22.4.2019

Make no mistake, this is a superb laptop/ultrabook, with an excellent, high powered spec, a great screen and which also absolutely looks the part.The package contains the laptop itself, a mains charger, the "active pen" stylus which allows you to write on and interact with the screen, and an attractive leather style slip case. Aesthetically the laptop is extremely pleasing, with a high quality metallic grey/silver body. It feels solid but not at all heavy. In summary; a very portable, high quality laptop body.Specifications wise this is also very well put together....Screen - This model has a full HD (1920x1080) IPS display which is very bright and has excellent colour reproduction.Because it is an IPS display it also has excellent viewing angles which means you don't need to necessarily sit square infront of it to get a good screen view. There is also a software option which reduces this viewing angle should you be working on something confidential. Very handy. The screen is also fully touch sensitive and is protected against scratches from the stylus or anything else, by gorilla glass. The screen pivots around the laptop screen, hence the 360 moniker. This turns the laptop into a fully touch screen/tablet device with Windows recognising it as such accordingly. This transition is seamless and stutter free. It really is a pleasure to use and switch between these two modes. This is, of course, where the included stylus comes in handy too; the screen is very reactive to it, both in interacting with Windows or with writing/drawing etc. The screen also works just as well with your fingers too, of course.Other specs - The model I have been testing has 8GB of RAM and an Intel i7 8565u processor. This really is an excellent spec (although I'd always plump for 16GB of RAM these days if offered) and the laptop easily powers through anything I've thrown at it, from word processing and image editing, through web browsing, to movie watching - all with ease and with no stutter. For ultra professional, high intensity work you are, of course, going to be wanting more processor grunt but for this laptop/ultrabook and pretty much everything else, you are not going to notice any slowness at all. Storage wise the 13 x360 has a 512GB SSB which is super fast and super roomy. The laptop gets warm during use, but not to the point where it's an issue and occasionally the fans can be heard spooling up and down if required. It is not a noisy laptop though by any means.Connectivity - the laptop has Intel 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi (excellent reception), Bluetooth 4.2, 2 x Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, 1 x USB 3.1 (old style USB!) port, 1 x microSD port, 1 x 3.5mm audio jack (the laptop sound is assisted by B&O which obviously means it is excellent!). Note that like most laptops these days it does not have a DVDROM disc drive though you could attach an external one via USB if you really needed to. The laptop also doesn't have a wired internet port.Battery life - Finally, battery life. Probably one of the most important aspects of choosing a laptop. In general use (browsing, music, emails, movies) I find I get around 9 hours of battery life. This is superb! In intensive sessions though I find this reduces to between 4 and 6 depending on how hard I am pushing the CPU and screen. The laptop charges using USB-C and manages to get from 0% to 50% in around 35 minutes which again, is excellent. In short, I think for things like college use or general web browsing etc you'd get 7-9 hours of use. A last watch out - the power button is at the back of the laptop, on the left hand corner. It took me a while to find it at first!Overall then I think the HP Spectre 13 x360 is an excellent laptop/ultrabook/tablet package that I can't find fault with. Recommended!

14.4.2019

There is nothing we don't like about this laptop.It is very fast, the screen is crisp and clear, The touch screen is pinpoint accurate and when used in tablet mode the machine is a pleasure. Battery life is excellent 4=5 hours of actual use in the new state is not a problem. The backlit keyboard is easy to use anywhere and the trackpad works fine (though in fact we use it with a bluetooth mouse most of the time having a dislike for trackpads in general).Comes with a neat little slipcase which is lovely but impractical - so in fact we found a laptop bag for the mouse and papers to carry around and the power supply and USB cables and ...... yeah. Real life,eh?If I have one criticism of the laptop it is that it only has one USB port. I know many peripherals are bluetooth enabled now, but I still find that USB ports are needed and there are times one when is not enough. The Micro SD slot allows your camera card to go straight into the machine without need for a USB reader which is great The HDMI output allows you to display on a projector, or a large TV as a second screen for presentation or other work. We tried a fun test where we played a downloaded MP4 1080p video from the laptop onto our TV (via an HDMI cable) while using the laptops own screen to carry on editing a document - no problems at all! The video played flawlessly and the edit session was as normal. This is a very fast machine!You can also use the built in DLNA features of Windows to use your Wifi to send video or pictures to your DLNA -compatible TV (most late model Samsung, Panasonic and (I think) LG TVs have this).This is slim and neat and beautifully made - and fast? After the tortuous installation and setup (see below) we did two or three reboots just to see it happen sooooo fast! But thing brings me to the one thing about this that irks.The setup seems to take forever, HP have obviously done deals with a great many software vendors so you are not just getting through the normal sequence of Windows 10 setup questions there are then a succession of sales pitches for a number of other software products. Presenting these to the user at a time when they just want to get on and use their new machine seems to be like very poor sales psychology - I would guess that a majority of new owners just click through those getting more and more irritated - as I did. Presenting them at random intervals after some initial usage period would seem more sensible and likely to get interest. I have had many new laptops in the past and they all came with some offer of optional add ons, but this one takes the biscuit and the setup took an annoyingly long time. Had there been an option to revert to a complete new Windows 10 install without all that pre-configured dross I would willingly have taken it. HP needs to find a better way to present those optional offers.Once running, its a delight to use though. Windows 10 is not quite the same as Windows 7 - but as soon as you realise that the search facility is now useful for anything at all (control panel settings, programs, files whatever) you can get to what you want fast. You may or may not find Cortana (Windows Alexa or Siri like helper) useful. If not then maybe your first search would be "disable cortana" :-) Some people love her though - so see if you do.Overall verdict - a lovely and well made machine with few flaws. The software setup package needs a serious rethink as it lets down the overall impression of pure quality. More USB ports would be a plus and maybe a more practical carry case. But overall an absolutely wonderful laptop.

