HP Elite x2 1011 G1 review: One of the best hybrid machine for productivity tasks

Design: Tablet

The 11.6-inch diagonal 2-in-1 Windows device easily transforms from a tablet to a laptop to support a variety of work modes. It a cross between a tablet and an ultrabook and can run as either a standalone tablet, or as a clamshell laptop when attached to the keypad.

It has a sturdy build quality like HP’s other business machines but this makes the tablet unit a bit heavy (772 g) to use as a standalone unit. However, the pay-off for the performance and durability it offers compensates everything.

The touch screen is very responsive and works brilliantly in productivity tasks such as demonstrating PowerPoint presentations, 3D animations and during regular operations. You also get a stylus that is tucked in a slot on the bottom-right of the tablet, which makes all above tasks a piece of cake. It comes quite handy in official meetings while showing presentations and other multimedia tasks.

The tablet unit also integrates a microSD and a SIM slot that allows you to add some storage to the device and a SIM card for on-the-go internet connectivity.

Display

The 11.6 inches size of the display works well in tablet as well as in PC mode. It is a Full HD IPS panel, is quite bright, produces accurate colors but is a bit reflective. The display has Gorilla Glass 3 protection to protect it from accidental damages.

Keyboard

The keyboard dock integrates an additional battery (thus extra weight) that provides up to 10 hours of battery life. The hinge on the keyboard dock provides additional support to the tablet unit and prevents it to flip backward if the touch screen is accidentally pressed too hard in notebook mode.

Likewise 1020 Folio ultrabook, the detachable keyboard has the square shaped keys that offer a good tactile feedback. And you can continue your work in dark or dim lighting conditions with the help of white colored backlight.

The touchpad is devoid of any clickable buttons which might take some time to get used to it but the HP's ForcePad technology (with glass-surfaced touch sensor) registers the pressure of touches and swipes effectively.

The base unit has a DisplayPort to attach a monitor, a headset port and two USB 3.0 ports.

Performance:

Powered by Intel's new Broadwell-based Core M chip, the hybrid works well for productivity tasks and you can perform all office related work without any problems. It’s not the fastest CPU from Intel’s house, stuttered a bit during web pages with heavy Adobe files and editing software running simultaneously but serves the tasks well. You can create documents, presentations and view multimedia content without much problem. Moreover, the integrated processor does not require a fan and thus results in a noiseless performance even during the heaviest tasks.

Our review unit was shipped with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB solid state drive and handled multitasking with an ease. The tablet unit is backed by a 2-cell battery, which individually lasted for 7 hours and when combined with the keyboard’s 6-cell battery, it easily touched a mark of 10 hours with a heavy usage. This makes it a good long lasting Windows on-the-go productivity hybrid machine.

Security features

The notebook integrates HP’s exclusive enterprise-class security, including certified Trusted Platform Module (TPM),pre-boot authentication and the fingerprint reader. The fingerprint sensor works extremely well in recognising your registered finger patterns.

The notebook also includes HP Client Management Solutions, optional LANDesk4 and Intel vProTM technology5 to easily integrate and deploy into an enterprise IT environment.

As we said earlier that the machine feels a bit heavy when compared to other hybrids, this is due to military specifications for durability. The hybrid is certified by MIL-STD 810G testing