HP Chromebook x2 Review | Digital trends

Apart from the picture book, most Chromebooks have the impression of being cut into the same fabric. There are many good options, although none are so innovative. Everything changes, however, and the HP Chromebook x2 is the proof.

We received the $ 600 version of this removable tablet, which is well equipped for a Chrome OS machine with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a low power 7th generation Intel Core m3-7Y30 processor. Best of all, HP includes the keyboard base and active stylus, something competitors like Microsoft sometimes omit.

The Chromebook x2 features some promising components and an interesting design, but is it enough to give it a head start on an increasingly intriguing crowd of Chrome OS laptops?

An attractive Chromebook tablet, well built and slightly convertible

Take the Chromebook x2 out of its box and the first thing you'll notice is that it does not look like any other Chromebook. First, it is a detachable tablet, which means that the HP component integrates the PC components into the display part that is displayed with a keyboard to provide a notebook-like feature. Then, it's not a simple gray plastic or metal plate, but it's distinguished by an attractive "white ceramic" color that adorns the back of the tablet, with chrome trim around the edges and black frames around it from the front.

It is also very well built, especially at this price. Like all good tablets, and the Microsoft Surface Pro is the best example, the Chromebook x2 looks like a piece of solid metal and glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Well, no metal, exactly, because the white part uses a Special anodized plating (AED) process to coat the underlying aluminum and provide extra strength, durability and scratch resistance. It's much better built than the other Chrome OS tablet available today, Acer's cheaper Chromebook Tab 10, and just as good as the Google Pixelbook, a top-of-the-line, 360-degree convertible.

The keyboard is also well done, with black metal on the back and a rubber-coated textured plastic overlaying the keyboard deck for a comfortable typing surface. Speaking of the keyboard, the design of the Chromebook x2 is more Microsoft Surface Book 2 than Surface Pro. That is, the tablet magnetically connects to the base of the keyboard, thus forming a traditional, more stable valve configuration on the towers than tablets with Surface Pro type keypads.

The design works well, allowing four useful modes. In addition to the clamshell mode, the tablet can be reversed and used in movie mode, or it can be inserted into the keyboard base and closed on a tablet with the back of the tablet covering the keyboard. This is a preferable mechanism to 360-degree convertible designs, where the screen turns into tablet mode, leaving the keyboard exposed to the elements. And of course, the tablet can be completely removed from the keyboard and used as a standalone slate.

Our only complaint with the design is that it is a bit unstable when used in clamshell mode. It is well balanced, thanks to a detachable keyboard a little heavier than usual, so it is the Surface Book 2 in this respect. But unlike the Microsoft iteration, the tablet / screen portion of the Chromebook x2 sways a bit as you move the combination and press the screen.

We can not complain about size, though. The tablet portion is 0.33 inches thick and weighs 1.62 pounds. This compares favorably with the identical thickness of the Surface Pro and the slightly higher weight of 1.69 lbs. With the connected tablet, however, the Chromebook x2 weighs more expensive, 3.07 pounds, compared to 2.37 pounds of Surface Pro (thanks to a lighter keyboard). HP tablets are slightly larger than Microsoft overall with slightly larger upper and lower enclosures, but still meet the standards of modern tablets.

Finally, the Chromebook x2 has a standard complement of ports for a tablet. You will find a USB-C port and a microSD card reader on the left side and another USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack on the right side. Both USB-C ports support data, display, and power, and both can charge the notebook with the included USB-C charger.

Getting data in this 2-in-1 is nice and effective

The keyboard base of the Chromebook x2 is the usual island type with black keys and white letters. This is not backlit, which is disappointing and other removable tablets like Surface Pro and Surface Go at a lower cost. Even the new Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 includes this feature. However, the key mechanism is pleasant and effective, avoiding being in an uncomfortable position despite its average displacement. It is a very good keyboard that allowed us to type at full speed with a minimum of errors.

