HP - Spectre x2 2-in-1 12.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i7 - 8GB Memory - Intel 360GB Solid State Drive - Black

The HP Spectre line of product is HP’s bid into the premium market. My first look into the Spectre came when they announced the Spectre laptop that had a very stylish and premium design. The unfortunate drawback to that is the high asking price for the laptop. Having now the opportunity to test and try out the Spectre X2, an update to the previous year’s X2, I now get to see how this device performs and feel when handled. This year’s X2, model 12c012dx, features an updated Intel CPU. It’s a i7 7560U clocked in at 2.4GHz. There’s 8GB of RAM but part of it is allocated for Intel’s Iris GPU. For space, there’s 360GB of SSD capacity using M.2 interface. While this doesn’t allow much in terms of file storage, this can be offset using Microsoft’s OneDrive. However, free OneDrive users are limited to 5GB when signing up. This pales in comparison to the space you get when using Google’s Drive cloud storage. And other than the popular Dropbox, there are probably other cloud storage services that offer more space for free users. The X2 is designed overall to be more like a tablet than a laptop. However, HP includes a detachable keyboard that’s designed akin to the Microsoft Surface tablet. There is also a pen stylus that integrates well with Windows Ink. The stylus requires a single AAA battery so this is something to keep in mind when using this device. It has a microSD card slot accessible with a pin to eject the tray. But this appear to be only used to access media stored on the SD card rather than used as an expandable storage. There’s a Windows Hello compatible front facing camera along with a rear facing camera for quick picture taking. And lastly, there’s stereo front-facing speakers (in landscape orientation) and a 3.5mm headphone jacks for audio output. Setting up Windows 10 Home on the X2 is a breeze. It comes preinstalled with the Creators Update and its voice assistant, Cortana, helped guide me through the setup process. It was a surprise experience coming from a longtime keyboard and mouse user. But that doesn’t stop me from using the detachable keyboard to type in my password whenever I log in. While on that topic, using Windows Hello’s facial recognition is a new experience. Setup was simple and recognition is instantaneous. I believe that more Windows 10 devices should come with a Hello compatible front-facing camera in order to make the login process more seamless. When using the X2 with the keyboard, it becomes just like a laptop. Yet at the same time, it doesn’t have the laptop feel. This is likely due to how the keyboard is also a cover and thus doesn’t have the sturdy feel that traditional laptops have. This isn’t a negative point but it does takes some time to get used to this different feel. The trackpad has no obvious mouse button but the button orientation is standard -- bottom left and bottom right for left mouse button and right mouse button respectively. The function row keys are set to special functions by default (ie. screen brightness, mute, volume control, media playback). And for those who like typing in the dark or in poorly lit rooms, the keyboard comes with backlighting. But beware of using this for long, as it’ll obviously eat away battery life. The tablet slab has a 3000x2000 screen resolution, which looks quite amazing for a 12.3 inch display. Physically, it feels compact enough to be carried around with ease. However, on the flip side, it also weighs over 2.5lbs, much heavier than an Apple 12.9 inch iPad Pro. I personally feel weight is not much of an issue or factor when it comes to portable devices, as performance and battery life should be the top factors when shopping, with specs coming in behind. As for specs, the device feels snappy thanks to the M.2 SSD and Intel’s i7 CPU. I could only wish I had more time to play with the X2 so I can find some heavy software to push the CPU. Its (slightly less) 8GB memory will make multi-tasking and switching between software responsive and fast. Wireless networking performance is as good as it gets, allowing me to download the Guild Wars 2 client and data and fully saturating the download bandwidth to the maximum allowed by my ISP (25mbit/s down, 15mbit/s up). Reviewing the Bluetooth side is a bit tricky, as I pushed myself into buying a Logitech MX Master mouse. Connecting took a couple of minutes but only due to how Logitech didn’t come with any setup guide on its ability to connect using two methods (Bluetooth or via Logitech’s wireless dongle). But once connected, using the BT mouse makes using Windows a little easier than trying to manipulate the mouse via trackpad. On the software side, and like any manufacturer branded devices, the X2 comes preloaded with HP’s own suite of software, a couple of which I do not mind such as warranty status/registration. But Windows itself comes loaded with several unnecessities pinned to the Start Menu, all of which can be unpinned while some are just there for no reason at all. It also comes with McAfee, which I immediately uninstall due to its subscription requirement. There are other antivirus software that can do the same or better but without the subscription fee requirement. As for the little things that makes this laptop/tablet very nice to use, there’s a kickstand that allows the tablet to stand up with or without the keyboard. The kickstand can be oriented for a wide range of angles, thus allowing you to use the X2 in many viewing scenarios. But the kickstand can only be used in landscape mode. There is, unfortunately, no other angle when in portrait mode. Charging the X2 is easy and simple, as it uses USB Type-C. There are two ports, one per side in landscape, and either side can be used for charging. Using Type-C makes charging faster. It