14.2.2019

The HP Spectre 13 x 360 13.3-Inch Laptop is what I can only describe is amazing, the build quality is outstanding.What you receive is a beautifully presented laptop, it comes in a extra thick box, which will protect it from some less than careful couriers if ordering online.You receive the laptop, power charger, and a stylus, plus it comes with a soft leather sleeve case to keep it clean and safe.Its a thing of beauty, the angular design is perfect, power is easy to slot in to the top left angle and the power button is on the other side, which you won’t accidentally power up when holding the laptop.I’ve used Apple for years, haven’t used Windows to any degree for a while,think windows 8 was the last time I really used it, so wasn’t sure how I’d get on.Setting up is the usual bore, but there is no way round that, the normal inputs etc, what did make life easier was the touch screen and the keyboard combined, so much quicker.You have the option to set up passwords, including facial recognition, finger print or just passwords, or a combination of them.Once set up you have a stunning 13.3 inch, laptop which is also a touch screen.I’m very impressed with the Windows 10, I think having the touch screen and the keyboard helps navigate it, I have tended to use both screen and keyboard, I’ve an iPad which I normally use, this doesn’t feel as comfortable as my iPad when using as just as a tablet, that’s probably down to how long I’ve been using iPads rather than a criticism aimed at the HP.Charging is super fast, around 30 minutes.The screen quality is superb, using my Canon EOS 550D as a picture reference, the images a crystal sharp, so good they made me go wow every-time time I opened a new one.Its a powerful little fella, amazing how HP can squeeze so much in to something so slim and small, some clever people about.It has Bang and Olufsen speakers, there not really good enough for music, you’re not going to get amazing sound listening to Amazon music, the built in ones are great for speech, Skype that type of thing, for better sound you’ll be better bluetooth to a speaker.Connections wise you have a USB, micro SD card slot, 2x USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 (Thunderbolt 3, DP 1.2, PD 3.0, Data transfer, HP Sleep and Charge ); 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type (HP Sleep and Charge); 1 headphone/microphone comboPlus it has the normal Wi-fi and bluetooth features, It doesn’t have a slot for a direct internet connection, and it doesn’t have a CD drive, but you don’t need one.I could keep saying how amazing this is, and it really is, however, its not cheap, I’d expect it to be amazing for the money, looking at its competition its better spec than a similar Apple, and does have the flip screen to a touch screen, better than the surface.I can’t fault this, I truly love it, build, design, speed, functions, are amazing, Software is excellent, there is always more software you want but as far as hardware goes this is amazing.

17.2.2019

I've been using this computer (yes, typing on it now) for a solid week and have used it for writing a very lengthy report, a powerpoint presentation, surfing the internet and gaming. For the first three it's really great and it makes everything seem effortless as it obeys your command straight-away (no lag at all) every time. So as far as the processor goes, it is the best I have ever experienced. Even after typing a 20+ page report, I have felt any fatigue in my hands or wrists as I used to with my previous laptop and my eyes haven't felt strained due to poor backlighting. The keyboard quality is excellent and it's easy to keep clean too.Initial set-up is astonishingly easy and it comes preloaded with the dreaded McAfee Computer Slower.

14.12.2018

Please bear in mind that I use a desktop with Windows ME and a laptop with Windows Vista and my internet is on a Chromebook.This is an amazing laptop. It is so slim and neat. The screen is bright and really sharp, better than my TV. although that is 10 years old. I have to say that for those qualities it is worth 5 stars.The screen can be used for drawing and writing and this is impressive as a drawing board but will take a little getting used to compared to my AO size drawing boardHowever I am slightly disappointed that for such a top of the line laptop it only has one USB port. Luckily I do have a hub. Even more surprising is the fact that the SD slot is for micro SD cards.

24.1.2019

I bought this laptop to replace my HP envy. I went for the 13 inch x360 with a 4k screen, i7, 16gb ram and 1tb ssd. The design of this laptop is what stood out immediately, simply stunning. The build quality is excellent too. It came with a leather case, tilt pen and a braided 65w AC adaptor. The 4k screen in 8bit but colours still look great and being 4k, everything is very sharp. However, the only downside to having a 4k screen is that the battery life does suffer when compared to a FHD screen, but I think it's worth having the 4k screen. The laptop does charge quickly though. The keyboard is one of the best things about this laptop, it is a delight to type on.

HP Spectre x360 15 (2019) - Reviews

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