this highly engineered hybrid PC.
Opening the Envy x360 for the first time, the keyboard is surrounded by a cool metal surface that won’t collect fingerprints, and the ample space allowed by the corresponding screen size is well utilised by a large touch sensor pad.
This machine also has an excellent collection of ports that include three full-sized USB, two of which are USB 3.0 spec. It also has an SD card reader, a gigabit LAN port, HDMI out and both in and out audio jacks. I was mildly disappointed that the wi-fi is only N class, not AC, but the Bluetooth 4.0 is at least Miracast compliant.
Overall processor performance is good, and while it’s not anything special, the integrated GPU can be made more game friendly if you nail the image quality settings down.
However, battery life isn’t great, with it being estimated at three hours and 32 minutes by PCMark08 running a home test. With less 3D graphics, four hours is probably realistic.
Battery life is not my biggest complaint, though. That nomination goes to the screen. The resolution is an acceptable but modest 1366 x 768, but the colours are washed out and the viewing angles generally poor. Given the very clever hinge design, you can place the screen at all manner of angles, the majority of which won’t work well to read this screen. Oddly, the best viewing angle is about 45 degrees – greater than most people would normally choose.
The screen is one weakness, and another is the keyboard. The size and spacing is fine, but the travel doesn’t conclusively end with a definitive click, making it difficult to type quickly. I'm not sure I’d want to type anything substantial on this, though experience tells me that I could probably adapt to it over time.
Hardware is therefore something of a mixed bag, but the Envy x360 also has some software issues. Looking at what came preinstalled, HP is still entrenched in the same mindset that got Lenovo into so much trouble recently in regards to bundled applications. While the storage on this machine is big enough that the space occupied isn’t a deal-breaker, the time taken to de-gunk the PC most certainly is.
HP contributed no less than nine of its own superfluous apps, and preinstalled 18 others, including the seemingly endemic McAfee LiveSafe.
Please, HP, stop doing this, as it undermines all the hard work your hardware engineers put in to make this computer nice. It’s like Jaguar made a classic sports coupe and then had some idiot brush paint it in old camouflage colours. Just stop it now, because rest assured that your customers hate it.
Crapware aside, this is an average machine at a reasonable cost for the specification, and one that many people could feasibly make good use.
However, its weight, the quality of the screen and the keyboard, and a few other niggles tend to undermine what initially seemed much more desirable. I predict the next Envy 360x release will be great, but the current one is quite rough around the edges.
That’s a real shame, because in other respects the Envy x360 is a decent laptop, even if the tablet side of its persona seems much less convincing.
And that’s the rub really, because why invest in a hybrid machine that ends up being used exclusively as a laptop? Unless Microsoft can turn around the tablet side of Windows, then you’d be better off investing in straight laptop.
If you’re still interested in this concept, HP has a 15-u205na model that’s cheaper than the review hardware by £50, has a faster i5-5200U CPU, a 1080p display and a 500GB hybrid hard drive that probably represents a much better deal. Mark Pickavance
Let down by a poor screen and tablet ambitions.