Experience Ultimate Versatility: Introducing the HP EliteBook x2 1012 G1

Design

One of the best things about the HP Elite x2 is that it looks classy and professional, but without being boring. The polished-chrome HP logo provides a nice accent for the HP Elite X2’s brushed-aluminum body, and the detachable chamfered metal sides make it feel more durable than its more rounded consumer sibling, the Spectre x2. And with mil-spec 810G testing for resistance against things such as extreme temperatures, dust and sand, humidity and more, the HP Elite x2 has the cred to back up its solid body.

Measuring 11.8 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches and weighing 2.65 pounds with its travel keyboard, the Elite x2 is slightly larger and heavier than a Surface Pro 4 with its Type Cover (11.50 x 7.93 x 0.43-inches and 2.37 pounds).

Security

The Elite x2 couldn’t be called an enterprise-ready 2-in-1 without a full suite of security features, so HP includes a rear-mounted fingerprint reader, and support for Intel vPro CPUs, TPM chips, self-encrypting SSDs and even a self-healing BIOS that automatically restores its last clean backup if it’s ever attacked by a virus.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Featuring key travel of 1.35mm, an actuation weight of 55 grams and a responsive, snappy feel, the Elite’s x2 keyboard is every bit as comfortable as Microsoft’s Type Cover on the Surface Pro 4. In fact, I’d rather type on HP’s travel keyboard than the keyboards on a large number of traditional laptops. That comfort came through on 10fastfingers.com, where I hit 83 words per minute, higher than my typical 75-80 wpm range.

Pen

For artists, engineers or people who just like to take notes, the x2 features a Wacom digitizer built into the display. In practice, I had no problems drawing all kinds of thick and thin lines, although I didn’t really notice a difference between the sensitivity on the x2 and that of the SP4. The pen comes with three replacement nibs and a string to tether the styuls to the x2 when not in use.

Display

While not stunning, the HP Elite x2 12-inch 1920 x 1080 display provides a satisfying picture. When I watched an animated short for Star Fox Zero, the x2’s display popped with streaking bolts of crimson and bright rings of blue as Fox and friends battled their way through the skies.

Audio

Since the Elite x2 features speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen, I was expecting some pretty solid audio. Unfortunately, I was mostly left wanting more: more richness in the mids, more bass and, most importantly, way more volume.

Ports and Webcam of the HP Elite X2

The commercial team at HP made one change for the business version of the HP Elite x2: Instead of two USB Type-C ports, the system has one traditional Type-A USB 3.0 port and one USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3. That means you can easily connect all the peripherals you use right now sans dongles, but without dooming the x2 to obsolescence as the transition to USB-C moves forward. A built-in microSD card slot also provides room for extra storage, and if you need an internet connection wherever you go, you can spring for optional 4GLTE or WWAN modems.

Both the x2’s 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-MP front shooter take pretty decent photos, although there’s room for improvement.

Performance and Graphics

While the Intel Core m5 processor inside our Elite x2 review unit wasn’t quite as powerful as the Core i5 in a Surface Pro 4, it has more than enough speed to get stuff done. I had no trouble switching among multiple spreadsheets and a Google docs page, even with more than 20 tabs open in Edge and a 1080p YouTube video playing in the background.

On 3DMark’s Firestrike graphics test, the Elite x2’s Intel HD Graphics 515 fared pretty well for an integrated chip. The HP notched 780, which is only bested by the Surface Pro 4’s score of 843. Lenovo’s X1 Tablet and Dell’s Latitude 12 7000 were a decent ways behind, at 658 and 545, respectively. While that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to play AAA video games, the Elite x2 is good enough to handle things like light photo and video editing.

Battery Life

Over the last six months, we’ve noticed that a lot of detachable PCs have problems with battery life, and while the Elite x2 doesn’t do much to reverse that trend, it did eke out a victory versus our previous longest-lasting detachable PC, the Samsung TabPro S. On the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi), the Elite x2 lasted 6 hours and 54 minutes.

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