Holding the 2-in-1 laptop computer dream alive

The concept behind convertible, or 2-in-1 PCs, has remained the identical over the past decade: Why purchase a pill when your laptop can fold a full 360 levels, permitting you to make use of it as a big slate, or a display screen propped up with no keyboard in the best way? Most PC makers have moved on from the idea solely, however HP stays one of many holdouts. Whereas Home windows by no means grew to become the tablet-friendly platform Microsoft envisioned, there’s nonetheless loads of worth in having a machine that may rework to fit your wants.

That was my takeaway two years in the past once I tested HP’s 16-inch Spectre x360, and now the corporate has returned with a smaller mannequin, the Spectre x360 14. It options Intel’s newest CPUs with AI-accelerating NPUs (neural processing items), quicker Intel Arc graphics and a good looking 2.8K OLED show. And better of all, it is nonetheless usable as a pill, in contrast to its bigger sibling.

HP

The HP Spectre x360 14 has the whole lot you’d need in a 14-inch convertible pocket book. It’s quick, contains a beautiful display screen and might rotate to fit your wants.

Professionals

• Versatile convertible display screen
• OLED show is extremely vibrant
• Strong CPU improve
• Begins with 16GB RAM
• Wonderful keyboard
• Loads of ports,

Cons

• HP’s design hasn’t modified in years
• Haptic touchpad is a bit finicky
• Common battery life

$1,450 at HP

Even for those who by no means plan to twist its display screen round, although, the HP Spectre x360 14 continues to be a lovely premium laptop computer. For some, it could additionally function a extra conventional different to Dell’s new XPS 14, which has an invisible trackpad and a capacitive operate row. Whereas that laptop seems nice, getting used to its much less standard options takes a while. The Spectre x360 14, however, is each engaging and acquainted to anybody who’s ever used a laptop computer. (Its rotating display screen takes simply 10 seconds to determine for the primary time, whereas Dell’s invisible trackpad nonetheless tripped me up hours after I began testing it.)

Design and {hardware}

That familiarity may be seen as a shortcoming of HP’s. The Spectre x360 14 has the whole lot you anticipate to see in a premium laptop computer right now: A glossy metallic case, a stunning display screen with ultra-thin bezels and a luxuriously massive trackpad with haptic suggestions. However actually, it would not look that a lot completely different from the 13-inch Spectre x360 I reviewed in 2019. It will be good to see HP take a couple of main design leaps, however however, I am unable to blame the corporate for sticking with a profitable design.

With the Spectre x360 14, HP targeted on minor updates. It has a large 14-inch display screen with a 16:10 side ratio, in comparison with the earlier mannequin’s 13.5-inch show that was a squarish 3:2. Its trackpad provides configurable haptic suggestions and is nineteen p.c bigger than earlier than, a lot in order that it fully dominates the palm space. HP caught with its splendidly responsive keyboard, however its key caps are 12 p.c bigger, making them simpler to hit. And to simplify performance a bit, HP unified the ability button and fingerprint sensor (the laptop computer additionally helps Home windows Good day facial biometrics).

The port scenario hasn’t modified. There are two USB-C connections alongside the proper rear (together with one on its distinctive chopped nook), in addition to a drop-down USB Sort-A port on the left and a headphone jack on the nook. As standard, it could have been good to see some kind of card reader inbuilt, particularly for a machine aimed toward inventive professionals.

The Spectre x360 14 could look similar to its siblings, however HP says it has been tweaked considerably beneath the hood. It now helps 28-watt Intel Core Extremely CPUs, as a substitute of the earlier 14-watt choices, and provides 10 p.c extra airflow than earlier than. The corporate additionally managed to engineer these enhancements with out growing the machine’s 17 millimeter peak. At 3.2 kilos, it’s kind of extra moveable than the three.5-pound MacBook Professional 14-inch.

The Spectre’s 9-megapixel webcam can be a serious improve from the earlier 5MP possibility. The brand new sensor provides hardware-enabled low gentle adjustment due to quad-binning, the method of taking knowledge from 4 pixels and mixing them into one. That permits cameras with smaller pixels to let in additional gentle, leading to a brighter total image. Throughout Google Meet and Zoom calls, the webcam delivered a pointy image with brilliant and daring colours. It seemed virtually like a mirrorless digital camera as soon as I enabled Home windows Studio Results background blur, although the image sometimes seemed overexposed in direct daylight.

Video chats additionally sounded nice by way of the laptop computer’s quad-speaker array, which consists of two upward firing tweeters alongside the keyboard and two woofers alongside the entrance. There’s not a lot low-end (particularly in comparison with Apple’s MacBook Professional audio system), however voices and music sound surprisingly clear. The audio system may get fairly loud with out distortion, which is spectacular for such a skinny system.

Whereas the laptop computer has an NPU-equipped processor, which powers features in Paint, ClipChamp and Home windows Studio Results, the Spectre x360 14 is not technically an “AI PC” beneath Intel and Microsoft’s definition. The explanation? It would not have a devoted button for Home windows Copilot. Personally, although, I have never discovered that key to be very helpful on the XPS 14 and 16. Triggering Copilot from the taskbar or Home windows sidebar is not very troublesome, and it is actually not onerous sufficient to warrant giving up a spot on the keyboard.

