What happens when Microsoft helps build a laptop? Hardware. HP and Microsoft may have designed one of my new favorite laptops, but they hardly reinvented the wheel in the process. In fact, I think the pair owes at least a little credit to Lenovo, and maybe Apple, too. Think I'm trolling? Consider the evidence. As its name suggests, the x. Lenovo's Yoga series that allows the screen to fold back into tablet mode (and Tent Mode, and Stand Mode - - yep, HP even stole Lenovo's names for its different usage modes). Then there's the design. Like the Mac. Book Air, the x. CNC- machined aluminum, with a wedge- shaped profile that tapers subtly from back to front. It's not a wholesale copy- job, to be sure, but the machine's resemblance to a Mac is unmistakable. HP and Microsoft owe at least a little credit to Lenovo, and maybe Apple, too. Still, HP managed to improve on what's otherwise a tried- and- true formula. Take the hinge, for instance. Though it feels as smooth and controlled as anything Lenovo ever produced, HP's version uses a different kind of mechanism that "folds into itself" (to quote what I was told when I first saw it). This allows the machine to be equally thick regardless of whether the screen is in tablet mode or folded shut, like a regular notebook. Speaking of thickness, the machine measures 1. Quad HD model. In fact, the x. HD version (one panel is thinner than the other). Either way, it feels noticeably denser than a typical 1. Ultrabook, and it's definitely heavier than the super- light Yoga 3 Pro. That's irrelevant if you plan to park it on your desk and use it in Stand or Tent mode to watch movies, and it doesn't even really matter when you use the thing as a regular notebook - - it's still easy to tote around in your backpack or shoulder bag.
What you might find, though, is that a relatively large, 1. PC like this, particularly one this heavy, isn't well- suited for tablet mode. If you do choose to use it that way, I suggest resting it on your lap; holding up a three- plus- pound device gets tiresome after exactly five seconds. Tasty Tech Activity With Excel. Subjects. Microsoft Excel (Note. A very good reason to devote the lion's share of your first class period of the year to. On the plus side, at least, a slightly bulkier machine means fewer compromises when it comes to ports. On board, we have three USB 3. HDMI socket, a Mini Display. Port, an SD card slot, a headphone jack and a volume rocker, for use in tablet mode. That's no small thing at a time when some laptop makers are trying to get away with including just one port. Microsoft Teams is a platform that combines. the application was very resource. Microsoft Excel Viewer Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer List of word processors. Finally, HP sells Ethernet and HDMI- to- VGA adapters for $3. In my first look, I initially said they came in the box, but that's not true; HP just included them gratis for us reviewers.)In addition to that lie- flat hinge, the keyboard and trackpad are also entirely HP's - - and in some ways they're better than the competition, too. The metal buttons have a similar spacious, island- style layout as many rival machines, except the keys have a full 1. I'm used to on Ultrabooks. Perhaps this is one benefit to having a slightly thicker machine: less of a reason to settle for a flat, lifeless keyboard.) In addition, I appreciate how relatively quiet the buttons are, even despite their springiness. Also, most of the keys are large enough that I can find them by feel, without having to worry about hitting the wrong one. Even the arrow keys - - some of the few shrunken buttons here - - were easy to get to when I wanted to highlight text. What's funny is that although HP teamed up with Microsoft on this, it didn't use one of Microsoft's own "Precision" touchpads; instead, it went with a clickpad from Synaptics. Make that an extra- wide clickpad - - the trackpad here has much the same elongated shape as on the Spectre 1. HP's last- generation flagship. When that model first came out, the idea was that people could use so- called touch zones on either end of the trackpad to more easily pull off certain gestures specific to Windows 8 - - you know, like swiping in from the right to expose the Charms Bar. As it happens, the Charms Bar is about to go away in Windows 1. HP figured, even if you don't need those zones anymore, you might still enjoy having the extra horizontal space. I have to say I do. In general, the touchpad is reliable; the cursor almost always goes where I intended, and multitouch gestures like two- finger scrolls work well, too. I would prefer a slightly lower- friction touch surface, but if a little more drag means more accurate tracking, then that's fine. Better that than a smooth touchpad that doesn't actually do what I want it to. The x. 36. 