HP Spectre 13T-3000

I just got mine a few days ago. I have only heard the fan noise once, when I was updating the BIOS. Yes, it was pretty loud, with a high pitched whine. I haven't heard it at all during normal use, yet. I agree with your assessment of the laptop, especially with the thickness and weight. My biggest disappointment thus far, however, is with Windows 8.1. I am coming from Windows 7 and I'm sure it is just the learning curve to figure things out but right now, doing things and accessing settings that took very few steps in 7 take longer in 8.1. As I get used to it, that may change though. The HP will definitely serve as a true "lap" top and for travel. I can now give my Asus tablet to my wife...I hated not having a real browser and sacrificing productivity for battery life. The HP looks great and I'll enjoy the battery life.

 

If you like windows 7 screen, you may download a free program like "classic shell" that can change the screen to look like win 7 and work like win 7.

 

StartIsBack is, IMO, the best addition to Windows 8. It becomes indistinguishable from Windows 7. You can disable or bifurcate the 'modern' touch interface. It's also just as stable as the rest of the OS, which is more than I could say for the other alternatives. It costs $3.

 

I purchased this laptop (i5, 8 gigs of ram, 256 SSD, AC wifi) and love it so far. However, I was having problems with my wifi signal and speeds - super slow at times, giving me network limited connection warnings, etc. My router was fine as all my other devices were connecting without a hitch at normal speeds. I simply re-installed the drivers available on the HP site and my card works much better - even though the drivers were supposedly the same version.

Not sure if anyone could shed some light as to what may have been causing the hitch in my card, and hope it may help someone else.

 

I'm not sure on what kind of outcome you'd get - when I exchanged mine, I was under the impression that they were applying the 20% discount through a copuon code (although I wasn't required to actually give an alphanumeric code). I'd be curious to hear what happens if you try to exchange it/whether or not they're amenable to maintaining the 20% discount after the sale has expired.

 

Thanks. I tried the Intel automatic checkup then found out the graphic and wifi drivers were upgradable. The wifi driver was installed smoothly but the graphic driver was not able to install like someone mentioned about. However, I uninstalled the HP driver first then upgraded the Intel driver without problem.

 

Thanks...I'll try that this weekend.

 

Out of curiosity, does Bluetooth 4.0 on the HP enable you to use multiple devices simultaneously? Basically, I want to use a Bluetooth mouse (to save a USB port) but am also interested in some Bluetooth speakers or headphones. If I pair both of them up, can I use them both at the same time?

 

Thanks...I'm also looking at Start8 and classic sheel as yzm mentioned earlier.

 

I'm having two issues and would like to see if anyone else is experiencing them or has a potential solution:

1) Touchpad right click when single clicking. I have "touch" clicking disabled. Sometimes when I attempt to single click with a single finger on the touch pad, the OS registers a "right-click" (two finger click).
2) Screen cycles between on and off when waking from sleep. Sometimes when waking from sleep the screen gets stuck in an endless loop of turning on and off. I have to restart the computer to fix. I'm guessing some BIOS/sleep issue which needs a bugfix. Happens maybe 1/40 wakes or so.

 

Like some of you, I am patiently awaiting delivery of my device. I noticed this morning that though my estimated ship date is Jan. 21, if you order one with the same configuration as mine today, the estimated ship date is Jan. 17. Hopefully, that means mine will ship early!

 

I can't confirm since I don't have it yet, but the bluetooth standard is 7 simultaneous connections. Every bluetooth-equipped laptop I've used has been able to.

 

A few more questions some longer-term owners may be able to answer:
- When not using the backlit keyboard, is there a way to turn off the bright light on the keyboard light key?
- I noticed when I opened the Disk Management tool that the computer comes with 5 partitions. First, how do I put the Recovery partition on a USB? Do I just use the HP Recovery Utility to create recovery media and then delete the partition? There is also an 8 GB "OEM" partition after the recover partition and a 400MB partition ahead of the C:. Can I delete those and merge the C: partition with them?

