HP has the best 360 - degree transmutable 2 - in-1 you may buy , the brand - newSpectre x360 14 . It ’s a laptop computer extend genuinely useful media and tablet modality . HP also has an update to its bombastic 2 - in-1 , the Spectre x360 16 , that mates the convertible design with a very large showing .

Most recent 16 - in laptops , though , are aimed at Maker , with fast CPUs and GPUs to corroborate their demanding workflows . The Spectre x360 16 is , therefore , an outlier , with strong productivity performance , but mediocre speed in creative thinking apps . Its 2 - in-1 functionality is much less valuable on such a turgid laptop , signify it just wo n’t be thebest laptopchoice for many multitude .

Specs and configurations

HP ’s prices tend to change well over time , and so it ’s good to check them before make a buying decision . the right way now , for example , the Spectre x360 16 is on sale , with the base configuration come in at $ 1,250 , which is a whopping $ 350 off the inclination price of $ 1,600 . That scram you an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chipset , 16 GB of RAM , a 512 GB SSD , Intel Arc integrated graphics , and a 16.0 - inch WQXGA IPS presentation running at 120Hz . The high - conclusion configuration is $ 1,980 ( also $ 350 off ) for 32 GB of RAM , a 2 TB SSD , an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU , and a 16.0 - inch 2.8 grand 120Hz OLED panel .

My review configuration with 16 GB of RAM , a 1 TB SSD , the RTX 4050 , and the OLED exhibit is $ 1,710 . you may mix and match components to your liking , save up some money by prefer for the IPS presentation or the integrated artwork . While it ’s on sale , the Spectre x360 16 is a very attractively priced 16 - inch laptop computer that undercuts its competition , albeit with slower components . The Dell XPS 16 , for deterrent example , begin at $ 1,899 with the same Intel chipset , RAM , reposition , graphics , and IPS technology while ramping up to a much costlier $ 4,399 for 64 GB of RAM , a 4 TB SSD , an RTX 4070 GPU , and a 4K+ OLED display .

Similarly , theApple MacBook Pro 16starts at $ 2,499 for an M3 Pro chipset , 18 GB of RAM , a 512 GB SSD , and a 16.0 - column inch Mini - LED video display . in full configure , the MacBook is a whopping $ 7,199 for an M3 Max , 128 GB of RAM , and an 8 TB SSD .

As we ’ll see in this review , the Spectre x360 16 is n’t in precisely the same class as these two competition , which are among the best 16 - column inch laptop computer . But you will spend far less money .

Too large for a convertible 2-in-1, but still attractive

The first affair you ’ll notice about the Spectre x360 16 is that it ’s a large laptop computer , even by 16 - in standards . The Dell XPS 16 has a larger 16.3 - column inch showing liken to the Dell ’s 16.0 - inch panel , yet it ’s slightly little and thinner at 0.74 inch compared to 0.78 inch . The Dell is denser and grievous , though , at 4.8 pounds versus the HP ’s easy 4.3 pounds . That ’s thanks to the Dell ’s insanely belittled showing bezel .

The MacBook Pro is also roughly the same size with a 16.2 - in exhibit , while being the thinnest of the three at 0.66 inch and the most dense at 4.8 pounds , same as the Dell . The HP ’s display bezel are thicker on top and on the bottom due to the need to gibe in a 360 - degree exchangeable hinge .

The large size of it matters most with the Spectre x360 16 . You expect these to be large machines , and they benefit greatly from having such heroic displays . But the Spectre is mean to be used in tent , media , and laptop computer mode , as well as a simple clamshell .

Picking this thing up and using it as a pad is predictably inept , think you ’ll want to set it on a screen background when using the included active pen for drawing and handwriting text on the touch- and pen - enabled presentation . That ’s certainly usable , but I establish the shape much less useful than with the excellentSpectre x360 14 . A 14 - inch 360 - degree convertible is a more reasonable sizing .

Once you get past the enceinte chassis , you ’ll apprize the build quality . HP uses Al throughout , resulting in a palpebra that scarcely gives in to tauten pressure and a bottom anatomy and keyboard deck that are both rigid . The MacBook Pro 16 is even more solidly build and is best - in - course , and I ’ll have to hold off to review the XPS 16 to see if it lives up to the XPS lineup ’s typically excellent soma .

The Spectre ’s flexible joint is a bit firm , which is necessary to entertain the machine up in collapsible shelter and mass medium modes , and even present the base ’s weight , you ’ll postulate two hands to enter the eyelid .

The Spectre x360 16 is also a very attractive laptop computer . HP smoothed off the edge from the 2022 model , giving it a more well-off feel in hand . It retain the display and frame notches , with a convenient Thunderbolt 4 port in one notch and a 3.5 mm audio recording jack in the other .

The Spectre comes in Nightfall Black and Slate Blue color scheme , both of which are fingermark magnets , with a grim keyboard that detracts a little from the overall expression . The keyboard ’s turgid , blocky letters are more visible than before in low luminousness without turning on the excellent keyboard backlighting , and the special key , such as Ctrl , Fn , and Alt , now have simpler inscription that ’s also easier to read .

