HP Elite x2 review: A Surface device for business elites

Business professionals, look this way

If anything, Microsoft’s Surface hybrids have been a resounding triumph. First conceived as a way to spur other hardware manufacturers into creating sleeker and more innovative Windows devices, the success of the Surface Pro 3 has spawned quite a legion of competitors. From tablets imitating laptops to laptops that attempt to emulate the reading convenience of a hand-held slate – yes, there’s a difference; the iPad Pro falls into the former category while the Surface Pro 4 slides into the latter – there’s no shortage of devices that want to offer you the best of both worlds.

And given that a growing proportion of workers don’t necessarily do all their work while chained to an office desk, it appears as if there’s a niche for the 2-in-1 hybrid in the business space. As it turns out, that’s a gap the very first Elite x2 from HP wanted to fill in 2014. But as we noted in our hands-on with the second-generation Elite x2, the first-generation device wasn’t exactly the definition of elegance. Fortunately, the new Elite x2 1012 G1 turns things around quite effectively by ditching the old design and taking lessons from HP’s consumer products.

The Elite x2 may not turn heads quite like the HP Spectre or Dell XPS 13 do, but it’s already quite remarkable that a business device looks as good as it does, or rather, so similar to the Spectre x2 from its consumer line-up.

But does it deliver the goods in substance as well as form? That’s what we’re going to find out.

Hardware

The Elite x2 is available in a variety of configurations, but HP sent us what may be the highest-end model for review, which means a dual-core Intel Core m7-6Y75 vPro processor (1.2GHz, 4MB cache) with Intel HD Graphics 515, 8GB of 1,866MHz LPDDR3 RAM, and a 512GB SanDisk M.2 SATA SSD.

The Skylake Intel Core M processors are an upgrade over the initial Core M processors, but it still allows manufacturers to cool it passively. As a result, the Elite x2 sports a fanless design and is exceedingly quiet.

Everything has been calculated to minimize power consumption as much as possible, most notably the power-sipping Intel Core m7 chip with its 4.5 watt TDP and the LPDDR3 memory, which consumes significantly less power in standby than even DDR3L RAM. Business users who are frequently on the move need their notebook to last throughout the day without worrying about being near a power point, and it looks like HP has taken this consideration to heart.

It’s also worth noting that there are actually quite a few storage options available to customers. The base storage configuration starts out with a 128GB SATA M.2 SSD, but users can opt for up to a 512GB SATA M.2 SSD (similar to our review model) or even up to a 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD if they wish. Compared to a SATA-based drive, PCIe SSDs can take advantage of the higher bandwidth available over the PCIe protocol, which means faster transfer speeds. However, we don’t think that this will make a noticeable difference in day-to-day usage, unless you’re going to be performing file transfers regularly to external drives.

In addition, a third storage type is available in the form of a 180GB or 256GB M.2 SATA self-encrypting OPAL2 SSD. These drives have integrated hardware encryption, so performance isn’t affected at all. Furthermore, because the security of self-encrypting drives is not dependent on the integrity of the operating system, they are also protected from software attacks on the OS or BIOS.

However, we think that most customers will probably be happy with either the regular SATA drives or the PCIe ones, unless they need even tougher security to comply with their company’s requirements.

Design & Features

One of the things you’ll notice upon picking up the Elite x2 is how good it feels in the hand. It is solidly constructed, thanks to its magnesium alloy body that leaves no doubt in your mind that this is a really well-built device that will stand up to, well, all the meetings and Starbucks outlets you take it to. And speaking of build quality, the Elite x2 has actually passed through MIL-STD 810G testing, which subject it to things like challenging temperature, humidity, and drop tests. This doesn’t mean that this is a ruggedized notebook fit for a war zone, but it does mean that it should be more than capable of withstanding whatever your intrepid work life throws at it.

However, we aren’t big fans of the glossy HP logo and strip of glass at the back. Both are quite big fingerprint magnets, and you’ll find yourself wiping them down regularly if smudges horrify you the way they do us.

