HP Elite x2 review: Beats the Surface Pro 4 in some ways (but not in others)

In some ways, the HP Elite x2 is a boring old rehash of established design ideas. A Windows tablet with a detachable keyboard, kickstand and stylus and a 12in display, designed to take on the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 at its own game. There are loads of these on the market right now, some good, some bad.

HP is hoping to distinguish its own effort by offering something last seen in the 1990s: the ace up the Elite x2’s sleeve is its repairability. Unscrew the rear panel (via a series of Torx screws beneath the kickstand at the rear), and it’s possible to remove and replace the screen, hard disk and memory, something that’s impossible to do easily or quickly on a consumer device such as the Surface Pro 4. 

But before you get too excited about adding RAM and improving hard disk capacity, this isn’t a development aimed at consumers, but businesses who buy such devices in bulk, saving them large bundles of cash. Not having to replace a device or send it back to the manufacturer every time a single component goes pop could save thousands and thousands of pounds over the lifecycle of a product such as this. It is currently priced at just under £900 on Amazon UK (or slightly over $1,000 via Amazon US).

The big question is, is the HP Elite x2 a decent Surface Pro 4 replacement? Or is it just an also-ran?

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HP Elite x2 review: The tablet

Let’s take a look at the design for a moment. Just like countless Surface Pro 4 rivals before it, the Elite x2 consists of a tablet part, in which all the core components reside – the CPU, the RAM, storage and battery – and a keyboard cover that attaches to the spine of the tablet magnetically.

The tablet is nicely designed. In fact, if you follow the fortunes of Surface Pro 4 rivals avidly (what do you mean you don’t?), you’ll probably notice a few similarities with HP’s consumer-grade HP Spectre x2 tablet.

The chassis is constructed from a robust-feeling matte-finish aluminium that feels silky under the finger. There’s a glossy black strip running along the top edge at the rear that houses the rear camera module and flash, and the whole thing, ignoring the slightly geeky-looking HP logo, is pleasingly attractive.

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It’s very slightly heavier and thicker than the Surface Pro 4, but it’s close enough to hold its own and, if anything, build quality favours the HP device. The kickstand at the rear has a built-to-last feel to it, supporting the tablet at angles ranging from near-vertical to almost flat, and it feels more sturdy than the Surface Pro 4’s flat blade.

Just like the Surface Pro 4, this HP has tough Gorilla Glass on the front: the top-spec 1,920 x 1,280 model I have here gets Gorilla Glass 4, while the cheaper 11.6in, 1,366 x 768 and 1,920 x 1080 options get Gorilla Glass 3.

Plus, being an HP business machine, the Elite x2 has been put through a battery of reliability torture tests. The kickstand, built from 7000-series aluminium, has been tested through 10,000 cycles. It’s been drop-tested from a height of 91cm onto wood and 51cm onto concrete, and the keyboard has been designed to withstand ten million keystrokes.

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The Elite x2 is also quite practical for a tablet-based 2-in-1, with both full-fat USB Type-C and standard USB 3 ports on the right edge, a 3.5mm headphone jack and microSD and micro-SIM trays. Stereo speakers sensibly adorn the top edge and there’s a Kensington lock slot on the left edge, too. There’s plenty to like here.

HP Elite x2 1012 review: Keyboard and stylus

HP’s detachable Travel Keyboard is also similar in many ways to Microsoft’s Type Cover. It clamps to the bottom spine of the tablet firmly, and has a pleat along its top edge so you can prop it up at an angle when you’re typing. And it’s at least as good to type on as the Surface Pro 4, if not more so.

What HP has done here is to transplant the keyboard – key-tops, switches and all – directly from the Elitebook Folio 1020, backing it with a four-layer aluminium panel in the process. The result is typing ecstasy, with a key action that’s softly cushioned and yet has plenty of positive feedback, while the metal support tray provides a good solid base even with the keyboard tilted up. True, there’s still a touch of that shoebox feel, but it’s nowhere near as pronounced as on the Surface Pro 4.

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What isn’t all that different is the lack of, for want of a better word, “lappability”. This is something that affects all 2-in-1 detachables to a greater or lesser extent, and the HP Elite x2 is similarly afflicted. It doesn’t feel particularly stable on your lap, and those with short thighs won’t get on with it at all. At least typing isn’t too uncomfortable, though, aided by that thick aluminium keyboard base.

And then there’s the active stylus that, as usual, the manufacturer has found no room for in the chassis. Instead, there’s a small self-adhesive loop in the box that you can use to mount it to the chassis or keyboard. That’s disappointing, but the pen itself is nicely weighted and built, and has a pleasantly pliant feel on the screen.

