HP Spectre 13T-3000

Excellent questions. I hope you folks have time to reply.

Just checked the status of my order, ( order number H127799404 placed by phone at 10/16/2013, 11:48:16 PDT is Awaiting Shipment.
The chosen delivery method for this order was Two Business Days.) On Nov 1 HP stated shipment would be delayed until Nov 7. Now here we are, Nov 7 and still no status. I am really, really annoyed. Thank goodness for all your inputs, I can almost feel like I have it! I wonder if they will give me another 100 bucks off to placate me. Why don't we run a poll, indicating: a: order date; b: ship date: c:received date.

I,m a little concerned about the remarks concerning the back lit. this is a biggie for me. More thoughts about this would be appreciated.

what do you folks thing that we can get rid of without hampering performance to get the drive a little more gb? Some of the HP stuff? The updates are killers. my present computer (HP splitX2) came with 128 ssd, and 8GB ddr memory, and after installing my "must have programs" (Office pro, quicken, google chorme and Drive,) I have only 5GB left. Obviously with the septre I will have an extra 102GB or so, but I'm worried for the long term. Any suggestions?

 

there is a shipment delay for the envy's as well. I placed my order very late, Nov 1st and was given an estimated ship date of Nov 14. I hope by that time the shipping schedule will get back on track.

 

It came with 215GB formatted and with the Win8 and HP stuff it was an183Gb left out of the box. I added some application, but very small ones. and Adobe Lightroom 5 that come with the Ultrabook was about a 900MB install. The recovery partition is about 13GB. So yes, 183Gb free out of the box.

Don't know at this point as I don't want to uninstall something that is critical to the laptop and all of sudden the laptop stops working. I would love to do a clean install, but don't want to chance it at this point.

With regards to the backlit keyboard, I have no other details other then my initial finding. It is not so much the backlight as it is the combination of silver on white. When the backlight is off the actual letters/numbers are black/dark, which make the combination a silver on black, which make the keys much easier to read. But once you turn on the backlight then the letters/numbers become white and the combination becomes silver on white, which make the keys a lilttle harder to read, not impossible. That we Apple an others got rid of this combination when they started to introduce backlit keyboards.

Either you going to love it, hate it or be OK with it. I am between hate and OK, but not a deal breaker at this point.

 

Thanks, I guess I'll just have to wait and see of course. I really was OK with the envy back lit, a shame they had to change it.

 

What I can answer really quick is, There is no bend, it is solid machine. Sony uses a different type of material. The viewing angles as already mentioned are excellent. top, bottom and sides. It definitely 170 degree viewing angle if not better. Again, this can be subjective.As far a battery tests, I will most likely not be doing any battery test. The hardrive is rated at read/write 505mbs/445mb it is a 256GB SanDisk X100 mSata model. Hope this helps!

Correction it is a SanDisk X110 mSata model.part number sd6sn1m-256g

 

From the part numbers in this link:
SanDisk® X110 SSD - SD6SF1M-256G,SSD X110,mSATA,VGL,4X8D64Gb, SD6SP1M-256G

That seems to be a M.2 NGFF 2280 and not mSata. (As also stated in the previous specs)
So that would confirm the laptop shall not be restricted by the Sata speed limits on future upgrades

Regarding the battery, no need to run the tests. but can you check with some program like battery bar if it really have that 51Wh mentioned in the posted specs?

Thank you.

 

I bought a 256 gig samsung Evo - Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA ||| TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I was planning on putting into the Spectre on day 1 & using the 128gb drive for another machine. Is the drive I bought going to work in this laptop?

 

I just placed my order last night. Really excited about it and am looking forward it receiving it. Total cost was $1117, plus tax. I have a build date of November 29th, and it should ship 5 - 7 business days after. Here are the specs I got:

• Windows 8.1 64
• 4th generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4500U(1.8GHz,4MB L3 Cache)+ Intel(R) HD Graphics(For 8GB Memory)
• Onboard 8GB DDR3 System Memory
• 13.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080) Touchscreen
• 128GB SSD
• No Additional Office Software
• Free Upgrade to 1-yr McAfee LiveSafe service(TM)
• 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• No Internal DVD or CD Drive
• Backlit Keyboard
• Webcam and Microphone
• 802.11 AC WLAN and Bluetooth(R)

A few things to note. The HP sales rep confirmed that both screens, 1080p or the higher res one, are IPS displays. I decided to go with the 1080p display. I looked at the Yoga 2 Pro (3200x1800 I believe) and the scaling is horrible. It makes things look blurry and fuzzy, while other things look fine. I was worried that the higher res would be the same, so that's why I went with the 1080p display. The sales rep also confirmed that the 128GB SSD is a 2.5" SSD and that it could be upgradable. For those that are interested, the sales rep also said that all HP laptops supposedly come with a TPM chip, but I'll have to verify that for sure.

 

According to the specs and the part number posted earlier, it is NOT a 2.5" SSD. It's a M.2 NGFF 2280, which is 22x80mm. A 2.5" HD is 70x100mm, and mSATA is about 30x50mm.

 

I don't think your harddrive will work as the current SSD is based on the new M.2 factor, so it not even an mSata. I could be wrong, I think it will not work. The laptop is completely razor thin, your ssd you purchase is probably thicker then the laptop itself. Please look at this excellent article from TomHardware that talks about the ssd from factors, and give a review of the ssd that is currently installed. Now I seen this article, it was well worth me getting the 256GB SSD upgrade as it is a pretty bad ssd. here is the link:

SanDisk A110 PCIe SSD: Armed With The New M.2 Edge Connector - SanDisk A110 256 GB: Introducing The M.2 SSD Form Factor

Yes you are 100% correct. Here is a TomHardware article SanDisk A110 PCIe SSD: Armed With The New M.2 Edge Connector - SanDisk A110 256 GB: Introducing The M.2 SSD Form Factor

 

just got notified : another delay, now they are saying Nov 13th!!! this is getting absurd, even though they are wanting to give a 10% discount. they probably will negate the other $100 discount they already gave me. This is the worst company i've dealt with in a long time;.

 

I ran Batterybar is it is a 52,343 mWh battery So yes, a 51/52 mWh Battery. And yes, your correct on the SSD form factor is is M.2 factor See the TomHardware article that I posted a couple of minutes ago.

Not cool especially when you and I ordered it on the same day. Sorry

 

I tried hitting BestBuy to test screen resolutions on a Yoga 2 pro, but the video driver didn't support anything around 2560x1440, so it's hard to get an idea how that will look.

What display modes/resolutions does the video driver support for the Spectre QHD display? I'm assuming 1920x1080 is an option...
If you leave the text scaling at 100%, but drop the screen resolution down to 1920x1080, does the display get too fuzzy?

As a programmer & data analyst, I love high pixel count (currently work on a 30" 2560x1600)... but at 13.3", I'm concerned about eye strain after a full day of work and may need to drop to 1920x1080.

Pains me to think that screens are finally so good that I'm hesitating to buy the most pixels I can get!

Thanks again for any guidance on this QHD display!

 

I got mine order notification on 1. Noevember, and were told to get ist around 5.11 than 06 than 07 ... now i called HP, and they told me that they do not know when the next are shipping from production!!!
It is sad.... a big company like HP

To be said i'm from Europe(Germany). Maybe our customer support is just worst....

I ordered mine with 15% coupon and free Printer (Student)! SO im not sure they will give me more discount XD

 

I placed an order on October 23. Ship date has been November 20th. The online order status just changed to December 3rd. No Email notification. I think I will call tomorrow and ask to cancel. I know they won't cancel, but maybe some additional discount?

Regards, Jim

 

Ouch, December 3rd? My October 17th order is scheduled to be shipped November 11th. The maximum discount they give is 10% I believe(in the US). When I first ordered, I had 5% off, then after I called about the delay they offered the additional 5% off. Combined with my Fatwallet and credit card cash back, I'm not sitting too bad.

I don't know what the hold up is for HP(whether it's component or manufacturing defects), but I do know there is a DRAM supply shortage that has affected me already. For my company, I needed to order 40 new servers from Dell back in October and they weren't able to meet my December deadline due to this, they're all on back order.

I'm pretty patient, if they delayed me again I probably wouldn't ask for a discount but rather two day shipping, which I didn't choose when I first ordered.

 

Hi, I'm ready to buy. When will the top version be available in Britain ?

I live in Switzerland where it is already available with qHD, 8GB, 256GB SSD etc. i.e. the works.

As a Brit I prefer a UK QWERTY keyboard. I called a major retailer and HP here today and both stated they could not supply the machine with a UK keyboard. [Dell, Apple here will supply any keyboard with their notebooks].

In the UK it seems only the 4GB and 1080p, 128GB version is for sale but not clear on availability. Absolutely no sign of other specs.

 

HP Customer Service is blaming the typhoon in the Philippines for the shipping delays. No offer of any additional discount. But, I will put them through the wringer as time goes by.

Jim

 

I have a shipping date of 11/20. I called today to get my 128gb drive upgraded to 256 & to see if i could get a discount.

The rep said it was too late to change & I should refuse the package. I said its still not shipping for 12 days & I wanted help. She said that the normal channel for a refund is through the Philippines & she was sorry she couldnt help?

 

I was interpreting the HP Store Site wrong. My ship date is still November 20th. The December 3 ship date is for an order placed today.

Jim

 

Yes, I got the same typhoon response....but when pressed, the US rep told me that production is in China (nowhere near the typhoon). The call center is in the Philippines. In any case, my laptop was delayed before the typhoon, with no update notifications. Had I not called, I would not know about any delays. Ship date was changed from 11/5 to 11/8, which has passed. No new info. HP had no delay in charging my credit card, the bill for which I already paid. It's not right....

 

These are the specs on the UK version,

13.3" Radiance FHD LED backlit (1920 x 1080) touch.
Intel® Core™ i5-4200U (1.6 GHz, 3 MB cache, 2 cores).
8 GB DDR3L SDRAM (on board).
256 GB SSD.
Front-facing HP TrueVision FHD webcam.
4-cell Li-Ion polymer battery.
Wireless: Intel 802.11ac (2x2) Bluetooth WiDi support

Mainly not-bad, I would have liked an i7 though. It's a 13-3000 ea you're looking for. Due for the end of November... hopefully. Currys, Littlewoods & Very are all advertising.

 

I’ve never had a laptop or ultra book before. I am not expecting miracles, but am an wondering what these machines can do. (If I buy this it will have the 1920 x 1080 screen, i5-4200U and 8GB ram).

I often work in PhotoShop with 2k-4k images and easily 20+ layers with effects (file-size 120MB-ish), is this too much? I would like to test application-builds from Unity, will shaders and stuff work? What about running ZBrush or Maya?

Also does any one know how good the colour gamut is for Adobe RGB – sounds like the screens are sweet – ?

Thanks.

 

I just checked the status of my order. Imagine my surprise when the status showed shipped with delivery expected November 15th!:hi2: Original ship date was November 20th. Fed ex tracking data shows package in China.

Jim

 

Lucky you! I'm trying to stay patient. Lol

 

can any of you guys who has bought the laptop tell me,how the keyboard,touchpad and the webcam is? I've heard the camera is VGA and not FHD,if you buy it from the US. is that true? the ones who already own it. is your webcam VGA?

 

I was considering between the Yoga 2 Pro and this laptop, the way that the screen resolution on the yoga is weird.

On the yoga's and samsung's screen, they uses alternating pixel which looks like "-.-.-.-.-."

I'm wondering, but is the pixel in this HP spectre's QHD regular pixel format or alternating pixel format?

 

Does anybody know how to get a good discount? I found a 5% coupon code that works but there is also a 15% off HP custom laptops over $999 (MU2713) but it won't take. Somebody on this thread got 15% somehow. I am in the U.S.

I'm also a bit confused about the CPU options. The same i5 4200U costs $95 more just to have 8GB RAM? So that's really $95 for 4GB RAM which is expensive.

Also, is the Haswell i7 4600U really worth $250 more? I checked cpupassmark and it was only 15% better than the i5 4200U. That's a 25% price overhead!

