The HP Spectre x360 has , for many years , maintained a top spot for me as one of the best laptop computer . But over time , the design has n’t change all that much , with multiple year of minor central processor bumps . All that ’s changed with the new Spectre x360 14 , though .
I was able to take an early brushup of the laptop , which made its debut atCES 2024 . cavort a slightly gravid display , a smoother aesthetic , and a new haptic feedback touchpad , there ’s nothing here but improvement . Everything considered , HP ’s Spectre x360 14 is rifle to be hard to beat in 2024 .
Specs and configurations
Pricing is still being finalized , but as of the writing of this follow-up , the Spectre x360 14 ’s starting price is $ 1,650 . presumptively , that ’s for the entry - storey configuration of an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU , 16 GB of RAM , and a 512 GB SSD . My reassessment configuration with a Core Ultra 7 155H , 32 GB of RAM , and a 2 TB SSD is $ 1,970 , which would be a very reasonable cost for a heavily upgraded machine .
These Leontyne Price are subject to change when the laptop computer starts rolling out , but unless they degenerate substantially , the Spectre x360 14 is solidly in premium laptop computer territory .
Design and ports
From a length , the Spectre x360 14 looks a lot like its predecessor . Up close , though , it ’s a different story . The toothed showing corner remain , with one housing a Thunderbolt 4 port and the other a 3.5 mm sound recording old salt , hold the Spectre ’s most iconic — and convenient — design factor .
But the chassis edge have been smoothed out and now bear the same coloring material as the rest of the build , specifically Nightfall black , Slate blue , or Sahara silver grey . Those change produce a more minimalist artistic that I find even more attractive than the previous generation . You wo n’t mistake the Spectre x360 14 for aMacBook Pro , but I cogitate it face just as sound . The Spectre also looks nifty with the show open , with thin verbalizer grill flanking a wide , off - colouring keyboard with bold lettering and a big haptic touchpad that take up the usable space on the palm rest .
The Spectre x360 14 also retains the crease ’s usual excellent bod timbre , with no deflexion , flexing , or twisting in the CNC - machine lid and form . The hinge is n’t quite as smooth as Apple ’s or the dual - hold version Dell uses on its XPS laptops , but then the Spectre x360 14 is a convertible 2 - in-1 and requires a dissimilar mechanism to bear out the full 360 - degree rotary motion .
speak of that , the bottom display bezel is larger to lodge a 2 - in-1 ’s tractableness , giving the Spectre a slightly less mod appearance .
Interestingly , despite boasting a display that ’s half an inch great , the fresh model is only more or less wider than the previous modelling . It ’s equally deep and thin , and it weighs just a few ounces more . That make it just as portable while offering significantly more screen real estate of the realm . The MacBook Pro 14 is around the same width and depth , but it ’s thinner and heavy . That makes the MacBook Pro feel denser in hand .
Connectivity is fine for a 14 - inch laptop computer , with a brace of Thunderbolt 4 ports and a unmarried USB - A embrasure to go with a 3.5 mm audio frequency jack . Some 14 - inch laptop computer , like the MacBook Pro 14 , also admit an HDMI embrasure , and the new Spectre drop the microSD card reader that was in the previous exemplar . That ’s disappointing . Wireless connectivity , though , is an betterment thanks to the laptop computer ’s Meteor Lake chipset , with Wi - Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 to go with Wi - Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 .
Keyboard and touchpad
The Spectre x360 14 ’s keyboard has gravid keycaps and stack of primal spatial arrangement , and the switches are light and clicky . They find less snappy than preceding versions , though , so I was n’t quite as enamored with them . Apple ’s Magic Keyboard remain the practiced , and I ’d rank Dell ’s XPS keyboard ahead of this one as well . It ’s still a very good keyboard , just not as good as I remember .
In a move that ’s just starting to gain momentum industrywide , HP has eventually included a haptic touchpad on the Spectre . I ’ve used a few tactual touchpads on other Windows laptop , and none have been as good as Apple ’s Force Touch version . They ’ve been less antiphonal with their fabricated clicks , and some have had issues hold onto clicks too long , causing an abnormal feel and inadvertent silver screen interactions .
The Spectre x360 14 ’s implementation , though , is almost as good as Apple ’s . Surprisingly , it ’s enceinte than the touchpad on the MacBook Pro 14 , and it feels just as natural . In this regard , the Spectre is the first Windows laptop that rival Apple . The only matter miss from HP ’s touchpad is Apple ’s Force Click feature of speech , which provide a convenient means to quickly get at extra functionality .
