Customers are impressed with the Spectre x360's stunning 4K touch screen, powerful performance, and sleek design. They appreciate its gaming capabilities and user-friendly interface. However, some users have concerns about its overheating issues, limited battery life, fan noise, and the limited number of USB ports.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
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Pros mentioned:
Performance, Screen
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Hp Spectre x360 15.6" (2020) | Laptop Review
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Hp Spectre x360 15.6" (2020) | 15-eb0053dx
Cost: $1,799.99 + Tax (Bestbuy)
Specifications:
-10th generation i7 10750H (6-core processor)
-Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti
-1TB SSD + 32GB Optane
Laptop Drivers: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-spectre-15-eb0000-x360-convertible-laptop-pc-series/32516320/model/34370376?sku=9GB30UA
Pros:
-Beautiful Display (4k AMOLED, Great Color Accuracy and Contrast)
-Great Keyboard (Off-center to the left, love the Numpad, good key travel, good spacing)
-Windows Hello and Fingerprint works great. It is fast and reliable
-Quick to boot up and load windows
-Great for media consumption because of the 360-degree mechanism and 16:9 aspect ratio
-Wifi 6 performs well. No hiccups with the network. (I have FiOS gigabit connection and achieve around 500 down and 550 up)
-Charges up quickly with the inbox 135W Charger
-Borderless display. The bezels significantly reduced compared to the 2019 model. 90% screen to body ratio. (This is what pushed me to get the laptop)
-Performs well. Everyday tasks are a breeze and editing apps such as Photoshop CC 2020 work well.
Cons:
-Terrible and I mean terrible Webcam quality (Grainy and terrible color)
-Can get extremely hot
-4k60fps Youtube videos stutter and drop frames at times. (It seems like an issue only associated with Youtube because 4k videos work perfectly in other sites and directly from video files. Disabling hardware acceleration did help the performance but it does lag occasionally)
-Battery Life is below average (But it is a 4k OLED panel so that’s reasonable)
-The exterior is a fingerprint magnet.
-Only one Thunderbolt 3 USB-c port.
Comments:
-In the beginning, the laptop always became hot in as little as 5 mins only doing basic tasks such as watching Netflix or using a web browser.
-My Fix: Right-click battery icon in the tray. Go to “Power Options”. Then “Change plan settings”. Click “Change advanced power settings” Under “Processor Power Management” change Maximum processor state from 100% to 99% for both “On battery” and “Plugged in”
-If “Processor Power Management” is not shown in the advanced power settings. Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power and change CsEnabled to “0”
-This fix reduced laptop thermals and lowered fan noise.
-The laptop drivers on the official hp website helped increase the performance and stability of the machine in my case.
-It comes with quite a bit of bloatware. Immediately removed all of it as soon as I set up the laptop.
-The Speaker system is not the worst but it's not the best either.
-The display’s default refresh rate was set to “59 Hz”
-My Fix: Search “Display Settings” | Scroll down and click “Advanced display settings” | Click “Display adapter properties for Display 1” | Click the Monitor tab | Change the screen refresh rate to 60 Hz
-The laptop sleeve is a very nice add on but the pen sleeve is a little bit tight and it can be difficult to get the pen out. The laptop is very snug inside the sleeve and requires two hands to get the laptop out.
-Disabling the keyboard backlit light helped increase battery life slightly.
-For my laptop, opening it, one-handed is inconsistent. (I expected it to be an easy open considering all the reviews on youtube.)
-The rechargeable pen is a welcome addition. (2-in-1 Laptops should always include a pen in my opinion)
-The HP Command Center is wonderful. The dedicated button on the keyboard makes it easy to switch thermal profiles. Comfort mode quickly cools down the laptop when it starts getting hot.
-The “dot pattern” is visible on the screen but only if you put your face right up on the screen and look at a white portion of the screen.
-The laptop feels premium and has a good hefty weight. (Attention getter)
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design, Performance, Screen
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
One of the great ones!
