HP Spectre x360 Laptop
USD
Pros
- Robust and durable
- Face recognition feature
- Touch screen
- Longer battery life
- Fingerprint reader
Cons
- Overheating
- Annoying fan noise
- Affected battery life due to new components
- Harsh speakers at maximum volume
- Lot of bloatware
In This Article
Verdict
The HP Spectre x360 laptops come with more powerful CPUs. It is an updated convertible laptop that is awesome in performance. This probably is one of the best laptops HP has ever made.
HP Spectre x360 Laptop & Variants Price
Introduction
The laptop is smaller, faster, better and more reliable. It is better than ever and the potentially longer battery life will enable you to do your whole day’s work with a single charge.
The powerful processor of the system, a better display and a good enough graphics card will help you to perform all types of computing jobs, simple or complex.
The features of this laptop are most reliable and will help it to compete with any other clamshell laptop types. The latest components will also ensure that this laptop lasts for years.
With all these features and high-end components there is hardly anything that you can complain about the reliability of this laptop and not like.
Buy for: Durability, touch screen, and quality of material.
Beware of: Inability in high-level rendering and editing, higher price tag.
Best uses for: Teachers, college students, elderly parents and seniors, game development, drawing artists, lawyers and law school students, travel and digital nomads, supply chain management, biology students, Radiologists and other purposes.
The alternatives:
Design and Build
The sleek design of the computer system includes a large number of useful features depicting the large amount of innovation put into its design.
The system comes in an attractive dark ash color and in epically thin extents.
It can be safely said that the Spectre x360 has nothing in its design or features that will hold it back on promising a high level of performance at an incredible speed.
It will not bring the best of two, but all worlds, into a computer that is specifically designed around you and your needs.
The system is built with smart technology to ensure groundbreaking power allowing you to do your full day’s work easily and effectively without having to worry about getting low on power.
It is also built to ensure security with four unique modes. The IR camera installed in it will ensure a secure login, the fingerprint reader will allow safe payment and the digital pen will provide the experience of natural note-taking.
The system comes with a full HD IPS micro-edge touch display. This is made even more unique with its Corning Gorilla Glass NBT.
The relatively big enough screen seems to be almost borderless and comes with an ability to display images with over two-million pixels and at a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
The WLED-backlit touch screen will surely and truly elevate your senses with its high quality of images. Check out best laptop brands.
If you want the best in entertainment, then this system is also built keeping that specific aspect in mind.
The high-quality images will feel real with the expert-tuned Bang and Olufsen quad speakers that will deliver an impressive audio output to enhance your entertainment experience.
Most importantly, with all these inclusions, the build of this system is not magnanimous. It is resoundingly thin and weighs just 2.78 pounds!
Performance
The laptop is mostly favored for its specs and high-end performance. It will support any software intensive computing tasks with its two highly powerful processors.
The integrated graphics card and a memory speed of 2133 MHz will further facilitate your job.
It comes with the newest 8th generation Intel i7-8550U processor.
With 4 cores and a base frequency of 1.8 GHz which can be extended up to 4 GHz using the unique Intel Turbo Boost Technology and comes with 8 MB cache, you can rest assured to get nothing else but a cutting-edge performance.
The 16 GB Intel UHD Graphics 620 along with other features of the system will produce the best images. You probably cannot ask for anything more for a high-end performance.
With the Windows 10 Home 64 operating system, you will find that performing your computing tasks is easy and more productive as well.
The other hardware components as well as the PC hardware platform which is robust enough to support the DDR3 SDRAM memory of the computer, a solid-state hard drive interface and a flash memory, will further enhance the level of performance of this unique laptop.
Benchmarks
CPU
1. The Intel Core i7-8550U is present in the HP Spectre x360. As of 21st September 2022, this processor has an average CPU mark of 5983 on CPUBenchmark. The single-thread rating of this processor is 2073.
These data are extracted by the experts of this benchmarking site and for it; they have considered a total of 5656 samples of this processor. The overall rank of this quad-core processor is 1136. This quad-core processor has a low margin of error.
