Ordered custom built directly from HP, I give you the Split X2.
I’m buying this mainly for school purposes, but I wanted to get a few of the extra bells and whistles simply because I’m not planning on upgrading to another higher-end laptop for the next several years. I went with the Split X2 because I specifically wanted the tablet/laptop hybrid setup and because I wanted something that would be supremely portable. For those of you who are tech savvy, here’s the stuff that’s under the hood:
• Windows 8 64
• 3rd generation Intel Core i5-3339Y Processor (1.5GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) + Intel Graphics
• 13.3-inch diagonal HD Anti-glare LED- backlit Display (1366 x 768) Touchscreen
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
• 500 5400 + 128GB SSD
• $40 OFF Microsoft(R) Office Home and Student 2013
• Slate 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery + Base 3 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• No Internal DVD or CD Drive
• Standard Keyboard
• Webcam and Microphone
• 802.11ac WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
Total cost was about $1200, but I had a $10-off coupon (yippee) and got some additional savings via HP’s Student Academy program. Aside from HP’s own store and some other reviews on BestBuy.com, there haven’t been any other impressions posted about this device online yet, so I’ll come back with a more detailed response after I’ve played around with it for a while.
I ordered it last Friday and it’s poised to ship on Tuesday, so hopefully I’ll get it before the end of next week. All told, I’m extremely excited, yet still kind of broadsided by the sticker-price aspect of the purchase. C’est la vie I guess, right?
So what do you guys think? Has anybody here tried this device yet? Good choice? Bad choice? Let me know what you think.
Sounds good, but yeah, expensive. You could get similar specs for under $500 as an ultrabook (not including MS Office though). For me, I’m just used to dragging my 17" laptop around, so my daughter’s 14" ultrabook seems light as a feather to me and I have a hard time imaging that being too heavy or bulky for anything. But tablets are cool for certain things.
It is not that expensive if you think of it as two devices instead of one. It will come down to whether it can handle tablet duties as smoothly as an iPad could. Also, the resolution on that screen seems pretty low. I would have a hard time using it to do normal computer stuff. It will be interesting to hear your impressions once you have it in hand.
I hope you love the hell out of it because that’s outrageous. You could have bought a tablet AND a reasonable light-weight laptop with similar or better specs for the cost of that one…thing.
I have a client who wants this specific thing - a tablet that he can run Quickbooks on. He really wants a tablet, he doesn’t want to be opening a laptop, he wants to check and update his Quickbooks on a tablet.
I’m really curious how your experience will be. Basically, it’s a full on notebook, right? But then it’s really easy to make it a tablet, right?
Should be really cool. I think this is exactly what I want. A full on laptop, that when I want, can also be a tablet. In other words, work laptop first and tablet mode second.
Give your feedback once you start using this sucker. Thanks!
HP is notorious for making terrible computers. I have never had a good HP computer experience. I hope you fare better. I heard that the ASUS transformer was the absolute best in the tablet/laptop hybrid lot, though I’m not sure they offer Windows on that anymore.
I bought wildly expensive tablet pcs back in the day at $1000 a pop so I know what that’s like. However, I bought them because they were essentially a traveling cintiq - I could draw straight onto my computer screen, wherever and whenever I wanted. The Surface Pro is calling my name so I can live the lifestyle of digitally drawing on the couch again, but I’m hoping the next generation works out the kinks in the first version.
Ah, looks like one of those detachable screen laptops. I wonder what electronics are in the base? Did you consider the Samsung Ativ and Surface? Why did you choose this one?
I’ll give a more detailed post a bit later, but I wanted to address this one first.
Yup, the Split X2 has all of the capabilities of a regular notebook. It houses a Core i5 processor (though you have to pay extra for that, otherwise it comes standard with a Core i3), runs the full version of Windows 8 64, and yes, doubles as a tablet.
That last fact was the driving point behind my purchase, really. I very much wanted to have the tablet/laptop hybrid build, and this particular device is top notch in that regard.
I’m very intrigued. What I really want is a gigantic tablet that I can read mounds of scientific papers on. I’ve tried 10" tablets, and they’re really not big enough to do the job well. I’ve lusted after the Lenovo Thinkpad Helix, but it’s even more ridiculously priced at $1400 for the *base *configuration.
But I’m not impressed by the specs on this one. Especially the low-resolution display, which totally kills this as a device for spending hours reading lots of small text.
I think I’m going to wait for another iteration of this concept, or if there is none, maybe I’ll luck out and get a deal on the Helix on clearance.
I like the design…but then again, I don’t like the design.
I have seen similar products that don’t fully detach and allow you to simply flip the top and use as a laptop.
My problem with the fully detach feature is:
Do you take the whole thing with you everywhere, and then put the keyboard part in a case on the floor when you don’t need it? This might mean you forget to take the keyboard section when you leave?
If you take just the top part - can you re-charge it alone?
Now you have TWO things to drop and potentially break.
Does the top part alone have connections, allowing you to connect it with an overhead projector, external speakers, etc.?
Putting that top part on and off and on and off and on and off…exactly how sturdy and reliable are those little pins over time?
I am just trying to figure out the advantages of this device, versus a high powered iPad (or whatever) with an inexpensive blu-tooth keyboard.
My product shipped out from the build facility in Chongqing, China a few days ago.
I won’t lie, I’m a bit disappointed that it has taken so long to get my Split X2; by the time it arrives at the end of next week, I’ll have waited more than 20 days since the initial purchase before I actually get my device.
Still, HP refunded me $100 due to the delay, so that helps.
Honestly, I don’t really see the point in having a full 1080p display on any screen under 15." You can’t tell the difference on smaller screens, anyway, never-minding the fact that all the text you’ll be dealing with will be ridiculously small on a 13" 1080p tablet.
As with most things, you usually get what you pay for. The lowest-end HP machines can be pretty craptastic, but their higher-end stuff can be pretty solid. The problem with their brand image is that a lot of people always try to buy the cheapest machine, expect too much for so little, and extrapolate their experience to the whole brand.
I finally got my Split X2 in the mail yesterday, 21 days after I ordered it. So far, I feel as if it an incredibly sleek device, and I’m even using it to type this very post.
You’re right, 1366 x 768 display is insufficient resolution for reading PDF files of academic journals, no matter what the physical size of the display is. Unless you don’t mind zooming in and scrolling around on the screen all the time.
I have a tablet with a 11.6" 1920x1080 display (Samsung ATIV SmartPC Pro) and even that is marginal for this purpose. I think a 13.3" with 1920x1080 would be better. I’ve been thinking about the Samsung ATIV Q, but unfortunately it appears that it has been canceled.
That might be true for a desktop monitor, and possibly for a laptop. But definitely NOT true for a tablet. I have a 10" Android tablet with 2560x1600 display and it’s much more pleasant to use than other 10" tablets I’ve had. The text is so much sharper and more legible.
The thing is, a laptop or desktop display is usually used an arm’s length away, but a tablet is a handheld device. So you really can take advantage of higher resolution. When you print out a document, you can use 8-point font in captions and still read the subscript in that caption. Those are about 5 point, or about 0.07 inch high. If you display the same size character on a 10" 1366x800 display, it becomes 10 pixels high. It becomes blocky and hard to read. Up the resolution to 1920x1080 and it becomes 13.5 pixels high, which is noticeably better. At 2560x1600 it’s 20 pixels high, which is much better.
