HP Elitebook x360 review: security built into hardware, built-in privacy screen, great software and design with wide range of ports, starts at $1,279
Ewan Spence / Forbes :
Context & Ripple Effects
HP is pitching the EliteBook x360 as a business convertible where security lives in the silicon — a hardware-rooted privacy screen and built-in protection — rather than as software add-ons, at a $1,279 starting price. That matters because the convertible field it enters is crowded: Ars Technica's Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 review praised that machine's design and Windows Hello fingerprint reader but flagged it as pricier than comparable HP Spectre x360 configurations.
The review also continues a thread from HP's own recent history — the EliteBook Folio G1 was dinged for a confusing configuration matrix, so a clear starting price and a defined feature set read as a correction. Within months HP would extend the same Elite playbook across form factors with the EliteOne 1000 all-in-one and refreshed EliteBooks.
First-order effects
- Business buyers shopping convertibles get hardware-level privacy and security as a default feature set at $1,279, pressuring Dell's XPS 13 2-in-1, which competes on design but sits above comparable HP configurations on price.
- HP sharpens its EliteBook identity around embedded security and a wide port selection, giving IT purchasers a concrete reason to pick it over consumer-leaning convertibles.
Second-order effects
- Rivals are pushed to match physical privacy features — screen filters and biometric login — as table stakes in the business segment rather than optional extras, since Forbes frames them as differentiators here.
- HP's success with the formula funds an expansion of the Elite brand beyond laptops, as seen in the EliteOne 1000 desktop and later the ultra-light EliteBook Dragonfly convertible.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, premium business laptops consolidate around built-in security hardware and fleet-manageable designs as the primary axis of competition, with price-to-configuration clarity becoming a selling point after the Folio G1's confusing options.
- The Elite sub-brand becomes HP's vehicle for carrying one design language across desktops and ultralights, narrowing the distinction between enterprise and high-end consumer machines.
The trend: Premium laptops are shifting from spec-sheet competition toward built-in hardware security and privacy as the deciding factor for business buyers.