Together with the HP Travel keyboard, our version of the Elite x2 weighs around 1,209g (the weight varies by configuration). That’s a tad bit heavier than, say, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and its Type Cover keyboard, which tip the scales at 1,078g. We’re not going to quibble over small differences in weight like that, but the difference is probably more noticeable when you use the Elite x2 as a tablet (it weighs 824g, versus the Surface Pro 4’s 786g).

It’s also pretty thin, at just 8.05mm. HP told us that it deliberately made the kickstand hollow, instead of going for a single solid piece as on the Surface Pro 4, because the U-shaped design allows it to sit flush against the tablet’s back without adding any unnecessary thickness. In addition, the kickstand sports a friction hinge much like the Surface Pro 4, which offers the full range of movement instead of limiting you to a few fixed positions.

When it comes to connectivity options, the Elite x2 has all you’d expect on a svelte 2-in-1 hybrid. A particularly nice touch is how charging is now carried out over a USB Type-C port, which also doubles as a Thunderbolt 3 connector. This means up to 40Gb/s of bandwidth and high-speed data transfers, and even the ability to daisy-chain up to two 4K displays at 60Hz. There may not be any dedicated display outputs here, but the Thunderbolt 3 port takes care of that (although you may want to make sure you have the right adapters on hand).

In addition, there is a USB 3.0 Type-A port on the right edge as well, for convenient access to the vast majority of USB devices and peripherals. On this side of the tablet, you can also find the 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot that supports up to 200GB of expandable storage. 

The power button and volume rocker are located on the other side of the tablet. There’s also a dummy slot on our unit where the micro-SIM slot would be. HP allows you to order the Elite x2 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X5 LTE modem, which means you would be able to get connected even without a wireless hotspot in range. We can see how that would come in handy for power users, but for most people, Wi-Fi will probably suffice.

The Elite x2 uses a 2x2 Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 wireless chip, which theoretically supports speeds up to 867Mbp over two spatial streams. That puts it in line with its competitors, but unfortunately still means that you’re not going to be able to take full advantage of the current crop of Wireless AC1900 routers. It also supports Bluetooth 4.2, which is required for pairing with the bundled HP Active Pen (more on that in the next section).

The Display

But hardware and build quality aside, the other important factor when deciding on a notebook would be its display. Unfortunately, this is probably the one aspect of the device where its business roots might set it back among customers looking for a notebook for both work and entertainment. The Elite x2 packs a 12-inch 1,920 x 1,280-pixel (192ppi) touchscreen display, with a sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass 4 directly bonded to it. While it’s not a bad display by any means, it simply cannot hold a candle to the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, especially when the two are set side by side.

The Surface Pro 4’s 12.3-inch 2,736 x 1,824-pixel (267ppi) PixelSense display is just crisper and capable of more vibrant color reproduction, and its thinner bezels are just more pleasing to the eye. Another difference between the two displays is their out-of-the-box color temperature – when set to display a blank white canvas in Microsoft OneNote, the Elite x2 had cooler, more bluish tint to it, whereas the Surface Pro 4 has a warmer, more yellow hue.

With that said, HP likely went with the lower resolution display because of the priorities of its customers. The Elite x2 is primarily a business device, which means that its users are probably going to be happy with a good enough screen that allows for easy viewing of documents – all hail the 3:2 aspect ratio – and won’t throw a fit just because movies and pictures appear less sharp. Furthermore, a higher resolution display translates into a heavier drain on the battery, and a highly portable notebook with bad battery life is just a dud, and even more so if your target audience is working professionals.

Built for the enterprise

After all that discussion about the Elite x2’s design chops and its specifications, it’s easy to forget its underlying enterprise DNA. This is still a business device at heart, which is why HP has included a range of security-oriented features for working professionals.

For instance, there’s an option for a fingerprint reader on the back of the tablet. We were able to set up a fingerprint log-in quickly enough, and the reader proved quite reliable in signing us in. It’s also quite conveniently positioned, and we were able to get used to it with little hassle. In fact, this might be preferable to having the reader located on the keyboard itself. Unfortunately, one thing that’s lacking is a front camera setup that supports Windows Hello’s facial recognition sign-in.

