HP Envy X2 owners' discussion

So what with HP and Samsung being the only vendors to get their hybrid Intel device onto the (UK) market for Xmas I was a bit surprised not to find active discussion about the Envy X2 on here. I saw in another thread an X2 owner being told to create an owner's thread - he didn't, so I will in the absence of a dedicated forum.

Let me get the ball rolling by saying if your thing is pen based input the X2 is not for you - yet. My use case is simpler. Hybrids appeal to me because I've always wanted the elusive "one device to rule them all". The Asus Transformer Prime, physically, was perfect but Android is laughable for genuine productivity apps, plus I also do Java dev work. I want to be able to attach or flip out a keyboard to do work, then hoick the keyboard off and kick back with a video or some mindless Web browsing.

So for my use case, the X2 is perfect. I briefly had a Samsung Ativ 700T with an i5. Battery life was pitiful, the thing was built like a brick with air vents you could use to dry your hands on, the keyboard dock had no battery, and the whole ensemble felt cheap. Even the extra power of the i5 didn't really do me any favours. There doesn't seem to be any real noticeable difference when building my app, and the X2 happily runs a Tomcat or Glassfish server without undue distress.

I even find myself quite liking Windows 8. It fits my use case, with distinct modes for what I call "work" and "play" - ie desktop and Metro.

So, overall - very happy, although I appreciate that others' needs may be very different from mine.

 

Congratulations on your new machine. If you find time, head to the Benchmark thread and run both WPrime and WEI on you new X2. Make sure to read the guidelines first (to ensure your scores come out accurate).

 

The X2 is not stated as having any sort of "gorilla" type glass, whereas the Asus does. If a pen eventually (?) becomes available for the X2 does anyone think the lack of scratch proof glass will be a problem ie scratching the screen. I am completely new to touchscreens.

 

I have the Samsung Ativ Smart PC 500T. And I'm thinking about switching to the HP Envy X2. The primary reason I don't like my Samsung is the plastic back gets slippery, I have no idea what Samsung was thinking. The Envy X2 is made of aluminum, so I hope it doesn't have the slipping issue.

What I worry the most about switching from the Samsung to HP is the keyboard. I really love the keyboard on the 500T. Can anyone that has used both (I assume the 700T keyboard is similar to the 500T too) make a comment on how they compare? I find typing on the 500T a pleasure and hope the Envy has a nice feeling keyboard as well.

 

Well, I've described the Envy X2 as "a MacBook Air with a detachable screen". The keyboard feels pretty similar to the Air to me - apart from various OS-specific changes in moving from OS X to Window 8 I've made the transition pretty transparently. Everyone seems to squee over the MacBook Air so I think this is a pretty good benchmark.

In terms of a direct comparison between the 700T and the Envy, truth be told I can't say I had the 700T long enough to really give the keyboard a good hammering. If I were forced to express an opinion I think I'd say that there might be a tiny bit more travel on the Samsung. I've also seen one review that absolutely trashed the X2's keyboard, but it seems pretty identical in feel to the Air's to me.

If your main reason for switching is the feel of the Sammy's back, though, I'd suggest you try the keyboard on the X2 first, especially if the keyboard is attached more often than not. Switch for the build quality, switch for the battery in the keyboard base, but unless you're going to get a full refund it seems a bit of a waste to switch for the feel of the back!

 

I'm sure the glass will be chemically strengthened. The Slate 500 and the Slate 2 had tempered glass on the display that was plenty strong. I have had my Slate 500 for over 2 years, did not cover the display and did not baby it. The scratches have been minimal.

 

The Envy X2 doesn't appear to have an SD slot, micro or full size. Can this be true? No way to add memory?

Thanks, Jim

 

I believe there's a microSD slot on the bottom of the tablet itself, and a SD card slot on the keyboard dock, so you are all set for the storage expansion.
just waiting for any review on the stylus, holding the purchase for now.

 

Hello everyone, new here. Was googling the envy x2 and found this forum, so I joined up. I am surprised that there are not more discussions out there about this product. I received mine the week before Christmas and I absolutely love it, for the most part. There are some issues I'm trying to figure out though. I don't know if it is a hardware thing or if it is Windows 8 issues, but when I let my Envy go into sleep mode, either on purpose by pressing power, or letting it sit there, at least half the time when I come back to it it will not respond to touch input at all. I am forced to shut it down by holding the power button and reboot which is increasingly annoying. Any ideas? Other issues I have are with the touchpad, I feel it is very poorly designed on this machine. I like it theoretically but mine is really sloppy. It frequently clicks itself when moving my finger on it and gets stuck as if I was doing a long click to drag and drop something. If anyone is experiencing similar issues lemme know what, if anything has worked for you, Thanks!

 

@ rhettmania:

It seems that not many people own the X2 yet (maybe due to slow shipments), so that probably has an impact on the amount of discussion going on here....

By the way, could you run the WPrime and WEI benchmarks on your X2 and tell us the scores? You can post them here or at the Benchmark thread. Be sure to read the guidelines (posted on the aforementioned thread) before running the benchmarks.