Of naturally , the Spectre x360 14 is a exchangeable 2 - in-1 , so it also has a mite showing with active pen living . That sets it aside from any MacBook , and I lack it when using an Apple machine . HP ’s pen documentation is excellent , and if you like to draw or take notes , then the Spectre x360 14 is a great political program — assume you do n’t bear in mind holding onto a tablet that weighs more than 3 punt .
AI everywhere
AI is one of thehot matter of 2024 , and much is being made of the Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) integrated into Meteor Lake to speed up various AI tasks . To date , just how AI will be used in our day - to - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. computing has n’t been amply explained , but HP gives a hint in its wardrobe material , where it speak a good deal about how AI has improved several fundamental aspects of the Spectre ’s carrying out .
To begin with , HP has always offer some of the highest - resoluteness webcams , and they ’ve encounter up the Spectre x360 14 ’s adaptation from 5MP to 9MP with built - in , hardware - enable lowlight adjustments . More than that , though , HP also touts AI - reduced power utilisation when Windows Studio Effects is utilized for better background blurring and automatic frame . The webcam and consort software package worked well , but I could n’t say it ’s salutary than other non - AI incarnation .
The Spectre x360 14 also apply the NPU to drive its exploiter mien - sensing engineering . Thanks to the infrared television camera that also supports Windows 11 Hello facial credit , the Spectre can engage the laptop and put it to catch some Z’s when the user walks away and unlock and arouse the laptop when the exploiter returns . The screen can also slur when the substance abuser wait away from it .
AI is further used to heighten how performance , fan noise , and heat are optimized free-base on subject apps , the Spectre ’s forcible placement , and how much battery life remain . HP even mentions AI in the context of mechanically adjusting the display ’s refresh rate from 48Hz to 120Hz .
It ’s unclear how AI makes these features better than they ’ve been on earlier model , but presumptively , things are smoother and more reactive . That ’s not something I could examine , however .
HP also gives some other examples of how the NPU can be utilise , including faster reproductive AI execution in GIMP ’s unchanging Diffusion purpose and AI TV editing using the Adobe Premiere Pro genus Beta .
Perhaps most interesting was a computer address to “ Superpower , ” a personal AI assistant that runs on the NPU and can do actions like grapple action items from a get together , summarizing a theme , write an email , and other project . I could n’t test that functionality either , but clearly , AI will bear on our computing in some unforeseen ways .
Performance
AI away , Meteor Lake is also suppose to provide faster performance and in force efficiency with a new architecture necessitate technical details that are beyond the scope of this review . I tested the Spectre with the Core Ultra 7 155H , a 28 - James Watt CPU with 16 cores ( six Performance , eight Efficient , and two Low Power Efficient ) and 22 duds running at up to 4.8GHz . The laptop computer can also be configured with the Core Ultra 5 125H with 14 core ( four Performance , eight Efficient , and two LP Efficient ) and 18 threads black market at up to 4.5GHz .
Specs and architectures away , my Spectre x360 14 review unit provided mainframe - intensive performance that , in performance mode , falls somewhere in between the 28 - watt , 12 - core Core i7 - 1360P and the 45 - watt , 14 - marrow Core i7 - 13700H. Looking at our database , the Spectre performs more closely to theAsus Zenbook 14X OLEDwith the Core i7 - 13700H than theLenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8with the Core i7 - 1360P. That is , it was around as fast as the Asus in multi - core processes while being tiresome than both in undivided - core project . Notably , Apple ’s M3 processor provides more or less less multi - core performance but much quicker unmarried - core functioning .
I also go the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark , which runs in a alive version of Adobe ’s Premiere Pro and can use the GPU to speed up various processes . I would n’t normally bunk that bench mark on this family of laptop , but I require to see how the Intel Arc nontextual matter performed . On Meteor Lake , Arc is Intel ’s newest integrated artwork , utilizing eight Intel Xe GPU burden and foretell faster carrying into action than the previous Intel Iris Xe graphics .
alas , the Spectre did n’t perform well , hit just 258 in the benchmark . We have n’t go this version of PugetBench on any laptops with Intel Iris graphics , but the Acer Swift X 14 with a Core i7 - 13700H and the accounting entry - tier Nvidia RTX 4050 discrete GPU manage a score of 545 . That ’s right , the Spectre was just half as fast . deal that the loyal laptop we ’ve try is the MacBook Pro 14 with the M3 Max , which scored 889 .
It ’s still early , and it ’s entirely possible that microcode updates will improve things . So far , though , Meteor Lake is n’t utterly shaking up laptop performance — the Spectre x360 14 is a strong performing artist for take productiveness use and undesirable for anything but unaccented originative work . It ’s fast enough , just not a game - changer .