took about maybe an hour to go from 20-30% left in battery to 98%. From there, I was able to get a good 2+ hours before it is down to 30% with very heavy usage. That ranges from video playback, music playback, typing this review up using Chrome, installing Ilomilo from Windows Store, and (still) downloading Guild Wars 2 data from the server. Overall, I am liking the X2. The premium build and feel makes using it all the more better. The inclusion of a pen stylus in addition to the touchscreen only adds to the versatile value. The detachable keyboard is a good idea for how this device is designed. With a starting base price of $999, it’s $200 higher than the baseline Microsoft Surface Pro. However, with Microsoft’s current offering, and to come close to matching what the X2 offers, you’re looking at $1599 or $2199. And the Surface Pro is currently one CPU generation behind. The X2 is about as close to getting a Surface Pro without paying the high price of it. (post-draft addition) After finally getting the game data downloaded for Guild Wars 2, I did a quick run to check for performance quality. At 3000x2000 resolution, the game is able to run but all settings and details needed to be dialed down to the absolute minimal. I have not yet tested its performance using windowed mode and sized as close to 1920x1080. But framerate hovers around 20fps in sub-sample rendering (as opposed to native rendering which would have crippled the rendering performance). Needless to say, it’s not the best performing GPU but it’ll handle light 3D games without a problem.

I've used both Laptops and Tablets but this is my first experience with a 2-1 system so I was looking forward to receiving this to demo. Unpacking: inside the first box was a very nice black HP box. Different look for the HP logo and I like it! Everything was well packed and protected, The tablet on top in a protective cover, detachable keyboard and then power cable on the bottom. This comes with everything you need right out of the box, including both the keyboard which was much nicer than I expected from other detachable keyboard systems I'd seen in the store. Also included were a USB C to USB A adapter cable, a digital pen and even a nice storage sleeve. Nice job! Turning it on it quickly booted up to the initial setup screen thanks to the SSD drive. Getting WIndows 10 up and running was straight forward, answering the usual questions about language, region etc. Once the initial setup was complete the first step was creating recovery media so I could set it back to initial factory specs if needed. I had a spare 16gb flash drive so I connected up to started the process. There are two USB C ports one on either side of the tablet and I quickly realized they both accept the charging cable as well. This will come in handy when working while plugged in, not having to worry about which side you're plugging into the wall as you can always have the power cable on the same side of the tablet. Again a nice touch. Creating the recovery media on a flash drive was much faster than using DVD's and it wasn't long before I could start playing around. First off the display is outstanding. At a 3000x2000 it's very sharp. I was impressed by the included backgrounds and after connecting to my home network, I moved over a couple of movies to try out. Picture was very crisp and I was also impressed by the audio quality from such a thin device even at full volume. Connecting my noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones was a snap and this perfect for watching movies when travelling. The next step was checking the internet speed. I put it on the desk where I could run the test at the same time on the tablet and my desktop (both running over wireless). I ran the test multiple times and both upload and download speeds varied quite a bit on the tablet compared to the desktop. My connection is 75/75 and the desktop was consistently within 5Mbps, averaging 60 Mbs down and 80 Mbps up. The tablet on the other hand was all over the place, as low as 6Mbps down and 20Mbps Up and as high as 50Mbps Down and 70Mbps Up, but the results were always lower than the desktop on the same run, not sure why, but something I'll continue to play with. The 360Gb SSD drive and i7 processor kept everything moving along nicely, surfing the internet in multiple windows and running the various included programs, even while streaming a movie through Netflix which I wasn't sure about after the internet test, but once the movie started I didn't have any problems with buffering. I have mixed feelings about the keyboard. The keys have a great feel to them and feel more like a good desktop keyboard than a laptop or detachable tablet keyboard. The track pad when moving the cursor around and clicking is nice, but I had the same problem as many laptops that don't have a button to disable the pad, the heel of my hand contacting the pad and having undesirable results. Maybe I'm just a lazy typist but I always have the heels of my hands resting on the desk with a desktop keyboard and that puts them right on the edges of the track pad. Trying to write this review on the tablet didn't go well for me so I had to move over to the desktop. I'd never used a digital pen before and I was surprised at how well it worked. My handwriting with the pen was pretty comparable to pen and paper. It was nice being able to open a document and write notes instead of having to have the keyboard connected and pounding away on the keys. There are two buttons on the pen, one serves as an eraser and the other is a right click button. Overall I'm impressed with the build quality of this tablet. It comes with everything you need and with quality components. If I had to choose between this and any of the laptops I've used in the past I'd go with the Spectre X2. It's a perfect size and weight for the person on the go.

