SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 35Type-A (5Gbps) port that can charge
a phone even when the laptop is off.
There’s also a port for the 65-watt
barrel charger.
Yes, you heard us right: a barrel
charger. If your eyes are rolling
because you thought old-school
round laptop plugs could be found
only in $150 Chromebooks and
$250 budget Windows laptops,
that’s not true.
The reason HP included the barrel charger
is likely cost. A USB-C charger is a pricey add.
The power brick is at least rounded rather
than a truly old-school brick, but the cloth
braid you get on the fancy HP Spectre x360
isn’t used either.
HP does, at least, build USB Power
Delivery into the USB-C port, so you could
pick up a tiny 60-watt GAN charger and go
on the road with that instead. Of course withUSB Type-A (5Gbps), and a SuperSpeed USB
10Gbps Type-C. The USB-A port uses a
“dropjaw” latch that can be expanded when
you insert a USB key, keyboard, or other
standard USB-A device. The USB-C port
supports USB data transfer and can output
DisplayPort or HDMI if you have the right
dongle.
There is no Thunderbolt 3, which opens
up opportunities for fast external storage or
external GPUs (go.pcworld.
com/exgp), or single-cable
displays. That’s an expensive
port to implement and is
more common on pricier
machines. (Psst: We just saw
one on the Acer Spin 3 [$650
at Costco, go.pcworld.com/
s36].)
The right side of the HP
Envy x360 includes a
microSD reader, and a
second SuperSpeed USB
A microSD reader, SuperSpeed USB-A (5Gbps), and barrel
charger populate the right side of the HP Envy x360 13.
A 65-watt barrel charger definitely tells you this isn’t a luxury laptop.