Any advise/thoughts would be appreciated!

 

Well, wonder of wonders, this morning i received notice that my order had shipped (on Saturday). After two delays, and finally a call to HP Exec Mr. Finn (who obviously put some heat on the matter). Two day shipping should get it here Monday or Tuesday hopefully. :hi2:

 

It is my understanding that neither of the Spectre 13 models (hybrid and ultrabook) have fans - I'm surprised no one has mentioned that because it would be the only thing I'd be concerned about on the Spectre because it's a first-generation design. I'm waiting to see what owners think because I've owned a number of HPs over the years and have no complaints.
Today I am returning a Yoga Pro 2 that I got five days ago. It had way too many flaws and quirks.

 

I thought it was the X2 version that was without a fan.

Well this is my shipping week. I paid for 2 day shipping. Hope it ships in a timely manner since I'm moving next weekend.

 

The Spectre 13t-h200 x2 does not have a fan per the HP description page under "Exclusive Features". The CPU is i5-4202Y, which is the lowest power Haswell. The user guide for the Spectre 13t-3000 tells how to remove the fan. The CPU is i5-4200U, which is the intermediate power Haswell.

Jim

 

Ok, so apparently thats the way to get the laptop shipped. Call to cancel. Mine is on the way & is expected for delivery on Thursday 11/14 instead of shipping on 11/20. Weird.

 

I've had mine for the weekend (ordered it the day it came out). It is amazing so far. Except it doesn't like my wifi after waking up, I have to turn it off and on. I got all the maxed out specs.

 

The keyboard and touchpad are excellent, no complaints. And yes, the webcam is FHD and the quality is above average, on par with the new Macbook Pro Camera. Hope this helps!

 

Honestly, I don't know about pixel formatting or alternating pixel formatting, but what I can tell you plain and simple, the screen is awesome!! It sharp, crisp and the colors pop, not over saturated, though. As I mentioned in my many post, the negative is the screen could have been a bit brighter. Again, I am coming from a 17 Macbook Pro. But as I get use the brightness, it is not as bad as I thought; 340 nits isn/t bad.

What I can also tell you is the screen is much better then Yoga 2, and while the screen on the Samsung is a brighter, the 3200x1800 is too small for a 13.4 screen. (I know my previous statements are subjective.The screen that I have is the qHD (2560x1440) and it is the perfect size for a 13.3. And if needed, I can drop it down to 1900x1200 or 1920x1080 or lower. So you have many options with the qHD screen,

 

I don't know of any discount code, other then if you work at a School or a student.

Yes, IMO the i7-4500U (It not a i7-4600U) is worth it. And this question would better answered by yourself, by asking yourself what are you going to be doing? From me, I am not a gamer but will be doing some medium video and photo editing with LightRoom, so I wanted the best processor that was available for the laptop. So 15% percent increase is well worth it and for me, that coupled with the fact that I got $190 off a fully loaded Spectre, so it was a no brainier to max out the specs.

 

As far as I can tell, there are no 15% off coupons...maybe outside the US. I tried every which way to get more than 5% but couldn't. If you were one of the early buyers, you definitely would have had a delay that got you 10% off like myself. IMO 8GB of memory is worth it. It's going to be soldered on, so there's no upgrading that. For me, if I'm already dumping 1k on a laptop, I definitely need more than 4gb but that's just me. CPU-wise, I agree. I stuck with the i5 myself. I upgraded the SSD though.

If interested, I could sell you my 10% off code for $20, lol. Not sure if I'm going to use it but I've had a couple co-workers beg for it

 

Thanks for the offer! But I called and managed to get at least another $25 off from the HP rep plus free shipping in addition to my 5% off, so my rig ended up being about $1100. I only upped the SSD to 256GB and spent the extra $20 for the new ac wifi spec for future-proofing. Now I'm second-guessing not upping the RAM to 8GB but they are pretty tough about not letting you change anything in your order once it's set. You can return it for 21 days after getting it, but I feel you should be able to modify your order up until the point they actually start building the thing. Oh well, it'll be an awesome ultrabook!

