Gadgetory

can somebody make it inexpensive hybrid that stands out from the crowd I'm Dan Ackerman and this is the HP Pavilion x2 this is the 2015 update to this system we've seen it for the past couple of years since Windows ain't really this new version looks a lot different from the previous ones it's actually one of the sharpest looking inexpensive hybrids I think I've ever seen this guy starts at about three hundred dollars and for that you get a fairly standard set of components Intel Atom processor two gigs of RAM a fairly small built in solid-state hard drive and of course it's a hybrid so that everything is here behind the screen and then you have a separate keyboard base unlike some of the earlier generations of pavilion x2 hybrids or other HP hybrids you don't have a big clunky plastic latch here you have to like press down or wiggle with your finger in order to separate the two hands it's just a magnet so you hold the base down and then you can just lift the screen up like that it's a lot easier than having like an actual latch that you have to press or move around and then it's a strong magnet so you just get anywhere close to this and it just snaps right back on like that so we like that part however a lot of the space on the display right here is taken up by these big speaker grilles and if you look down here there's a new logo here HP used to partner with Beats Audio for the audio systems in their laptops and desktops Apple bought beats that partnership is over now they have a new high-end audio partner and that's Bang & Olufsen a very well respected name in speakers and audio however Beno did not actually design or build a speaker's in this or any other HP laptops they just provided some sort of sound shaping and EQ software they say is based on the actual size and and and design of the speakers and design of the laptop etc etc I got to tell you that when real life this is shockingly one of the thinnest weakest sounding laptops at any price that we've ever heard we lined it up in our lab with a bunch of other two and three at 350 dollar laptops definitely the weakest and thinnest sound by far despite this big logo stand this is one of the areas where the HP x2 over promises and under delivers despite the weak audio performs about as as other atom based hybrids which is you know good for casual web surfing you wouldn't want to work on it all day every day battery life just a little bit shorter than some of the competition but not radically so but it still got those good looks going for it that is the HP Pavilion x2