The touchpad is about equal to that of the Surface Type Cover Pro, which means it's just big enough to avoid feeling claustrophobic but not as big as some other notebooks like Surface Book 2. It supports a limited number of Chrome OS gestures are no problem and offer a comfortable sliding surface.

HP provides the buyer with a real service including an active stylus, which also works with features supported by Chrome OS. You can write compatible applications, use the stylus to control the user interface and perform quick screen captures. Chrome OS does not have the same level of pen support as Windows 10 Ink, but it is a useful complement.

Bright, colorful and user-friendly appearance

HP has equipped the Chromebook x2 with a 12.3-inch IPS QHD display (2,400 x 1,600 or 235 PPI) that works with the same 3: 2 aspect ratio that Microsoft popularized with its Surface line and Google with the Pixelbook. This makes the display more productive by providing more vertical space, but it also means you'll get lettering when playing videos.

Once again, the limitations of Chrome OS mean that we can not submit the display to our usual test, including a series of objective colorimeters. Despite this, we can say that the display provides more than enough brightness for environments with significant ambient light. The contrast was very good, with a black text that stands out against a white background and vibrant colors.

Whether we're doing work, watching pictures or watching videos, viewing was a pleasure. HP nailed the gamma, because the The Avengers The trailer we use for our loop video battery test was neither too light nor too dark. Since we watched this trailer hundreds of times, the Chromebook x2 offered an experience that was at least as good as Surface Pro and better than most budget Chromebooks we tested.

Overall, the display is at least equal to that of the Pixelbook, much more expensive, and thanks to this precise gamma, the dark scenes of movies and TV shows are easier to see on the Chromebook x2 . HP's display is the best with the best.

The audio was just as nice thanks to the two speakers at the front – again very close to Surface Pro – featuring Bang & Olufsen tuning and a discrete HP Audio Boost 2 amplifier. hearty with only a little distortion at maximum volume. There was even a slight stereo separation, with solid midrings and highs and even a touch of bass. Watching a movie or watching a TV show is more than possible without taking out your headphones.

Increased performance for a lightweight operating system

We can not run our usual suite of tests on Chrome OS devices, so it's always difficult to quantify their performance. But we can say with certainty that the Chromebook x2 boasts its seventh-generation Intel Core m3-7Y30 processor – which would be a low-end processor in a Windows 10 laptop, but more than enough for the Chrome operating system much lighter.

In fact, the Chromebook x2 was much faster than some Chromebooks equipped with Pentium that we examined. It should be noted that an 8-gen version of this chip was recently announced by Intel, although the Core m3 has followed everything we had launched. Compared to the wealth of other Chromebooks we've used, Chrome OS itself was so much more fluid and fun to use.

The Android version of Geekbench 4 recorded a single core speed of 3,441 and a multi-core speed of 6,685, significantly higher than the 1,559 and 4,884 of the Pentium N4200 of the Acer Chrome 15. We also have the Chromebook x2 scored 75.1 points. It's faster than any other Chromebook we've tested so far, and it competes well with Windows 10 machines such as the Asus ZenBook S with a Core i7-8550U that scored 72.1.

We could almost go as far as saying that Google's more limited operating system becomes much more competitive when things are so vivid. Combined with a nice keyboard and screen quality, the performance of the Chromebook x2 largely contribute to confirm that Chrome OS is a solid choice.

The bottom line is whether you're using Chrome OS apps, whether you're working in the Chrome browser or accessing the huge Android application library, the Chromebook x2 needs to track your activities. The 32GB eMMC storage is not the fastest, but it meets the needs of the operating system.

It's a popular size and type of drive for Chromebooks, with only the Pixelbook offering more storage. It's also a slower option than the PCIe SSDs you'll find in Windows 10 laptops, although you'll be hard pressed to find one on a $ 600 laptop. Chrome OS requires less local storage than Windows 10 and does not require the same performance. However, we would have liked to see HP offer a larger and faster SSD option.

