HP 14-dw1024nr Review: Much More Than a Stylish Convertible

Finding the perfect laptop is not always an easy endeavor, with many of us being torn between purchasing a tablet or a notebook. It's with that in mind that HP released the HP 14-dw1024nr - the laptop we're going to cover today -. A competitively priced convertible laptop designed to fill this gap by providing us with a 360º convertible touchscreen laptop that allows us to have the best of both worlds.

More specifically, HP has found the perfect balance between functionality and design on this model. It's a sleek and beautiful machine that stands out thanks to its 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 256 GB SSD storage capacity, Full HD IPS display screen - which is also touch-enabled obviously- and fast charging capabilities.

But is this the perfect convertible laptop for you? That's what we're here to find out!

Design and Display

The HP 14-dw1024nr is a convertible laptop with 360º hinges, which means that you can use it in three different ways: regular laptop mode (landscape), tablet mode (portrait), or tent mode.

Moreover, the design of this model has been streamlined to give it an air of elegance and sophistication - something that is pretty rare as of late when it comes to laptops. And let's not forget what this machine excels at: display quality.

With a 14-inch Full HD IPS touchscreen, the colors will be vivid and lifelike with deep blacks that will provide you with crystal-clear imagery. You can use your fingertips on this screen thanks to its touch-enabled capabilities whilst also allowing you to turn it into a tablet simply by flipping the screen over.

Finally, it's got an excellent quality build that's sturdy and reliable due to its optimized metal design, whilst also being light enough (3.55 pounds) to be easily carried around everywhere we go.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The keyboard on this notebook is spacious and well laid out - something that will come in handy when you're typing up documents for work or school. However, it's far from a high-end keyboard. On that front, key travel -the distance between clicking on a key and it bottoming out- is a bit short and ends abruptly, which can be annoying for those of us who are accustomed to more responsive keyboards.

The keyboard is also not backlit. A feature we're surprised to see is not that common amongst HP laptops like the recently reviewed HP 14-fq1021nr.

Moreover, the trackpad isn't as big as we're accustomed to on "regular laptops", with a set of dimensions of 4.3 by 3 inches. For your reference that's slightly smaller than the current MacBook's own trackpad.

Having said that, the touch and feel of the trackpad is very comfortable and has a texture that's similar to paper, it's not silky-smooth but that can also be an advantage depending on your personal preference. I for one prefer a less slippery trackpad such as the one on this notebook.

HP 14-dw1024nr Performance

If we're going to talk about performance then we need to have a close look at some of its key specs.

On that point, we've got an 11th generation Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor. A quad-core CPU that can clock in at a maximum speed of 4.2 GHz when doing CPU-intensive tasks such as coding, image editing, or even video editing - though we wouldn't recommend this laptop for visual professionals as you can see in our post: How to choose the best laptop for photo editing -.

The 14-dw1024nr also has an interesting 8 GB of DDR4 RAM working at 3200 MHz. That's a pretty standard amount of RAM these days and should be enough for most professionals.

Specifically, with 8 GB of RAM, you can expect to be able to work with numerous programs at a time as well as have several tabs open on the browser without fear of it crashing.

Moreover, the machine has a 256 GB SSD storage capacity and an Intel Iris Xe graphics card that will provide you with some pretty respectable performance when it comes to rendering your videos or playing relatively simple games - though we wouldn't recommend this laptop for gamers simply because of its lack of power in comparison to more advanced models.

So, what everyday performance can I expect with this set of specs?

In a nutshell, the HP 14-dw1024nr is an excellent choice for coding, editing documents, working with CPU-intensive software, doing some non-professional picture editing, as well as streaming video in Full HD.

Is this laptop suitable for college students? What about professionals?

Yes. This laptop is definitely suitable for college students. As far as professionals go, it's going to depend on the software that said professionals are using but with the combination of the 11th gen i5, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage we can see very few use cases where this laptop would not be an ideal fit.

Professionals who need to use 3D rendering programs on a daily basis, gamers who want to play the latest AAA games, or creative professionals such as video editors who need a dedicated graphics card would not benefit from this convertible but for the rest of use cases, this laptop is more than capable of getting the job done.

Battery Life

Beyond the key performance specs, one of the best features of this machine is its long battery life. HP claims that it can last up to 9 hours. This is under a very specific set of conditions that aren't all that realistic so while we're not saying that HP lied they definitely inflated the numbers a bit.

Customer reviews put battery life on this model closer to the 6-7 hour mark. It's not bad but it's far from the advertised 9 hours.

Having said that, we do appreciate the fast-charging technology implemented here, which offers us the possibility of charging this convertible up to 50% of its capacity in just 45 minutes.

Connectivity Options

In terms of connectivity options, the convertible features Wi-Fi 6 AX201 dual-band connectivity as well as Bluetooth 5. Essentially, this is the latest WiFi standard to reach the market and offers up to 40% quicker internet speed than the previous generation WiFi 5 standard - assuming you've got a compatible router -.

It also features a couple of USB Type-A ports, a standalone USB Type-C port with USB power delivery and Display Port technology, as well as an HDMI 2.0 port, a headphone jack, and an SD card reader.

HP has also implemented its signature Bang & Olufsen audio with dual speakers but, to be perfectly honest, this isn't a standout feature at this point. Quality is alright but it's far from breathtaking.

Finally, there's also your standard HD webcam which will do the job but is nothing to write home about.

Bottom Line

Overall, the HP 14-dw1024nr is an excellent choice for students and professionals who need a laptop with great battery life but don't want to sacrifice too much in terms of performance.

The 11th generation Intel i5 CPU and 8 GB RAM are enough to handle most basic tasks without any trouble while fast charging technology allows you to charge your laptop up from 0%-50% in just 45 minutes.

It also features some pretty impressive connectivity options including Wi-Fi 6 AX201 dual-band connection as well as Bluetooth 5. If you're looking for a machine that has both power and portability then this convertible touchscreen computer should be at the top of your list!