I wanted to love the HP SlateBook x2. I imagined the Android tablet-slash-laptop replacing my daily driver, a mid-2012 13-inch MacBook Air, and I saw myself taking advantage of its lengthy battery life to get through an entire day's worth of work without having to worry about where I left my charger. Now that Android has a better library of productivity apps that work on a larger screen, I should be able to do everything I want to.
Then I actually used the damn thing.
Whereas HP's previous Android offering, the Slate 7, disappointed only as a tablet, the SlateBook is a tablet/laptop hybrid that has problems no matter which way you use it: This device is clunky, awkward, and extremely buggy.
Stiff joints and cramped quarters
The SlateBook is surprisingly heavy for its diminutive size. Although the tablet alone weighs less than the fourth-generation iPad, the tablet and dock together weigh as much as a standard Ultrabook. When not docked, the SlateBook resembles pretty much every other Android tablet: The 10.1-inch, 1920-by-1200-pixel display is clear enough that you can read text without straining your eyes, and the tablet as a whole seems designed for use in landscape mode rather than portrait. Having a widescreen aspect ratio makes the SlateBook great for movies and games, but comic books and magazines will appear squeezed in portrait mode on the tall and skinny screen.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon