HP Pavilion x360 Review – A Budget Laptop That Can Also Be Used As a Tablet

laptop x360

When it comes to a budget laptop that you can use as a tablet, the HP Pavilion x360 makes for an excellent choice. This two-in-one, which also folds back to become a stand, has a great-looking exterior, comfortable keyboard and good speakers for its price range. It’s not as powerful as more demanding laptops, but it can handle everyday tasks with ease and does so quietly.

The Pavilion x360 is available for less than $600 at Best Buy, which makes it an appealing alternative to Lenovo’s Yoga 2 Pro, which costs around the same and has better performance but a dim, washed-out display that’s hard to see in sunlight. You’ll get more RAM in the x360, but the Yoga has a smaller footprint and easier-to-see screen.

Inside, this model has an 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U “Whiskey Lake” processor (CPU), 8GB of DDR4-2400MHz RAM and a 128GB M.2 SATA SSD. That’s a solid combo for a budget laptop, and you can upgrade the SSD after purchasing if needed. The 14-inch touch display has a 1920×1080 resolution and works with an active pen (not included).

As for performance, the Pavilion x360 is able to keep up with most day-to-day tasks and shows no sign of slowing down after extended usage. However, it’s not a suitable option for power-hungry apps or games, and its mediocre graphics processor can’t keep up with more advanced titles.

If you’re looking for a laptop that can handle more demanding workloads, the Pavilion x360 15 has much better specs starting at about $800. It has an octa-core AMD Ryzen 7 5825U CPU and 12GB of RAM, which offers strong application performance and some capacity for basic photo editing. The Ryzen CPU is also more efficient than Intel’s integrated graphics, which helps extend battery life to more than 12 hours in our tests.

The x360’s keyboard is comfortable and its touchpad uses Precision drivers, which give it a smoother experience than you’d expect from a budget laptop. Likewise, its speakers are surprisingly loud and clear for their size, and can fill medium-sized rooms with sound without distorting or getting muffled.

The only real drawback is the x360’s hefty weight. At 4.2 pounds, it feels heavier than its compact size would suggest. That’s especially true when you hold it in tablet mode. A lighter two-in-one like the Dell Inspiron 13 2-in-1 or Lenovo Yoga 7i 16 2-in-1 has a more natural feel in tablet mode and is far easier to carry on a daily commute. But the x360’s bargain price and 10th Gen Intel CPU options make it an excellent choice for budget buyers. You can find it for under $600 at Best Buy and online from HP.