HP’s $299 Windows 10-Ready Pavilion x2 Hybrid Ships With Neutered USB-C Port

Hewlett-Packard’s popular Pavilion x2 hybrid has received a pretty thorough makeover in anticipation of July 29 release of Windows 10. Like before, the Pavilion x2 features a 10-inch tablet which can be docked with an included keyboard.

However, HP has updated the design of Pavilion x2 with a magnetic latch connector that allows the user to easily attach and detach the keyboard. The tablet alone weighs 1.29 pounds, while the weight nearly doubles to 2.48 pounds with the keyboard attaches. The tablet itself is 9.65mm thick, and swells to 16.75mm with the keyboard attached.

Under the hood, you’ll find that the base machine incorporates an Intel Atom Z3736F Processor with 2GB of RAM and a 32GB SSD. The 10.1-inch IPS display features a resolution of 1280x800, and you’ll find a full-size USB 2.0 port, micro HDMI connector, microSD reader, dual front-facing speakers with B&O Play, and a front-facing HP TrueVison HD Webcam. The big addition, however, is a single USB-C port (the port powers and charges the Pavilion x2 and can also transfer data), but don’t get too excited — while the connector is in fact USB Type-C, it doesn’t transfer data at USB 3.0 speeds (only USB 2.0 speeds are supported). And thus starts confusion between different implementations of the USB-C standard…

The base Pavilion x2 starts at $299 and will be available in both Blizzard White or Sunset Red (which inexplicably adds $10 to the price). Opting for a 64GB SSD pushes the price to $399. One year of Microsoft Office 365 Personal including 60 Skype Premium and one TB of OneDrive storage are included for free.

The hybrid will ship on July 1 with Windows 8.1, but will of course be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 10.