HP Spectre x360 13t-ae000 (i7-8550U, 4K UHD) Convertible Review

[Redaktion]

Thinner, lighter, better? HP seeks to pack even more power into an even smaller shell with their latest Spectre x360 convertible. But with a quad-core Core i7 CPU, NVMe SSD, and 16 GB of RAM, can the machine take the heat?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Spectre-x360-13t-ae000-i7-8550U-4K-UHD-Convertible-Review.281488.0.html

[Steven Reyas]

To add to the evidence, Hardware Unboxed review also indicates severe throttling.

www. youtube.com/watch?v=5O1HHf244Y0

[Lionel]

The thermal behavior you noticed is quite bizarre.
I have the I5 model and it does maintain its full speed (3,4 GHz).

But it seems like their new cooling solution does not only take care about CPU temperature. For example, when waking up the PC, the fans don't turn on and temperature can reach up to 90°C. That's because the case is still cool, after the case also starts to heat and the CPU is still hot, the fans would turn on.

[fmyhr]

I believe Mr. Schardein accurately summarizes the new Spectre x360 13 when he writes that it is "among the most aesthetically appealing devices we've ever had the pleasure of evaluating here at Notebookcheck; HP has truly outdone itself in this area, and heads are consequently guaranteed to turn when the machine is flaunted in public."

And there you have it: computer as fashion accessory. Like a Rolex. Literally shiny. Expensive. "Look at me, what I have." As opposed to, "Look at what I'm working on (which happens to be on my computer.)" The shiny screen will make that hard to see, give you eyestrain in any but dim rooms. The flat-topped keys will slow your work as your *curved* fingertips miss the key centers. Seems only Lenovo sees fit to give us concave key caps these days... The tiny up and down arrow keys will drive you mad... if the coil whine (a continuing HP problem) doesn't do the job first. Or the unintended clicks from the comically oversized trackpad... Meanwhile your shiny fashion accessory bakes its internals to ensure an early death and your purchase of its trendier shinier replacement in a year or two. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that a Rolex is at least durable...?

So yes, the new Spectre x360 13 will turn heads. The object itself makes a visual statement. If you want a computer that helps you, you know, DO STUFF, there are better options.

[David G]

For me it is a quite positive move to have all the heat generation / exhaust in the centre of the device - that way you can have it resting on a leg either side, and they don't get too hot.
I'd be interested to read an article about whether the thermal performance could be improved by placing the laptop on open legs - with open air below the fan intake.

On a side note, Its a bit boring how HP and Dell both have this long rectangular strip vent on the base - surely the fan(s) are circular.. I'd rather see whatever shape gives best air intake. Its like the existence of a rotating fan is a big dirty secret that they want to hide.

[Nina Patter]

Extra 2cm length compared to xps which has the same screen. Make it more compact or reduce to and bottom bezel with larger screen.

[Vlad]

So I can just download icm profile and apply it to have calibrated UHD screen colors?

BTW, leather case has a holder for pen - I'm storing my hp pen there.

[Maz]

Hi

I now have had two of these, the first one the touchpad did not work.
The second one is running fan #1 at 5000rpm without running anything = just logging into windows. I initially ordered the computer on black friday, received it 5th of Jan 2018, returned the first computer on 5th of February I received the second unit...... So all in all during a period of almost 2 1/2 months I don''t have a fully functional computer.

HPs customer service is by a far margin the worst I have experienced. No one knows anything....

[Necovek]

As opposed to, "Look at what I'm working on (which happens to be on my computer.)" The shiny screen will make that hard to see, give you eyestrain in any but dim rooms.

FWIW, I do not want others to see what I'm working on. Since laptops are generally looked straight-on, I do not care about viewing angles that much, and nice, bright, calibrated TFT panels would do me just fine (like the excellent panels on the venerable Sony Vaio VGN-Z series). I am personally always surprised with interest put into viewing angles for laptops. This becomes comical to a degree: they develop screens with good viewing angles, and then develop features ("privacy screens") to reduce those angles.

I do, however, agree with you for the most part: I don't want a glossy screen (I've endured XPS 13 for 18 months) or a crappy keyboard, but for both of those reasons, I'm back to Thinkpad X1 Carbon since mid last year.

I do want high resolution panels (that's how I've dived into Sony Z series back in 2009 since they offered a whooping 1920x1080 on 13.1" screens, but it also had an excellent keyboard), but I don't want to leave my messy fingerprints on a good screen, so scratch the touchscreens off of my agenda. Fine for a tablet used for surfing and movie watching.

[Daniel G]

Thinner, lighter, better? HP seeks to pack even more power into an even smaller shell with their latest Spectre x360 convertible. But with a quad-core Core i7 CPU, NVMe SSD, and 16 GB of RAM, can the machine take the heat?

That's it.

We have the AMD based HP x360 smashing this Intel based laptop from the same HP product family , but it is not included in ANY of your graphs.

How is this informative ?! How is this "objective" ?!

Very , very bad choice of systems to compare and very biased article.

Disappointing :(

[Kilrah]

The AMD offers are Envy series, not Spectre. Different line, thicker/heavier.

[Shashank]

If anyone stumbles on this thread in the future, please BEWARE of HP x360 series. I am not talking about any isolated incident, rather just google 'HP x360 motherboard burn' once and you will know what I am talking about. People have been losing their money just after months their warranty expires. These are poorly designed (this generation, previous generation, and newer models) ultrabooks and you will be gambling your money. HP doesn't seem to respond to this and only a few lucky ones have managed to get support for this.