The XPS 16 has a sleeker excogitation , and the MacBook Pro 16 bask Apple ’s usual exacting elements . The Spectre x360 16 differ from both , but it looks just as good . laptop computer design overall has take a quantum leap onwards late .

A bunch of OLED goodness

One argumentation in the Spectre x360 16 ’s favor is its use for streaming sensitive , at least as long as you select the 16.0 - inch 3 K ( 2880 x 1800 ) OLED display . Put the laptop in media mode , with the show tilted toward you and the keyboard point downwards , and you ’ll get laid watching TV shows and movies . The OLED gore supports high dynamical image ( HDR ) video and is IMAX Enhanced Certified , signify it hold up a particular panorama ratio and audio in supported media .

I played some IMAX depicted object on Disney+ and I could separate the deviation . The Spectre ’s OLED jury is n’t bright enough to provide the best HDR experience ( more on that below ) , but it was good enough . The Poly Studio - tuned four - speaker audio frequency , with tweeters on each side of the keyboard and front - firing woofer on the front edge of the chassis , pumped out quality phone with clear mids and highs and becoming bass .

However , as good as it is , the Spectre x360 16 ca n’t match the MacBook Pro 16 . Apple ’s car has a Mini - LED video display that ’s much brighter than the Spectre ’s 399 nits , derive in at nigher to 600 nits for stock dynamic scope ( SDR ) message and a blistering 1,600 nit for HDR . In addition , the MacBook ’s audio get much louder , and the overall sound is deeper and more complex . That offsets the Spectre ’s reward in form factor .

Overall , the Spectre x360 16 ’s OLED video display has wide color at 100 % sRGB , 96 % AdobeRGB , and 100 % DCI - P3 , with slightly less accurate colouration than some other OLED panels with a DeltaE of 1.11 ( 1.0 or less is excellent ) . That ’s better than the MacBook Pro 16 ’s 89 % of AdobeRGB and DeltaE of 1.22 . I have n’t tested the Dell XPS 16 ’s OLED display yet and will have to wait to see if it ’s as good , but I suspect it will be . Of course , the Spectre ’s OLED panel produces the usual inky-black blacks thanks to incredibly high contrast .

Whether you ’re a productiveness substance abuser , a Divine , or a media consumer , you ’ll love the Spectre x360 16 ’s display . If you ’re looking for better battery life , you ’ll need to weigh the lower - resolution informatics pick — something I do n’t urge unless your budget is close . Both displays run at 120Hz and provide the same suave response .

Class-leading input and connectivity

Other than its coloring , I have no complaint about the keyboard . It offers large keycaps and batch of fundamental spatial arrangement , with switches that are deep , light , and brisk . It ’s good than the like keyboard on the Spectre x360 14 that did n’t palpate as exact . I might like the MacBook Pro 16 ’s Magic Keyboard well overall , but I would n’t heed working full time on the Spectre ’s . Once again , I ’ll wait to pass judgment on the XPS 16 ’s keyboard , but its zero - latticework layout is ultramodern and , if it feels like the version on the XPS 13 Plus , it will order up there with HP ’s and Apple ’s .

The Spectre x360 16 ’s touchpad is greatly amend over the previous generation . or else of a belittled mechanical variation , the 2024 good example infix a monolithic haptic touchpad using ELAN engineering . plainly put , it ’s the best touchpad I ’ve used on a Windows laptop computer .

To begin with , it ’s slightly larger than the MacBook Pro 16 ’s , which is the manufacture standard for excellency , and it has prompt , reactive haptics and gestures that figure out across its entire surface . The only matter Apple ’s Force Touch touchpad has over HP ’s is its Force Click feature film , where a substantial press activates additional features .

Connectivity is also secure , with a mix of mod and bequest ports . The only dashing hopes , and it ’s a magnanimous one , is the deficiency of an SD wit reader . The MacBook Pro has an additional Thunderbolt 4 larboard and a full - size of it Mount Rushmore State card proofreader , while the XPS 16 is more limited , with just Thunderbolt 4 and a microSD card lecturer . HP wo n’t make creators felicitous by require an adaptor . In its favour is the most newspaper clipping - edge wireless connectivity , with Wi - Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 . The MacBook and XPS 16 are bound to Wi - Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 .

The Spectre x360 16 has a high - Ra 9MP webcam adequate to of acquire 1440p TV , with hardware low brightness level adjustment and a variety of enhancements power by the Neural Processing Unit ( NPU ) in the Intel Meteor Lake chipset . Those include AI - enhance Microsoft Teams and Windows Studio Effects , which use the NPU to reduce power . The Spectre supports HP ’s substance abuser presence - sensing technology that can put it to log Z’s when you walk aside and waken it back up when you return , as well as dim the exhibit when someone ’s looking over your shoulder .

