HP Envy X2 or Samsung Ativ 500t? About to pull the trigger

woodbane

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Title says it all.

Been perusing all the threads, reviews and feedback I can find on these two devices and have now lined up a couple in my crosshairs for pretty reasonable dollar amounts. Both with keyboard docks.

I've been leaning toward the X2 but am now vascillating and can't make up my mind.

Help a brother out guys! Throw information at me. :winktongue:

Oh yeah - information ASAP please, one item would have to be purchased tomorrow to lock in good price.
 

Ruined

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This is a pretty easy one.

If you need a stylus right now, then the Ativ 500T is the easy winner.

If you don't need a stylus right now, then the HP Envy X2 is the easy winner.
EDIT: Well, that was quick you can now order the stylus direct from HP for $39.00. That being said if you don't mind the extra cost the HP is the winner period here IMO.

ATIV supports a stylus and comes with it.
-HP Envy X2 supports a stylus as well, but it is an optional accessory that is not available yet (nor is it available for preorder, even, but it is "coming" EDIT: See above)

In every other respect, the HP Envy X2 is better. It is built much better with a nice brushed aluminum fit and finish instead of plastic while weighing the same, keyboard dock is better and much more secure than the Samsung, and you can get the X2 with a 128GB hard drive from HP.COM for "free" (use $100 off coupon code CAMPUS498) instead of only 64gb on the Samsung.

Aside from the hard drive most of the other specs are similar.

Overall the HP Envy X2 is the much better built product that hopefully will have a stylus at some point in the future. But honestly, it is no guarantee if and when that will happen, so if lack of stylus is a dealbreaker go with the Samsung.
 
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theefman

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Interesting that HP now has a 128GB option, if they used a Wacom digitizer I think it would be very high on peoples list. Hopefully they don't abandon Windows for android as rumored and stick around for Bay Trail and Haswell.
 

woodbane

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Does anyone know the difference between the x2 11t-g010nr and the x2 11t-g0000? I really can't seem to see any difference at all.
 

woodbane

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Finally did it, pulled the trigger on a brand new HP Envy X2 - should arrive tomorrow. Very excited to play with my new toy!
 

Ridemyscooter86

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as an hp envy x2 owner as well, make sure to update the bios and all the drivers through hp's website (cause windows 8 doesn't detect the new drivers), they fi all the bugs with the tablet and make it run faster and much more stable
 

woodbane

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Is there no HP update software on board? I planned to do an immediate factory reset and then update all the drivers. Do I really have to download them all one by one? (And do you think I need to do a factory reset out of the box or am I just being anal?)
 

Ruined

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You don't need to do a reset, but you should update firmware/drivers if the ones on HP's site are newer.

Please give feedback on how all of the Windows Store games run like Cut the Rope, Riptide, Hydro Thunder, etc - lag, responsiveness, framerate, etc.
 

woodbane

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You don't need to do a reset, but you should update firmware/drivers if the ones on HP's site are newer.

Please give feedback on how all of the Windows Store games run like Cut the Rope, Riptide, Hydro Thunder, etc - lag, responsiveness, framerate, etc.

Thanks updated all the drivers manually via the website and all windows updates also. I have to say my initial impressions have been OK. Tablet seems responsive and handles most things well. I've had a couple of lockups but I'm putting those down to Windows 8 rather than the Envy.

Based on preliminary usage those games seem to run fine on my Envy X2. I also tried Pinball FX2 and noticed that it did automatically set graphics settings to low. Hydro thunder was giving me a little lag but in all fairness the tablet was downloading all the other games at the same time.

I'll give them another go later. That being said - this thing plays older PC games OK as well. I've actually loaded up Guild Wars and it plays fine on lower settings, although my suspicion is things may slow down a bit once the game gets in to more intensive areas.

Couple of questions/concerns I have that I'd be happy for someone to answer if they can.

  1. I've definitely noticed the occasional keyboard error as others have reported. It's either a double space or repeated letter. I'm not sure but it seems related to how hard you are hitting the keys - the harder, the more errors. So, if you are a real keyboard basher you may have issues. Within the time I've been drafting this response I've begun to type softer and I'm noticing far fewer errors.
  2. Wi-Fi - this is probably my area of biggest concern and there is a 7 page thread in the HP Forums on it. It's really not great. It seems that the low power Atom chip also means compromises have had to be made in the wireless card department. Firstly it seems we're limited to a maximum bandwidth of 65 MB/s in spite of it being wireless N. Secondly, as soon as you move any distance away from your wireless router the signal really drops off. For instance, I'm sitting about 8 feet from my router currently and yet still only have 4/5 bars. If I go upstairs, it drops to 2 and sometimes to 1. That's not good in my opinion but it may just be a feature set of these low power devices we'll have to learn to live with. I've also had the issue crop up where after the device reboots, the Wi-Fi will not reconnect and the only way to get it to do so is to forget the network and re establish. However, to be fair, this also happens on my wife's Acer V5 laptop. I'm coming to the conclusion that again this is Windows 8 based - I think Windows 8 has some serious Wi-Fi driver issues that need to be sorted out.
  3. Can't figure out the dock/tablet charging combination. I've only had the tablet since Friday but it seems like that once the tablet battery drops below a certain amount (not sure what, perhaps 80%), that's when the keyboard starts actively topping up the tablet. Prior to that it seems that if you're docked, the dock battery gets used first. So, if you use the tablet standalone and run the battery from 100% down to 90% and then dock and put to sleep, nothing happens. I think if the tablet goes below 80% and you dock and go to sleep that then the dock charges the tablet. I haven't quite figured it out yet but I definitely have it happen at least once where I docked the tablet, put to sleep and then when took out later, the tablet battery was back at 97%. Still playing around with this.