HP Elite x2 1012 review: Display

All of which makes it doubly disappointing that HP hasn’t managed to squeeze in a decent-quality screen. And it’s not the size or resolution of the screen that I have a problem with. For while it’s true that the HP’s 12in, 1,920 x 1,280 display is smaller than the Surface Pro 4’s and considerably less sharp, for the most part, you’re not going to notice these differences unless you look really, really close.

Quality-wise, though, it’s a different story. Brightness is decent enough, reaching 351cd/m2, as is contrast at 908:1, but both colour accuracy and sRGB colour gamut coverage are seriously disappointing. Compared side by side with the Surface Pro 4, it’s plain to see that the Microsoft device is superior. Colours pop off the screen with more vibrancy and liveliness and contrast is clearly better. On the HP, images take on a blue-ish green tinge, something that can be ascribed to the over-cool white point and that poor sRGB coverage, which is only 76.6%.

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HP Elite x2 1012 review: Performance and battery life

That’s not the only problem. You may have noticed from the table above that the HP Elite x2 1012 isn’t available with the same broad range of processors as Microsoft’s hybrid. While the Surface Pro 4 starts with the lowly Intel Core m3 and reaches up to the heights of the Intel Core i7 mobile CPU, the Elite x2 only goes as high as the Core m7-6Y75.

I have the latter here, and it’s accompanied by 8GB of RAM and a 256GB NVMe Samsung SSD. For most tasks, this lineup is perfectly decent. It feels nippy and responsive, no doubt aided by that super-quick SSD, which returned sequential read and write speeds of 1,572MB/sec and 1,263MB/sec respectively in CrystalDiskMark.

Push the performance with more demanding tasks, however, and it’s clear which tablet comes out on top. In our 4K benchmarks, which comprise a series of torture tests, from high-resolution image transcoding to 4K video encoding, and a multitasking component that involves running both tasks concurrently, the HP Elite x2 recorded an overall score of 34. Meanwhile, the Core i5-6200U Surface Pro 4 achieved 44 in the same tests, and that’s not even the top-of-the-range model.

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You don’t even get the compensation of improved stamina. In our video-rundown battery test, where we set the screen to a brightness of 170cd/m2, put the machine into flight mode, then play a video until the battery gauge hits zero, the Elite x2 lasted 5hrs 43mins. That’s two hours short of the more powerful Core i5 Surface Pro 4, which lasted 7hrs 40mins in the same test.

On the plus side, those Core m processors are all vPro models, which will please IT managers everywhere, as will TPM support and the fingerprint reader at the rear of the tablet. But these features don’t make up for such disappointing battery life.

HP Elite x2 1012 review: Prices and verdict

You can see where HP is coming from with the Elite x2. By offering a repairable, more robust and manageable hybrid, it’s making both IT managers and end users happy. And, yes, the HP Elite x2 is a very usable 2-in-1 hybrid. If I was given one of these as my work machine I’d be perfectly happy – as long as the guy next to me wasn’t given a Dell XPS 13, that is.

It’s even competitively priced. The model I have here is the top-spec Elite x2 with a 1.2GHz Core m7-6Y75, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD and it costs £1,229 inc VAT, a price that includes the keyboard and stylus. The Core i5 Surface Pro 4 is cheaper, but not significantly. And you can knock the price right down to £719, again including the keyboard and stylus.

It isn’t, however, what I was hoping for: a better device than the Surface Pro 4. In some ways it’s brilliant. The keyboard and build quality outdo its rival, and it’s a touch more practical too. But its subpar display, and the fact that the top-end models in the range aren’t as quick as the Core i5 and i7 Surface Pro 4, mean your workers will probably still hold a candle for the Microsoft tablet long after they’ve taken ownership of their shiny new Elite x2.

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HP Elite x2 1012 specifications
Processor	Dual-core 1.2GHz Intel Core m7-6Y75
RAM	8GB
Max memory	32GB
Dimensions (WDH)	301 x 8.2 x 214mm (301 x 14 x 219mm with keyboard)
Sound	Connexant ISST
Pointing device	Touchpad, touchscreen, stylus
Screen size	12in
Screen resolution	1,920 x 1,280
Touchscreen	Yes
Graphics adaptor	Intel HD Graphics
Graphics outputs	HDMI and DisplayPort (via USB Type-C)
Total storage	256GB
Optical drive type	None
USB ports	1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB Type-C
Bluetooth	Yes (4.2)
Networking	802.11ac
Memory card reader	MicroSD
Other ports	Micro SIM
Operating system	Windows 10 Pro
Parts and labour warranty	3-year limited parts and labour warranty
Price inc VAT	£1,229 inc VAT
Supplier	store.hp.com