The HP Spectre X2 (2017 Edition) is HP’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface Pro. It is a premium 2-in-1 product with beautiful build quality and a 3000x2000 high resolution screen that supports an active stylus. The stylus uses an AAAA battery which is included and works great with programs like CLIP Studio Paint. It is pressure sensitive so the harder you press, the darker the lines are drawn which can produce drawings with a pencil or brush like appearance. I think this product will be popular with aspiring artists. Like the other reviewer, I could not get the pen to fit into the fabric pen holder on the keyboard. As a 2-in-1, it can function like a tablet or laptop. With 8 GB of memory and an Intel i7 7560U mobile CPU, the Spectre X2 is powerful enough to handle most any tasks without bogging down. I installed Visual Studio 2017 Community from a flash drive in about 30 minutes and in my brief use, it felt pretty zippy. The included keyboard easily snaps into place using magnets and the feel and layout is good for typing code. A clever built-in kickstand allows you to adjust the screen’s angle to your liking. There were times when the back can get warm and the fan will spin up and push warm air out the tiny vents. Streaming Netflix worked great. I watched the first episode of Glow and it played flawlessly with no buffering. The video quality was excellent on the high resolution screen. This is my first computer with a super high resolution screen and some older programs are hard to use because the text and menu items are so tiny. Manga Studio Ex4 was one program that had really tiny text and menus. Luckily, it’s successor (CLIP Studio Paint) is able to take advantage of high resolution screens and text and menu items were able to scale up to be usable. In my brief use, the included webcam seemed to produce very good quality video compared to webcams on other tablets and laptops that I’ve used. I was very impressed with the quality. I think it might be the best webcam that I’ve used. The HP Spectre comes with 2 USB Type-C ports and an included USB Type-C to USB 3.0 adapter cable. Using the adapter cable, I was able to hook up a USB DVD drive to install programs. You can use either USB Type-C ports for charging. It comes with a 320 GB SSD but I wanted to expand the storage so I bought a SanDisk 200GB Micro SD card. You have to use an included pin to push into a tiny hole in the Micro SD cover/caddy. This pops out the cover/caddy and you can then remove it to reveal an empty slot. The Micro SD card fits into the caddy and then you just plug the caddy (with the Micro SD card) back into the empty slot. When I did this, the Spectre X2 did not recognize the card. I unplugged and replugged the SD card a couple of times but it still wouldn’t see it. It turns out that I had to update the Realtek PCIE CardReader driver (in Device Manager under the Memory Technology devices node) by right clicking it and selecting “Update driver”. As soon as the driver was updated, the Spectre X2 saw the card as an SDXC drive. Wireless performance is excellent with my Linksys Velop router. I am able to get 30MB/s from my NAS. So far, I’ve been using the Spectre X2 mostly in laptop mode. I am not that familiar with how Windows works in tablet mode so this is something that I will need to set aside some time in the future to experiment more with. This is an excellent device. I’m very pleased with it and it just seems really neat that something so light and portable is so much more powerful than my old bulky and heavy laptop.