Considering this data we can say that this processor is a good option for moderate-level users and they can get very smooth multitasking processing. But, the professional and the other high-end users need to use higher variants.
2. Geekbench is a trusted and mostly followed benchmarking site nowadays. As of 21st September 2022, the Intel Core i7-8550U processor’s single core score is 878.
The processing speed of this processor is good for various day-to-day multitasking tasks, but professional programmers, video editors, and gamers can feel it is a little bit slower.
The Intel Core i7-8650U is the closest competitor of this processor and this 8650U’s single core score is 895. The multi-core score of this processor is 2710. So we can conclude that the Intel Core i7-8650U is a better processor than the Intel Core i7-8550U.
So such a processor that comes with Intel Core i7-8650U can deliver better performance than the HP Specter x360. One of the most prominent examples of such a laptop is Dell Latitude 7290.
GPU
1. The Intel UHD Graphics 620 is present in the HP Spectre x360 as its integrated GPU. This GPU’s average G3D mark is 1034. Its average G2D mark is 246. To extract these scores, the experts of videocardbenchmarks.net, have considered a total of 14157 samples of it.
After going through multiple tests, they have given this GPU an overall rank of 853 (as of 21st September 2022). If we compare this GPU with the other integrated graphics card, then we can find these scores very promising. But, it is not sufficient for heavy gaming or for processing other high graphical content.
2. According to UserBenchmark, the Intel UHD Graphics 620’s average benchmark score is 4.83% (as of 21st September 2022).
The technical experts of this renowned benchmarking website have considered 685 GPUs of this type and among them; this specific integrated graphics card has ranked in 369th position (based on its performing capability).
As an integrated graphics card, these scores are very promising. But, it is not sufficient for playing any HD game or performing video editing.
3. The 3D mark time spy score of the Intel UHD Graphics 620 is 362. This Intel integrated graphics card has a 3D mark rank of 192. The ‘popularity rank’ of it is 200.
This integrated graphics card has enough fuel to tackle various multitasking graphical contents, but for high graphical content, you need to find a better alternative.
RAM & Storage
The RAM and storage of the system is far better than other laptops that are similar to it in specs.
The 16 GB onboard LPDDR3-2133 SDRAM along with a 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD will add to the reliability and performance of the system.
Ports & Connectivity
The system comes with enough ports and slots to add a number of external devices and cables. It has one USB 3.1 generation 1 port that can be used for sleep and charge.
It also has two more Thunderbolt 3 ports that will allow you to transfer data at an incredible rate of 40 GB per second. In addition to that, you will also get one USB 2.0 port and one USB 3.0 port as well.
The device also comes with wireless connectivity, which ideally is a Bluetooth and Wi-fi combo. This 2×2 combo includes wi-fi connectivity of Intel 802.11b/g/n/ac standard and Bluetooth 4.2.
Battery Life
The average life of the single Lithium ion battery included with the system package will run for at least 14 hours on a single charge.
This means that you will not have to worry about getting low on power even if you use the system when you travel for a long time.
When needed, you can easily charge it with the AC adapter. With Fast Charge, you can even extend the battery life up to 16 hours and 45 minutes.
Additional Features
You will also find a few attractive additional features in this computing system.
One such is the HP Active Stylus that will add style and productivity to your work.
There is also one headphone and microphone combo slot for easy and hands-free communication.
Add to that, there are other features such as the Gyroscope, Accelerometer and e-Compass.
The system will allow you to capture high quality photos with its integrated webcam, which is an HP TrueVision FHD IR camera that comes with a digital microphone with dual array feature. The best part is that the webcam supports Windows Hello.
As for the sound, you will get high quality output with the best in class Bang & Olufsen Quad speakers that is even better than the HP Audio Boost.
The HP Image pad will also entice you with its ability to support multi-touch gestures.
Specs:
- Brand: HP
- Screen: 13.3 Inches
- Display: FHD (1920 x 1080)
- Storage: 512 GB
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage Type: SSD
- RAM Type: DDR3 SDRAM
- Processor: 8th generation Intel i7-8550U
- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620
- Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz to 4 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology
- Processor Brand: Intel
- Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
What Do Users Think about HP Spectre x360?
