Digital Home Thoughts: HP's Big and Bold HDX X18 Laptop Reviewed

This my video review of the HP HDX X18-1058ca, the big and beautiful desktop-replacement laptop from HP. If you haven't watched my unboxing video, be sure to check that out first. This laptop features an 18.4 inch, 1920 x 1080 (1080p), 16 by 9 aspect ratio screen, and weighs in at 8.9 pounds (4.06 kg). It features an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU (2.26 GHz, 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066 MHz FSB ), 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, a 320 GB 5400 RPM SATA drive, a LightScribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer, Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, Intel WiFi Link 5100AGN (that's 802.11a/g/n), four USB ports, an ExpressCard 54 slot, and a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics card. Priced on February 3rd at HP.com, the laptop would cost $1363.99 USD. This exact model number is only available in Canada where it was available for $1599.99 CAD as a holiday special and at this point it's not being offered any more. The more commonly available version, currently offered from Best Buy Canada, is the HDX X18-1180ca, which is a quad-core CPU model and sells for $2199 CAD.

My video contains my opinions of this product, but it has what I call if the "Cursed Canadian Keyboard" and I wanted to expand on that part of my video a bit. I don't type in French (I took it when I was a kid, and have forgotten 99.9% of it by now), so it's a bit frustrating to have a smaller shift key, impairing my use of the keyboard, in order to provide an extra key that French users expect. I wish HP would simply make a French version of the laptop for the people that want it. The key is small enough to be an impairment for a touch-typist like myself that's used to a standard-sized shift key. I'm sure with enough use I'd get used to it, but many errors would occur in the meantime. Those of you in the USA won't have this problem - it's just us Canucks that have to suffer through the awkwardness of having two official languages.

Something I forgot to mention that I wish HP had added were small collapsable legs on the bottom of the laptop - it's nice to be able to elevate the keyboard by a few degrees. I do that with all my desktop keyboards, and like it when I can do the same with laptops.

All told, the HP HDX X18 does it's job very well. It's not meant to be portable, but with the flexible options for powerful CPUs, a big screen, lots of RAM, and dual hard drives, it's as good of a desktop replacement as you can get.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog.

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