 

This is great news.. but can I get a few more details about:

a) the power supply, what are the specs and part numbers and replacement numbers
b) any chance you could run siv - system information viewer SIV - System Information Viewer
i) choose OK dropdown -> Save All (let it run) -> choose Edit and it will make a text file, pastebin link please?
ii) i know this is a lot but these details would be great, if not I plan to post it when mine arrives

Here was my order details:
Ordered 10/17 at 7:37PM EST
HP Spectre 13t-3000 Ultrabook
• Windows 8.1 64 • 4th gen Intel® Core™ i7-4500U(1.8GHz,4MB L3 Cache)
• Onboard 8GB DDR3 System Memory
• 13.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080) Touchscreen
• 256GB SSD
• 802.11 AC WLAN and Bluetooth
1369.99 - 5% off coupon (68.50 savings) = 1301.49 + Tax 117.29 + 2nd Day 39.00 = 1457.78

With an original ship date of 11/4, on 11/4 i received first a coupon for 10% off and a cryptic email which was offcenter by an entire screen, which basically said DELAY until 11/11 for ship date. I waited until 11/6 to call HP and went straight for the throat: "well i was supposed to have this unit in my hands today, whats the deal?" I was polite, and simply stated that I was not prepared to deal with a delay such as this. I asked to add the 3year care pack for my troubles, the 2nd level rep was calculating and calculating and ended up giving me a 'refund' on my shipping, and an additional 100 off. I accepted!

Mysteriously Saturday 11/9 I received my shipping notification, and low and behold HP switched my 2nd Day Air to "International Economy Distribution" which places it in my hands Firday 11/15. You had best bet that I will be calling tomorrow and politely argue that this shipment needs to be elevated to 2nd Day and either force them to make good on my original choice of shipping, or give something else back.

In the meantime I did purchase the 3year accidental care pack for approximately 209, however I am having buyers remorse as I was under the impression this only came with a 1year warranty, and learned that it comes with a 2 year! the accidental junk is quite useless IMHO.

 

Oh, okay, man. Thanks a lot. but, it doesnt say that its FHD on the customization page.. on the US site,whereas on the UK,site,FHD is mentioned.
and I'm coming from a MacBook Pro,too,which was 13 inch,tho and i want something exactly or some what quite similar to the macbook,so yeah..

 

It is definitely FHD, so no worries. When I go to the Webcam application and select the resolution option, 1920x1080 is one of them. So you are good. :thumbsup:

 

I got the same deal (instead of two day shipping I was informed by FEDEX it was/is being shipped by inernational ECONOMY). Please let us know what if anything they gave back to you. I am really disgusted!

 

Got my tracking number finally! Not going to arrive until next Monday though......

Overall, I wound up with a generous set of credits and I wasn't even asking for them when I spoke on the phone!

My original 5% was $63.50 and today I received credits of $84.15, $36.50 and even $9.99 for shipping. It's still slow shipping but I don't mind, I just wanted it shipped!. If this ultrabook is as awesome as they everyone else is saying I will write them a glowing review for both the product and the service. My total cost is around $1130, with i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD, wifi AC, FHD. Also, I have $36 from Fatwallet too!

Can't wait until it gets here

 

Congrats! Finally I see you almost beat my deal, I ended up with $190 off, fully spected-out w/usb-ethernet adapter.

Yes, the laptop is awesome and you should be very happy. BTW, I have connected my laptop to my Cisco/Linksys EA6700 AC router and my connection speed is 860mb (From to the laptop to the Router, of course in close range) But when I am on the 3rd Floor My connection is still strong 450MBs. So the intel Wifi AC card is awesome and well worth the $20. So I almost have a 1Gig Wireless connection, which is meaningless for internet, because my internet connection is 25mb down /8mb up.

I also hooked up my external HP slim Blue-ray player and popped in Avatar and it was an awesome experience. Clean, Crisp, Color and the viewing angle easily surpasses 170 degrees. I have the qHD option, but the FHD should still yield the same results.

 

Sill with some questions...