When a few verified purchasers of the system were contacted to find out their opinion about HP Spectre x360, it was found that different users have different opinions about it.
A few of the users opined that this laptop is extremely good in performance and specs.
They found that the touchscreen feature of the system is awesome. They also liked the compact design of the laptop that makes it one of the lightest laptop computers.
There were a few of the users who were very honest in their opinion. Check out HP Spectre x360 Manual.
They said that though they have high regards for the face recognition feature of the system as well as the really fast processor, the fan noise and overheating are few aspects that they dislike about this computing device.
On the other hand, a few users said that the cool features of the system are of no good use because the system is unable to handle those features effectively and reliably.
However, they had no complaints with the durability of the device, which is common for all HP items.
The terrible customer service of HP is one of the most significant concerns for some of the users. They specially complained about the inability of HP in solving issues as well as their poorly designed refund and return policy.
Few even said that they felt they were lucky that they bought it from Amazon which has a better return policy than HP itself.
Other users were in love with the unbelievable speed and awesome speakers of the computer system. They also spoke in high volumes about the spectacular backlit keyboard and the lightweight and attractive design of the machine.
The easy set up and faster transfer of files are some of the features of HP Spectre x360 that are favored by some users.
They found that it was very easy for them to connect their printers and scanners to the system that made it really enjoyable for them to use it.
A significant part of the users surveyed, however, said that there is nothing good about the laptop.
They said that the battery life, that promises to be as long as 14 hours, tops 5 to 7 hours, and that too when nothing serious or software intensive job is not done on it.
Few others also complained about the pen input of the machine which is found to be lagging. They also said that it is low and slow in performance with its 99% GPU usage.
Others said that the touch pad of the laptop is too wide which they found annoying because the right palm touches the right side of the touchpad quite often while typing since the keyboard is shifted to the left side.
Our Testing & Analysis Report
We tested the display of the HP Spectre x360 laptop and found that this FHD touchscreen is pretty good in displaying rich and vivid images and is also pretty responsive to touch.
The Delta E 2000 accuracy test showed that it covers a wide color scape and has high color accuracy with minimum deviation.
We typed a few documents on Word and used Spreadsheet to find that the keyboard offered a pretty enjoyable experience. It is adequately large with relatively well-spaced keys that have a decent travel.
The touchpad is quite responsive and is quite wide allowing enough room to navigate using our fingers. While working on our review unit we found that the fans emit quite audible noise at times.
When we conducted a few benchmark tests on the CPU of the system, we found that it is quite good in performing and handling most of the tasks thrown at it.
Compared with the laptops in our database with similar specs, the performance of the CPU according to our Cinebench and Geekbench results is a bit better.
As for the GPU, we found that its performance is quite better and enough to support playing some of the best games that do not have a very high hardware requirement.
We played different games such as Cyberpunk 2077 at high settings, GTA 5 at 60 fps, Rocket League, League of Legends, and others. We found that it hardly managed to support games played at high settings.
And lastly, when we conducted the battery test, we charged it fully and then ran the unplugged system performing several computing tasks, running FHD videos, and keeping multiple Chrome tabs open.
We found that the battery lasted for around 10 hours or so, which is quite appreciable.
Questions & Answers:
Are the keyboard and the display section of the HP Spectre x360 detachable?
No, these are not detachable in this laptop. But you can fold the keyboard 360 degrees and can use it as a tablet.
Is HP Spectre x360 good for gaming?
As a gaming device, the HP Spectre x360 is not very suitable. Portability is the main key factor of this device and to run the updated games, a device needs high-end specifications, which are not present on this laptop. So the gamers will not be very satisfied with the performance of this laptop.
Is there any fingerprint scanner in the HP Spectre x360?
Yes, there is an inbuilt fingerprint scanner and this is placed at the right edge of the keyboard.
Is there any inbuilt SD Card slot on the HP Spectre x360?
Yes, there is a mini SD card slot in this 2-in-1 laptop. You can also use an adapter for other types of SD cards.