Nevertheless, both the rear 5-megapixel and front 2-megapixel cameras support 1080p30 video capture,  although only the rear camera has autofocus.  Another nice touch is the dual-array microphones with built-in noise reduction software, which should boost your voice clarity in calls.

In addition, like many other HP products, the Elite x2 comes with speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen. The speakers are located at the top, and before you think that the B&O speakers will provide some quality sound, let’s just say that they are severely underwhelming. Music sounded thin and flat, harsh even, and we could not get the volume up to the level we wanted. Compared to the Surface Pro 4’s volume levels and far more full-bodied sound, the Elite x2 is seriously lackluster.

But fortunately for HP’s hybrid, it’s a business device, which means that the unappealing sound matters less than it would on a consumer notebook. To our ears, it also sounds like HP has tuned the speakers for greater voice clarity, which would make sense as Elite x2 owners are more likely to be making voice calls instead of blasting the latest Billboard hit.

Finally, the Elite x2 has been designed to be easily serviceable as well. The kickstand is removable and can be easily replaced, and once you unscrew the six T5 screws along the bottom edge, the display can be pried off with a suction tool to expose components like the SSD and battery. Enterprises dealing with sensitive work often don’t allow employees to send their devices in for servicing because of the data stored on their machines, but technicians can now quickly open up the Elite x2 to return users their hard drive before servicing it.

A tablet becomes a notebook

Of course, the Elite x2 is so much more than just a tablet. It comes bundled with an HP Active Pen, and our review unit includes a Travel keyboard as well, although HP does sell the Elite x2 without the keyboard.

For starters, the Active Pen features 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity – double that on the Surface Pen – and sports an application launch button at the top, and two side buttons. We’re huge fans of the Surface Pen and how well it works with the Surface Pro 4, but somehow the Elite x2 just felt a little better. That’s probably because the smoother glide of the Active Pen’s default tip suited us more, as compared to the Surface Pen’s tip which produced a lot more friction while writing (your mileage may vary). Microsoft does allow you to buy a S$14 set of replacement tips with different levels of friction however, so that should resolve matters somewhat. But in terms of responsiveness and palm detection technology, there was little to separate the two.

Still, the Active Pen isn’t perfect, and one gripe we had with it was the placement of the two side buttons. We always ended up activating the top button by accident while writing, and ultimately wound up disabling it in the Wacom app. The app lets you customize what each of the buttons do. For instance, the application launch button can be used to launch Microsoft OneNote with a single click, or double-clicked to take a screenshot. You can even bind custom macros onto the side keys, or use it to activate the eraser function. Unlike the Surface Pen, the HP Active Pen doesn’t have a dedicated eraser tip.

Then there’s the backlit, chiclet keyboard, which turned out to be quite a joy to use. It’s covered with dark gray microfiber, and is layered with a stiff, aluminum base for extra stability and rigidity. While we never really forgot that we were typing on a detachable piece, HP has shown that 2-in-1 devices don’t have to have fabric-covered keyboards with shallow key travel (HP is claiming 1.5mm of travel on the Elite x2).The clickpad also produced consistent feedback all around, with just the right amount of resistance.

The keyboard is also magnetized, so it won’t flop around when you’re holding the Elite x2 in hand.

In order to cater to demanding business users, HP has made available a range of accessories that expand on the functions of the Elite x2. Most notable is the HP Elite USB-C Docking Station, which connects to the Elite x2 via its Thunderbolt 3 port. The dock puts five more USB ports at your disposal, in addition to a DisplayPort connector, HDMI port, and even a full-sized Ethernet jack. Of course, it works to charge the Elite x2 as well, doubling as a port-filled power brick of sorts.

It’s also rather compact, with an anti-slip rubber base that ensures it will not slide around on your desk.

Performance Benchmarking

We tested the Elite x2 with our usual suite of benchmarks, comparing it against ultrabooks and convertibles from the various major brands.

