HP Pavilion X360 14M-BA015DX Review

If you’re a fan of the Windows Ink and love the idea of taking your notes and doing scribble straight on your laptop then HP Pavilion X360 14M-BA015DX can be surely worthy of your attention. It comes with a 14-inch display connected with 360° hinges to transform it from a laptop to a tablet or anything in between. To know whether it was able to survive on its own, read on.

 
Check out the latest price for the HP Pavilion X360 14M-BA015DX
 

Specs:

 

  • CPU – Intel Core i3 Dual-Core (7th Gen), 2.4 GHz
  • GPU – Intel HD Graphics 620
  • Memory – 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4
  • Screen – 14.0-inch HD (1,366 x 768) with 10-point touchscreen
  • Storage – 500 GB SATA
  • OS – Windows 10 Home edition

 

Benefits:

 

  • Performance – For a low budget 2-in-1 I would say it is equipped pretty generously- an Intel Core i3 processor, 8 gigs of RAM and 500 gigs of 5400 rpm hard disk drive for your storage needs. It packs enough power to take on your everyday media consumption needs as well as internet surfing and mail checking tasks. And the duo of Core i3 processor and the 8 GB RAM is able to handle medium amount of multitasking if that’s your business. It comes with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 GPU to handle your occasional graphical usage. Although I wouldn’t really recommend you this one for gaming as it can handle only that much strenuous stuff. It can run some of the lesser taxing titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in low or medium preset though if you ever feel like whacking some baddies.
  • Display – Pavilion X360 14M comes with a 14 inch HD display. The display is pretty good for a budget 2-in-1 I have to say. As the name implies the laptop can be folded completely up to 360° to convert it into the tablet mode. And most importantly it comes with the HP Active Stylus and it supports Windows Ink. As a result, you can use it for taking notes and sketching. The stylus works pretty well for a low budget notebook without any significant lag or delay. I would say it’s one of the biggest positives about this laptop. I have just two complaints about the otherwise great screen. Firstly, it’s just an HD display meaning the native resolution is 1,366 x 768. Yeah, I know it’s a budget laptop and all but HD displays are hopelessly outdated these days. It could easily have been an FHD (1,920 x 1,080) screen (or 1600 x 900, what they prefer to call HD+ at least). And the second issue is the really narrow viewing angle. Even while looking slightly off centre the visuals quickly get washed out. So it might be problematic for watching movies together with your friends.

 

Downsides:

 

  • Slow HDD – Who uses a 5400 rpm prehistoric hard disk these days? I mean they are the slowest among the slowest. While the average sequential transfer rate of the far superior NVMe SSD, SATA SSD and 7200 rpm HDD are 1500 MBps, 500 MBps and 150 MBps respectively the same comes down to a meagre <100 MBps for 5400 rpm HDD. As a result, the performance gets a major hit and the machine gets significantly slower. So you should opt for a rather snappy solid state drive if you think the slow hard disk drive is not really your cup of tea.
  • No optical disk drive – It doesn’t come with an internal optical disk drive. If you’re anything like me then you would certainly find it pretty irritating as you might need it to run those old CDs or DVDs. So again, if you need the optical drive you have to go for an external USB drive.

 

Verdict:

 

HP Pavilion X360 14M-BA015DX is a pretty good choice if you ask me. A somewhat average display, the good battery backup and the excellent stylus support- everything you might need out of a budget notebook. And the good news is that you’re getting all of these at just around five hundred bucks. A great 2-in-1 at an even greater price. Recommended.

 
Check out the latest price for the HP Pavilion X360 14M-BA015DX