HP Pavilion X360 13-U026TU Purchased

UPDATE: Laptop was returned to the shop today (3 days after purchase) due to faulty hardware - something wrong with the speakers/audio drivers.  I ended up upgrading to a different machine and brand.


It was time for a new laptop.  My Sony Vaio was losing keys and the Wifi was stuffed.  I also wanted something less flimsy although generally it worked well.

The things I wanted to improve on this time was:

• Not having keys that will fall off so easily
• A laptop that wasn't that flimsy (ie could use it as a 'lap' top rather than a portable notebook when typing
• A hinge that would let me increase the angle more...
• A less noisy fan

That's about it.  Everything else was working pretty well really.

So I looked at a couple at JB Hifi.  My price range was 'up to $2000' and I was planning to salary sacrifice it.  After looking at the Lenovo Yoga 710 14" and the HP Pavilion X360 13.3" I ended up with the HP.

It wasn't just the price.  Actually based on specs they were pretty much on par.  But I wanted things like a standard HDMI port and an extra USB port was important.  But it was just little things that tipped things over.  When testing it in store the Lenovo didn't let me ALT + F4 which normally closes the screen. A simple thing.  I didn't want to have to deal with the quirks.  And then there was the price.  The price was about $200 different.

TLDR?  I like it.

The specs of the HP Pavilion X360 (around August 2016) are as follows

• Intel® Core™ i5- 6200U Processor (2.3GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)
• 8GB DDR4L-2133 SDRAM
• 13.3-inch diagonal HD WLED-backlit Display (1366x768) Touchscreen
• 128GB SSD M.2 SATA
• Intel® HD Graphics
• 1x1 802.11 ac WLAN + Bluetooth 4.2
• Windows 10 HomeHP Pavilion x360 13-u026tu

I would have liked more storage space as I was getting close to 128GB on the Vaio but I think I just have to be more careful esp given most of my storage needs are met by our cloud backup drive at home or just on cloud storage.

Highlights

• Installation.  Maybe for once I'm on the adoption curve and this is a currently released machine but I basically was up and running within 10 minutes of unboxing.
• Nicer speakers - it's branded with Bang and Olufson and doesn't sound tinny although in tablet or entertainment mode it's facing the table so not sure why they didn't think of it!
• Silver on the outside, black on the inside.  I like standard looking laptops.  Nothing too bling for me please.
• Windows Sync.  I've never had this before but it's almost like Microsoft knows a bit about me and set it up in advance (I just don't expect Windows to be like my phone!)

Could improve

• Key travel - it's a bit spongy, but I am hoping I'll get use to it
• Had to adjust a Chrome setting (Hardware acceleration) so a cursor would appear in Chrome.
• Storage - but it's my choice to be cheap!
• Lack of backlit keyboard.  Not a major issue, but surprising as I'm just use to having it!

Overall I'd recommend it.  At this price it's pretty decent.