HP is refreshing its Pavilion x360 14 2-in-1 for 2020, introducing an entry-level model with Intel's latest 10th-generation Ice Lake chips in the mix and a few design tweaks.
Fans of the 2019 Pavilion x360 14 won't notice any major changes cosmetically. The new 2-in-1 machine has a slightly larger trackpad and is slightly slimmer, but otherwise looks largely unchanged.2020 The Pavilion x360 14 includes a USB Type-A port, HDMI connectivity, DisplayPort 1.5 and power delivery-enabled USB-C, and a full-size SD card reader.
HP made its biggest change under the chassis. The previous Pavilion model used Intel's 10th generation Comet Lake processors, but the new model will use Ice Lake chips. Ice Lake CPUs use Intel's new 10-nanometer manufacturing node, which, simply put, is more power efficient than the 14nm node. In short, it is more power efficient than Comet Lake chips, which use the 14nm node.
In other words, the new Pavilion x360 14 has either a Core i3-1005G1 dual-core processor running at 1.2GHz to 3.4GHz or a Core i5-1035G1 with four cores and a 3.6GHz clock speed. On paper, this new machine is a little less powerful overall than its predecessor, but it should be more power efficient and have better battery life. The laptop will also now support 4G LTE, which should make it more ideal for getting work done on the go.
One thing to note is that while Ice Lake's top chips feature Intel's new integrated graphics, Iris Plus, these lower chips still use Intel UHD graphics. This shouldn't be too big a deal for an affordable 2-in-1 that is more likely to be used for basic tasks than gaming and video rendering. Apple's MacBook Air 2020 also has such a chip if you're a macOS fan.
Thanks to the Ice Lake chip, the new Pavilion x360 14 supports faster memory than its older sibling, offering 8GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM as opposed to DDR4-2666. The system's storage supports up to 1TB of SSD space.
Both new entry-level Pavilion x360 14 models are available today, with the Core i3 model in "natural silver" for $499 and the Core i5 machine in "warm gold" for $749.
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