HP Pavilion x360 13t Review: A Quality Mainstream Convertible Laptop

We wrapped up our performance benchmarks with Futuremark’s PCMark 8, 3DMark and Far Cry 2. PCMark 8 v2 is a cross-platform suite that gauges a system’s capabilities in several usage categories. The venerable well-known 3DMark also has a suite of cross-platform tests, but these are tailored to measuring a system’s graphics chops. And finally, Far Cry 2 gives us a chance to see how the laptop handles a fairly lightweight game.

PCMark 8 Benchmarks Productivity And System-Level Benchmarking

We selected three tests from the PCMark 8 benchmark suite: Home, Storage and Work. Futuremark recently improved all three tests with PCMark 8 version 2. We selected the Open CL "Accelerated" options for both Home and Work.


The Pavilion x360 13t fared well here, providing better Home Accelerated and Work Accelerated scores than most of its counterparts. The system’s SSD also delivered a reasonable score in the storage benchmark.

3DMark Cloud Gate and Sky Diver Synthetic DirectX Gaming And Graphics Testing

We used the Cloud Gate benchmark, which targets laptops like the Pavilion x360 13t, to get a sense of how it compares to similar systems running a 3D graphics workload. We also ran Sky Diver, which is a tougher test aimed at gaming laptops and PCs.


You can see that the Pavilion x360 13t fared better in the lighter Cloud Gate test than it did in Sky Diver, which isn’t surprising. We compared this laptop (and a few models with more-powerful processors) to the ASUS ZenBook UX501, which sports NVIDIA GTX 960M graphics to demonstrate just how much the dedicated graphics matter to a system’s gaming capabilities.

Far Cry 2 Benchmark Light-Duty DX10 Gaming

When it comes to lush vegetation in a steaming, sinister jungle, no one pulls it off quite like Ubisoft does in its Far Cry series. Far Cry 2 uses high-quality textures, complex shaders, and dynamic lighting to create a realistic environment. The game’s built-in, DirectX 10-based benchmark gives us a good look at a system’s light-duty gaming performance.


The Far Cry 2 benchmark confirms that the Pavilion x360 13t has enough muscle to play older 3D games, and casual games, but it's not meant for the latest, greatest games.