The form factor is excellent on this laptop/tablet 2-in-1. Boots ridiculously fast for a laptop - basically boots like a tablet (10 seconds to login screen then logs you in by just looking at you if you setup facial login), but with all the power of a full blown laptop. Very lightweight, super easy to dock and undock from the keyboard - just pull off the magnetic keyboard. Nice large back-lit keyboard with great tactile response - feels like a real keyboard vs a tablet add on. The picture quality is excellent and the Bang and Olufsen speakers sound great. They are located left and right at the top facing you so right at perfect ear level/angle when the kick stand is out. Kick stand works great and allows for just about any widescreen angle/tilt you'd like for ideal typing/viewing/movie watching on a desk or even a plane tray table. Setup was a breeze - took like 10-15 minutes to setup the whole thing including security and Cortana. I've never had a laptop setup this quick before - very impressed!!! If you'd like a fast, slim & lightweight form factor, nice size keyboard and great display and sound with the power of a Core I7 processor and the full functionality of a laptop - this is a great pc. Only con/thing to be aware of is there are no HDMI or display ports on this pc (due to slim form factor). It has 2 USB-C next gen ports. If you want to connect more than 2 USB devices; or power plus more than 1 USB device; or connect to a monitor - you will also need to pick up an HP USB-C Dock or port extender. It also has a stylus that works great for taking notes, handwriting, art etc but I haven't used that feature much yet.

First one was re-sealed open box being sold as new (I have photographic evidence). They even shrink-wrapped the inner carton to make it more believable, but inside there was missing packaging, misapplied screen film, fingerprints and tape goo on the back of the PC. Exchange was quick (I was back at the store within the hour). Now this exchanged unit already had a warranty that started in July 2017 according to HP websiite and I had to contest the warranty with HP and get it extended to cover my purchase date. In the meantime, I noticed the screen has a 'ghosty' gray swirl that's obvious on any solid color screen or background, such as a blank Word document. Spoke to HP support and they say they can't fix that, but to take it back to Best Buy since I'm within the 15-day return window. I'll try one more and I'm done with this model.

This is a superb option to the other tablet/laptop convertible devices. It comes with the keyboard, so, with it combined with an i7 processor, 360gb SSD, 8gb ram, and an included stylus, it pretty much can't be beat for the price. Upon opening the box I was very pleasantly surprised about how thin this device is, just amazing. The screen resolution is superb, super clear, looks about as close to real life as it gets, I cannot make out pixels unless I use a magnifier. Speed is right up there with my i7 "A" branded laptop and heat doesn't seem to be a problem, "I haven't pushed it really hard yet though", but there is a small cooling fan and you can just barely hear it, no way it would be annoying at any point so far. The keyboard is excellent, I was surprised it's a lot better than a "D" branded tablet/convertible I have and pretty much the same as a regular laptop keyboard. Key-presses are deep enough to where it feels correct and hard to accidentally depress when typing. There are 2 USB type C ports, one on each side and either can be used for charging, that's great considering how you have it set up you can place the charging cable on the side most convenient for you. I also have a couple USB C dongles that have HDMI, Ethernet and multiple USB 3 ports. They worked fine right off without having to fiddle around with them. This make it super easy to add an external drive or hooking up an external monitor. And since there are two USB C ports you can charge while using other devices. HP has really hit a home run with this device, it's definitely something you should put on your buy list when looking for a new tablet/laptop convertible.

