DETAILED REVIEW FOR HP PAVILION X360 14-CD0087TU
My predecessor Hardick got acquainted with the HP Spectre x360 last October. In his review, he mostly spoke positively about the premium-class laptop with a folding top. In particular, he talked a lot about the rugged design and tastefully matched design of the Spectre x360.
This year, the Transformer laptop x360 in question is not a Spectre, but a Pavilion. Many of us already know that the Pavilion is the HP notebook range for home and office. As a rule, Gazebo computers are reliable and inexpensive. So that should mean that the Pavilion x360 should have the same transformable advantages as last year’s Spectrum x360 while maintaining the same pavilion qualities, right? Let’s see if this is actually the matter.
ASSEMBLY AND DESIGN
The cover of the Pavilion x360 is made of brushed metal and gives the laptop a clean and high-quality look. In the middle there is a large HP logo with a chrome-plated surface. The base is made of plastic and has practically no protrusions, with the exception of four rubber feet and a few small holes for heat dissipation. With a weight of 1.6 kg, this convertible seems to be heavy, especially in one hand. I think it would be noticeably easier if there was no 2.5-inch hard drive.
Like the HP logo on the cover, both loops for fixing the screen are chrome-plated on both sides. Personally, I’m not a supporter of chrome-plated electronics; it reminds me of the big, tasteless grilles on Honda and Toyota sedans and bathroom faucets. But these shiny hinges are not only aesthetic, but also functional: they fold completely in tablet mode, which confirms the name of the 360 model. HP claims that the hinge has been tested 25,000 times for opening and closing and 7,000 times for 360 degree bending. The screen opens slightly with your finger, but wobbles slightly in all open positions. Light vibrations will not cause the screen to tilt, but a strong lift of the bottom will cause the screen to fall down by gravity.
The frames of Piano Black are thin on the sides of the 14-inch screen (to be precise, they are 5.35 mm in size), but not so strong at the top and bottom. The area above the keyboard is assigned to an even larger speaker grid than in last year’s x360 Spectrum. the speaker openings now look original in shape and texture. Although the keyboard has remained at full size, the height of the touchpad has decreased to accommodate the speakers at the top. With a sharp push of the button, the hard plastic cover bends slightly. Overall, the Pavilion x360 has a good design, given its price.
The device I received for review came with an HP Pen pen. It seemed to me that it would look and feel like a Surface pen sold by Microsoft, but a little rougher around the edges. No, really – the sharp edges of the pin clamp constantly cut off my fingers. In addition, it was well designed. It had a delete button and a select button. Both buttons were conveniently positioned and were easy to press. The HP Pen only needed an AAAA battery before it started with the Pavilion x360 display.
DISPLAY, AUDIO AND I/O
The Pavilion x360 is available with two display sizes: a 14-inch and a 15-inch display. However, the model I received for review was a 14-inch model. The screen is a Full HD IPS panel with a glass coating. Of course, it’s a touchscreen with support for multiple fingers and pens like the HP Pen.
The colors on the 14-inch screen seemed to be vivid, although the Spyder4Elite test showed only 63% coverage of the sRGB color space and 47% coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. The screen was bright enough for most indoor and outdoor areas, such as conference rooms and sunny balconies.
At first, when scrolling web pages using the touch screen, it was a little uncomfortable to type text, but with the usual buttons it was smoothed out. I suppose it has to do with the built-in energy saving function. Overall, it was pleasant to print with the HP Pen. The touches with the pen were displayed exactly on the screen without any noticeable delay. What discouraged me a little was the large gap between the glass surface and the screen inside; it made the writing and drawing process less natural. The deviation of the palm worked exactly in three matter out of five. If this is not the matter, the on-screen keyboard or the context menu will be activated automatically. After I realized that I put the palm of my hand on the screen with the stylus after typing, in order to significantly reduce the number of random taps with the palm of my hand.
In conclusion, I would say that the writing and drawing process on the Pavilion x360 is not as natural as on the Microsoft Surface Pro, but it’s certainly not lagging much behind. With the HP Pavilion x360 pen, you can quickly take notes or take notes on a page.
The speaker grille on the Pavilion x360 cannot be overlooked, but the audio output cannot be overlooked either — for lack of a better term. It is located directly above the keyboard in the form of a thick textured strip and stretches almost the entire width of the laptop. Although the sound of the two speakers inside is loud enough to get through the noise of a conference hall filled with muffled voices, it completely lacks bass. The music in the speakers of the Pavilion x360 looks boring and even tasteless.
Despite technologies such as HP Audio Boost and the adaptation of the audio by Bang & Olufsen experts, the Pavilion x360 does not make an impression on the listener. The equalizer settings available in the B&O Audio app have virtually no effect on the overall sound quality. The multi-stream playback function available in the app is also too difficult to understand. Therefore, the audio settings of the HP Pavilion x360 are best used for voice and tweeter transmission.
HP did not miss the I / O ports of the Pavilion x360: on the left side we see a USB 3.1 port and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones. We also see the power button and the Kensington Lock connector. On the right side we can see a power connector, a full-size HDMI connector, another USB 3.1 connector, a USB Type-C connector and a slot for a memory card reader. We also see a volume control and a fingerprint scanner.