Here’s a full list of the benchmarks used:

• PCMark 8
• 3DMark (2013)
• Tomb Raider
• Far Cry 2

We conducted our battery life tests using the built-in battery benchmark in PCMark 8 Home.

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PCMark 8

Note: The Storage benchmark has since been updated to version 2.0 for better compatibility with NVMe drives, which means that scores will improve in certain cases (non-NVMe drives remain unaffected). However, the figures reflected here are all for version 1.0, as the scores produced by the new benchmark are not comparable with the older numbers. Incidentally, we also ran the updated Storage benchmark and got a score of 4911.

The HP Elite x2 performed surprisingly well in PCMark 8, even outstripping notebooks like the Dell XPS 13 that were equipped with a higher powered Intel Core i7-6500U processor (2.5GHz, 4MB cache) in certain benchmarks. The latter chip has a TDP of 15 watts, so we didn’t quite expect the 4.5 watt Core m7-6Y75 vPro processor (1.2GHz, 4MB cache) on the Elite x2 to perform so well against it (we even ran the tests a few times just to be sure).

Interestingly enough, it turned out an especially strong score in the Word benchmark, which tests a notebook’s ability to carry out basic office and work tasks, like web browsing, word processing, video chat, and spreadsheet handling. On the other hand, it fell behind in the Creative benchmark – albeit not by much – and it looks like the beefier Intel Core i series processors on the other notebooks are better at coping with more demanding tasks like photo and video editing.

Perhaps the most notable improvement was in the Adobe applications benchmark, where the Elite x2 raced ahead of the 2015 Apple MacBook by nearly 62%. That put it more or less on par with the Intel Core i notebooks, which is an encouraging sign for anyone hoping to use it for some Photoshop work. As we’ll see later, part of this is probably a result of the more powerful Intel HD Graphics 515 iGPU.

With that said, the Core m7-6Y75 processor and 8GB of RAM on the Elite x2 appears up to dealing with daily productivity tasks with few hitches. Web browsing in Chrome with multiple tabs went smoothly, and application transitions and launches were quick and fluid.

3DMark (2013)

Our gaming benchmarks are merely a formality when it comes to devices like these, meant more to assess the graphics performance of the integrated GPU than to evaluate gaming performance. The Intel HD Graphics 515 on the Core m7-6Y75 is a significant step up from the original Core M’s iGPU. Compared to the Intel HD Graphics 5300 on the Apple MacBook’s (2015) Core M-5Y31 (1.1GHz, 4MB cache) processor, the newer iGPU managed to more than double its performance in 3DMark Cloud Gate.

However, it still lagged behind the Intel HD Graphics 520 iGPU in the other notebooks by around 14%.

Tomb Raider

The performance jump for the Elite x2’s iGPU over the previous generation Core M chip was less drastic in Tomb Raider – at High settings, there was also no significant difference between the two. In addition, the Intel HD Graphics 515 also turned out to be around 20% slower than notebooks equipped with the Intel HD Graphics 520. Nevertheless, we’re still talking about relative differences here, and none of the notebooks are capable of delivering a smooth, playable experience.

However, one thing to note is that the first-generation Core M chip on the 2015 Apple MacBook didn’t take to heat well at all, and would produce steadily lower frame rates in Tomb Raider as the notebook heated up. This issue wasn’t present in the Elite x2 – even after looping the Tomb Raider benchmark for around 20 minutes and running successive tests, the scores remained consistent and varied little. This might be to the credit of Intel or a good design on HP’s part (probably a mix of both), but even though the back of the Elite x2 did get quite hot to touch, performance didn’t seem to be adversely affected.

Far Cry 2

As in our previous two graphics benchmarks, the weaker iGPU on the Elite x2 fell behind the Intel HD Graphics 520 on the other notebooks in Far Cry 2. However, it performed quite favorably against the 2015 Apple MacBook, and was around 36% faster on Medium settings.

All in all, the new-generation GPU on the current Core M processors amounts to quite a nice upgrade over the original chips. As we saw earlier in PCMark 8, the Elite x2 acquitted itself quite well in the photo editing benchmarks, a feat that can probably be attributed to the much improved iGPU.