 

I wonder how long it takes you guys to receive the laptop.

I made my order on Dec 18th, it was estimated to be shipped out on Jan 3th but delayed until Jan 6th and got shipped on Jan 7th. I am worried that it may take another delay in transit.

Should I wipe out everything and reinstall the Windows 8? I have free license from my school and don't really want bloatwares affect the laptop performance.

 

Interesting, I have the exact same story. Ordered on the 18th and it shipped out from China yesterday. From what I've read, it goes from China -> Alaska -> Memphis -> your address.

I was upset about the delay and HP chat offered me a $50 credit. Obviously, i would rather just have the laptop already, but $50 is fair. Either way, HP needs to take it up a notch, as waiting almost a full month for a laptop in the year 2014 is beyond ridiculous.

 

I have a fully loaded HP Spectre 13T-3000. I love the machine with the exception of the fussy touch pad and Windows 8.1. Of all the OS's I use (iOS, Chromebook OS, Win 7, Win 8.1 RT), it is the most challenging. Adding a larger display with a wireless mouse and keyboard has made it livable for me. We shall see how it goes when I am on the road.

I have been having issues with the Chrome browser and certain application looking correctly on my high DPI screen and also on my extended 23" external display (Samsung SyncMaster PX2370). I read a great fix on this forum for the Chrome issue and today I found a fix for the Windows 8 DPI issue. Each can be found below. Good luck!

Chrome issue - Running Google Chrome on a High DPI Windows Machine | BIT-101
Win 8 dpi issue - DPI Scaling Size - Change for Displays in Windows 8.1

@beyondteched

 

whoops
. 10 char

 

From many years and many purchases experience with HP, I would predict you have a 75% chance that HP will "honor" the 20% discount, particularly on a reorder but I'd give nearly as good odds that you could jawbone them into giving that discount for an initial purchase. You'll improve your odds by being extremely polite and to say that you cannot afford to get the configuration you "need" without the full 20% discount and will have to buy a far inferior Dell model to fit your budget otherwise. If you add something like "I was misinformed as to when the coupon expired and would have ordered my 13T last week, but I was distracted by nightmares of illnesses that had already - or might one day - affect children, and kittens and then who would get rid of the mice and take out the garbage or, cut out all the bs and simply prostrate yourself and BEG!

Seriously, HP is very generous when it comes to extending discounts gone by. If at first you don't succeed, politely (or rudely, as the mood strikes you!) say you have to finish putting your grandma to bed, hang up and repeat, with gusto! Rotsa ruck

 

100+ pages is a lot of reading. Can someone give a basic rundown on a couple questions?

1 - How's the screen for brightness, glare, and color reproduction?

2 - How's real-world battery life stack up?

3 - What kind of SSD is it packing and what kind of access is there for an upgrade?

4 - Does the 8GB RAM version run dual-channel or single?

5 - Any other notable issues? Bad speakers? Flimsy build quality? Weak wifi? Runs hot and/or has loud fan noise?

Although it's an i5-4250U and two user-replaceable DIMMs away from ideal, there's a good chance that this will be my next laptop (and I'm due for an upgrade). I can't believe I haven't heard about it until today.

 

AFAIK based on ~ 1 month usage with maxed out version

1. Moderately bright (turn off adaptive brightness), about as much glare as any glossy screen (ie quite a bit but almost all ultrabooks are glossy), full or nearly full sRBG with 700-1000:1 contrast, fantastic viewing angles, overall a great screen (have the QHD version)

2. 4-5 hours under normal usage for me (full brightness, videos, light gaming, heavy web surfing), about 7-8 under max power saving settings, lowest brightness, light browsing. Others have reported higher battery times though (9+). Should be competitive with all other ultrabooks except the macbook air.

