This 16-inch convertible has an attractive design and eye-catching OLED display that many creatives will find to be a perfect fit.
Ignoring the rare newcomer, few laptops are more exciting to review than HP’s Spectre models. Not what you expected? MacBooks are beloved, XPSs are ultra-sleek, and Lenovo’s are almost annoyingly consistent, but none of these products are as visually stimulating as HP’s flagship portable laptops. Now the company has launched its biggest model yet, and after using it for several weeks, I can tell you that it competes with the 14-inch model as one of the best ultra-portable notebooks on the market.
Building off the success of its siblings, this successor to the now-extinct Spectre x360 15 boasts a luxurious design, a magnificent OLED display, and an excellent keyboard and touchpad. It isn’t the fastest in its class, but the included RTX 3050 GPU gives it some graphics punch. If you want a portable notebook–especially a convertible one–with a large screen and don’t need peak power, the Spectre x360 16 is a knockout.
Sensible opulence
I ought to in all probability be carrying a swimsuit for this evaluate. The opulence of the Spectre x360 16’s design contrasts starkly with my overly informal pandemic-era put on. Every time I carry the lid, it looks like I’m stepping right into a Lambo with sweatpants on. Actually although, this laptop computer might as nicely have been crafted by a luxurious designer. Instantly, I seen how the perimeters had been rounded to provide this a softer look than the earlier 15-inch mannequin. It appears to be like good, although I miss the gem-cut edges from the earlier mannequin. The Spectre nonetheless flaunts distinctive corners, reduce at an angle as in the event that they had been diamonds, however now the perimeters are extra ovular.
Additionally distinguishing the Spectre is gold gilding that outlines each ingredient of the machine. Chrome glistens off the perimeters of the lid, wraps across the deck, frames the touchpad, and even flanks the hinges. The glitz appears to be like marvellous towards the deep umber of this “Dusk Black” mannequin although. When you’re listening HP, I want the beautiful Nocturne Blue, a metal blue with lighter accents.
The construct high quality can be good. The Spectre’s aluminium chassis exhibited minimal flex once I pressed down gently on the highest cowl, and the dual hinges decreased display screen wobble as I tapped on the glass. There was nonetheless a little bit of shaking, although. Some concessions had been made to show this massive pocket book right into a convertible. It’s a minor factor however the two halves of the laptop computer flexed towards one another once I carried the laptop computer from its backbone like a e-book.
As a 2-in-1, the Spectre x360 transforms right into a pill or sits in tent mode whenever you’re watching reveals or motion pictures. Simply don’t maintain it for longer than a couple of minutes otherwise you threat waking up with sore arms the following morning. At 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.78 inches and a pair of kg, the Spectre feels hefty. Because it lacks the portability of a standard pill, the 2-in-1, in “pill” mode, is finest used as a stationary monitor for watching motion pictures or drawing with the stylus whereas positioned in your lap or desk.
And earlier than you ask, sure, a stylus is included (as is a sleeve). What you get within the field is a chargeable MPP 2.Zero pen with a tilt perform. There may be nothing too fancy occurring right here; the plastic pen looks like a #2 pencil within the hand and has two programmable buttons. A sliding mechanism within the physique reveals a USB-C charging port, and a round ring across the cap glows orange when the pen is plugged in and white when it’s absolutely charged. Once you’re finished utilizing it, the stylus magnetically attaches to the best aspect of the lid. It isn’t probably the most safe place, however hey, something is best than underneath your cushions.
What I like in regards to the Spectre is how fashion doesn’t take priority over perform. Not like most laptops on this section, the Spectre x360 comes with a large assortment of ports. On the left aspect are an HDMI 2.Zero port, a USB-A with a drop-jaw hinge, and a headphone/mic jack. Flip the laptop computer round and there are two Thunderbolt Four ports and an influence jack. It’s a wide variety, but when I’m nitpicking, I’d like these two USB-C inputs break up amongst either side.