Comparing performance to a comparable Windows 10 laptop, we found that it was just as fast, if it was just a little lighter. Windows 10 makes more requests on a processor, and for that price, you will probably have an Intel Core i5-8250U 8th generation.

Open the same number of tabs in Chrome on an Asus ZenBook UX330UA, for example, with some productivity apps and maybe Netflix, and you'll get the same kind of responsiveness. The same goes for Intel Core i5 or i7 7th generation Surface Pro processors. This is impressive and will certainly make Chromebooks more attractive to those who assume that all Chromebooks are slow.

If you want to play on a Chrome OS device, it means choosing among the many Android games from the Google Play Store. The Chromebook x2 uses the Intel UHD 615 graphics processor, which is more than fast for Android games. Action games like Asphalt 8 and Anti-atomic shelter has worked well, making it a pleasant experience, albeit a bit awkward, thanks to the team's exceptional size. As a result, you will not be disappointed to access the Android game library on the Chromebook x2.

Sufficient autonomy for a full day of work

HP has charged 48 watts-hour of battery in the Chromebook x2, a derisory number for a laptop in general, but for removable tablets. The Surface Pro, for example, has 45 watt hours.

In addition, Chrome OS is a lighter operating system that typically requires less battery. We saw this effect in our most aggressive Web benchmark test, where the Chromebook x2 lasted more than four and a half hours and the Surface Pro managed one hour less. The Pixelbook lasted 13 minutes less.

Browsing the web in Chrome was a real strength for the Chromebook x2, where he managed almost 10 full hours. The Surface Pro could not reach five and a half hours, while the Acer Chromebook 15, much longer, lasted 11 hours and a half.

Finally, the Chromebook x2 was able to loop a local The Avengers trailer for just under 10 hours, which is a good result for a tablet. The Pro Surface lasted a little over 10 hours, and the Samsung Chromebook Pro was very close to HP's 2-in-1.

In other words, the Chromebook x2 will simplify a full day of work, far from the catch, and more. The same can not be said of every Windows tablet.

Our take

HP is leading the way by introducing innovative form factors into Chrome OS. The Chromebook x2 replicates Surface Book 2 by providing a detachable tablet in clamshell format, and while HP has avoided Microsoft's futuristic engineering, the design of the Chromebook x2 still works. It is fast, efficient and looks great, and it could attract users of Chrome OS blocked in Windows 10.

Is there a better alternative?

There are currently not many directly comparable Chromebooks. The first Chromebook with detachable tablet, Acer Chromebook tab 10, is an even cheaper Chrome OS tablet, limited to the education market. In our review, we found that this 330-dollar device was much more economical and designed than the much more elegant Chromebook x2.

There are, however, some 2-in-1 convertible 360 ​​degrees, the Google Pixelbook being the perfect example. And when we say "premium", we think so: the Pixelbook starts at $ 1,000, including its Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. In addition, rumor has it that we can see a revised Pixelbook with a detachable keyboard in October. But until then, the Chromebook x2 represents a much better value and offers the convenience of a detachable form factor.

Then you can skip Chrome OS and opt for Microsoft Surface Pro. You'll pay more, starting at $ 800 for a Core m3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD PCIe drive. But you must also shell out at least $ 130 for a Type Cover and $ 100 for a Surface Surface , where HP includes equivalents of both in the box for only $ 600. And you will go to Windows 10, which offers enhanced features that may not interest you if you are in the market of a Chromebook.

How long will it last?

The Chromebook x2 is very well designed, feeling solid enough to last years of use. It also uses fast components that should allow Chrome OS to work well even if it continues to evolve. The one year warranty is the standard of the industry.

Should you buy it?

Yes. There's a lot of Chromebook 2-in-1 coming in later this year, and that's something to keep in mind. But the Chromebook x2 is fast, well designed, has a solid battery and is an impressive clone of Surface Book 2 for only $ 600.