Performance-wise, this is a budget tablet and you should expect budget tablet performance… but you don’t get that. You get much better than you would expect at this price point. The quad-core Bay Trail CPU in this thing just hauls… and coupled with a flash memory storage device, it’s more than sufficient for most light-duty tasks you would do on a tablet. Is it a Surface Pro 3? No… so don’t try to use it like one. You’re likely not going to get good handwriting performance on this thing without an active stylus, it’s not going to run a bunch of applications at once… but it will do light-duty web browsing, games, etc. It also works great as a Steam streaming device, so if you have a computer running Steam, you can stream your games to the tablet and it will work just fine. Also, it has front-facing speakers and the screen is crystal clear, so it’s great for watching movies on. You also get a full-size USB port which is advertised as being USB 3.0, but I haven’t tested that yet… regardless, the addition of a full-size USB port means you have a wide range of accessories you can connect to the tablet, such as mice, keyboards, etc. It also has mini-HDMI out as well. In theory, you *could* use this as a light-duty desktop replacement by connecting a USB hub with a mouse and keyboard connected to that, and a monitor via HDMI… but I wouldn’t recommend it. What’s the point of having a tablet with a touch screen if you’re… never going to use the touch screen functionality? One last note: Do yourself a favor and buy at least a 64GB microSD card to throw in this thing to add extra storage space. I believe it will handle up to 128GB… I have a 64GB card in it and it works fine. For $~30, you’re not going to beat that cost to triple your storage space on this tablet.

One of the major, MAJOR plusses of this device? The battery life is RIDICULOUS. My previous IRULU tablet lasted maybe four hours, even on standby. This thing will run literally the entire day even under a decent workload. I’ve gone two days without charging this device numerous times and it still has enough juice to get me through most of the second day before I absolutely have to charge it (assuming I haven’t been playing Solitaire on it all day, lol).

Another nice side of this tablet is the way the keyboard and the tablet link up. I’ve read a number of reviews where people complained about the magnetic keyboard stand and how it doesn’t hold the tablet up correctly, etc. From my experience, those people just didn’t know what they were doing. I’ve never had any issues with the stand. The tablet has two magnetic points across the back which you can CLEARLY feel once you position the keyboard’s stand against them. After that, don’t bang on the touchscreen and expect the magnet to hold… When you’re not using the tablet, the keyboard cover is very solidly held against the tablet. It almost feels like a netbook when you have the case closed. The design takes a little getting used to, but I like it.

Bottom line? Yeah, you might get a bum unit. It’s always a possibility. And it may not fail right out of the box. There’s always that possibility too. So cover yourself: Buy the 1 year warranty with the extra $30 you’re saving compared to most of the competitors in this range (assuming you get the 32GB version), and give it a shot. If your unit fails, get a replacement. Because this tablet is good enough to give a second chance.

I bought the HP Pavilion X2 the next day, and got it shipped via Prime.The first one I got had an issue where the machine was not able to find the keyboard.I tried several things and eventually called HP support directly.They diagnosed the problem and gave me several options to remedy the situation.They were very helpful and courteous and helped me immensely.In the end, I chose to return it to Amazon as it seemed to be the quickest way to get a replacement (and I needed one fairly soon, as I planned to use it on a trip).Their hardware support manager (I believe his name is Vijay?) even called me three times to make sure that I was able to get it replaced and that I was satisfied with their service.Where are you going to find that nowadays?I’ve always liked HP’s products and this experience reminded me why.

I went online and requested to return the device, and Amazon shipped me a replacement the same day, even BEFORE they received the defective laptop.When I got the replacement I plugged it in and everything worked exactly as expected.The keyboard works well with the tablet and it’s fast enough and powerful enough for my fairly simple needs (web surfing, some Office use, web development).If you’re looking for a portable, inexpensive and easy-to-use replacement for a Windows laptop, I’d definitely recommend this machine.