How does it behave when pushing the CPU to the limits? does it get hot? Does the fan get quite loud in that conditions?
When using it mostly in idle with multiple aplications and browser tabs open how often does the fan kck in??

Any test yet of it unplugged from the power outlet to have an idea on how long does it last?

Thank again for the input...

 

I'm thinking on ordering the base one tomorrow morning.

But I'm worried about the shipping. I need it before the 20th of November delivered.

Have you guys received yours?

I can't have this kind of delay, if so, I'll be forced to go something else.

For those who already have it, is this laptop any good? Is it worth it? I quite like it but I'm on the fence between the new Dell Inspiron 14, the ASUS Zenbook UX302LA and the Spectre 13t-3000. (You can also comment on this little thread of mine to help me http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...737371-urgent-need-thin-light-laptop-uni.html)

How bad is shipping? I'm going to choose to be safe, the 2 business day shipping.

 

im very interested in this.

For those that have had it for a while, how has your battery life been while surfing the web and maybe watching HD videos?

I don't think I necessarily need the qHD screen, but is there any reason not to get it? Does scaling down to 1080p not look as good as if I were to just get the FHD screen? Are both panels IPS for sure? Is one maybe less glossy than another? Does the FHD have better viewing angles than the qHD?

How is touchpad accuracy? No problems with any clicking or scrolling right?

Lastly, more of a general question, is the HD4400 graphics sufficient for this machine? I was hoping to get something with Iris graphics but I might just go with this one. Is HD4400 a lot better than 4000? Or, I guess how much "worse" is 4400 than Iris 5000/5100?

 

I was one of the 1st to received it (on 10/31), so no delays with mine. However, others had issues, but they are now starting to get theirs as well. You have to realized that it is holiday season and this particular laptop is now starting to get some traction, mainly because it is one of the overlooked Ultra-Book out now and HP didn't do a good enough job in advertising it. So what I can see, if you need a laptop before the 20th, there is not a good chance.

The laptop is freakin' awesome! I am not going list the highlight again, I can only refer you to my previous post that list my pro/cons. I too, was looking at the Asus Zenbook, Samsung (Dell was never in the run for me) and I was reluctant to getting the HP Spectre 13T-3000 because of their history, but boy I am happy I did. And furthermore, I am happy I maxed out the spec. The HP feels EXTREMELY Premium and feels like it should cost more and the screen is awesome qHD), though it could have been a bit brighter.

The Asus, while nice, though not the much better then the HP, is way too much for the same specs ($500+). And as I mentioned in my previous post a 3200x 1800 screen is to much resolution for a 13.3 screen. I hope this helps!

 

The battery is about 6-7 hours with a mixture of surfing and video watching; I generally keep it plugged in.

While the qHD may not be needed, GET IT. Once again, GET IT!. The reason why, for $70 dollars it is well worth it. Yes, it can scaled down to 1920x1200/1920x1080 as well as other resolutions in between. The quality of screen it beautiful, crisp, colorful, and the viewing angle IMO surpassing 170 degrees. I can't comment on the FHD quality, as it may be a completely different screen, vendor and technology, and I suspect that may be the case, I am not, as well as most people, are not sure what the screen technology is, but if it isn't IPS or better I would be completely surprised. And if it is not, who cares, the viewing angles, the sharpness, crisp, colors makes this screen excellent. BTW: Excellent for photography (especially the qHD screen)

The the HD4400 is sufficient for the machine as it is a Ultrabook. If you want to go with the Iris with the 5100GPU and most likely the intel i7-4558U CPU then your price will jump significantly and almost certain you're going to run into heat issues. IMO, the combination of the 5100GPU/I7-4558U is best suited for a slightly larger chassis; a non-ultrubook (Though the CPU is a "Ultrabook" CPU) IF you are not going to do heavy gaming and only light to medium video/photo editing, then the I7-4500U with the 4400GPU is perfect combination. I'd recommend to anyone to get the i7-4500U over the i7-4200U.

Lastly, the touch-pad is very accurate and it is one of me favorite features (The touch zone feature is awesome) I don't like to touch my screen!!! Hope this helps!