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Review: HP Envy x2

Take one look at HP's new Envy x2 and you'll immediately want to call it the MacBook Air Windows 8 Edition.
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Photo by Alex Washburn/Wired

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Rating:

6/10

Take one look at HP's new Envy x2 and you'll immediately want to call it the MacBook Air Windows 8 Edition. I couldn't blame you. If not for the understated HP logo on the back, you'd be perfectly justified assuming this came from Cupertino.

Let's start with the looks of this hybrid touchscreen tablet. Machined from aluminum and beautifully refined and stylishly appointed, the MacBook Air cues are ubiquitous throughout the Envy x2. The keyboard is a dead ringer for the Air, with full-size left/right arrow keys being the only obvious difference. More importantly, the base is tapered toward the front, giving it a natural slope. While the 11.6-inch screen is smaller than the 13.3-inch Air, and the Envy's 3.1-pound weight (with keyboard) is heavier, it's a gorgeous enough package to almost make you forget that you're working with a tablet, not a laptop. Sliding a switch at the top of the keyboard releases the screen and sets you free with a 10mm-thick, 1.6-pound slate that contains a full Windows 8 (not RT) installation. Try that, MacBook!

Visual similarities to Apple gear aside, the reality is that the Envy x2 is actually more akin to the Acer Iconia W510 tablet than any MacBook, particularly when you consider the specs. Like the W510, the Envy x2 is an Atom-based tablet, designed to keep battery life high and heat dissipation low. But, as with the W510, that comes at the cost of performance.

The HP Envy x2 is configured almost identically to the W510. The 1.8GHz Core CPU is backed by 2GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. The screen offers 1366x768 pixels of resolution and is plenty bright. There is also precious little connectivity on the device. The slate itself has only a headphone jack and a MicroSD slot. Connecting the keyboard adds two USB 2.0 ports and a full-size HDMI port. HP also includes an NFC chip in the tablet.

As was the case with the W510, all of this adds up to compromise on the realm of code crunching, and that's disappointing. By way of history, the Envy name originated with boutique PC-maker Voodoo, and it's traditionally been used as a name for high-end laptops since the company was acquired by HP. Putting the Envy name on an Atom-based machine that can't even dream about gaming is borderline sacrilege, whether you put Beats Audio (admittedly impressive on this device) in the package or not.

Here's the good news: Performance on the Envy x2 is 20 percent better than the Acer W510. The bad news? Performance is 70 percent worse when compared to a Core i5-based Windows 8 tablet like the Dell XPS 12. Apps load slowly and run even slower, and graphics capabilities are nonexistent.

Battery life is also a sticking point here. With the bonus-battery-equipped keyboard attached, the Envy x2 provides 8.5 hours of run time, which sounds pretty good until you consider the 15-plus hours of run time on the Acer. Without the keyboard, battery life drops to just 4.5 hours, which is considerably worse than some Core i5 laptops. That's just not acceptable for a slate.

Ultimately, I think the amazing design and exceptional usability of the x2 still make it a worthwhile device, and as with the W510, if you are dying for a svelte machine that can run Windows full-on (albeit ploddingly), it's as good a choice as any. Whether anyone actually needs something like this – at a price of $850 – is another question.

WIRED An incredibly well-designed Windows tablet, one of the best-looking on the market. Surprisingly good audio. Really nice screen. Keyboard and touchpad both work well.

TIRED Performance is all-around lousy. Chicklet up/down arrow keys. Heavier (and $100 more expensive) than the similar Acer, but with half the battery life.