HP actually considered what customers who stay in a hybrid office want and introduced these options to the Spectre. Issues like a devoted webcam kill change and mute key are godsends when you end up in a Zoom name with solely underwear on (not that I do know from expertise). The fingerprint sensor and IR digicam make typing passwords out of date and logged me into the system immediately. And the 5MP IR webcam is shockingly good. So good that HP’s rivals must take notes (I’m you, Apple). And at last, the quad Bang & Olufsen-tuned audio system pump out loud and clear–if considerably skinny–sound.
OLED perfection
Matching the fantastic thing about the chassis is an impressive 16-inch, 4K+ (3840 x 2400-pixel) OLED touchscreen show — and it is likely one of the finest round. Colors explode off the display screen to the purpose the place my fancy 4K, IPS monitor seemed drab when seen side-by-side subsequent to the Spectre. Every thing appears to be like higher on this panel, not simply motion pictures and TV reveals. It even gave me a brand new appreciation for the Fluent design language used all through Home windows 11 — the daring pops of color towards clear backgrounds and the contemporary collection of wallpapers are given new life on this display screen.
The Rings of Energy trailer won’t have hyped me for Amazon’s TV spinoff of the best fantasy trilogy, however due to this panel, it was no less than a visible delight. The panel was so sharp that I may see every chain hyperlink within the characters’ armour and hues had been so lucid that it felt as if I had been watching the clip on a film theatre display screen.
Apparently, on white backgrounds, a vertical pixel layer made it seem as if the panel was textured — I want the display screen had a extra uniform, paper-like high quality, however I used to be capable of fairly actually see previous it after a short time. Lowered battery life (see under) is commonly probably the most critical consequence of choosing the OLED show, although one other oft-cited draw back is that the display screen tech lacks brightness. Luckily, this isn’t the case with this panel, which reached 386 nits in my very own testing and was clearly seen even underneath the Texas solar. Simply remember the fact that it is a shiny panel so that you’ll be battling reflections, and the 60Hz refresh price is an unlucky limitation for players who want the smoothest movement.
Now, a fast phrase on burn-in. First, burn-in on an OLED panel is a real downside: the hideous “LG” brand completely ingrained in my TV is proof. HP instructed me the corporate isn’t doing something particular to forestall its OLED panel from affected by burn-in apart from counting on the standard of elements it will get from distributors plus the on/off cycles of a PC. With that in thoughts, I’d keep away from retaining static content material on the display screen for too lengthy and ensure your sleep settings are enabled.
Class-topping keyboard and touchpad
The display screen casts wonderful colors onto an excellent keyboard. These backlit keys are giant, clicky, and correctly spaced. I’m additionally a fan of the massive slender font and the way the caps colour-match the deck. I beat my typical averages by typing at a brisk 120 phrases per minute with a 4% error price on a standardised on-line typing check.
Now 39% bigger than earlier than, the silky easy and ultra-responsive touchpad is HP’s best — and among the many God-tier for PCs. The floor tracked my erratic swipes with precision, pushing my cursor across the panel as I had supposed, and Home windows 11 gestures had been executed on the primary try.
Stunted CPU, Succesful GPU
The Spectre is speedy with an asterisk. The system I’m utilizing has an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11390H CPU with 16GB of RAM. That CPU, which was quietly launched in mid-2021 as a refresh to the Tiger Lake H35 collection, is a technology behind now that Intel has launched 12th Gen processors.
Be aware that, as a part of the H35 collection, the i7-11390H has a 35W TDP, that means it matches someplace between U-series and H-series chips. In sensible phrases, this 4-core CPU gained’t ship as a lot energy as these in beefier, high-performance 15-inch laptops just like the Dell XPS 15 or Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Excessive.
