HP’s New X360 Spectre 15 Is Discrete yet Svelte 2-In-1, Large and in Charge


As you may know, HP has redesigned its 15-inch Spectre X360, in part to sincerely, yet vigorously solicit itself into the hearts of consumers, once and for all. You see, HP is a fantastic multinational IT company, with huge leaps and bounds in hardware, software and beyond. But as many companies do, HP has gone through a bad time. The past few years have been rough, and the only popular product in that time was a little $200 Windows-run notebook called the HP Stream 11. The Stream 11 wasn’t even a good laptop, but as it was being compared to Chromebooks of the same price range, it looked good for not being limited to a Chrome OS.

The story goes on, and it’s title should be, “HP is Still Trying to Make a Comeback” (one that works, at least). Good thing last year’s Spectre 13 was one of a kind, surely an example of innovation for the company. It was insanely thin, designed to wow, and had great battery life. When the Spectre x360 13 came around, it was even thinner and lighter, and did a good job overall. However, some criticized it for only sporting 3 USB Type-C ports when the thing measured a mere 10.4mm thin. But hey, whilst maintaining such a thin body, which has been all the rage, it ran more than a Core M, which is the status quo for ultrathins. The Spectre x360 13 ran Intel’s i5/i7 chips, along with a significantly healthy cooling system to rid heat in that thin frame. It had a touchscreen, a larger battery for longer life, but a price tag a bit too steep for most. I’d say, overall, the Spectre x360 13 was a pro move on HP’s part. Figured as one of the thinnest, most powerful and beautiful ultraportables to arrive on the market, it’s safe to say HP got out of its slump.

Now the 2-in-1 to beat is the Spectre x360 15, a new favorite, built lightly and carefully, with all the necessities of a laptop. Of course, this 15-incher flips into the typical four positions (tent, laptop, etc), and offers a lot of the Spectre x360 13 qualities, but somehow in a larger size. With a crazy 3840 x 2160 IPS display, this new iteration measures 14 x 9.88 x .7 inches, runs an Intel Core i7 CPU, and 64-bit Windows 10 Home. It comes with 16GB of DDR4 SDRAM, a 256GB SSD PCIe, and an NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, which is pretty much the best. Ports have been tremendously improved, including 2 USB Type-C (one of which is Thunderbolt C friendly), 1 USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. It also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, and a 6-cell, 79 wHr battery.

With starting prices at $1,279, this is still considered premium. HP listened, and threw in the missing Windows 10 Home features it lacked before, like facial recognition to use Windows Hello, and an IR camera. This isn’t a steep price if you look at what’s on the table. You get 4K, you get the latest Intel Kaby Lake, you get the discrete and lovely Nvidia, and finally, tons of room and RAM. When comparing similar configurations from the likes of Dell or Apple, competitors such as these will actually cost consumers quite a bit more. Plus, there’s evidence that this thing is also a joy to run, feeling svelte and multi-functional with all its formations, even in laptop-mode, an attribute which is incredibly vital.

Topics: Technology News Convergence & Convertible Hybrid PCs HP Laptops & Ultrathin Ultrabooks Tech Reviews

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