I received the HP Spectre X2 12-C012DX a few days ago and now that I have had a little time to use it seems that HP has designed a very competitive entry to the cutting edge premium 2 in 1 convertible laptop class of PC which has the Microsoft Surface Pro as the archetype. Physically the HP X2 differs from the archetype Surface Pro's length and width only by about two tenths of an inch in one dimension and a tenth of for the other. Weight is different by only a fraction of an ounce for the tablet alone and the tablet and keyboard. Hp's choice of charging the tablet by a USB C port was something I wanted to look at when I received the X2, there have been issues with a micro USB port getting damaged on other tablets with the wear of repeatedly connecting the cable for data and charging tasks. But the USB C port HP built into the X2 is very solidly constructed and I don't see any concern. It is also convenient to be able to charge the tablet from either of the two USB C ports on opposite edges of the tablet. I normally use an active stylus when I use a tablet for taking notes and the HP stylus provided with the tablet works perfectly for that use, and note-taking is one of the significant rationals for choosing a detachable 2 in 1 over other designs in my opinion. I didn't try the capability of the stylus to support a drawing/graphic generation task. It looks like there is full support for Windows Ink though from what is in Windows Setup, and I will explore the graphic generation aspect in the future. The X2 with the i7 processor is not passively cooled tablet but has a fan which you can hear softly at times. Other tablets is this class device. with 7th Gen Core i7 CPU also use active cooling as far as I can tell from current reviews. Battery life seems to be about what HP claims. Battery life while Streaming Netflix video was about 4.5 hours from 100% battery charge to 20%, at a comfortable brightness and with the volume turned down to 18%, this tablet is not weak on audio output. The battery life was about 7 hours for the drop from 100% to 20% while typing this review, handling a little email and web browsing for reviews of other new tablets with the 7th Gen Core i7 CPU, (YMMV). It looks like the HP X2 starting with a full charge could last a normal business day without special measures or an AC outlet depending on usage. I haven't had a chance to test the HP claim of 50% recharge from empty in 30 minutes yet but its one of the things I'll be looking at for my own information. The only annoyance I encountered with the X2 was the loop on the Keyboard intended to store the active stylus/pen. The loop seems like an after thought, it is made of a inelastic rubberized fabric, the loop is to small for the pen to go into, you can only clip the pen to the outside of the loop. It may just be an early production hiccup. The HP Spectre X2 12-C012DX is a cutting edge premium 2 in 1 convertible laptop/tablet it seems an excellent value and worth serious consideration by someone in the market for a 2 in 1 convertible.

Overall, this is a great convertible computer, with lots of power and options. There are a few small quirks, but none of them deal breaking by any means. What's in the box: The tablet/computer, attachable keyboard, active pen, charger, leather carrying case and a usb-c to usb-a dongle. Features: Very high quality and resolution screen, front and back cameras, stereo forward facing speakers, detachable aluminum keyboard with trackpad, and a new HP active pen. Initial setup is easy with Cortana walking you through the whole thing. Build quality: Excellent. Everything feels sturdy while being light. The keyboard is aluminum and backlit, and the computer itself is built of aluminum and has a bronze colored kickstand that comes out to help keep it in "laptop" mode. Use: The computer is very fast, turns on as quick as any other tablet running stripped down tablet software, while running full blown windows 10. The pen works out of the box, all you do is add batteries (with some quirks...more in the cons section below). You can lock your computer, and unlock it using facial recognition. When it works (more below), it is very quick and easy. The keyboard attaches via a magnet, and is easy to attach/detach, and the computer knows when it is attached, and will change windows to the correct settings (tablet/full windows mode) automatically. The touch screen is very responsive, and the graphics are clear. Sound is very good for a convertible computer, but not the greatest either. Expect it to be tinny, but better than I expected out of something this size. This thing is actually useable as a tablet. When you detach the keyboard, it is light and useable on its own. It turns into tablet mode, and the on screen keyboard pops up when you need to type. Cons: 1. Battery life is a bit short, nothing like an ipad, but this is also a full blown computer. I have to charge it every other day or so, with a few hours of use each day. Standby mode seems to eat the battery more than a normal tablet...but like I said, this is full windows. 2. The active pen does not have any settings. The paperwork says that I can use the HP Pen setup app, but it is not installed, nor can I find it anywhere. I'm not sure what the 2 buttons do, and I can't seem to customize it at all since I don't have/can't get the app. 3. Using the device on your lap is kind of difficult as the whole setup is "floppy". While the keyboard does fold around nicely, and the kickstand is well built. It all has to balance on your lap, or things start flopping around. On a steady surface it is great, but at times it can get a bit finicky. 4. Logging in using the camera/facial recognition is finiky. When it works it is very fast, but more often than not it doesn't work. It seems to need A LOT of light to work. If it is shadowy at all, no dice. It will just say "make sure you are looking directly at the camera" or "looking for you". You then have to click "other sign on options" and type in your password. Overall: Very nice computer with a few flaws.