HP Pavilion x360 13-a010nr 13.3 inch Convertible Laptop Review

13.3 inch HP Pavilion x360 13-a010nr
via Amazon

HP Pavilion x360 13-a010nr is a modern, stylish, flexible and innovative 13.3 inch convertible touchscreen PC in laptop, tablet, tent and stand modes thanks to its 360 degree hinge, offering good performance with its quad core AMD A series processor and decent connectivity for home entertainment and work productivity.. All-round good value at an affordable price.

HP Pavilion x360 has the AMD A8-6410 processor (2MB L2 Cache) at 2.0GHz to 2.4GHz with the boost function, 4 GB DDR3L SDRAM (1 DIMM on 2 slots so 1 more is available) 1600 PC3-12800 for sufficient multitasking, 500 GB SATA hard drive at 5400 rpm speed with ProtectSmart HDD protection, Cloud based HP Connected Drive free for up to 1000 files of 100MB each- to have access to them from any connected device (max of 10 devices) and Windows 8.1 as the operating system. AMD A8 CPU is an entry-level one with a Passmark benchmark score of 2560 but rather responsive and offers good performance overall.

13.3 inch high definition Brightview diagonal WLED-backlit touch display with 1366x768 pixel max screen resolution- good picture quality but certainly not like Full HD (You can pinch, tap and swipe on its touchscreen to use the Windows 8 functions) and the graphics card is an AMD Radeon R5 with 2GB of dedicated VRAM.. Although the GPU has the 2GB dedicated memory, it won’t be possible to play the latest games at high resolutions- due to the system having only the 4GB RAM and neither the entry-level CPU nor the GPU are fit for that kind of thing, but it is certainly more than adequate for the functioning of daily things smoothly.

We haven’t tested the unit but the viewing angles are reported to be not the best especially when switching between modes. The manufacturer advertises decent rich sound with Beats audio and through its two speakers but our guess would be that the sound quality is average- going through the reviews and product info online. The front-facing HP TrueVision Full HD Webcam with digital microphone is good for face-to-face conversations in clarity even in dim light, seeing all the fine details. It has the face recognition software for easy log in by the machine recognising your face in front of the camera.

Nonstandard 3-cell 43.5WHr 3.82Ah prismatic battery should give you about 6-7 hours of battery life in normal or lighter use. It has a full-size island-style keyboard with spaced out keys as well as an on-screen keyboard and no 10-key numpad due to the computer’s size but a touchpad supporting multiple gestures to use conveniently with Windows 8 with no separate left or right click buttons, but a stand mode for watching videos, laptop mode for doing your work and typing, tent mode for playing and tablet mode for whatever you do on a tablet PC. HP SimplePass gives you the convenience of getting into your accounts with just one PIN or password or it will remember your passwords so you get to do things quicker.

It seems to stay cool even after hours of working on your computer thanks to the HP CoolSense so you get to do your work comfortably. Silver colour with Horizontal brushing and an ash silver cover HP Pavilion has a 360 degree hinge which gives it the extreme versatility and flexibility, weighs 3.97 pounds so it is fairly light but not very light for a tablet, has the dimensions of 0.31 x 13.12 x 0.88 inches. Connectivity options are 802.11bgn WLAN wireless, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector, Bluetooth 4.0, 1 x USB 2.0 port, 2 x SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, 1 x Audio-out port- Headphone-out/microphone-in combo jack, an HDMI port, Multi-format digital media card reader for Secure Digital cards and Kensington MicroSaver lock slot.

Conclusion: HP Pavilion x360 13-a010nr is a nice flexible laptop that can be used in four different modes: Laptop / tablet / tent and stand. It would be nice to see an SSD for snappy performance on such a modern convertible PC rather than a standard SATA HDD at 5400rpm. The R5 graphics card is equal to the performance levels of an Intel HD 4200 and it lets you play some of the modern games at lower settings and resolutions. It is an Energy Star qualified machine which means power efficiency which contributes to a longer and reasonable battery life. You get free 30-day trial of McAfee internet security, HP Total Care for 24x7 customer support via email, telephone and online chat in US and in normal biz hours in South America and Canada as well as 90 days tech support and it comes with a 12 month limited parts and labor warranty. The trackpad is not super responsive and you may be more comfy in mouse mode and then you have the touch screen. It has a fair price for a computer with such a convertible design without sacrificing performance and speed- not an advanced PC with top of the range specs but great for anyone that needs a daily things computer with certain amount of versatility.

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