3. m.2 SATA, don't know much else. I remember reading that it could be replaceable, but it wasn't the standard 2.5" size. Haven't opened it up personally so I don't really know

4. Yes, checked on CPU-Z, and is written on manual (8gb version).

5. Can get pretty warm on the bottom of the laptop when stressed (center-back, about 2.5x2.5" area). Very cool everywhere else. Idle temps in cpu around 45 C, normally at 45-55 C, up to 65-70 C when stressed. Pretty decent speakers. Exceptional solid build, approaching macbook quality, pretty much no flex anywhere. Good wifi, especially with 7260-ac card. Fan is probably the weakest point of the computer for me, it is on about 75% of the time, with noticeable sound in very quiet environments, measured at about 38 db on my phone. When the fan first kicks in, it is jarringly loud for about 0.5 second and quickly quiets down to its normal level. For me, there is also a slight modulating high-pitched whine to it, that becomes more noticeable if the fan spins really high (which I've only seen once during benchmarking). Some people have this problem, some people don't. Depends I guess on maybe QC or just hearing sensitivity. Also, the audio out jack is somewhat noisy (hissy) for me using a high sensitivity IEM, gonna get a resistor adapter to compensate.

Overall, I thought this laptop was a fantastic buy at the 20%+ discounts, and is probably unbeaten in value in this ultrabook category. Was really satisfied upon receiving it, and it really is better in person. Great build quality, love the screen, satisfied with keyboard and touchpad. Only snags are the fan, which I've honestly gotten completely used to (and I use headphones 70% of the time). Well and I guess the super weak integrated HD 4400, but I already knew about that beforehand haha.

Oh and make sure to install the BIOS update to remove the throttling quirk previously mentioned if that hasn't been fixed yet. However, CPU will always throttle on battery, unless you do some third party tinkering.

Probably get feedback from other people on more technical stuff, plus there's at least 4 reviews out there to check out. Good luck!

 

assuming you wouldn't miss the CPU power, would NOT installing the BIOS update and allowing the CPU to throttle down minimize the fan issue ? has anyone noticed any difference in heat output and fan noise both before and after installing this update ?

 

Thanks, excellent info.

I wonder if anybody with the FHD screen can chime in on the screen as well, since that's the one I'd probably be getting.

 

Has anyone found where the Windows Activation key is for those that want to do a clean install? Also, is there a way to turn off the bright backlit key when not using the backlight feature?

 

I am pretty sure that the key that controls the keyboard back light always stays on. I haven't heard of a way to turn it off.

 

Well, I'm slightly annoyed. I selected 2 day shipping during checkout and was charged for it. But the tracking information has it shipping normally.
Ugh.
I shot an email to HP requesting a refund for the shipping... I understand the weather may delay shipping to parts of central and northeast US, but cm'on, I'm in Texas.

 

That's too bad on the shipping. That is the first time I have heard of that happening. Did you get any response, explanation or offered a discount beyond just the refund that you are owed? What configuration did you end up ordering. I order a MAX config with a 20% of coupon on 1/1/14 and the estimated ship date at the time of order was 1/21/14. However, just got shipping notification with a tracking number today. I was pleasantly suprised at that. I just went with the free ship though. It is supposed to be delivered 1/17. My hope is that fan noise and heat won't be a deal breaker as it has been for some.

 

Me in Houston Texas as well. Mine will be delivered on 1/10 (now it is in Alaska). I hope there wont be any delay.

@sootnsmoke: You are so lucky. I ordered mine on 12/18 and had to wait for 3 weeks for the laptop being shipped.

 

Looks like mine was in the same batch. I ordered on 12/31/13 then got hp to apply the 20% cause it was active then inactive constantly they honored the request immediately. Maxed out specs without win8pro. Hopefully HP has turned up a notch on the Q/C. I don'twant to have to exchange it, and if they don't honor the 20% for the replacement then hello MacBook Pro.
I'm also in Texas btw.

