HP Fortis Flip 11" G1i, Intel N150, 4GB, 128GB SSD

The HP Fortis Flip G1i is an 11.6-inch Windows 2-in-1 built for classrooms and light use. It has a touchscreen, stylus support, and a 360-degree hinge, but the 4GB of RAM and weak Intel N150 CPU limit it to basic tasks. At $589 to $629 USD, it's a niche pick for schools and young students, not a general-purpose laptop.

The Intel N150 is a 4-core, 4-thread chip that tops out at 3.6GHz. In our database, it lands in the 17th percentile for CPU performance among all laptops, which means it's slower than the vast majority of machines we test. That's not a surprise given the price, but it's worth being honest about. Everyday tasks like opening Word, streaming video, and light web browsing are fine. Push it with multiple tabs, background updates, or any kind of media work and you'll feel the lag.

The 4GB of RAM is the bigger bottleneck. It sits in the 6th percentile for memory, and since it's soldered down, there's no upgrading it later. Windows 11 Pro Education will run, but it'll lean hard on the SSD for virtual memory. The 128GB NVMe drive is also in the 9th percentile for storage, so you'll want to keep files in the cloud or on a USB stick. Integrated Intel Graphics means gaming is basically off the table, our gaming score for this thing is a 3.2 out of 100. Solitaire runs great, anything else is a slideshow.

Compared to the Apple MacBook Air M4, the Fortis Flip G1i is in a completely different universe. The MacBook Air is faster, has a better screen, better battery life, and better build quality, but it also costs nearly twice as much and doesn't have a touchscreen or 2-in-1 hinge. If you're buying for a student who needs a reliable all-rounder and you can stretch the budget, the MacBook Air is the obvious choice. The Fortis Flip only wins on price and the convertible form factor.

Against the Lenovo Legion 5i or ASUS ProArt PX13, there's no contest in performance. Those are machines with dedicated GPUs and high-refresh displays built for gaming and creative work. The Fortis Flip G1i is not trying to compete with them, and it shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence if you care about speed. The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro is another step up with a gorgeous OLED screen and much better internals. The Fortis Flip's real competition is budget Chromebooks and entry-level Windows convertibles, and in that space it's a middle-of-the-pack option with a few nice connectivity perks.

At $589 to $629 USD, the Fortis Flip G1i is not exactly a bargain when you look at raw specs. You can get a Chromebook with similar or better hardware for less, or a used business laptop with double the RAM and a faster CPU for around the same money. But the value here isn't in the spec sheet, it's in the form factor and the Windows license. A 2-in-1 with a touchscreen, stylus support, and Windows 11 Pro Education is a specific combo that schools and parents sometimes need. If you don't need the flip hinge or the touchscreen, skip this and get something with 8GB of RAM minimum. If you do need those things, this is one of the cheapest ways to get them in a new Windows machine.

The HP Fortis Flip G1i is an 11.6-inch 2-in-1 notebook aimed squarely at the education market and anyone who needs a cheap, rugged-ish convertible that can survive a backpack. It runs around $589 to $629 USD, which puts it in budget Chromebook territory but with full Windows 11 Pro Education on board. The 360-degree hinge means you can flip it into tablet mode, tent mode, or just use it as a regular laptop, and the touchscreen works with the included stylus for note-taking or doodling.

Under the hood you get an Intel N150 4-core processor, 4GB of soldered LPDDR5X RAM, and a 128GB NVMe SSD. That's a pretty lean spec sheet even for 2025, but it's built for web browsing, Google Docs, and light classroom apps, not video editing or gaming. The 1.47kg weight is manageable for kids and the Wi-Fi 6E support is a nice touch for crowded school networks.

Is the HP Fortis Flip G1i good for students? For elementary and middle schoolers doing basic work, yes. For high schoolers or college students juggling dozens of Chrome tabs and heavier software, the 4GB of RAM will feel tight fast. This is a machine with a very specific job, and it does that job without pretending to be something it's not.

Skip the Fortis Flip G1i if you need to run anything beyond a web browser and basic Office apps. The 4GB of RAM and Intel N150 CPU will frustrate anyone who multitasks, edits photos or video, or wants to play games. If you're a college student, a creative professional, or just someone who likes having 20 Chrome tabs open, get a used ThinkPad with 16GB of RAM or a MacBook Air M4 instead. Also skip it if you care about screen quality, the 1366x768 VA panel is dim and low-resolution even for this price. And if you don't need the 2-in-1 hinge or touchscreen, there are cheaper and faster traditional laptops out there.

Should you buy the HP Fortis Flip G1i? If you're a school IT department or a parent looking for a cheap, durable Windows 2-in-1 for a younger kid, it's a reasonable pick. The 360-degree hinge, touchscreen, and stylus support make it genuinely useful for note-taking and interactive learning. The Wi-Fi 6E and Ethernet port are also nice for school networks that still rely on wired connections.

But if you're buying for yourself, or for an older student who needs to run real software, look elsewhere. The 4GB of RAM is a dealbreaker for anything beyond basic tasks, and the 1366x768 display is one of the worst we've seen in this price range. You'd be better off with a used ThinkPad or a Chromebook with 8GB of RAM. The Fortis Flip G1i is a niche product that does its niche job acceptably, but it's not a laptop we'd recommend to most people.