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
What you get for the money on this laptop is nothing short of incredible. First, the looks and feel. This laptop looks simply brilliant with its rose gold accents and matte black finish. The hinges are sturdy and well designed and the keyboard is pleasingly tactile. Second: the OLED screen is contrasty and ultra sharp. Third: You can use it as a drawing pad and it comes with a well designed pencil. Fourth, it is speedy and useful for production work in video and photography. Fifth, the speakers are excellent, with sound that is full and spacious.
That said, every laptop has its faults. This laptop can run hot at times. Once everything "settled in" with my software, mine became a lot cooler. The battery life is middling, but not bad considering the processor and the screen. But these are the only two real issues. Everything else is just nitpicking. It is one of the great laptops in looks, performance and build.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Screen
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Good at everything, but not particularly great.
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Posted . Owned for 3 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I've had this laptop for about 3 months, and I give it a solid 4 stars. Here's why:
Pros:
— The Screen. The 4K OLED touch screen is magnificent with incredible detail, great responsiveness, and very vivid colors and deep blacks. It truly was amazing to look at and use for the first time. It also seems to have a short response time for gaming even though I couldn't find a number value for it online.
— The Potential for Productivity. This laptop is a joy to type on as the keyboard feels great and feels very tactile (has backlight as well), the trackpad is quite wide (though isn't as tall as I'd like, but using a mouse instantly fixes this issue), the laptop hinge is great even by 2-in-1 standards, and the included pen works well on the touch screen with great responsiveness and (pen) battery life. My main gripe is the 16:9 screen aspect ratio.
— Overall Design of the Laptop. The gem-cut design makes it look one-of-a-kind and allows for some nice feats of engineering, such as the power button being located on the top-left corner of the laptop so it's accessible even in tablet-mode as well as a Thunderbolt 3 Port being accessible on the top-right corner so the USB-C cable will naturally be pointed in a direction away from the laptop and out of the way of any wired mice. I love the matte finish and color scheme (rose gold/matte black {matches my Sony WH-1000XM4's}) and the hinge is very sturdy, even after 3 months of use.
— Unlock Options. This laptop has Windows Hello facial recognition as well as an integrated fingerprint scanner, allowing for great versatility in how you'd like to unlock your laptop.
Cons:
— Battery Life. For me, I've struggled to get more than 5 to 6 hours of light use at medium brightness from this laptop without having to plug it up. It probably has to do with the laptop powering it's beautiful 4K OLED touch screen display, but nonetheless, this is a problem for people on-the-go like myself.
— GPU Selection at time of Purchase. I feel as if by having an option to purchase this laptop with a mid-tier NVIDIA GPU that it was trying to appeal to gamers. It can be a struggle to maintain 60 to 70 FPS while playing new game titles at mid-tier settings at times, and I've noticed the performance of the laptop drops SIGNIFICANTLY once the battery goes below about 40% to where my FPS will spike drastically. Not sure exactly why it does this. If you're going to give me the option to include a decent GPU in the laptop and it be quite heavy already, why not let me shove a 20-series NVIDIA GPU into it and live with the tiny bit more weight for a better gaming experience? Side note: I notice tons of screen-tearing when I am gaming, but this may be as a result of some settings I haven't tweaked correctly. Not sure.
— Weight. If you are trying to market this laptop to on-the-go workers by day and gamers by night, this system can't seem to make up its mind about what it'd like to be. I feel it is too heavy to be a practical to replace tablets for some people while the GPU in the laptop is unable to compete with most gaming laptops for performance - even ones that can lie flat, but maybe not go fully convertible. It is an OK gaming laptop and an OK 2-in-1, but not exemplary at either just because of the weight and lack of GPU options and performance.