 

Wow, thats the Xmas season impact right there. For that time of year I suppose it is to be expected. At least it is actually on its way now. What config did you order? My wife and I ordered 2 Dell Venue 11 Pros with keyboards and one dock...back on 11/21 and 11/24 and still have not gotten them LOL. Expected ship date is not until 1/15. Thought I would wait it out and see how ridiculous of a delay it would end up being after one delay notice already. We decided we are cancelling those orders and so I am waiting for the Spectre. Wife wants a smaller hybrid so she may end up with a Lenovo 11S. Not sure yet. I looked at the I5 Spectre in Best Buy and really liked it but wanted the I7/256 SSD/8 gb ram/QHD/AC wireless...so hence the HP direct order. Noticed on the Fed Ex tracking info it got shipped straight out of China like everything else now.

 

It might get delayed after all then. Crazy weather up there.

 

I was afraid of that. Maybe they'll address in a later software update. It is "bright" and the light bleeds out from under the key.

 

Like you I was easily able to uninstall the HP 7260AC Wi-fi and Bluetooth drivers and install the Intel ones. Even after installing the Intel version that included Bluetooth there was still another update for the Wifi (mine is at 16.6x). I am still unable to change the graphics driver though. I tried uninstalling from both Windows Programs and manually uninstalling the driver from Device Manager. I get the "this driver isn't validate for this system" error saying to check the manufacturer. I reinstalled HP's graphics driver even though it isn't the latest one.

 

No, that shouldn't happen. Mine was in Alaska on Friday (10th) and today (Saturday the 11th) it is in North Carolina for a Monday delivery.

That is my HP Envy 15t-j100 Quad TouchSmart that I ordered with 2-day shipping (it actually took 4 days from China)

My Spectre 13t-3000 is still in China with a Thursday expected delivery.

 

Mine was already in Houston this morning. I hope I could get it on Monday.

 

Hello everyone. I would like to purchase a second travel AC adapter for my Spectre. Does it matter what wattage it is, as the tip size (4.5mm for ours...I think) seems to be the key spec. I'll look on mine when I get home but will a 60W (I'm sure 90W is waaaay overkill) work? I'm interested in the "slim" one on the HP site, but want to make sure it's compatible (won't damage the laptop). It it is, I assume that going with a higher wattage AC power supply doesn't charge faster (I know that using lower than recommended does charge slower though), correct?

 

Do you guys know how frequent HP's 20% coupons are? I don't think I'll be able to buy until mid-February, and I'm wondering if the 20% coupons will still be around by then.

 

FYI the 20% coupon is back today, looks like it's good for another week? I placed my order yesterday, called in today and they applied the coupon "on the backend", which apparently means that the difference will be refunded to my card once the laptop ships. I'm not wild about that, but it seems easier than canceling and reordering. est. ship date is Jan 23.

also, free shipping is back.

 

I may be making this point redundantly but in my experience when HP discounts (and a coupon code is how they usually do it) a new model pretty much continuously from release and for 2 months thereafter they are all but establishing a new price point in the only way they can without looking silly. My guess is they will soon announce a semi-permanent price cut for popular options - such as 256gb SSD and 8gb RAM - and the "new" price with those popular options will come out pretty close to the -20% price. Then they might create a "smart buy" config which amounts to the lowest end config: i5, 4gb, 128gb, 1080p - still the most starting config for premium ultrabooks - at some $849 - $899 (for all I know this pricing is already the current "price leader" promo for this model) and have established this pricing as the "new normal" for premium ultrabooks.

