HP Spectre X360 15 Review (2017)

Building on the design of the 2016 HP Spectre X360 15 laptop, HP has pushed this model further with the addition of the latest Intel processors, a discrete graphics check, a larger battery capacity and many more features. At the same time, this calculator retains and improves upon the excellent industrial design that made its predecessor popular. Add to this a relatively aggressive price, and you have a 15.6 ” laptop computer worth considering. The new HP Spectre X360 15 2017 was announced at CES 2017 ( model 15-bl002xx ), and here ’ s our review .

Configuration, as reviewed

  • Core i7-7500U CPU 16GB RAM, GeForce 940MX GPU
  • 512GB SSD NVME PCIE
  • 15.6” UHD IPS LED Touch-screen (3840 x 2160) + N-Trig Digitizer Pen
    WiFi AC + Bluetooth 4.0
  • 79.2 Wh battery
  • Dimensions: 14 x 9.88 x 0.7 in, 4.42 Lbs
  • $1499 on HP.com as tested (May 17 2017)

Industrial design

HP Spectre X360 15 Gallery ( 2017 ) +3 The HP Spectre 360 15 ” has a beautiful industrial invention. While we reviewed the “ eloquent ” version last year, this time we are looking at the “ Dark Ash Silver ” model, which is, in fact, a metallic iniquity brown with copper accents. Although we are not sure why it is called argent by HP, we like the design identical much. Check the photograph gallery to form your opinion, but we will say that it is classy and credibly the most beautiful laptop in its category.

“ PROBABLY THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LAPTOP IN ITS CATEGORY ” This computer has an all-metal construction, and you can tell : it is highly inflexible and seem actually solid. It will not bend or twist when you hold it. At 4.41 Lbs, it is not the lightest computer in its class which ranges from 3.96 Lbs ( Dell XPS 15 ) to 4.62 Lbs ( Gigabyte Aero 15 ). As you will see late, personal computer makers have worked diligently to make each calculator distinct from competitors. As a result, the HP Spectre X360 15 ( model 15-bl002xx here ) besides comes with a digital N-Trig pen that makes it attractive to a specific public. besides, the fact that it has a 2-in-1 360-degrees pivot design allows it to work well in “ flat ” ( 180-degrees candid ) and “ tablet ” ( 360-degrees ) modes, which is not the case for all competitors in the 15.6 ” class. The advantage of the multi-mode ( 360-swivel ) design is that it combines the productiveness of a laptop, with a functional tablet-mode. It is, however, a laptop-first purpose, which means that the “ tablet mode ” would be a bite better with a tablet-first mobile computer such as the Surface 4 Pro, for model .

Keyboard / Trackpad

As usual, HP has integrated a huge trackpad ( 140x65mm ) which is merely a few millimeters smaller than a Galaxy S8 smartphone in allude surface area ( ! ). A larger computer keyboard makes touch interactions more comfortable, particularly if you use window pilfer gestures. The keyboard has a key-travel of 1.5mm, which makes the keystrokes comfortable in my public opinion ( and for my taste ). We all have different preferences, so if there ’ s an optimum key travel that you like, you should try to figure out which distance ( in millimeter ) it is, and keep it for future reference book. They winder size is about 15x15mm .

IR Camera for face unlock, but no fingerprint reader

The HP Spectre 360 15 ( 2017 ) is compatible with Windows Hello and supports sign-ins with facial recognition, but does not have a fingerprint lector. Both fingerprint and facial login provide a high academic degree of convenience and allow you to promptly log-in in a few seconds, with about zero errors. That should encourage you to use more secure ( text ) passwords ( here ’ s how to create firm passwords ), and lock your computer american samoa soon as you leave the area. We know that fingerprints provide a very strong information ( complexity ), which is exchangeable to having an extremely farseeing password. How secure the IR front camera has not been widely studied ( it depends on the biometric data quality ), We know that this IR television camera prevents easy spoofing such as using photograph. That is because the face from a photograph or a sieve does not show up in the IR television camera ( it looks like a blank tabloid of paper ) : iridium just works on a different wavelength .

Ports

  • The right side has 1x (full-size) HDMI, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 (HP Sleep and Charge) and 1x 1 Thunderbolt 3 (HP Sleep and Charge). Either USB-C ports can be used to charge the laptop.
  • The left side has 1x headphone/microphone combo, 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (HP Sleep and Charge) and an SD Card reader.

We like the bearing of USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 ( 40 Gbps ), along with the USB 3.1 ports, both in USB-C and USB-A ( classical ) connectors. If you have many bequest devices such as Ethernet adapters and mouse, you may find yourself running out of USB-A ports, but an adapter can easily fix this. note that while many adapters are show in our review package ( USB to Ethernet, and more ), they are NOT included in the retail box, so you have to purchase them individually. At Ubergizmo, we typically use 3rd party jazz band adapters that merge USB, Ethernet and possibly even wag readers or video-out. With USB-C+Thunderbolt 3, these have become quite useful and effective .

Sound system tuned by B&O

“ THE SOUND QUALITY IS AMAZING ” The HP Spectre X360 15 ( 2017 ) has the like speaker placement and design as last year ’ randomness model. This is effective news because having speakers on either side of the laptop is optimum : reasoned energy is aimed directly at the drug user and international relations and security network ’ thymine wasted by a contemplation on a table open for exemplar. As a result, this is the best-sounding laptop we have tried to date, and I am identical impress with the sound quality. It is, of course, a formidable machine to watch movies on, but it is besides very agreeable to use to play music and is better than many portable speakers I have – the sound quality is amazing given how little quad HP engineers have. There is no distortion even at the loudest mise en scene. In late years, HP has been pushing the audio boundaries with the serve of Bang and Olufsen ( B & O ), and this is paying off large clock time. If you love having great audio, HP computers tuned by B & O should be high on your list .

