HP ProBook x360 11 G1 EE review

A budget 2016 education convertible whose Pentium CPU is the real ceiling

The HP ProBook x360 11 G1 EE (2016) is an 11.6-inch education-focused convertible built around an Intel Pentium N4200, landing at $150 — below the convertible-class median of about $356. As an education machine it was designed for ruggedness and classroom use rather than performance, and every meaningful metric reflects that: integrated graphics only (score 0), a performance index of 6.02, and a CPU score of 12.03.

The 2-in-1 form factor at a budget price

The x360 form factor with touch and ruggedised chassis is the main reason to consider this machine — it is built to be handled, dropped, and used by students, and the 11.6-inch size is genuinely portable. For a buyer who specifically wants a cheap, rugged 2-in-1 for very light duties (note-taking, web, media), the design is the value proposition.

The Pentium CPU is the honest ceiling

The weak spot by level is graphics performance, but the broader truth is that the Pentium N4200 itself is the ceiling: a basic-tier quad-core Atom-class processor that handles email, web, and light documents but little else. There is no discrete GPU, and the integrated graphics of this era manage only basic media. This is a machine for genuinely light duties, not for productivity power use.

Depreciation in line with the class

From a base near $1500 (education models typically launched high on contract pricing), the laptop has depreciated to $150 at roughly 8% per year, with a projected value around $127 in two years — a typical curve for a 2016 convertible that has already lost most of its value.

Education-convertible peers bracket it

Slightly pricier options include the Dell Latitude 3120 2-in-1 ($160) and HP ProBook x360 11 G3 EE ($160); cheaper alternatives include the HP Pavilion X360 ($137) and Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 2-14 ($132), which offer similar budget convertible hardware for slightly less.

Bottom line

The ProBook x360 11 G1 EE only makes sense for a buyer who specifically wants a cheap, rugged 2-in-1 for very light duties — note-taking, web, media — and who understands the Pentium CPU ceiling. For anything more demanding, slightly pricier peers with newer processors are the better spend.