HP Spectre x360 14 overview: OLED makes a fantastic 2-in-1 even higher

With the most recent iteration of its premium Spectre x360 14, HP provides two new premium options not discovered on final 12 months’s convertible alongside the requisite replace to Twelfth-generation Intel silicon. The most important addition is the high-resolution OLED panel that delivers distinctive picture high quality. The second addition is a high-resolution webcam, shifting from an underwhelming 720p digital camera to a crisp and dynamic 1080p webcam.

The Spectre x360’s total design stays unchanged. The all-metal chassis with gold accents gives a stable really feel and opulent seems, whereas the show’s 3:2 side ratio is geared towards enterprise use fairly than leisure pursuits that will profit from a wider display screen. It’s nonetheless a tad heavy for a 14-inch convertible, and the battery life is shorter than final 12 months’s mannequin, however the Spectre stays a fantastic choose for government and different professionals searching for a conveyable and versatile two-in-one convertible.

HP Spectre x360 specs and options

Our HP Spectre x360 14 check system options the next specs:

• CPU: Quad-core Intel Core i7-1255U
• Reminiscence: 16GB
• Graphics: Intel Iris Xe
• Storage: 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
• Show: 13.5-inch 3000×2000, OLED contact panel
• Webcam: 1080p with bodily digital camera shutter
• Connectivity: 2 x USB-C Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, combo audio jack, microSD card reader
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
• Biometrics: IR facial recognition, fingerprint reader
• Battery capability: 66.5 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 11.75 x 8.67 x 0.67 inches
• Measured weight: 3 kilos (laptop computer), 0.6 kilos (AC adapter)
• Value: $1,424.99

The HP Spectre x360 collection begins at $999.99. The baseline mannequin incorporates a Twelfth-gen Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, a 512GB SSD and a Full HD show. Our check system options CPU, reminiscence, storage and show upgrades that raised the value. At HP.com, it’s priced at $1,424.99, which displays a $250 low cost. Our check mannequin can be accessible at Finest Purchase for $1,749.99, and it has often been discounted to $1,399.99.

OLED goodness

This 12 months’s Spectre x360 trots out the identical seems as final 12 months’s mannequin and stays a stunner. The all-metal chassis boasts a stunning, refined design and rugged really feel. There are three shade choices — silver, black, and a deep blue. (The latter two colours add $15 to the invoice.) We acquired it in black. With the matte end, it has delicate brown undertones that provides it a novel look amongst a sea of silver brushed aluminum laptops. The gem-cut edges and different gold accents create a delightful distinction with the matte black surfaces.

The chassis stays the identical as final 12 months’s mannequin and subsequently the burden stays the identical at three kilos. That’s a bit heavy for this class of 2-in-1, however most are shut to 3 kilos. The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, for instance, with its 13.4-inch 16:10 show weighs 2.9 kilos. With the added heft, nonetheless, comes a stable really feel. There may be nothing flimsy in regards to the Spectre x360. 

After we seemed on the Spectre x360 final 12 months, it featured an IPS panel with a 1920×1280-pixel decision and a boxy 3:2 side ratio. An 3000×2000 OLED mannequin was offered as a Finest Purchase unique, which you may need missed. Now the OLED show is on the market direct from HP. It provides an affordable $110 to the value of the system. It’s effectively definitely worth the value. The OLED panel delivers unimaginable distinction with good blacks and vibrant whites. Colours are correct and vivid. And the 3000×2000 decision throughout the 13.5-inch panel creates a pointy picture with crisp textual content.

The show’s 3:2 side ratio is taller than a 16:10 or 16:9 widescreen. Films and exhibits don’t match in addition to they do on a wider display screen, however the boxier ratio is suited effectively for looking the net and dealing on lengthy paperwork. The three:2 show can be a great slot in pill mode. The squarer form makes it really feel extra like an iPad than utilizing a laptop computer spun round.

The contact show options pen help, and HP contains its Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen. Tapping, swiping, and scribbling on the show felt pure with each a fingertip and the pen. There’s no storage for the pen, nevertheless it connects magnetically to the facet of the system.

Befitting of the premium Spectre x360 are its 4 audio system that produce premium sound. The audio system create dynamic audio with crisp highs and a little bit of a bass response. The audio begins to lose some readability whenever you push the amount previous 80% however at that stage there’s nonetheless sufficient oomph to fill a small room. 

Webcam goes to 1080p

A 720p webcam has no place on a premium Spectre mannequin, and HP made the transfer to a 1080p digital camera with this 12 months’s Spectre x360. It produces a clear, well-balanced picture that has not one of the grainy blotchiness of a 720p cam. If Zoom conferences and different video calls are a big a part of your job, the 1080p can have you trying clearer to co-workers and shoppers. The digital camera has IR capabilities so you’ll be able to log into the machine by way of facial recognition. And if you happen to’d fairly use your finger as an alternative of your face, there’s a fingerprint reader tucked in between the spacebar and arrow keys on the backside of the keyboard. Each biometric strategies labored flawlessly.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The keyboard sacrifices the suitable Management key for the fingerprint reader, leaving solely a Management key within the left nook. The keys supply a handy guide a rough response and quiet motion for an total pleasing and premium typing expertise. One change from final 12 months’s mannequin — HP removed the right-side column of Dwelling, Web page Up/Down, and Finish keys. These keys at the moment are doubled mapped to the 4 arrow keys, which can disappoint some typists. Within the row of Operate keys on the high, there’s a key to cycle via the keyboard’s two-level backlight and two others to mute the microphone and canopy the digital camera. When the digital camera’s bodily cowl is in place, you’ll be able to see its white and black stripes to present you peace of thoughts that your privateness is protected. The mute and digital camera shutter keys themselves even have orange LEDs to present you visible proof that every system is deactivated.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The gold-edged touchpad gives a quiet, agency click on response and correct recording of mousing gestures. It’s close to good. If I had a nit to choose, it will be the semi-glossy end doesn’t supply as clean gliding as would a extra matte end.