Display

The 4K display is a high-quality IPS LCD and provides very good double timbre. Because it has a high pixel density ( ~282 PPI ), text and interface are very shrill, and things are fair beautiful in general. When compared to survive year ’ randomness model, the bezels are thinner on the leave and right sides. The bezel went from a rather midst ~15mm down to ~5mm, which has a huge cocksure impact on how the laptop looks when turned on. The bezel at the top has remained relatively large because HP wanted to include the color webcam and IR webcam at that location. It is apprehensible because this is even the best placement for video-conferences. many people feel like placing the webcam at the bottom of the screen makes the opinion angle a bite curious.

Stylus

The 2017 HP Spectre X360 has the particularity of coming with an N-trig digital write ( included in the box ), and that will make Photoshop and e-pen lovers in general very felicitous. When you combine the 15.6 ” diagonal with a high-precision digital penitentiary such as this one, it opens a set of aesthetic possibilities that other 15.6 ” merely don ’ t catch. I am not an artist by any means, but I tested the write with the sticky notes apps which immediately shows that the ink responsiveness is excellent and that the atmospheric pressure sensitivity makes it feel very natural, visually. The playpen ’ s tiptoe has been tuned well, providing a effective sensation. The size of the pen is such that it feels very much like using a regular pen .

System performance

The system performance of the HP Spectre X360 15 is very thoroughly as it comes with a late Intel Core i7-7500U ( 15W TDP ) chief CPU, along with a GeForce 940MX discrete graphics solution. however, there are nuances that you should consider. First of all, many of the 15.6 ” competitors in the same price crop have opted for a more powerful Intel Core i7-7700HQ ( 45W TDP ) CPU. If you look carefully, you will notice a big remainder between 15W and 45W TDP ( thermal design point ) for those CPU options. The TDP does not precisely represent the “ power consumption ”, but quite the thermal purpose sharpen. That said, more heat does correlate to higher might consumption ). The discrete GeForce 940MX graphics pushes the graphics performance and app compatibility further than the Intel integrated graphics alone ( besides introduce in the laptop ), but early competitors now feature the newer GeForce 1050 or 1060 graphics from NVIDIA, which is even more brawny. In benchmarks, having an Intel Core i7-7700HQ translates into significant performance gains. That kind of performance is best exploited for television production, 3D knead, or bet on. If you do not do any of those, it is credibly not that important .

Value for the price, for the weight

How a calculator perform in relative to its weight and price is besides identical telling. Because no one wants to spend countless money, or want to carry a identical heavy computer, choosing the right one is frequently a tradeoff between price, weight and performance. The light history is that the HP Spectre X360 15 is a very good computer “ for the price ”, but early computers with a comparable slant will outclass it in celluloid performance. Those two charts will give you an theme of what to expect :

Battery

The 2017 adaptation of the HP Spectre X360 features a much larger 79.2Wh battery when compared to last year ’ mho model ( 64.5Wh ). The 90W power provide has a USB-C connection, which connects to either USB-C ports on the laptop for charging. Note that many laptops ship with a 45W power add, so there ’ south a casual that this model charges faster while you are using it. In general, the most authentic proxy for battery life ( within a class of device ) remains the battery capacity relative to the CPU/GPU/Display jazz band. The hardware chopine of the HP Spectre X360 15 ( 2017 ) is slenderly less power-hungry as other competitors. however, others have increased their battery capacitance slenderly to offset that. The battery capacity/price of this calculator is quite decent, and this laptop stands in the middle of the pack based on this detail metric unit, even against an array of formidable competitors. notice that, there international relations and security network ’ t a 1080p interpretation of this calculator available, so it is not possible to trade graphics distinctness for longer battery life sentence. many other 15.6 ” laptops do offer that choice at holy order time .

Conclusion

The HP Spectre X360 15 ( 2017 ) is a very good, beautiful, 15.6 ” multi-mode computer that is priced aggressively. At ~ $ 1499, the shape that we tested may not win the “ absolute performance ” battle, but it does win the performance/price and the battery/price comparison most of the time. At $ 1499 the Spectre X360 15 just offers much prize for the money. “ THE SPECTRE X360 15 OFFERS MUCH VALUE FOR THE MONEY ” While others like the Dell XPS 15 ( $ 2145 ) or the Gigabyte Aero 15 do provide more CPU and Graphics power, they besides cost a lot more money when you want exchangeable attributes : 15.6 ” 4K display, large battery, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM. The Lenovo Yoga 720 15 seems like a thoroughly prize rival, but we need to re-run some benchmarks because the benchmark numbers we presently have for the Yoga 720 seem lower than what its hardware seem capable of. In the end, the HP Spectre X360 15 is an excellent choice for a whole distribute of people who do not need ( and want to pay for ) the absolute best synthetic performance, or better gaming capabilities. It is a identical solid productiveness machine, with advance audio and creative abilities, thanks to the digital write.

overall product denounce : 9/10

Filed in. Read more about HP, Laptop Reviews and Laptops.

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