Buying a new laptop, what do you think of this one?

[Jessie.slimer]

I'm replacing an old, failing HP Pavilion laptop, and was thinking of getting a 2 in 1. This is for home use and will not be used for gaming or any high cpu demand programs.

I will be buying whatever I get from abt.com but this one has me really interested. It seems to have what I need and is not crazy expensive. Thoughts from the computer guys? Or other suggestions?

https://www.abt.com/HP-Natural-Silver-Pavilion-x360-15.6-2-In-1-Notebook-Intel-i5-1135G7-12GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-Intel-Iris-Xe-Graphics-15ER0010NR/p/165235.html

 

[Flintstone61]

Looks nice. I'm sure it's windows 11 compliant as well. For general use, you can't go wrong. Tablet function is cool. I suppose you could buy cheaper but you lose features in doing so.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Looks slick. I'm not a tablet fan but the Mrs is. I asked Karnack and he sees two of something like this in the future to replace our old Asus craptops.

 

[Mike A.]

Will you be hauling it around much? If so, might look at a 14" instead. That's kind of an optimal size I think for use as a laptop/desktop before you get into the smaller/lighter ones that are better for travel (and where better machines start to be a lot more expensive). Even using on your lap/in bed/whatever off of a desk, the 14" is more manageable. If using on a desk all the time and don't care about carry size and as a primary computer without another monitor, then maybe you want the larger screen.

They have this 14" which is generally equivalent in specs for a little less. Which is unusual. Generally, the 14" is a little more:

https://www.abt.com/HP-Natural-Silver-Pavilion-x360-14-2-In-1-Notebook-Intel-i5-1135G7-12GB-RAM-256GB-SSD-Intel-Iris-Xe-Graphics-14DW1010NR/p/166141.html

 

[Jessie.slimer]

Yes definitely want the larger screen. It will never leave the house, and will generally live on the living room coffee table. I thought the 2 in 1 feature might be useful if it does get used in another room without a desk or something to put it on, or possibly a screen for home automation/UI3.

 

[OICU2]

Pro tip: Search for the score of the CPU that's in your old laptop at CPU UserBenchmarks - 1322 Processors Compared and compare it to the score of the CPU of the new system you're looking at. That way you'll know if your old system sucks at xxxx score, you'll want something with a much higher score. The higher the score, the better the processor.

 

[Mike A.]

Also can use that to trade off cost vs performance. That is, If you step back to the previous gen processor in the same model, you probably can save ~$200/20% vs the latest without a significant effect on performance (at least for most cases/purposes). Now and then there are some bigger jumps across generations and other features introduced that you may want that you need to check (e.g., USB-C, etc.), but in most cases you can save a bunch of money with little to no difference in performance that you'd ever notice in practical use.

 

[The Automation Guy]

I have a 14" HP Envy X360 (2in1) that I bought a year or so ago. With HP, the Pavilion line is their budget entry, the Envy the middle ground, and the Spectra line is their top of the line. There are a couple of things you definitely want to consider (and you already are). First, as noted if you are going to want to carry a laptop around, the smaller screens are definitely better/lighter. (I realize you are not). Second, the screens NIT rating is extremely important. Again, if you are going to use this indoor at your house 100% of the time, a 250nit screen is probably fine (although the Pavilion line is notorious for actually testing at lower than 250 nits). However if you expect to carry this around and might potentially use it outside or in front of large windows (at school, etc) a higher NIT screen is needed. My screen is 400 nits (and all the reviews actually say it tests at slightly higher numbers - around 430 nits) and it can be barely visible outdoors when it is extremely bright. A 500 nit or higher screen should be considered if you plan on using it outdoors with any frequency.

I like the 2in1 functionality but in addition to the general use around the house that the computer sees, I have a specific use case that works much better in tablet mode. I was specifically looking for a 2in1 because I knew I would be using it that way quite often. While it is handy to have the flexibility of the 2in1, I can't say I use it in tablet mode much outside of my specific use case. When I do, it is usually to watch a video and I'll fold it so that the screen is tilted normally, but the keyboard is tucked under the screen vs being in front of the screen like a normal laptop. This makes it easier to place the screen where I want.