0 comes standard with a 1. Unfortunately, I've only had the chance to test the full HD edition, so I can't tell you firsthand just how pixel- dense the Quad HD option is. But I think I can guess, and I bet you can too. If you think the 1. Mac. Book Pro's 2,5. As it is, I didn't find myself pining for the sharper panel, especially considering how great the battery life is when you settle for the lower resolution. Thanks to a 7. 2 percent color gamut, the tones here are nice and rich, though not overly saturated. Also, though the viewing angles on this IPS screen aren't perfect, they're wide enough that I could still watch movies and get work done with the screen dipped forward, within a certain range of flexibility. As for audio, the dual speakers on the laptop's bottom side exhibit some of the tinniness I've come to expect from notebooks, but it's no worse than what I've observed on other machines. Performance and battery life. PCMark. 73. DMark. DMark. 11. ATTO (top disk speeds)HP Spectre x. GHz Intel Core i. U, Intel HD 5. 50. E1,6. 67 / P9. 32 / X2. MB/s (reads); 2. 70 MB/s (writes)Dell XPS 1. GHz Intel Core i. U, Intel HD 5. 50. E2,1. 14 / P1,1. 99 / X3. MB/s (reads); 4. 55 MB/s (writes)Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro (1. GHz Intel M- 5. Y7. Intel HD 5. 30. 0)4,6. E1,0. 76 / P5. 95 / X1. MB/s (reads); 2. 61 MB/s (writes)Samsung ATIV Book 9 2. Edition (1. 6. GHz Core i. U, Intel HD 4. 40. E1,7. 52 / P9. 48 / X2. MB/s (reads); 1. 41 MB/s (writes)Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (1. GHz Core i. 5- 4. U, Intel HD 4. 40. E1,3. 13 / P9. 84. MB/s (reads); 2. 52 MB/s (writes)Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus (1. GHz Core i. 5- 4. U, Intel HD 4. 40. E1,6. 75 / P8. 67 / X2. MB/s (reads); 5. 08 MB/s (writes)Acer Aspire S7- 3. GHz Intel Core i. U, Intel HD 4. 40. E1,7. 24 / P9. 52 / X2. MB/s (reads); 1. 1 GB/s (writes)Like so many other laptops coming out around now, the Spectre x. Intel's new fifth- generation Core processors, code- named "Broadwell." In fact, the configuration I tested had the same 2. GHz dual- core Core i. GB as the Dell XPS 1. Unsurprisingly, then, I observed mostly the same fast performance, including speedy seven- second boot- ups and resume times of less than a second. The benchmarks back this up too, with scores that largely match the XPS 1. Wireless performance is another area where HP and Microsoft put their heads together. The machine makes use of a 2x. Wi. Fi radio, though the two companies claim it has stronger range than even similarly configured systems, with wireless throughput not dropping off as quickly in either the 2. GHz or 5. GHz bands. I'm not equipped to test that in any sort of scientific way, but I can say that wireless streaming was fast and reliable, and that the machine was also quick to reconnect after coming out of sleep. If there's one area where the x. Though it does indeed come standard with an SSD (a Samsung- made one, in my case), these are of the slower m. SATA variety - - not PCIe- based disks like we're used to seeing on other flagship laptops. That means while its peak read speeds of 5. MB/s are quite healthy, its max writes of 2. MB/s are relatively low. On some rival machines, you might see writes in the 5. Mac. Book Pro, which delivered 1. GB/s reads and 6. MB/s write speeds. Again, none of that seems to have a negative effect on things like boot and app- load times, but depending on what you're doing and how hard you push the system, you may wish you had some faster transfer speeds. HP rates the x. 36. The lower- res model lasts longest). Part of that's thanks to a large, 5.
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