HP’s Envy 8 Note is a bargain basement iPad Pro

Do the prices of the iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Book make you wince? You might want to check out the much, much cheaper HP Envy 8 Note.

Before you get too excited, it's quite different to those big hybrid names. The actual tablet bit has just an 8-inch screen, but slots into a full-size keyboard to let it work as a basic laptop when needed.

We love laptops, we love 8-inch tablets. What's not to like?

Well, those Excel spreadsheets on an 8-inch screen might not do your glasses prescription any favours. And it's no powerhouse, with a low-end Intel Atom x5 CPU in the engine room.

There's something satisfyingly different about the little HP Envy 8 Note, though. After all, the screen part actually slots into the back of the keyboard for easy transporting: the very definition of neat.

HP's sharpish screen

The tablet screen is a middling 1,920 x 1,200 pixels, which should look sharp but won't give the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 a run for its money. And it runs Windows 10, ready for a bit of Office suite work if that's what you need.

HP boasts that the key travel of the keyboard part is the same 1.5mm as most of HP's laptops. Also more than the new-design Apple MacBook, then.

Topping off the list of features are dual cameras, with a 5-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel one on the front.

Aside from the odd design, the bit that might convince you is the price. The HP Envy 8 Note will cost £359 with keyboard and a stylus, so well under half the price of a tooled-up iPad Pro. It's due to go on sale later this month.

image credit: Tech Radar