American information technology company HP on Wednesday announced the launch of its latest powerful and detachable PC, christened as the “HP ZBook x2” at the Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas. Carried a starting price of $1,749 (approximately Rs. 1,13,800), the new HP ZBook x2 will be made available starting December in Silver colour option. The HP ZBook x2 has been designed for those artists, designers and digital imaging professionals who use Adobe’s pro software suite like Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator. The new powerful device is powered by the latest 8th generation and 7th generation Intel Core i7 and Intel Core i5 processors and offers a range of new features such as premium design, Wacom EMR Pen stylus support, upgraded storage options, NVIDIA Quadro M620 graphics card, a detachable backlit keyboard, a built-in kickstand, improved battery life and a 14-inch, 10-bit 4K “Dreamcolor” antiglare display. The computer manufacturer claims that the HP ZBook x2 is the “world’s most powerful and first detachable PC workstation”.
As far as specifications are concerned, the HP ZBook x2 comes equipped with a stunning 14-inch diagonal, 4K multi-touch display with a screen resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. The 14-inch LED-backlit anti-glare display is also colour calibrated for accuracy and can render 100 percent of the Adobe RGB colour spectrum. Under the hood, the HP ZBook x2 is powered by the latest 8th generation Intel Core i7 (Intel Core i7-8650U & i7-8550U) and 7th generation Intel Core i7 (Intel Core i7-7500U & i7-7600U) and Intel Core i5 processors, which comes coupled with up to 32GB of DDR4 SDRAM for smooth multitasking and up to 512GB PCIe-based NVMe M.2 SED solid-state drive (SSD) storage for faster data access speeds and boot-up times. There is also an optional 2-terabyte NVMe M.2 SSD inside the tablet.
In terms of graphics, the 14-inch HP ZBook x2 high-end variant comes packed with an Intel UHD Graphics 620 integrated GPU or NVIDIA Quadro M620 discrete GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 dedicated VRAM for an incredible gaming performance and detailed gaming visuals. The NVIDIA Quadro graphics delivers 73 percent higher graphics performance compared to the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.
The HP ZBook x2 has passed the US Military Standard MIL-STD 810G Transit Drop Test against a subset of specific environmental conditions, including extreme temperature, dust, shock/vibration, etc. That means the detachable PC is capable of tackling the rough conditions (including extreme pressures, temperatures, climates, shocks, and drops) due to its ruggedness. Apart from this, the tablet also comes with an embedded stylus powered by Wacom EMR technology that features 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. The stylus supports tilt detection and has a dedicated eraser button at the top, which actually acts like a real eraser.
In terms of optics, the HP ZBook x2 features a 720p HD front-facing webcam with IR technology and a 720p HD rear-facing webcam. The device also has a smart card reader, a fingerprint sensor and supports Windows Hello facial recognition technology for the biometric authentication process. It features customizable, application-aware HP Quick Keys with 18 different shortcuts for some Adobe Creative Cloud apps like Lightroom and Photoshop. The HP ZBook x2 runs on a 64-bit Windows 10 Home Single Language (for base variant), and Windows 10 Pro (for workstations).
The HP ZBook x2 comes with an adjustable kickstand that can be automatically deployed and retracted, providing single-handed operation as simple as opening and adjusting the screen on a clamshell laptop. While in docked mode, it can power five additional displays or dual 4K displays from the HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt 3. Connectivity ports on the device include two Thunderbolt 3-compatible USB Type-C connectors, one USB 3.0 connector, one HDMI port, one 3.5mm combo Audio Jack port for headphone and microphone, and one multi-format media card reader slot (SDXC/SDHC).
On the battery front, the HP ZBook x2 comes loaded with a long-life 4-cell, 70Wh Li-ion polymer battery that is rated to deliver up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. The machine also supports fast-changing technology that means it can go from zero percent battery life to 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes. The HP ZBook x2 sports an aluminium and magnesium chassis. Dimensionally, the laptop-style HP ZBook x2 measures at 14.35 x 8.94 x 0.8 inches (W x D x H) and weighs 2.17 kg, while the tablet-style HP ZBook x2 measures 14.35 x 8.94 x 0.57 inches (W x D x H) and weighs 1.65 kg.