In-Betweens:
— Port Selection. I am happy about having a full HDMI port as well as two Thunderbolt 3 ports, but the barrel charging port should have been weeded out this generation and replaced with another Thunderbolt 3 port or another USB-A port - maybe even a DisplayPort. This is made up for with the SIM Card reader and Hardware Camera Kill-Switch (!!!).
— Thunderbolt 3 Port Issues. I am currently building a setup with external monitors, and this laptop's Thunderbolt ports seem to be giving not only myself but lots of other users huge issues when trying to use them for display-out purposes. After months of researching, somebody finally posted a solution to my issue on an HP Support thread in the past 24 hours which fixed my issue and my setup. This may be a sign of bad software or some inconsistent ports, but either way, this is something that should be noted.
Final Thoughts:
I feel this laptop is good at everything but not particularly great at anything besides watching movies on it's gorgeous display. It is an OK gaming laptop, a pretty good tablet replacement besides it being QUITE heavy (and I'm being kind), and it's an alright productivity laptop but it's battery life is inconsistent at best and the 16:9 screen ratio isn't the best for doing real work. If you're looking for an on-the-go laptop/tablet for productivity and/or school, I'd look at Microsoft's Surface lineups. If you're looking for a gaming laptop, this is not where you should be looking. If you want something somewhere in the middle and NEED your laptop to be convertible and pen-compatible, then you may want to look at this x360.
Regardless, I feel the price is too high for this laptop under any circumstances, and if you are looking at buying this laptop, consider open-box or wait for a decent sale (or do both, like I did).
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Screen
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
All-in-one solution for any student
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This laptop was purchased for my wife as a solution to not having to purchase a tablet and a laptop separately.
The Display is a crisp 4k Res and 60hz refresh rate with an immaculate color response. The touch-pen is extremely sensitive and can track even the finest of strokes.
Under the hood is a gaming/creating machine. This laptop is capable of playing any AAA title on max settings and sustaining its V-Sync frame rate.
The build quality is insane for how affordable the laptop is, compared to other brands. No cheap plastic, rather a full-body metal design with sleek edges and a nice color contrast.
The touchpad is very responsive, almost comparable to a MAC for a fraction of the cost and the keyboard has a nice mid to low profile with a comfortable response.
Most importantly, the battery life is very pleasing considering the specs and display. Able to go all day with no charge on moderate use.
This laptop is a great solution for a desktop replacement with mobility.
**Note** We purchased this laptop with the student discount on top of a promotional discount totaling $300 off. That being said, it is worth the investment at full-price!!
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Fan noise, Overheating
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Too hot
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Excellent laptop for users who are not planning to touch it. Because it runs HOT. 15 mins of scrolling internet got me 35C (95F) temperature (screenshot attached). After 10 mins of running MS Flight simulator I've got 60C (140F). And MS Flight Simulator doesn't even run that fast - I don't think this laptop is meant for games at all. Using "comfort" thermal profile in HP Command Center may cool down temperatures but: CPU performance will be decreased, and noise from the fan is too loud to be on call (people complained that is sounds like I'm driving a car on a highway with all open windows). Keyboard feels a bit awkward as it's shifted from the center to fit numeric key pad, but I've got used to it. Touchpad feels tiny and awkward as well - I think it's too small for 4K screen. Other than that - beautiful AMOLED 4k screen, great sound, seems well made. Too hot to be used as a laptop/tablet.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
HP Spectre x360 is Simply a Fantastic Laptop
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I had what I believe was a first generation Spectre, which I loved. But time took it’s toll and the screen went out on it sometimes for hours and my Geek Squad protection plan expired, so it was time for a new laptop.
Off to Best Buy I went for a new laptop. While my first Spectre was 512GB, I wanted 1TB, and the Spectre x360 1TB was more than I wanted to spend. The Salesperson at Best Buy recommended a Dell Inspiron 7000. It sounded nice. It had good specs. It’s a Dell and they make good laptops, right? After several days, it became plainly obvious it wasn’t even close to a Spectre. Even with a 4K screen and an 11th Gen Intel i7 processor, the Dell was simply disappointing.
