HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3 Review: Thin, Light, Sleek
HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3: Review Summary And Final Analysis
The EliteBook series covers a wide range of products for HP, but they all have one thing in common. They are designed for business class professionals, a group of people who on a moment's notice can be in Seattle one day or Tokyo the next. More-so than ever, companies are have few borders, with customers and offices all around the world. This means a lot of travel for the modern workforce and you don't want your road warriors traveling with legacy technology and short battery life.
Fortunately, the HP EliteBook x360 1030 line of convertibles comes with the latest in Intel mobile platform hardware and also allows companies to configure the memory, storage and display to best fit their needs. Our recommendation would be to not skimp out on system memory, since it's soldered to the motherboard, though that's a common issue these days with many ultralight machines. That said, the rest of the EliteBook's hardware is up to challenge for almost any 2-in-1 user. Regardless of memory configurations, the EliteBook x360 can handle image editing, spread sheets and mainstream games, when the boss is away. HP's 2-in-1 design with this machine is also executed well, making it a handy tool for any business user who needs more flexibility and portability than a standard laptop can offer.
The HP EliteBook x360 1030 is a solid travel companion. At under 3 lbs, it's light enough to carry anywhere, and at just slightly over a foot long, it will easily fit in almost any carry-on bag. Even with the small size of the chassis, HP was still able to fit a 13.3" display in the EliteBook x360, thanks to generally thinner bezels all around. Its display won't disappoint either, as it produces vibrant colors, sharp contrast, and crisp image quality. The only downside is the glossy display throws reflections a bit, even with its 400 nits rating. In terms of performance, the EliteBook x360 1030 delivers as well. For everyday business class tasks, this machine is up to to the challenge. In our testing, it was one right in the mix with similar class 2-in-1 devices we've tested. The machine's a dual fan cooling system that does a decent job preventing the processor from throttling, though admittedly the machine never hit our very top echelon of test scores either. We can go on and on about performance, but the honest truth is any Intel Kaby Lake R processor with 16GB of memory will yield similar results. These days, most laptops need to find a way to stand out in different ways, and in this case it was battery life and build quality. When testing the EliteBook x360 under real-world usage, it had an up time of nearly eight hours. That's enough time to fly from Seattle to Miami and still have spare up-time for the meeting without plugging in.
We really enjoyed our time with the EliteBook x360, but there were a few issues we found. The first was the fact that its lid can be hard to open. When holding the machine on your lap it's hard to get a good grip on the lid, making it slightly awkward. The other thing we noticed was that when in tablet mode, the machine's keys didn't retract into the chassis. This means you'll feel the keys even when holding it like a tablet. The keys are disabled, but it's just not as comfortable to hold it in tablet mode with the key caps leaving an uneven surface.
Other than these small issues, we found the HP EliteBook x360 1030 to be an outstanding product for mobile professionals, students and home users alike. Its 2-in-1 design offers the flexibility the modern work force sometimes needs and it has battery life that competes with the best of breed out there currently. HP also offers plenty of optional accessories to further increase productivity, while the EliteBook x360's sleek chassis will look great in the conference room, coffee shop or classroom. All told, the new 3rd generation HP EliteBook x360 1030 is HotHardware Recommended.
 |
 |
|
|
