Which is a rather long-winded way of introducing the HP X2 Chromebook, the first detachable Chromebook where the screen can be separated for use as a tablet. Two for the price of one, as it were – a laptop and tablet.

Magnetic hinge

It’s courtesy of a magnetic hinge, enabling different modes of use, including the use of a touch screen and stylus.

It is described by HP as having “a ceramic white anodized aluminum finish and a leather-like surface in Oxford Blue on the detachable full-sized keyboard”. Meanwhile, the Quad HD8 12.3-inch diagonal touch display features Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

According to HP:

“Users can power through their day and play with their favorite Android apps with up to 10 hours of battery life in a tablet only 8.2 mm thin and weighing 1.62 pounds. With the included keyboard the device is 15.3mm thin and weighs 3.14 pounds. This thin, powerful Chromebook detachable features 7th Gen Intel Core processors and up to 8GB LPDDR3 of memory to browse and run Android apps.”

Pixelbook

For those with good memories – see Gadget Watch: Google hardware takes centre stage, with Pixel books, phones and buds – you may remember the Google Pixelbook which is thin and foldable. But not detachable…

And while the Google Pixelbook is impressive it is also very expensive (from £999 up to £1,699). The HP Chromebook X2, by contrast, is priced at $599 (from HP.com, 10 June). Still expensive, of course…

“The HP Chromebook x2 hits a trifecta for customers, combining the productivity of the Chrome OS and power of the world’s most-used app platform into a versatile form factor ideal for experiencing all the Google ecosystem has to offer,” said Kevin Frost, HP’s general manager, consumer personal systems.

“As the world’s first Chromebook detachable, it will unlock new ways for people to create, collaborate and consume within Chrome and the Google Play Store3.”

Also, I shouldn’t play Chromebooks down, as – according to HP – they’re one of the fastest-growing segments of the PC category, “growing more than 50% over the past two years”.

You can read the full X2 specification here.

(Note, also, that Acer has also just released the first Chrome OS tablet.)

You can read a number of reviews here: theVerge, Engadget and ComputerWorld.

[Via ChromeUnboxed.com]