So I returned the Dell and spent the extra money on the Spectre x360 with 1TB of SSD storage, 10th Gen i7 Processor and GE Force Graphics. The Processor is Six Core, the kind of powerful processor you’ll find in desktop systems. To say I’m so much happier with the Spectre is an understatement.
The Dell screen, while 4K didn’t have the incredibly stunning clarity or brightness you get on a Spectre 4K Ultra AMOLED screen. This new generation AMOLED screen has a better anti-reflective coating than my first Spectre. The Spectre has 400+ Nits of brightness, whereas the Dell has a maximum of 270 Nits. Trust me when I say the difference is night and day. The screen on the Spectre which I understand is from Corning Glass, is in another universe altogether. And no matter what I tried, the Dell renders whites with a decidedly yellow tint. White on the Spectre is a perfect bright white. Go out to YouTube and pull up any 4K Ultra Video and be prepared to be simply blown away.
The Dell while being an Intel 11th Gen i7 processor with 1TB of SSD memory, took three full days to download my rather large Carbonite backup. In contrast, the Spectre with a 10th Gen i7 processor downloaded the same amount of data in less than 24 hours.
The Dell’s typing experience was in a word disappointing. The key travel wasn’t great and the typing feel was spongy. There was also a significant typing lag. I’m a touch typist. It’s very disconcerting to type letters and not see them appear on the screen in real-time. The typing feel on the Spectre may well be the best typing experience I’ve ever enjoyed. And I thought the typing experience on my first Spectre was good. This is even better.
My very modern and programmable Logitech MX Master mouse didn’t work smoothly on the Dell. I’d slide the mouse and it would get stuck and it was jittery. On the Spectre Its smooth and works perfectly.
I didn’t try any games on the Dell. I’m actually not a gamer, but I have run some games and the Spectre did fine keeping up. It has a 60hz refresh rate, which isn’t earth shaking for gaming, but the Spectre isn’t considered a Gaming Laptop to begin with. If you’re an occasional gamer and you don’t play intensive games, the Spectre will do just fine.
The GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics card with a dedicated GPU is a much better graphics card than the Intel Iris Xe MAX in the Dell. Videos on the Dell, often lagged. Video, especially 4K video play so much smoother on the Spectre. The GPU with it’s own memory delivers more powerful video processing power.
With all these accolades, is there anything about the Dell, I liked better than the Spectre. Yes, there are two things the Dell does the Spectre doesn’t. While they both come with Electronic Stylus, the Dell has a cradle with a charging port for the Stylus built into the keyboard. This provides a permanent home for the stylus and keeps it charged and ready for use. The Spectre stylus requires you plug into a USB C charger to charge it and there is simply no place to store the Stylus on the Spectre, increasing the chance of losing it.
And Dell has this really useful app called Dell Mobile Connect. It pairs either Android or Apple phones to your laptop via Bluetooth and lets you text and get notifications from your phone directly on the laptop. This is an incredibly useful feature. It was terrific getting a text message from my iPhone and being able to respond directly on the laptop. HP has something for Samsung phones, but nothing for iPhone. Does HP not realize iOS users might appreciate a higher end laptop like the Spectre? NOTE TO HP: iPhone users are more than likely a demographic you shouldn’t ignore. And if Dell can offer such an app for Dell laptops which can offer seamless integration for Android or iOS, HP should be able to as well.