I have to say all in all it seems like a nice little setup with a few potential drawbacks but if you've done your research on the Atom based tablets you know what you're getting in to.

I am getting a replacement from Amazon though as I have come across one hardware issue - my volume rocker is very unsatisfactory, hardly clicks in the Vol. down position, very mushy and doesn't always register at all. I was also extremely pissed that when they shipped the Envy - it didn't even come in a shipping box, they just slapped shipping labels on the retail box and that's how it arrived - all scuffed and dirty from the back of the UPS van. I made sure to point out that maybe THAT was the cause of the 'damage'.

I'm going to have to do an Acronis backup of this machine and clone it on to the new machine when it arrives though - I've done waaaay to much setup and config on this thing to want to do it all again.

Still - liking it so far. :grin:
 

Ruined

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It will be interesting to see how HP responds to the keyboard issue. I heard the Lenovo Lynx is dropping keys instead of duping them! :)

re: wifi, what does the speed drop to at 1-2 bars?
 

woodbane

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about 10MB/s. Runs at 20-23MB/s downstairs.

More worryingly I really do think Windows 8 has some serious Wi-Fi issues. EVERY single time this reboots I lose the Wi-Fi connection and have to reinstall the adaptor. Doing a quick Google, it would appear this issue is widespread across many manufacturers - Dell, HP, Acer, Asus.

What the **** is MS doing?
 

woodbane

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So with regards to the Wi-Fi issue I am starting to strongly suspect this is actually a router issue. I have the tablet with me at work today and it connected to the AP no problem at all. I've rebooted 5 or 6 times and it reconnects each time without fail. A quick perusal of the Netgear website shows there may be updated firmware available for routers to make them Windows 8 compatible. I'll have to wait until I get home to test though.

Also a further note on gaming. I tried Hydro Thunder again last night with nothing else running in the background. The game starts fine but then about halfway though the first lap (random, not always at exact same point) it will black screen and crash.

Up to that point I'd have to say it runs OK - so maybe Intel needs to tweak the performance of the GPU driver some more for the Atom chipset.

Had a little play with Cut The Rope - played first 4 levels, no issues whatsoever. Same with Angry Birds Star Wars - no issues.

I'll try Riptide later and see if that suffers from same issue as Hydro Thunder.
Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro
 

Andrewbachle

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I highly suggest the HP Envy X2! I bought mine about 2 months ago & absolutely love it.

I also was able to save $100 with the coupon code: CAMPUS178 after registering for free at: hpdirect.com/academy/microsoft

Great deal & great computer. Let me know if you have any questions!
 

woodbane

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So with regards to the Wi-Fi issue I am starting to strongly suspect this is actually a router issue. I have the tablet with me at work today and it connected to the AP no problem at all. I've rebooted 5 or 6 times and it reconnects each time without fail. A quick perusal of the Netgear website shows there may be updated firmware available for routers to make them Windows 8 compatible. I'll have to wait until I get home to test though.

Also a further note on gaming. I tried Hydro Thunder again last night with nothing else running in the background. The game starts fine but then about halfway though the first lap (random, not always at exact same point) it will black screen and crash.

Up to that point I'd have to say it runs OK - so maybe Intel needs to tweak the performance of the GPU driver some more for the Atom chipset.

Had a little play with Cut The Rope - played first 4 levels, no issues whatsoever. Same with Angry Birds Star Wars - no issues.

I'll try Riptide later and see if that suffers from same issue as Hydro Thunder.
Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro


So to update you guys even further around these points.

1. Wi-Fi issues was definitely a router issue. Purchased new dual band wireless N router and no more connection issues. The other router we had was a single band wireless N from Comcast that had their own ****ty firmware on it, it was a nice Netgear router but I couldn't even upgrade the firmware to the latest Win 8 supported one from Netgear - it was locked down tight. New router = no more problems.

2.Hydro Thunder Hurricane crashes every time in about the same place - the second set of tunnels. You can really tweak the graphics in settings and I've had everything turned down low and it still crashes. I'm suspecting either a bug in the game, it's not well coded for Atom processors or poor Intel drivers for the Atom GPU. It's a shame as it plays OK up until the crash. I'm just waiting for Riptide to download as I type this and I'll try that but I've had no other issues with any other games. ARMED seems to run fine, Cut the Rope has no lag from what I can see, gonna try Guns for Hire as well and I'll report back.

**EDIT UPDATED - Riptide plays no problem on maximum settings, water effects on the screen and everything. Guns for Hire also seemed fine - I did get an occasional black flicker on the screen but this did happen at the same time I had four separate emails come in over the course of the first level.**

Overall I have to say I'm really liking this device so far. My biggest disappointment to date is Xbox Music (which we all know sucks) but it REALLY sucks on the Atom processor (and I guess also on RT) for one MAJOR reason. Anytime you have music queued up, it will stop after one song and give a file format error. Doesn't make any difference if it's my own personal DRM free tunes or streaming from Xbox Music a la Smart DJ. It's got to be a fault with the Atom/ARM processor support or something as it doesn't happen on Core Intel CPU's.

One other big thumbs up and I'm going to create a new thread for this - you can currently pick this device up for $599 from Amazon! That's an insanely good price for this (but actually probably more like where these should be pitched at TBH). Still - a great deal!
Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro
 
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deadwrong03

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I highly suggest the HP Envy X2! I bought mine about 2 months ago & absolutely love it.

I also was able to save $100 with the coupon code: CAMPUS178 after registering for free at: hpdirect.com/academy/microsoft

Great deal & great computer. Let me know if you have any questions!
so u jus go to the website and register it that code and u can buy the laptop anywhere?

what are u guys doing about a cdr drive since it doesnt have one on here to burn cds/dvds
 

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