A Windows 10-ready laptop and tablet in one
On the face of it, £250 is a reasonable price for a Windows 10 laptop that converts into a tablet. Even better, the newly redesigned Pavilion x2 looks like it cost a lot more. The sharply curved metallic edges. Bang & Olufsen speakers and bright screen all smack of a premium product.
The illusion isn’t quite preserved once you get your hands on it. If it feels light, that’s hardly a criticism. But the slightly flexible plastic case and low-resolution screen reveal where corners have been cut. Even the speaker grille is something of a fraud: only part of it actually houses speakers, which are loud and clear, but not especially rich.
Still, it’s functional, and there are benefits in being able to detach the keyboard. It comes off completely, as well as folding back like a Lenovo Yoga 2. The screen section weighs 580g (less than iPads pre-iPad Air) and includes a USB 2.0 port as well as a USB 3.1 port for charging. USB 3.1 is the new design that works whichever way you plug the socket in. That’s all the USB ports you get, so you can’t plug in a mouse and a USB stick at the same time.
There’s also a microSD card slot, not only for importing pictures but also to supplement the built-in 32GB of flash storage. Considering that most PCs come with at least a 500GB hard drive, 32GB isn’t much room for Windows and all your files, but more and more laptops rely on you keeping stuff ‘in the cloud’ -accessed over the internet from services like Dropbox and Microsoft’s OneDrive.
At the moment, the x2 comes with Windows 8.1, so to get Windows 10 you have to download the free 2.7GB upgrade and wait an hour or so for it to install. It’s well worth it: the combination of desktop and tablet features is ideal for a system like this. While the 1280x800-pixel touchscreen is coarse by today’s standards, the resolution isn’t terrible for a 10.1in display. If you put two windows side-by-side, you won’t be able to see much in either, but that was never going to be a selling point of a machine this size. At least Windows 10’s window snapping makes it easy to do. The brightness levels are high enough for use outdoors.
Undersized keyboards can make accurate typing difficult, but we found this one easy to use. The touchpad is relatively responsive too, and you can tap and swipe on the screen to take advantage of Windows 10’s intuitive gestures. When you’re not typing, attaching the tablet part in reverse lets you use the keyboard as a stand.
The x2’s Intel Atom processor is toward the lower end of the list of chips capable of running Windows 10, but in our tests it just about coped. Most of our commands got a response within half a second, fast enough to avoid frustration, and the new Edge browser ran pretty smoothly. With only 2GB of memory, you’ll need to avoid opening too many apps, documents or web browser tabs at once.
It may have a full Desktop operating system, but this is a device for light use only. That makes it all the more annoying that HP installs McAfee LiveSafe security software, which hogs the processor’s resources and slows everything down.
Battery life was good, lasting just under eight hours of moderate use, although it took ages to charge back up - more than four hours from 25 per cent to full. Overall, the Pavilion x2 is no more powerful than its price would imply, but it’s neat and usable enough to recommend.
VERDICT
Stick to one task at a time, and the Pavilion x2 gives you good performance in a practical and affordable form.
SPECIFICATIONS
1.33GHz Intel Atom Z3736F quad-core processor • 2GB memory • 32GB flash storage • 10.1in 1280x800-pixel touchscreen • Front webcam • 802.11n Wi-Fi • USB 2.0 port • Micro HDMI port • Windows 8.1 • 19.8x264x173mm (HxWxD) • 1.18kg • One-year warranty