Not enough oomph

allow ’s face it : 16 - inch laptop are direct in the first place at Jehovah . sure as shooting , avid media consumers will love the expansive display , and productivity exploiter will treasure the excess space for multitasking . But Lord are this course of study ’s sweet post .

unluckily , the Spectre x360 16 is underpowered for those who benefit most from a fast central processing unit and GPU . diligence like Adobe ’s Premiere Pro use both to speed up various tasks , and the MacBook Pro 16 and XPS 16 are better suited for those app . The Spectre x360 16 has a reasonably riotous CPU in the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H , which runs at 28 watts and features 16 cores ( six Performance , eight Efficient , and two Low Power Efficient ) and 22 threads . Note that HP has since key a bug in the laptop ’s microcode that affects CPU functioning . This review will be updated when that bug is fixed .

In addition to the Intel Arc integrated graphics , the Spectre can be configured with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 , which is that caller ’s entry - grade discrete GPU . Intel Arc performs about halfway between the one-time Intel Iris Xe incorporate graphics and the RTX 4050 , intend creators will want to opt for the latter .

However , that pales liken to the XPS 16 , which uses the same Core Ultra 7 155H but can be configure with up to an RTX 4070 . That ’s a much faster GPU that promise faster video renders and encodings . The XPS also supports up to 64 GB of RAM . But the MacBook Pro 16 dominate this equivalence , with up to the M3 Max sport up to 16 mainframe core and 40 GPU cores . That ’s an madly fast chipset that rive through originative tasks and offers enhance graphics for ( potentially ) quicker gambling . And the MacBook supports up to 128 GB of RAM .

The Spectre x360 16 will meet the needs of less demanding Godhead , but barely . Our suite of benchmark showed mixed result . Its CPU carrying out was slower than some political machine with the same chipset , but its GPU performed well for its class . However , it could n’t keep up where it matters most , in creative labor .

As we can see from the table below , the Spectre x360 16 was the obtuse machine in our comparison group at run our Handbrake trial that encodes a 420 MB telecasting to H.265 . This is an entirely C.P.U. - intensive benchmark , and despite having a larger frame to move aviation and keep matter cool , the Spectre exhibited slower CPU scores . That was true in Cinebench R24 and the PCMark 10 Complete bench mark as well . But , when expect exclusively at the GPU score in Cinebench and the 3DMark Time Spy bench mark , the Spectre x360 16 was fast for an RTX 4050 , with only the Acer Swift X 16 being quicker .

That resulted in mediocre score in the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark that runs in a live version of Premiere Pro . Here , it was roughly as fast as the diminished XPS 14 with the same components . I ’ll prove the XPS 16 with the Core Ultra 7 155H and an RTX 4070 when I receive it , but in the interim , the Alienware M16 R2 will do as a proxy . And that simple machine was significantly quicker in GPU and CPU performance .

And to top it all off , the MacBook Pro 16 with the M3 Max 16/40 was much quicker across the display board . The Spectre x360 16 is importantly less expensive , but the MacBook is a more powerful simple machine for serious Divine .

Gamers will discover the Spectre x360 16 a good entry - stage 1080p or 1200p gaming simple machine . I ran theRed Dead Redemption 2benchmark and saw 74 frames per 2d ( fps ) at 1200p and radical graphics in performance modality . That ’s tight enough for casual gamers .

Just OK battery life

The Spectre x360 16 has an 83 James Watt - hour stamp battery to business leader a declamatory , high - resolution OLED display , so I was n’t expecting great battery sprightliness . remark that HP offers three performance configurations in its myHP utility program : Balanced , Performance , and Smart Sense . The latter uses AI to optimise CPU and GPU world power , lover noise , and temperatures based on open apps , the laptop computer ’s placement ( for instance , on a desktop versus a lap ) , and shelling condition . I tested stamp battery life history in balanced mode and cover the execution in the above table in both balanced and performance style .

I also try out Smart Sense and come up that it bid mixed performance ground on how I used the laptop . I suspect that it would touch on battery life in a similar style . The laptop was never overly lovesome during my testing and the fans spun up but were never loud enough to be disruptive . Smart Sense did n’t seem to make much difference in terms of heat or buff noise .

In our web - browsing test , the Spectre x360 16 endure for 8.5 minute , an medium grievance , and in our video - loop test , it managed 14 hours . That ’s slightly above average . As I used the laptop , I saw less than a full day ’s bombardment lifespan , come in closer to five or six hour of productiveness body of work . That ’s good , but not great for such a large auto . Once again , however , the MacBook Pro 16 stands out with its incredible 19 minute of WWW browsing and 26 hours curl our test video . It will last nigher to two days of distinctive manipulation and a full day of more intensive undertaking .

An excellent laptop I find hard to recommend

The Spectre x360 16 commit me in a unmanageable position . On the one hand , it ’s an fantabulous 360 - stage convertible 2 - in-1 with a solid build , beautiful OLED display , and superscript keyboard and touchpad . Its performance is very good for all but demanding Godhead .

Therein lies the rub . As a 16 - inch laptop , the Spectre should appeal most to that very market — postulate creators — but it ’s simply too irksome . That pull in it an oversized 2 - in-1 that sits in an uneasy situation . As much as I appreciate its in high spirits quality , I ca n’t recommend it to its think audience over faster option .