IMO, HP is just, as Wayne Gretzky famously put it, gone "to where the puck was going!" (e.g., the next MBA is pretty sure to get a "retina screen" with no price increase, possibly even a $50 cut, while Lenovo already has the Yoga 2 close to this price point in what many may to perceive to be a less classy model than the Spectre 13T (they reserve top build honors for their +$300 "Thinkpad Yoga" ), leaving Asus, Samsung and Acer caught looking with pricing for comp configs $250-$400 higher. It looks to me like a pretty smart short run tactic for HP to, 1) show the market what awesome product its making in this most closely watched laptop market segment and, 2) buy it a quick 2-3% boost in market share until the shakeup occurs and cards get re-shuffled. The part that doesn't make any sense: HP continues to employ nearly "stealth" marketing for this product. What I've postulated above is null and void if the Spectre 13T is on nobody's radar screen! Duh.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

I believe (based on the website) that it comes with a 65W adapter. The 65W Slim adapter should work without issue.

HP 65W Slim with USB AC Adapter | HP® Official Store

A more powerful charger will charge your laptop more quickly, especially when in heavy use while charging. It will put additional wear and tear on the battery (charging it more quickly causes it to lose its maximum capacity more quickly) but it won't cause any real damage.

Edit: A charger that does not provide enough power to run your laptop would not damage it as long as you were running it with the battery, but would cause you to continue to lose charge while plugged in and using the laptop. And that's basically the worst thing you could do to a battery.

 

Mine had an estimated ship date of 1/21, but actually shipped on 1/10 and is expected to be delivered on 1/17. That makes me happy. Looks like a bunch of us will be starting to use these this upcoming weekend!

I purchased that 65W slim adapter, I liked that it could charge all my legacy HP stuff with the larger plug, plus had a usb port for my phone. According to the user guide, which is online at support.hp.com, it comes with a 45W adapter

 

My second one is being delivered on Thursday.

I sent the first one back, but probably should have kept it after learning that a slight back light leakage on the start up screen is fairly normal.

 

Ah, that would make sense. The laptop shouldn't use more than 30W at any time (6W for the display, 15W for the processor, plus the fan, RAM, SSD, etc...) so a 45W adapter would run it with no issue.

Edit: Also, looking at the manual, has anyone actually opened the laptop and confirmed that it's an M.2 SSD? The manual references it as an M.2 SSD but lists the parts as mSATA SSDs and shows an image of an mSATA SSD when showing you how to replace it.

 

Same here hopefully ours aren't duds. Looks like all of ours were in the same batch. Also did you get an email from HP to welcome you? It said "hp spectre 13t-3000 cto ultrabook (energy star)." I'm guessing "CTO" is for the customized ones?

 

I didn't get an e-mail from HP, but the HP support page for the device uses the "CTO Ultrabook" designation. No idea what it means.

 

What you can do is that after you uninstall the graphic driver, restart the machine. It will automatically install the windows default graphic driver, then you upgrade the new driver you downloaded. I did this way. It worked. Good luck!

 

That's an interesting question that I am looking for the solution too. The HP Recovery partition assumes for the manufacture default settings. I would do what I used to do for my system, i.e. do the current system backup and delete the Recovery partition, since it only recovers you to the default manufacture system settings, which may not be as good as the current system that you already set up. Or, if you still want to keep the Recovery partition, you may just backup the Recovery partition to your USB drive or DVD disk.

 

Customized To Order

And mine (apparently) shipped on Tuesday but I just got an e-mail on Saturday. The tracking said and still says that it will deliver tomorrow but it was updated to "On Vehicle for Delivery" (not "On Vehicle for Delivery Today" like I've seen in the past). I hope it comes tomorrow rather than today because I changed my schedule around to work at home tomorrow to sign for it!

 

Yeah exactly what I thought (CTO). Anyways is there a general time that FedEx is likely to deliver? I will be at school till 2:35. And usually get home at 3

 

It can vary. My HP Envy 15t-j100 Quad TouchSmart was delivered today before 10:30 AM.

The tracking on my HP Spectre 13t-3000 says it will be delivered (on Thursday) by 8:30 PM.

Both had 2 day delivery status.

Usually Fedex will give you a delivered by TIME. Just expect it by that time, but it could be earlier.

 

Most likely you will get it tomorrow. If they were going to deliver it today, the expected delivery date would have changed.