HP has come up with an upgrade for its super hit 2-in-1 convertible laptop Spectre x360 but this is not a mere upgrade. It is a complete overhaul of the past models and is super-packed and loaded with amazing features. This laptop is simply technology at its best.
The 2017 Spectre x360 15 comes with a 15.6-inch IPS 4K UHD touchscreen, sleek design and an amazing keyboard with perfect spacing for comfortable use. This year’s Spectre is 0.7 inches thick, thicker than previous models, but now includes full-size ports.
The beauty of this laptop is that it isn’t just a laptop. With its four ways folding option, it is a notebook as well as a tablet and not merely a laptop. You can use it as a laptop, watch movies and videos by letting it rest on its keyboard while the screen faces you, used in a tent position for presentations or folded all the way back to make it a convenient and easy to handle tablet for web browsing or reading. This laptop will not let you get bored.
Design
The Spectre x360 comes with a very catchy dark gray color coupled with copper accents. The whole body is gray whereas the logo and trims come in an enticing copper color. Its color makes it an instant eye-candy. It is sure to make many heads turn and make you want to look at it more than once.
The body is an impressive single block of aluminum and has a 360° hinge encased in steel. The Spectre is by far the most attractive laptop from HP.
The display is flanked by ultra-thin bezels making it almost borderless, the keyboard is huge and very comfortable to use and the speakers have artistically cut-out grills. This year’s Spectre is a beast, may it be its looks or the features packed inside it.
One look and its color and sleek design are bound to catch your attention for deeper inspection.
Display
With its 4K touch screen, the Spectre explodes with colors and will blow you away the moment you switch it on. It floods you with the sharpest and brightest colors, having a powerful discrete NVIDIA GT 940MX graphics card giving it an amazing picture quality. The touch screen can be used with both a stylus and your fingers and is not too reflective.
With Windows Ink, your creativity will know no bounds. In Windows Photos, you can draw or write on your photos without any hindrance. On OneNote or PowerPoint, you can easily and conveniently add notes or draw your ideas straight through the stylus. Using Windows Maps, you can easily mark your desired travel route, find out distance, time-taken, best possible and shortest path to your desired destination or simply share it with others for information.
The sky is the limit and life is easy and loaded with convenience with all of these features packed into this year’s Spectre x360.
Ports
It does not come with too many ports, just the essentials. It has a USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack, an SD card reader, a USB Type-C port, a Thunderbolt 3 port and an HDMI output.
Having lesser ports makes it easy to play with the size and maintain sleekness. But the Spectre does not keep its user at any disadvantage as compared to other competing laptops in the market by providing three USB-C dongles in the box. These are converters to VGA, Ethernet, and full-size USB.
So, you are not really missing out on anything if you decide to splurge on the Spectre x360 this year.
Input Devices
- Keyboard
The Spectre’s keyboard is backlit, soft to punch and travels deeply making it comfortable for your fingertips while typing. It is ideal for prolonged use and does not cause fatigue.
- Touchpad
It has a vast glass touchpad which is conveniently responsive and comfortable to use. It is responsive to Windows 10 gestures.
- Stylus
The box includes a stylus which comes in a dark gray color as the laptop. It supports 2,048 degrees of pressure sensitivity. You can take notes, draw on the Windows Ink certified panel or doodle away your photos for a memorable personal touch. The possibilities are endless with this amazing feature.
Rather than leaving nasty fingerprints all over your laptop’s precious screen, use the stylus not only for convenience but also for a premium experience. With its ‘palm rejection’ technology, it saves you the trouble of trying to keep your hands off of the screen. You can rest your hand on the screen while using the stylus without leaving any undesired marks on whatever you’re working on.
- Webcam
The webcam on this model gives great results. The images taken are clear and display crisp colors. It has an HP TrueVision FHD IR camera. It is great for chatting with an 88-degree wide-angle field of view.
Performance
With a 2.9-GHz 7th-Gen Intel Core i7-7500U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a NVIDIA GeForce 940MX CPU, it is a great machine and runs without a hint of lag. This laptop is great for quick tasks such as loading programs and web pages.
The Spectre has an integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 which makes it great for some light gaming as well but nothing intense.
Audio
The HP Spectre x360 is packed with Bang & Olufsen speakers. The sound is crisp with quad speakers and HP Audio Boost. This feature helps ensure louder, clearer sound by constantly measuring and maximizing peak speaker output. Whether you listen to audio with or without attached headphones, the sound quality will always amaze you.
Bang & Olufsen is a great choice for audio by HP. Partnering with these sound experts is a winning decision by HP. The sound quality will definitely blow you away. Whether it is listening to music or watching a movie or live streaming videos, the Spectre is a treat to your senses.
Battery Life
Thanks to its 4K screen, the battery is given more attention and does not disappoint. It has a 6-cell, 79.2Wh Lithium-ion battery that can run for up to 12 hours and 45 minutes. HP Fast Charge enables the Spectre x360 to charge its battery up to 50% in 30 minutes. It comes with a 65-watt adapter.
Battery life is an important deciding factor while buying any laptop especially when you have to use your laptop for long periods of time for heavy graphics work or otherwise run videos at length. The Spectre does not fall short on any front and battery life is no exception.
Software
This laptop is packed with software from HP as well as others. Some of these are:
- JumpStart teaches users to use the laptop and Windows 10.
- HP’s Audio Switch is used to change audio outputs over HDMI.
- The Orbit software is another software from HP. It is used for seamless transfer of photos and links between an Android phone or an iPhone and your laptop.
- Minecraft
- Drawboard PDF
- Netflix
- Candy Crush Soda Saga
- Royal Revolt 2
The last few have mixed reviews from users, many of the opinion that these apps only serve to make the laptop slow and did not need to be added on to the list of software pre-installed in the laptop. Others find them quite handy. They can be easily uninstalled though and are not a big nuisance.
In a nutshell, the Spectre x360 15 is one astounding machine, which has all the best in one place and giving competitors a run for their money. In every aspect, it is the best bang for the buck and worth exploring.