Hey Microsoft — your Surface 4 has some competition and it comes in the form of HP's new 2-in-1, the Elite x2 1012.
HP announced its sleek, but durable 12-inch 2-in-1 on Thursday with Tech Times getting a hands-on feel for the machine at Pepcom's Wine, Dine & Demo! event that night in New York City. It comes equipped with an $899 price tag and is expected to ship in January, according to HP.
What stands out about the Elite x2 1012 more than anything is its dynamic, sleek design, which really disguises a rugged durability. Aluminum-coated — with the same type of aluminum used on aircrafts and rugged bicycles, an HP rep tells Tech Times — the x2 1012 can be dropped without having to worry about any damage. That's partly due to its military-grade 810G durability and Gorilla Glass 4 display.
That goes for its ultra-cool travel keyboard, too, which is also aluminum-backed and attaches and detaches from the tablet/laptop with ease, weighing less than one pound and measuring just 0.2 inches in thickness. Picture a standard laptop keyboard shaved down dramatically and that's what you're getting with the x2 1012, which seems to live up to its Elite tag as far as design and usage goes.
Even when the keyboard is attached, the entire machine still weighs under three pounds. If you want to put the keyboard aside for a second, go ahead and use HP's Active Pen stylus, equipped with Wacom technology.
Another neat feature that the Elite x2 1012 boasts is its optional fingerprint scanner, conveniently located behind the upper left of the unit, essentially replacing the need for any password prompt and input. As I ran my finger along the top of the x2 1012, I noticed the speakers, which sit atop the device, projecting sound up, rather than buried and down, the way other 2-in-1's do. The unit's aluminum kickstand is also a nice wrinkle, allowing the x2 1012 to sit up as a frame horizontally.
Equipped with a base Intel Core m3 vPro chip — that's upgradable to an m5 and m7 — 4GB of RAM and a 128GB disk drive with a price tag of $899 is pretty solid for its value. It also comes with a standard USB jack in addition to a USB Type-C jack with Thunderbolt support.
Seems like HP is going to scratch the Surface and beyond with this.