Those two things aside, I’m incredibly happy with my new Spectre x360 1TB laptop. It’s beautiful. Beyond beautiful. There’s really no other laptop finished as stunningly. It’s solid and luxurious with an all-aluminum body. The stunning 4k Ultra AMOLED screen is beyond amazing. It's powerful and fast and everything about the laptop performs beyond my expectations. Hopefully, HP will address the lack of iOS integration, but even if they don’t, I’m sure I’ll be very happy with my new Spectre for a long time.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best laptop I’ve ever owned
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Posted . Owned for more than 2 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I love this laptop not only does it have all the bells and whistles but it’s fast, sleek, and holds a charge well. I’ve gamed ( sims 4 ) and done school work on it and haven’t ever had an issues. The 360 screen makes for an amazing display as well.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Very Happy
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Very nice design, quality is amazing, price is a bit expensive, sound is great, graphics is also great. 2 in 1 is a great thing to have. I would highly recommend this laptop. Speed is amazing also.
I think for the price they need to already have office 365 installed on here. As well as a 4 month virus protection plan. I had to purchase both separate from the laptop deal and install myself. I also bought an extended warranty on this for this kind of my money. I’m very happy with this unit. I’ve had several others in the past and this one is the best.
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Fan noise
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
My fav laptop
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The laptop is great. Only have 2 complaints. One, the touchscreen is super sensitive in tablet mode. Wish it was more like an iPad where the screen is not as sensitive. Second, the noise from the fan. I’m trying to watch a movie on it and the fan is louder than the volume. Trying to find a way to reduce power of the internal fan because my separate cooling pad is quiet and effective.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Note Book (After You Reformat it)
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
When you first launch your computer you'll see a ton of garbage apps... that will/may overheat your notebook (as per other reviews). Reformat the computer before using it to clear all the garbage bloatware on the computer and start fresh.
Now... for the performance review...
-Really fast, runs cool (if your not playing games)
-Launches applications "fast"
-Can play Overwatch at High settings (60 fps)
-Sound quality on speakers are great!
-Camera is alright (not the best). I have the notebook paired with a Logitech brio for conference calls
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Screen
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Good screen, runs very hot, poor performance
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This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I JUST got the laptop but it's pretty much unusable for me already. Here are some of my thoughts:
Pros:
- Windows Hello (webcam) is great and works really well - every laptop should have this.
- AMOLED display looks good and is fairly bright (apparently 400 nits) - it is technically dimmer than the competition (Dell XPS lineup, etc).
- Comes with a 6 core, 12 thread CPU so the performance SHOULD be great, but I have not run any stress tests or anything thus far.
- The speaker system looks to be robust and gets pretty loud.
- The battery appears to charge up quickly but it also drains fast.
Cons:
- This thing runs extremely hot. It looks to be both poor design and the choice in processor as a 2-in-1 running this kind of chip will probably struggle with cooling - however this laptop only appears to have a vent on each side of the laptop (by the I/O) so the cooling is very lackluster.
- It struggles to run any kind of videos on YouTube. I tried to test out the screen using 4k videos including 4k only, 4k HDR, and 4k 60fps HDR - it struggles with all of them. I even tried going down to 1080p and there's the same hitching and stuttering. if it's not constant then it's within every 3 seconds. THIS MAY BE DUE TO WINDOWS! I am seeing the "desktop window manager" process taking up a ton of the GPU % when playing these videos, on top of Chrome trying to utilize it as it should be. I tried turning off hardware acceleration, turning HDR off, and even turning down the screen resolution but the issue persists.
The cons I mentioned are more than enough for me to return the laptop, just don't know if I should try and see if some kind of miraculous update will come through or not.
And yes, I did run Windows Update multiple times when I set up the laptop and there was no change. I also ran the "HP Support Assistant" updater and it did mention there was a BIOS update however there's no improvement to the issue.
HP support is basically no help and I have had multiple issues with their customer support in basically all departments within the last year - that, along with this product, leads me to recommend not using this laptop for sure (I personally will not be using an HP product again). Perhaps if there was a 4 core variant of this it might have worked much better, it looks like a similar model of this on Best Buy's website does not use an AMOLED screen so I would not be interested in even trying it out.
After I purchased this, the price did drop $200 to $1,799 right now but it is obviously still not worth it for me.