Note that I did n’t test gaming on the Spectre x360 14 . My editor , Luke Larsen , cover gaming in his overview of Meteor Lake in theAcer Swift Go 14 . I did start the 3DMark Time Spy , though , where the Intel Arc art hit a score that ’s improved over Intel Iris Xe , but less than half that of the RTX 4050 .
That result and Luke ’s experience mean that while you may punt a little best on the Spectre than on the premature model , the deviation wo n’t be significant . The laptop computer ’s go to let you run older rubric , and you ’ll involve to turn the art all the way down if you want to run any modern game .
It ’s also worth noting that HP does n’t sell an choice with distinct art . GPUs have always been a weakness of the Spectre serial publication of laptops , and that ’s also lawful here . Now that the Spectre x360 is in the 14 - inch category , its lack of an choice for something like an RTX 4050 is more ostensible . attend at thenew Dell XPS 14 , for example .
The next of import inquiry regarding Meteor Lake is barrage fire biography . Efficiency is the computer architecture ’s put forward end , so I expected the Spectre x360 14 to achieve more longevity . The Spectre x360 14 has a 68 - James Watt - hour battery , which is about average for 14 - inch laptop computer , and it has a magnate - hungry 2.8 KiB OLED display . So , there are factors to study beyond the CPU by itself .
believe everything , I ’m at a exit to say whether the Core Ultra 7 155H is a particularly effective processor . The Spectre hit eight 60 minutes in our vane - crop test and 12.5 hours in our TV - curl examination . The former is about average , while the latter is a bit above average . The old - contemporaries Spectre x360 13.5 with an OLED display and a lower - power 15 - watt Intel Core i7 - 1255U tally 10 hours in the entanglement - shop trial and 14 hours in the TV - looping test . That motorcar was n’t most as fast , however . And then we need to reckon Apple ’s MacBook Pro 14 , which hold up closer to 18 hours in both run with a very fast central processing unit and a mini - LED video display .
We ’ll have to wait to try more Meteor Lake laptop to draw meaningful ending . For now , suffice it to say that the Spectre x360 14 might last a full day of work , depending on how you ’re using it . But I ca n’t say for sure .
An excellent OLED display and much-improved audio
There ’s not much to say about the Spectre x360 14 ’s 2.8 K OLED display that has n’t been say about so many similar displays in the past . It looks unbelievable out of the box , with undimmed , dynamical coloring and inky blacks . watch eminent dynamical range ( HDR ) video is a treat , and it ’s even better with content from Disney+ that supports the IMAX engineering science build up into the Spectre . That provide unique aspect ratio and enhanced sound , and it crop well .
My colorimeter tally . The OLED panel is burnished enough at 391 nits , well above our 300 - nit threshold for work in burnished indoor conditions . Blacks were perfectly black , with incredible contrast that ’s beyond meaningful measuring . Colors were wide at 100 % of sRGB , 97 % of AdobeRGB , and 100 % of DCI - P3 , with excellent accuracy at a Delta - E of 0.68 ( anything less than 1.0 is indistinguishable to the human eye ) .
In short , the display is penetrative enough and bid superb image lineament . It ’s suitable for every sort of user , whether for productivity , creativity , or medium consumption .
The Spectre x360 14 also features quad speakers with Poly audio recording tuning , admit two upward - firing tweeter and two front - discharge woofers . My touchstone for keen audio has been Apple ’s MacBook Pros , which use six speakers and personnel - scratch subwoofer to produce loud , active , and deep audio that no other laptop can equal .
I can mirthfully say that the Spectre come amazingly tight , with plenty of distortion - loose bulk , quartz well-defined mids and high , and more bass than any other 14 - column inch Windows laptop computer I ’ve essay . It may not be quite as good as the MacBook Pro , but the Spectre pump out excellent sound that will break off you from reaching for a pair of headphones .
Meaningful improvements add up to a superior 2-in-1
There may be interrogation regarding the Meteor Lake chipset ’s performance and efficiency , but that ’s not to say that the Spectre x360 14 is a poor performer . It ’s plenty fast for all but demanding Divine and offers unspoilt to nifty barrage biography . Its display and audio frequency are excellent , and the raw purpose is attractive and functional .
There ’s a lot to like about the Spectre x360 14 , so I ’m giving it a nigh - perfect rating as the best convertible 2 - in-1 I ’ve used . Perhaps HP will better tune up the Meteor Lake chipset for improved performance and efficiency . And I question the actual value of all the AI discussed in the marketing cloth . But as it is , I can give the Spectre my strongest recommendation .
