Lately it seems as though there are two kinds of consumer laptops; the traditional format and convertibles. The latter models have been taking over the market in part thanks to the novelty factor and in part due to the additional functions that they offer the end user.
Alongside Dell, HP is the other company that's been hard at work in this segment and today we're honored to tackle one of its latest achievements as we review the HP Pavilion 15-bk010nr x360.
Endowed with a Full HD display, a latest generation Core i5 processor, an affordable price and a rather generous battery life, this model has quickly gone up the ranks to become a bestseller within this category. Today we aim to check it out and see what all the fuss is about to help you decide if its worth your money or not.
The pros and cons:
Pros: Core i5 6th generation, 8GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, 8 hour battery life, ethernet port (not usual on convertibles), Full HD display.
Cons: No dedicated graphics chip, storage is a Hard Drive.
HP Pavilion 15-bk010nr Review of a higher standard in convertibles
A beautifully crafted design and a high end display
While it's true that most convertibles don't go beyond the 13 inch form factor, that doesn't mean that people aren't still interested in 15 inch convertibles. This kind of convertible provides the best of both worlds by giving you a fully fledged laptop and a maxed out tablet.
In the case of the HP Pavilion x360 15-bk010nr, we've quickly fallen in love with the design. Well crafted from premium materials this laptop is a joy to the senses. Not as ergonomic as its smaller counterparts yet still pretty ergonomic with a seamless transition from laptop mode to tablet mode with just the flip of the screen.
The display in place is a 15.6 inch Full HD IPS WLED-Backlit screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio. It goes without saying that it's a touchscreen since otherwise the whole "convertible part" would be useless.
Responsiveness of the display is quick and precise, and the bigger form factor actually plays a part at making manual controls all the more easy to manage, even when the laptop isn't on "tile mode".
Weight and thickness are pretty standard for this category with a weight that's slightly above the 5 pound mark and a thickness that's under 1 inch. Another benefit to the size is that you get a fully fledged keyboard with a numeric pad on the side, allowing for an easier and more pleasant typing experience.
Let's get into the key components
We wouldn't be doing a good job in this review of the HP Pavilion x360 15-bk010nr if we didn't look at the core elements. The laptop can be as pretty as it wants to be but if there's no high end components to back it up you'll just end up with a pretty paperweight. To this point we've got a 6th generation Skylake Intel Core i5-6200U.
This is a great processor that handles both light as well as demanding tasks thanks to its dual core structure with a base speed of 2.3GHz and a maximum turbo boost frequency of 2.8GHz. All in all, this is a strong mid level CPU, which delivers performance almost on par with the higher end Core i7.
Honestly, unless you're going to be using seriously resource intensive apps chances are you're not gonna notice that much of a difference since most benchmarks point to a 10% boost in performance from one CPU to another.
That's not to say this processor can't handle its hardcore programs. On the contrary, you can expect this processor to handle anything from editing 4K video right down to working with the Eclipse IDE as well as run several virtual machines without breaking the proverbial "sweat".
Speaking of multitasking, system memory on the x360 15-bk010nr is composed of an 8GB DDR3L module. That's pretty good and what we consider the perfect amount of RAM to work comfortably on Windows 10 without fearing any lags when doing some serious multitasking.
How about gaming?
Just like the other convertibles in the market, this laptop wasn't designed with gamers in mind and it shows. Specifically, you've got an Intel HD 520 graphics chip that will deliver a good performance on low settings in games such as Rainbow Six Siege, World of Warships as well as the very graphically undemanding Fifa 16.
However, more graphically intensive games should be avoided since you won't reach what we'd call a "playable frame rate" and chances are you'll be pretty upset if that's your end game (pun intended;).
A great battery life and "ok" storage
Battery life is a pretty big deal in convertibles, though less so on convertibles with bigger form factors. That said, we were pretty surprised to see that HP actually went the extra mile over here and implemented a battery that can deliver up to 8 hours of overall usage.
Even if we were to expect battery life to be a bit lower (as it tends to be), a solid 7 hours on mixed usage should be expected and that's still a very decent amount of time.
As far as storage is concerned, it's quite clear that the market is still torn between those who prefer to have loads of storage and those who would rather have less storage capacity but more storage velocity.
In the case of the HP Pavilion x360 15-bk010nr it seems as though HP opted to favour those who want the maximum amount of storage and the company implemented a 1TB hard drive working at 5400rpm giving you more than enough space to store all your files, games, videos and anything else you might wanna have with you at all times.
More stuff worth mentioning...
Ok, so we've already covered our bases but we're not done until we check out the extra features. In this regard we've got a couple of USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, SD card reader and quite surprisingly an ethernet port which isn't as common as you'd think amongst convertibles.
As expected for a high end model we've also got WiFi ac connectivity, Bluetooth support, an advanced HD webcam and some pretty decent speakers for a convertible courtesy of HP's partnership with Bang & Olufsen.
In closing...
This is a pretty good convertible, no matter how you look at it. You've got grade A performance thanks to its 6th generation i5, sufficient RAM to do intensive multitasking and a beautiful Full HD display with IPS technology to increase viewing angles while also delivering a crisp and clear image great for editing pics, videos and watching your favourite movies.
Battery life is also a big pro in the HP Pavilion x360 15-bk010nr in review and the ethernet port allows for additional connectivity options that aren't typically available in this format.
Personally I would've prefered an SSD storage unit yet I know many people who would choose 1TB of storage over 256GB any day of the week, regardless of storage velocity. All in all, you gotta take into account the fact that this laptop is gonna be fast either way so increasing velocity by a few seconds with an SSD might not be worthwhile for most customer who would much rather not have to deal with storage limitations.
In the end, if you're looking to get your hands on a convertible that can also deliver a stellar performance as a fully fledged notebook then this is the way to go. You can look up pricing and availability over here!