Battery Life & Power Consumption

The Elite x2 has a typical-sized four-cell 40Wh Li-ion battery pack, around the same size as that on the Surface Pro 4. The 2015 Apple MacBook had the best battery life, but that comes at the price of halting performance. On the Elite x2’s part, its battery life is actually quite impressive when compared to the other notebooks that come equipped with larger batteries, even managing to outlast the Acer Aspire R13 and HP Envy 13 that have 48Wh and 45Wh batteries respectively. Sure, it didn’t beat them by a mile, and the results might be reversed if we repeated the test because of the small margin, but the fact that it managed to produce this result is testament to the power efficiency of the Core m7 processor on the Elite x2.

When it came to power consumption, the Elite x2 was second only to the Apple MacBook, which only goes to prove our point about how efficient the Core m7 chip is.

Portability

Our portability index takes into account battery life, weight, and volume to provide a measure of how easy a notebook is to carry around relative to other compared systems. In this case, we’re more interested in how the Elite x2 fares with its Travel keyboard attached, because that’s how you’re most likely going to be using it. It came in behind the Surface Pro 4 and Dell XPS 13, which, all things considered, is fairly decent. The Surface Pro 4 is lighter while the XPS 13 is absurdly compact and has good battery life, so their strengths in these areas helped them edge ahead.

However, setting the figures aside for a moment, we can say that you shouldn’t have any gripes about how carrying the Elite x2 around. You might begin to feel the weight a little if you’re the type to use it as a tablet for reading, but when it’s being used as a regular notebook, there’s really little to complain about.

A powerful, pricey convertible for professionals

And now for our verdict. Should you seriously consider the Elite x2? Ultimately, it all comes down to whether you think it’s worth its price. At a staggering S$3,099 with the Travel keyboard included, this is not a purchase you want to make lightly. And even though we’ve said a lot of good things about it, we’re still hesitant to recommend it because of that stiff price tag, especially when there are comparable devices out there that are cheaper but can do more or less the same thing. For instance, if you don’t need a convertible, the Dell XPS 13 is an excellent choice, and it looks mighty fine as well. But if you want the option to use your device as a tablet, you can take your pick from the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, Lenovo Yoga 900, and even the Miix 700. Not to mention HP’s own Spectre x2, which looks nearly identical and costs only S$1,999 when equipped with similar hardware (save for the 256GB SSD in place of the 512GB model).

At the end of the day, it looks like HP is charging a premium for the business-oriented features on the Elite x2. This includes things like HP Sure Start, a feature that can automatically restore the system BIOS in the event of an attack, an optional fingerprint reader, and the bundled HP Active Pen. Then there’s the Thunderbolt 3 port and support for various docking accessories, such as the S$299 HP Elite USB-C Docking Station. On top of that, there's even support for the S$429 HP Advanced keyboard, which has integrated NFC technology and a built-in smart card reader for greater security. Finally, you also get the assurance of added reliability because of the MIL-STD 810G testing, and the ability to upgrade it easily.

Is that worth the approximately S$1,000 premium over something like the Spectre x2? Again, it depends on how much you value performance and the aforementioned business features. Alternatively, there are lower-specced versions of the Elite x2 that may provide more bang for your buck. Here’s a table with a couple other different configurations and their prices, not inclusive of the Travel keyboard which can be bought separately for S$349:

Adding on the Travel keyboard, even the base S$1,399 model would amount to around S$1,700 for just an Intel Core m3 processor. In our books, that still feels a little expensive.

Another thing to note is that the configurations we’ve covered so far aren’t all that are available. HP has given customers a lot of freedom to customize their Elite x2, what with the multitude of storage types and optional LTE support (for an extra S$100), so it would be impossible to list them all.

With that said, we’d argue that the Elite x2 is only good for business users and enterprises looking to purchase devices for their employees. This is one of the few 2-in-1 hybrids for professionals, and perhaps the one that does it best. The average customer will be better off with one of the more consumer-oriented models, but someone who requires all the enterprise features on the Elite x2 would do well to consider it.

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