Review: The HP Spectre x360 May Not Be Targeted At Businesses, But It's A Superb Work Laptop
While HP's new EliteBook x360 is our favorite laptop for business right now, the HP Spectre x360--which isn't as overtly targeted at work usage--actually comes pretty close on our business laptop faves list.
That's thanks in large part to the beautiful design of the laptop--a sleek black and gold exterior--that is paired with major horsepower and smooth overall performance.
[Related: Review: The HP EliteBook x360 Is Our Favorite Premium Laptop Right Now]
It's also a convertible, meaning the display can fold part or all of the way back. That came in very handy for us on a cramped cross-country flight recently.
The price is excellent too--for the 13.3-inch model we tested, with seventh-gen Core i7, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage and a 4K display, HP is charging just a bit over $1,400.
By comparison, getting similar specs for the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 will cost you $1,900, or for the Lenovo X1 Yoga will run nearly $2,300. Meanwhile, Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro with specs in that ballpark will cost $2,500, and of course it's not actually available as a touch-screen convertible.
The UHD display on the Spectre x360 is as bright and colorful as we could ask for. And the combination of a seventh-gen Intel U-series processor and 16 GB of RAM helped to make it one of the speediest laptops we've tried recently. Web pages and applications loaded as fast or faster than many business-oriented laptops we've tested.
The touchpad is large and just as flawless as on the EliteBook x360. And the keyboard feels and performs great, too.
The Spectre x360 is also one of the thinnest laptops out there (at 0.54 of an inch thick) and pretty light at just under 2.9 pounds.
On battery life, we had no problem getting a full workday's worth of usage on a charge.
For ports, the Spectre x360 has two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, one USB-A port and HDMI--making it more geared to certain workplace uses than many 2-in-1s on the market.
We really have very little to gripe about with the Spectre x360. It lacks some of the business-oriented features of the EliteBook x360, such as dedicated collaboration keys (for launching Skype, screen-sharing, etc) and certain advanced security features. But when it comes to the basics of what you need as an information or creative worker (or executive), it's a home run.
Overall, the Spectre x360 is certainly the prettiest, yet still-powerful, laptop that we've used recently. It's a consumer-y laptop that will do just fine for many varieties of professional computing needs.