For $749 (beginning at $499), the latest HP Pavilion x360 comes close to being a luxury laptop, with a powerful processor, comfy keyboard, and a good pair of Bang & Olufsen speakers. If it weren’t for the short battery life and dull display, this gadget would be one of the best laptops (at least one of the finest 2-in-1 laptops). Regardless, the Pavilion x360 is a good PC for the money.
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hp pavilion x360: Price and availability
The Pavilion x360 sports a Core i3-8145U processor, 8GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, and a 1366 x 768 display and costs $499. The $899 model, on the other hand, comes with a Core i5-8265U processor, 12GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and a 1920 x 1080 display.
The HP Pavilion x360 ($749) is a good all-around laptop with good performance, a comfortable keyboard, and loudspeakers. But, especially when you’re paying close to premium prices, it’s difficult to get past the device’s short battery life and dull display.
HP Pavilion x360: Design
The hood of the Pavilion x360 is painted in warm gold color, with a reflecting HP logo embossed in the center. The hood and deck edges slope outward and then inward as they meet, producing an hourglass pattern that encircles the Pavilion x360. On the laptop’s hinge, there’s also a Pavilion logo.
The Pavilion x360’s deck has a somewhat more silver tone to it, with a carved out part for the keyboard in the center and a vent grill for the Bang & Olufsen speakers right above it when you open it. A fingerprint reader is also located to the right of the touchpad. Thankfully, the display’s bezels aren’t too thick.
When you fold the Pavilion x360 into a tent and then into tablet mode, you’ll notice that the bottom and top portions don’t match up perfectly. The bottom, on the other hand, is magnetic, so it is kept put beautifully.
The Pavilion x360 is a little heavier than the competition, weighing 3.6 pounds and measuring 12.7 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches. The Huawei MateBook D weighs 3.4 pounds and measures 12.7 x 8.7 x 0.6 inches, while the Acer Spin 3 weighs 3.6 pounds and measures 13.2 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches. The Asus ZenBook 13 UX333FA, a 13-inch option, weighs 2.7 pounds and measures 11.9 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches.
HP Pavilion x360: Display
The 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 display on the Pavilion x360 is a tad drab. And, while the screen is brilliant, the glossy texture makes it a little difficult to look at.
Karen Gillian’s red top seemed drained on the Pavilion x360’s panel in the Jumanji: Next Level promo. I could see much of the surrounding furnishings when Gillian was kicking ass in what appeared to be a dining area, but only from a certain angle due to strong brightness. Regardless, the image is clear enough that I could see the stitching in Jack Black’s cap.
The Pavilion x360 display covered 61 percent of the sRGB color spectrum, which is lower than the 76 percent mainstream laptop average, as well as the Spin 3 (69 percent), MateBook D (73 percent), and ZenBook 13 (73 percent) (115 percent ).
The Pavilion x360’s panel, at 261 nits, outshines the category average (253 nits), as well as the Spin 3 (237 nits), MateBook D (230 nits), and ZenBook 13 (230 nits) (225 nits).
HP Pavilion x360: Touchscreen and keyboard
The keyboard of the Pavilion x360 is quite satisfying to type on. The keys aren’t very fast, but they’re smooth and take a fair bit of power and travel to reach the bottom.
On the 10FastFingers.com typing test, I typed 74 words per minute, which is faster than my current 70-wpm average. The keys actuated with a robust 70 grams of force and traveled at 1.4 millimeters, right on the verge of our recommended 1.5 to 2.0 mm range.
As I created a rough painting of a sunset on the Pavilion x360’s touchscreen panel, it was responsive (a.k.a. five blue lines on top, five green lines on the bottom, and an orange circle at the center – perfection).
The 4.3 x 2.1-inch touchpad has a semi-matte texture that isn’t as comfy as the EliteBook touchpads, but it gets the job done. Because the pad used Windows Precision drivers, it worked well with Windows 10 motions including three-finger tabbing and two-finger scrolling.
HP Pavilion x360: Performance
The Pavilion x360, with an Intel Core i5-8265U processor and 8GB of RAM, handled 30 Google Chrome tabs and four 1080p YouTube videos without breaking a sweat.
On the Geekbench 4.1 overall performance test, the Pavilion x360 earned 12,495 points, which is slightly higher than the mainstream laptop average of 9,482. It couldn’t beat the Core i5-8250U (13,203) or the Core i5-8265U (15,110) in the Spin 3, but it beat the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U in the MateBook D. (8,845).
On our HandBrake benchmark, the Pavilion x360 transcoded a 4K movie to 1080p in 21 minutes and 59 seconds, which may sound long, but it’s significantly faster than the category average (31:19). The Spin 3 (21:09), MateBook D (21:30), and ZenBook 13 (20:48), on the other hand, all finished faster.
HP’s 128GB SSD transferred 4.97GB of data in 41 seconds, or 124 MBps, which is just marginally faster than the average mainstream laptop (119 MBps). The 256GB SSD (110 MBps) on the MateBook D is a little slower, but the 256GB SSD (145 MBps) on the Spin 3 picks up the pace, while the ZenBook 13’s 256GB SSD (424 MBps) surpasses the sound barrier.
Ports
One USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, the power button, and a security lock slot are all located on the left side of the Pavilion x360.
The power jack, HDMI port, one USB 3.0 port, one USB Type-C port, and an SD card slot are all located on the right side.
Battery life
The Pavilion x360’s battery life isn’t particularly impressive. The battery lasted 6 hours and 17 minutes after regularly surfing the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, which is just under the 6:39 average for mainstream laptops.
While the Pavilion comes close to the average, the Spin 3, MateBook D, and ZenBook 13 all beat it in terms of runtime (9:12, 9:16, and 9:17, respectively) (11:28).
Webcam
Although the 720p camera on the Pavilion x360 isn’t as grainy as most webcams, it still failed to capture the detail in my hair and beard. My shirts red, white, and blue were captured by the camera, but not the pink, green, or yellow. Not to mention that it succumbed to the flare of the ceiling lights, resulting in a half-washed-out ceiling.
Heat capacity
Under duress, the Pavilion x360 worked admirably. The warmest underside got to 91 degrees Fahrenheit when it streamed a 15-minute, 1080p film, which is comfortably inside our 95-degree comfort zone. The keyboard’s and touchpad’s center points were 85 and 80 degrees, respectively.