As for me, I will probably try to get a Dell XPS 15 as those appear to be the best in this type of laptop, and an XPS 17 is due to be released so that might even be another great option.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Good product
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Good and efficace product but it’s expensive. I recommend everybody to buy this product because it has HP - Spectre x360 2-in-1 15.6" 4K Ultra HD Touch-Screen Laptop Intel Core i7 16GB Memory GeForce GTX 1650 Ti 1TB SSD - Nightfall Black
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Really good 2in1 laptop
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Posted . Owned for 4 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Awesome 2in1 laptop. Does run hot at times if you have a lot of things running but you can cool it down with the HO command center thermal profile
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
HP - Spectre x360 2-in-1 15.6" 4K Ultra HD Review
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Excellent all around Laptop. Screen is amazing and runs very smooth. High Quality build. First HP, Extremely satisfied.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great screen resolution
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Beautiful product, love the stylus, speechless, highly recommend it
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Back to back defective $2000 PCs. Don't buy!
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Posted . Owned for 7 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This is the second HP Spectre I've owned - I always give companies a second chance just in case - and the second one that had a hardware component give out of its own volition while taking perfect care of the device within a year of ownership.
Background: I keep my computer on my desk 95% of the time. When it moves, it's to the bed less than 5 feet away, or in its carrying case and inside of a backpack until it's safe again. I have not dropped it since getting it in November 2020.
But today, my Bluetooth and network adapters both failed out of nowhere. I initially thought it was a software problem but after a cold factory reset, BIOS and driver updates, I realize now it's a physical malfunction. Before on my first unit, the fan just randomly decide to give out (and in response, I got a cooling pad which I recommend to anyone that has one of these that has not yet given out on you).
HP is an awful brand, and this being the 3rd or 4th HP I've owned in my life, I can say it with a wealth of experience. When your top of the line can't even last that long, I absolutely fear for what anything below has to offer. This is either my last device for HP or my last for Windows. Terrible experience.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Screen, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Camera quality
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Almost Perfect
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Great machine for heavy user profile
I'm coming from a Samsung 7 series that I had upgraded and loaded. It lasted a good 5 years before I had to replace it. I loved that machine. After that, I purchased an ASUS Vivobook Pro- for apx the same price point ($2k) It sucked and died in under 18 months.
I purchased the Spectre apx 1 month ago- and after daily usage over that time, here is what I would recommend changing/addressing.
My work profile is: Industry specific local and cloud apps. Extensive email. Cloud database and marketing tasks. Some video rendering but not extensive. Also, I wanted the tablet component, because I take a lot of hand written notes, and was hoping to replace the notepad with the tablet.
So, right off the bat, I realized that this machine is too large and unwieldy to be effectively utilized as a tablet, on a regular basis. (I'll keep trying, but that is my initial impression) So, I've semi abandoned the tablet aspect. (I ordered a Remarkable 2 to serve in that function) I'll continue to try the tablet/note taking over the next couple months and see where we end up.
Now- what to change / address:
As already stated: the camera needs to be upgraded. In this day of regular video conferencing and tele-work, you really need a better quality camera. (I'd say, maybe 50%+ of my calls, someone comments on my video/camera quality.) I've actually purchased an external webcam for this aspect, which, imo, is an unacceptable work around for a $2k machine.
the key board just seems a little off. I type a lot. a. lot. and I just cant quite get used to it. Here is the problem/issue On the 15 inch model the 10key side set is close to full size. Which I appreciate, BUT- by including the semi full sized 10 key, HP sacrificed qwerty keyboard space. And so the standard keyboard is condensed into a smaller space, and thus the keys are a little closer and the entire layout is in a smaller space. This causes mistrikes and is a little uncomfortable for extended typing. (for comparison, the samsung 15 inch that I mentioned has a normal size qwerty keyboard, and the 10 key set up uses narrow form keys. which was much easier to adjust to) I need a 10 key, which is my sole reason for purchasing the 15 inch model.
and this is getting a little nit picky- I don't like where the power button is, but I suppose this was done so it can be accessed easilly in tablet or laptop mode, so... nbd. Maybe one thing that might help- is an small led light to indicate when it is on, in sleep mode, vs off. That's about it, I guess.