The helpful port choice stays the identical as final 12 months’s mannequin. There’s a pair of USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, a USB Sort-A port, an audio jack, and a microSD card reader. One of many Thunderbolt 4 ports and the headphone jack are situated on every of the again corners of the system. These corners are trimmed so every port sits on the diagonal. It’s an uncommon design level, and one I doubt will catch on as a result of it makes it a bit more durable to entry these ports than in the event that they have been merely situated on the facet. And if I might, I’d swap out the headphone jack and have a Thunderbolt 4 port in every nook. Not solely would I be capable to cost the Spectre x360 from both facet, however the headphone jack can be nearer to the entrance of the system and my ears.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

One final observe on the ability adapter. It additionally lives as much as the premium Spectre identify. The ability brick is tiny and simply moveable, and the wire is braided so it by no means tangles. 

Efficiency

Our HP Spectre x360 check system options the Core i7-1255U processor, 16GB of RAM, built-in Intel Iris Xe graphics, and a 1TB SSD. The Core i7-1255U is a member of Intel’s Twelfth-gen Alder Lake U collection of environment friendly, 15-watt cellular chips that function Intel’s new hybrid structure. It has two efficiency cores, eight effectivity cores, and a complete of 12 processing threads. 

We in contrast the Spectre x360’s efficiency to a mixture of equally sized laptops with Twelfth-gen Intel Core processors from each the environment friendly 15-watt U collection and extra balanced 28-watt P collection that sits between the U collection and high-powered 45-watt P collection. Rounding out the charts are a few laptops based mostly on AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800U processor and a Dell XPS 13 based mostly on an Eleventh-gen Core i7.

The system felt peppy throughout our time with it and operated in close to silence. We did see the battery life decline from final 12 months’s mannequin; the OLED panel is the doubtless trigger for the shorter working time (extra on that under).

Our first benchmark is PCMark 10, which measures efficiency on on a regular basis computing work together with workplace productiveness duties, net looking, and video chats. The entire laptops listed below are overqualified for working basic workplace apps. The Spectre x360 completed in the course of the pack. With solely two efficiency cores within the Core i7-1255U, the system couldn’t preserve tempo with the 2 AMD-based laptops — the Ryzen 7 5800U has eight processing cores and 16 processing threads. And the subsequent two finishers function the Core i7-1260P, which has 4 efficiency cores together with eight effectivity cores and a complete of 16 processing threads. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Our HandBrake benchmark exams how a laptop computer is ready to deal with crushing CPU masses over a prolonged interval—on this case, transcoding a 30GB MKV file to a format appropriate for Android tablets utilizing HandBrake, the free video encoding utility. The Spectre x360 once more completed with a middling end result and located itself effectively off the tempo set by the programs with CPUs with extra processing cores and threads. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Subsequent up is Cinebench, one other CPU-intensive check however one which renders a posh 2D scene over a brief time frame. The Spectre x360’s Cinebench result’s underwhelming. Its U collection CPU is constructed for effectivity and never cranking via multithreaded multimedia functions. The Spectre x360 is a greater match for executives and different enterprise customers than inventive professionals.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

On our 3DMark benchmark, not one of the laptops right here — the Spectre x360 included — distinguished themselves. However that’s hardly a shock given all of them options built-in graphics. 

To check a laptop computer’s battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Home windows 11’s Films & TV app, with the laptop computer set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. We set the display screen brightness at a comparatively vibrant 250 nits to 260 nits, which is an effective brightness for watching a film in an workplace with the lights on. The Spectre x360 lasted for greater than 11 hours, which can get you thru the longest workdays with no need to retreat to a wall outlet. That’s a formidable determine, however different fashions supply runtimes which are hours longer.

Final 12 months’s Spectre x360 ran for greater than three hours longer than this 12 months’s mannequin. With each programs that includes the identical 66.5Whr battery, I believe the perpetrator of the shorter runtime is the high-resolution OLED show. Despite the fact that an OLED can flip off particular person pixels, a larger variety of pixels means a larger drain on the battery. And we’ve but to see any profit when it comes to battery life from an OLED laptop computer. In actual fact, we’ve typically seen that an OLED panel has a slight antagonistic impact on a laptop computer’s battery life.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Spectre nonetheless a favourite

Even with the lower in battery life, we welcome the addition of the OLED show to the Spectre x360. It’s a type of options that when you’ve skilled it, you’ll by no means return to the outdated means of a plain-Jane IPS LCD show. The beneficial properties in distinction and shade dynamics are simply too nice. Plus, with OLED shows starting to trickle all the way down to midrange laptops, consumers ought to definitely anticipate an OLED on a high-end mannequin just like the Spectre x360. 

OLED apart, it’s among the best trying 2-in-1 convertibles available on the market. The brownish-black chassis is exclusive with out being garish, and the all-metal chassis is rock-solid if a tad heavy. With its U collection processor and built-in graphics, it’s a greater match for basic workplace duties than inventive work. Regardless of the drop in battery life, the Spectre x360 stays one in all our favourite 2-in-1 enterprise convertibles.