HP ENVY X2 up on HP.com

[jimmy]

The estimated ship date has now jumped from 12/18/2012 to 1/2/2013. Ouch.... Oh well, as in all good things, patience is the prudent approach. As Killic says in "Master and Commander", "it will be ready when it's ready...."

Mine still shows 12/17

[jimmy]

United shipped today from Shanghai with scheduled delivery for Monday

[Bronsky]

Looking forward to hearing your impressions. I like the Envy better than most of the new hybrids. The only thing I don't like is the large screen size. I prefer the 8.9" display of the Slate but will probably have to live with a 10" slate for my next unit.

[Techgeek32]

Just got my shipping notice. I will have mine on Friday. I cancelled my VIVO Tab order and am returning my overpriced ATIV Pro. I will provide some thoughts on Friday. My only initial con is that no USB port on the tablet. At least ASUS was including a USB adapter for theirs. I am hoping the all aluminum build will satisfy my quality requirements as most of the tablets I have tried did not. Also concerned about the non Wacom, N-Trig digitizer. That might be the deal breaker.

[tgwallbank]

@techgeek32
Look forward to lots of observations. Thanks in advance.

[Bronsky]

Also concerned about the non Wacom, N-Trig digitizer. That might be the deal breaker.

Rumor has it that the digitizer is an Atmel.

[Techgeek32]

Rumor has it that the digitizer is an Atmel.

Yes. That is one of my main concerns. Why did HP move away from Wacom and N-Trig? I knoiw why. To save money. I am not very optimistic about the digitizer performance. I did not like the SPens on the ATIV units. The N-Trig on the Sony Duo 11 was actually much better except they still have the tapping noise on the display when inking. Not quite as bad as the older N-Trigs, but still annoying in a meeting. I have used full size pens which are slightly better. I have tried the Sony Duo 11, but it was just too big. I would like to find a clamshell like the Envy X2 in a full HD panel with a Core I processor and a smaller screen. The only option for that is the Surface Pro. I need to be able to type on my lap and the Surface just doesn't do that well. I don't like the Elitepad 900 simply because it only has a Bluetooth keyboard sleeve/jacket design. I loved my HP Slate 2. If they could have put in a high nit IPS display and the new dual core Atom I would have been happy.

HP just doesn't understand customer needs. They pay these engineers a lot of money and they never seem to get it right. The only reason I am interested in the Envy X2 is the all aluminum design, battery life, MicroSD and Full size SD port. This offers the most expansion of any of the ATOM Hybrid W8 units that are available. I lose a USB port on the tablet part, but hopefully HP realized they need to offer some type of USB adapter for the charging port.

We will see. Tablets are moving in the right direction but manufacturers just keep missing the mark by a few degrees. I have heard that the keyboard is not that great on the Envy X2 so that might be another deal breaker. After using the keyboards on the 500T and 700T there must be something better out there. Good luck to everyone that has ordered an Envy. I will post my first thoughts by this weekend.

[jimmy]

Just got the unit. Will post some initial opinions and some pictures in a little bit

[tgwallbank]

Any information will be much appreciated, thanks.

[jimmy]

First Impressions


- Very nice build quality - compared with my Transformer Prime, it's night and day regarding how it feels in your hand.
- In tablet form, it's definitely a little awkward to hold in portrait mode. It's definitely a big tablet. I don't think i'll be doing a lot of kindle reading in bed with this thing.
- Keyboard feels solid and the touchpad is responsive
- Latch is nice and secure and easy to pull off and put back on
- Windows 8 - Definitely need some more time with this. Switching between tablet and desktop mode took me some time to figure out. There are physical buttons or fixed buttons on the screen to take you home. A lot of swipe gestures to get you to where you're going.
- In tablet mode, the screen is very fluid with no signs of performance issues. Though you can tell this thing is working on the more traditional windows apps.

more to come later