Another item I wanted to mention, but not really point out as a "problem" the thermal factor and battery management. okay so i understand putting the high level chip set in a laptop is going to create cooling challenges, but if you want performance, what would you expect. (that's rhetorical) I'm not bothered by the heat signature at all. (It remains to be seen how the heating impacts machine longevity) I have a cooling pad in place to help with the heat displacement.
With all of this said, let me mention what I love about this computer
It's fast. really fast
It has power to handle everything I do, at the same time and doesn't get bogged down. (I'll have 3 different browsers open- chrome, firefox, and sometimes explorer or whatever it's called now, with a total of 15-20 tabs, industry software, CRM, email app, adobe, etc... no problems at all)
The display/screen is incredible.
Speaker quality, by far the best I've experienced in a laptop
Aesthetics: it looks amazing. The materials and build quality are excellent. The Spectre looks like a high end piece of machinery
The touch pad. I don't typically use a touch pad, but when I have- this one is much better than the samsung and better than the asus.
The finger print sensor works perfectly. 1 touch, every time.
I've grown to really like the IR facial recognition sensor as well.
The 2x1 convertible factor. Although I've realized it isn't going to be exactly what I was hoping for (likely unrealistic expectations on my part) it is still almost perfect for what it is. I can put the machine in tablet mode and browse the internet, tent mode and watch videos, and in a blink- flip back to lap top and answer an email.
All in all, this is an excellent machine for high level usage, and while the tablet mode is a bit unwieldy, that is the trade off for having a 15 inch form factor and being loaded with high end components. (minus the camera lol)
8.5/10 Would probably buy again, and definitely re-purchase if the keyboard layout and camera were fixed.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Battery life, Fan noise, Overheating
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Some Great Features...Lots of Issues!
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
There are plenty of nice things about this laptop. The graphics are beautiful and it is pretty fast. The sound is very nice also! I specifically wanted something for video recording and live streaming, and I did not get what I wanted. The webcam is horribly grainy, so I have to use an external webcam. The battery life is most disappointing. I am lucky to get 3-4 hours, which is unnerving when teaching a workshop online! Finally, the computer runs super hot, I have to keep it in cool mode (and that is just when checking emails or working on a word doc)! I had to purchase a laptop stand just to keep it from overheating and the fan is SO LOUD! If you are a gamer, who will be close to your charger frequently, maybe this would be perfect, but for my needs, not so much. I wish the rep at Best Buy would have steered me in a better direction, and I wish I had time to set it up and test it out the way I needed to before the return policy deadline was up.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design, Screen, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Spectre
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Well worth the price tag. Laptop is superior than it’s counterparts. Wonderful design, very sleek. The technology inside is fast, responsive. I use for grad schoolwork and personal use, it handles everything flawlessly. I can use the touchscreen feature at anytime and it responds immediately. Only cons one USB port, 4-6 hour battery life.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Cons mentioned:
Battery life, Fan noise, Overheating
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great PC for heavy users
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I am loving this laptop. Very speedy and powerful enough for my needs. I run Zbrush and Blender daily and haven't ran in to any issues. The battery life isn't amazing but for a PC with this kind of power, you can't expect too much. The fans run pretty intense but again, that is to be expected. My only complaint is that for some reason when the computer is sleeping it gets extremely hot. Hotter than ever. My fix for this was to change the settings to force the computer to hibernate when the lid is closed. The computer wakes from hibernation fairly quickly so this is not much of a problem, but a bit annoying and I think this can be fixed with software updates from HP. Overall, I would recommend this computer for heavy users. I would not recommend this computer to people searching for a web browsing and light use machine, there are much better options at lower prices with better battery life.