Earlier this week, HP unveiled its holiday lineup for laptops and PCs. While the Envy Notebook 13 is fantastic, our eyes are on the more versatile (and more expensive) Spectre x360. We spent some time with the new version, which you can soon order from HP.com or grab at Best Buy, and came away impressed.
The original HP Spectre x360 from early 2015 was an impressive and surprisingly well-crafted machine. HP has carried that into the 2016 model with nothing but improvements all around. The new iteration is lighter, thinner, smaller footprint, thinner bezel, and it even adds features like an IR camera for Windows Hello.
| Category | Specs |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Windows 10 Home |
| Processor | 7th Gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7 |
| Display | 13.3-inch diagonalFull HD IPS UWVA WLED-backlit multitouch-enablededge-to-edge glass1920x 1080 |
| Memory | 8 or 16 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM |
| Solid-state drive | 512 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 620 with up to 8258 MB total graphics memory |
| Audio | Bang & Olufsen with quad speakers |
| Battery life | Up to 14 hours and 15 minutes |
| Webcam | Front-facing HP TrueVision FHD IR WebcamWindows Hello capable |
| Weight | 2.85 lb (1.3kg) |
| Wireless | 2x2 802.11ac WLAN and Bluetooth |
| Keyboard | Full-size island-style backlit keyboard |
| HP Fast Charge | 0 to 90% charge in approximately 90 mins |
| Ports | 2 USB 3.1 Type-C Thunderbolt1 USB 3.1 Type-A Gen 1 (HP Sleep and Charge)1 Headphone/microphone combo |
Toss in a brand new 7th Generation Intel Kaby Lake processor, quad-speakers that are super loud, attention to detail and new HP Spectre x360 could be the Ultrabook to beat (looking at you, Dell XPS 13).
Prices start at $1049 for the Core i5 version with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and it jumps to $1299 for a Core i7 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Also, US retailer Best Buy will be stocking the Core i7 version at the end of October in stores.
We should be getting our hands on a proper review unit shortly to test it out, but so far, we have found nothing that makes us cringe or worry. The x360 is an exciting laptop and one you should keep an eye on in the coming weeks.
