HP Pavilion 13 x2 and Pavilion 11 x2: Hands-On

In 2013, we are going to see a lot more detachable tablet designs, since the weight, battery life and size requirements are all the object of noticeable progress. While the first generation of devices had prices going well into the $900 or $1000 territory, 2013 will be the year where that form factor reaches a mass market pricing.

And that’s really where the HP Pavilion 11 X2 comes in: with a $599 starting price, it uses an Intel Bay Trail processor which does not require a fan for cooling. It also consumes less power, and outperforms its predecessor, Clove Trail. The net result is an 11” tablet/laptop combo that should work well for basic office and computing tasks and an affordable tablet/laptop combo form.

In that segment, the HP Pavilion 11 X2 will get ample competition from the impressively affordable ASUS T100 which was announced at IDF, but HP offers more storage (up to 128GB SSD) and memory (4GB), and I tend to think that the latter is very important to performance. Granted, the T100 $349 starting price puts it in a whole different category, so I think that there is really something for everyone here.

The Pavilion 13 x2 aims to bring an affordable detachable design in a classic laptop format. This is not built to replace an iPad obviously, but if you need to be able to present something to a customer or to colleagues, or if you simply “chill out” with your laptop on the couch, a design like the Pavilion 13 x2 could improve your user experience without hitting the high marks in terms of pricing.

To maximize options for potential buyers, HP can either provide an Intel Haswell CPU, or an AMD A6 one along with a maximum of 8GB of RAM. The storage options are 64GB or 128GB of SSD, or a classic 500GB HDD for those who need more storage space.  With the Pavilion 13 x2, you basically get the full power of a 13” mid-range laptop with some of the tablet perks.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers
Tags: HP, hp pavilion, Laptops