Nonetheless, the Spectre is highly effective sufficient for many customers. The system had no issues working dozens of Chrome tabs, exporting a number of giant video recordsdata in Affinity Photographs, and streaming stay video with varied processes working within the background. And with an RTX 3050 GPU, the Spectre x360 may even play some video games at 1080p. Thoughts you, that is the lowest-end RTX cell graphics from Nvidia but it surely’s nonetheless a big enchancment over the Iris Xe graphics present in my ultra-portable programs. It gave the machine sufficient oomph to play Halo: Infinite on medium settings for a number of hours with out throttling or overheating.
The Spectre x360 16’s efficiency ceiling was measured in our benchmarks, the place it did not match competing programs. On the Geekbench 5.Four total efficiency check, the system hit 4,441 for multi-core and 1,405 for single-core. This comes nowhere near the Floor Laptop computer Studio (5,817, 1,473) or the MacBook Professional 14 (12,663, 1,777), and it even fell wanting the Thinkpad X1 Titanium Yoga (4,767, 1,329).
The pocket book’s CPU took 11 minutes and 25 seconds to render a 3D picture in Blender, a activity the Laptop computer Studio accomplished in 7:07, the MacBook Professional completed in solely 3:21, and even the Floor Professional Eight did in underneath eight minutes. The X1 Titanium Yoga, nevertheless, wanted 11 minutes and 38 seconds.
Once I transformed a 4K video to 1080p utilizing the HandBrake app, the Spectre wanted 5 minutes and 48 seconds. Lastly, an excellent consequence. That speedy time trumps the Floor Laptop computer Studio (8:30) and the Samsung Galaxy E book Professional 360 (12:29). And whereas it fell wanting the MacBook Professional 14 (4:56), the margins had been slim.
You’ll be able to play Complete Conflict: Warhammer II at 1080p on Extremely settings at round 43 frames per second, which is–no less than for me–simply sufficient buffer area between the usual 30-fps threshold.
Predicable battery life
I’m…content material with the Spectre’s battery life. The laptop computer powered down after Eight hours and 48 minutes of video playback with the display screen set to 200 nits. That’s respectable for a laptop computer with a 4K OLED display screen however under common when in comparison with different programs with 1080p or comparable panels. To its credit score, the Spectre proves that choosing a 4K display screen now not means being eternally tethered to an outlet.
That is sometimes the place I’d suggest choosing a 1080p panel should you prioritise battery life over image high quality. I’m undecided about this one. That’s as a result of the lower-res possibility is a 3K (3072 x 1920-pixel) IPS panel. Since I don’t have one to check, I can solely assume it would final barely longer on a cost than the 4K OLED. I doubt, nevertheless, that it’ll provide you with a number of further hours like a 1080p (or equal) panel would. For that purpose, I’d in all probability go along with the OLED possibility as long as the $US180 ($250) doesn’t push it previous your finances.
Do you have to purchase the Spectre x360 16?
The Spectre x360 16 is likely one of the higher laptops in an more and more crowded section thanks, partly, to its aggressive value. OK, so, the one I reviewed prices $US2,100 ($2,915), however you get a fairly decently specced model for $US1,329 ($1,845) with a 3K+ show, Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. That config could be extra for on a regular basis customers who need a big show in a slim chassis. Of us who must run extra intensive apps can pay round $US1,800 ($2,499) for the RTX 3050 improve, which remains to be an honest value when in comparison with the XPS 15 configured with a 4K show.
What makes me hesitate to suggest the Spectre over its direct rivals is the laptop computer’s comparatively meager efficiency. With a four-core processor, the Spectre is outgunned by its large-screen rivals, just like the MacBook Professional, XPS, or ThinkPad X1 Excessive. Including that discrete GPU offers it a pleasant increase, however there are higher choices in case your workflow is extra CPU-intensive. That stated, should you’re an artist, pupil, or designer who needs the flexibleness of a convertible and cares extra about show high quality and dimension than uncooked compute energy, the Spectre x360 16 is a unbelievable machine with few drawbacks.