In use

The HP Spectre x360 14 I reviewed carried out equally to different machines we have examined with Intel’s Core Extremely 7 155H chip. It’s quick and comparatively environment friendly, particularly in comparison with methods from two years in the past. My overview unit, which got here with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, was 30 p.c quicker within the PCMark 10 benchmark in comparison with the Spectre x360 16 from 2022 (6,493 factors, up from 4,785 factors). This 12 months’s Spectre additionally scored 78 p.c increased within the Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark, a testomony to the enhancements Intel has made since its Eleventh-gen CPUs.

Probably the most noticeable improve for the Spectre x360 is not AI smarts; it is Intel’s Arc graphics, that are dramatically quicker than Intel’s older built-in graphics. In 3DMark’s TimeSpy Excessive benchmark, it virtually saved up with NVIDIA’s RTX 3050 within the x360 16 (1,435 factors in comparison with 1,730). That is spectacular for a machine that is far slimmer and lighter. Positive, it is no gaming rig, however I used to be nonetheless in a position to play Halo Infinite in 1080p at round 30 fps. I am certain it could deal with smaller indie titles simply nice.

Due to the wealth of RAM and Intel’s Core Extremely chip, my overview mannequin tackled the whole lot I threw at it with none noticeable slowdown. Throughout a typical workday, I juggle dozens of browser tabs, photograph modifying apps, YouTube streams, video chats, Slack and Evernote. The Spectre x360’s OLED show additionally made the whole lot look improbable, even when I used to be simply gazing phrases on a information website. It helps a variable refresh fee as much as 120Hz, so scrolling by way of paperwork and websites was very clean.

After I first examined a Spectre x360 5 years in the past, I instantly fell in love with its keyboard. Typing felt extremely satisfying, due to a wholesome quantity of key journey and suggestions. It was a kind of uncommon designs that just about felt prefer it was begging me to make use of it, like a finely tuned piano that is merely urging you to play. Fortunately, HP did not mess with any of that keyboard magic: The big new key caps are much more comfy to make use of, and the precise typing expertise is as nice as ever.

I’ve a couple of complaints concerning the Spectre x360’s new trackpad although. It is clean and correct for swiping, and its haptic suggestions is indiscernible from a trackpad that bodily depresses. However HP’s palm rejection software program feels sloppy — sometimes, whereas typing up a storm, my hand would hit the trackpad and push the cursor to pick out one other window. It occurred usually sufficient that it grew to become a creativity move killer. I am hoping that is one thing HP can type out with a software program replace finally.

As a convertible pocket book, the Spectre x360 14 is much extra helpful than the 16-inch mannequin. A delicate push on the display screen is all it takes to flip it across the keyboard — it turns into a pill when it’s absolutely rotated, or you possibly can cease that course of midway and flip the Spectre round for its “tent” mode. The 14-inch x360 is healthier at being a slate, just because it is lighter and simpler to carry with one hand (although you will most likely wish to prop it in your lap for longer classes).

Rotating the display screen was additionally much less cumbersome, for the reason that show was far much less vast. I used the tent formation to observe YouTube movies in mattress, whereas on the sofa I sometimes folded the keyboard behind the Spectre, so I might use it like a big touchscreen with a stand. I recognize the flexibility of 2-in-1 convertibles greater than the versatile OLED screens we’re seeing on new machines. It is cheaper to implement, and for my functions, convertibles are merely extra pragmatic.

The Spectre x360’s main flaw is battery life: It lasted 5 hours and ten minutes within the PCMark 10 Trendy Workplace check, whereas the ZenBook 14 OLED pushed by way of for 12 hours and 43 minutes. There is a value for preserving its body so skinny, in spite of everything. Throughout real-world testing, it could usually must cost round six hours into my workday.

Pricing and the competitors

The Spectre x360 14 is an honest deal for a high-end convertible, beginning at $1,450 with an intel Core Extremely 5 125H, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. On the time of writing, that configuration has been discounted by $300, which is a fair higher worth. (Credit score to HP for not providing a meager 8GB RAM possibility, which might solely result in complications for many customers.) For $1,900, you possibly can bump as much as a Core Extremely 7 155H chip, 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

Your choices are considerably restricted for those who’re on the lookout for different upper-tier convertible laptops. Dell’s XPS 13 2-in-1 continues to be operating older Twelfth-gen Intel chips, and you will have to look to the middle-range Inspiron and Latitude strains for extra trendy choices. We’re additionally nonetheless ready to see Lenovo’s Yoga lineup get upgraded to newer Intel chips. And we haven’t examined Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 360, nevertheless it doesn’t have the model of HP’s design.

Microsoft’s Floor Laptop computer Studio 2 can be technically a convertible (its display screen pulls ahead, as a substitute of flipping round), nevertheless it begins at $1,900. For that worth, you are higher off going for the x360 14’s beefier {hardware}, as a substitute of the Floor’s distinctive display screen.

Wrap-up

It is unclear how a lot life is left within the convertible PC format, however I would not be shocked if HP finally ends up being one of many final firms nonetheless giving it a shot. The Spectre x360 14 is likely one of the finest laptops you should buy right now — the truth that it will also be flipped round in a number of orientations is simply icing on the cake.