HP Spectre 13T-3000

I decided in the end that it was worth living with the drawbacks in order to get Haswell. I also have something of a mental problem with buying previous generation technology that's not significantly better than the current generation (which happens in A/V devices quite often), or is at least not hugely discounted!

Agreed that battery life isn't actually important to me - I do want it to have a good battery, but the vast majority of the time my laptop is plugged in anyways. Also, I've always appreciated how discrete graphics improve general system "snappiness", especially a year or two after a notebook came out when things are being pushed harder. My last two notebooks have hybrid Intel/Nvidia graphics, so I'm well familiar with the comparison.

The Y2P was long at the top of my list, especially since it IS a fantastic price for what you get, flaws and all... but in the end I decided I didn't want a pentile-style screen with offset pixels no matter what, even if they got the color fixed (and from reports yellow is much improved, but there's an overriding issue with *all* color reproduction on that screen that admittedly may not concern most users, but does me). I also had concerns about general build quality, keyboard quality, and longevity of the double hinge design (my current Sony Z11 turned out to have a poorly designed hinge with internal screws that work themselves loose over time, resulting in a creaky/wobbly screen).

Looks like my Zbook 14 has been pushed to the first week of December. Disappointing. But one thing I'm very happy with (especially compared to the similar Thinkpad 440s ultrabook) is that the Zbook is designed for user serviceability - all you do is flip a latch and you get full access to the replaceable battery, 2.5" hard drive bay, WiFi, WWAN and M.2 connectors, dual SODIMMs, even easily replace the keyboard and clean the CPU fan.

 

My laptop was supposed to ship 12/3 and it shipped this past Monday 11/17! I am supposed to get it next Tuesday!

 

The Zbook sounds pretty good. It's a bit thicker and heavier, but the idea of a discrete graphics card is pretty appealing. I also like being able to fix my own stuff (although I did get the extended warranty for the Spectre 13).

The configurations for the Zbook are interesting. Did you go for Win8 and the touch screen?

 

(This is a replacement of my original post as I have subsequently found the answers to most of my questions.)

So, regarding Zbook vs. Spectre 13T, after looking closely at ZB pricing and configs, it seems it will cost nearly double for an equivalent config, though if you adjust for the ability to upgrade your own RAM and SSD, the better wtty and clearly more robust build you can arrive at a nearly apples-to-apples savings of $300 or more by buying your own RAM and SSD and adding the extended wtty to the Spectre because the Zbooks only come with 3 yr wttys. What is really disappointing is that you cannot get the 1080p screen in touchscreen as you do with the 13T, much less no option for QHD (though the latter doesn't really interest me at this time). I do own 2 Envy 14 Spectres and the build quality is nearly flawless and HP was great about replacing initially defective screens even out of wtty. Of course, I bought both of these on eBay for about $600 a piece for $1,400 list laptos They were overpriced at list, but a steal at half off and an absolutely wonderful laptop for light/medium duty work. (The biggest problem I or my wife have with them is that you dont get as much work done because you can't stop staring at the damn thing, it's that drop-dead gorgeous, and perfectly machined, like a laptop-sized iPhone!) Everything I've read validates that HP has truly imbued the Envy Spectre product line with its "Premium" designation and both build quality and support is a cut above their other consumer products (and far above their business products - see below.)

Also worth noting regarding the Zbook:

You will generally find CTO pricing to be far higher than the same config as one of the "Smart Buy" pre-config models, so if you wanted to upgrade the screen but not the CPU or RAM you will pay a lot more as a CTO than you will pay for the Smart Buy Config that has the i7 and 16GB of RAM and the screen you want (1080p or 900p touch) even if you don't need the i7 or that much RAM. Either way you are paying $2,000 or more for admittedly the best and most durable Ultrabook out there, but for my personal needs (not planning to write my memoirs in the Mojave desert or a Brazillian rain forest ) the 13T (without crackling noises!) would be more than sufficient, in some cases better, than the ZBook equivalent. BTW, take note: in my significant amount of experience with HP SMB division and they're products - of which the Zbook is one - what I said in an earlier post about the hazards of buying a newly released HP product goes doubly for a new Elitebook model, except that the SMB sales/cust service people are less accomodating and less generous about compensating you ffor a series of "lemons." Than the consumer divisions. I know that's counter-intuitive for a business product vs. consumer but as a one-off buyer of SMB division products you are bottom of the barrel for them. You will do better if you call and strike up a relationship with a sales rep and even intimate (not lie, of course ) that you may be making additional purchases if your testing of the initial order goes well. Then you will have an advocate if things go wrong, and you may wangle a discount of up to 25% on a CTO order, which will bring the price back to the level of the Smart Buy configs, but you will be getting just what you want and not paying for what you don't want. But the discounting could be only 10% and in all you have to get lucky to get the right rep who will help if you have product problems and customer support is not helping.

In all, IMO, if you need to make this purchase now and the two models are close in regards to your needs go, I would strongly consider the Spectre/consumer division product. You will have invested nearly $1,000 less, you are more likely to get extra time to evaluate and return for a full refund, you are more likely to get additional discounts if you suffer through a couple of lemons/returns, etc and, if you are just not happy and are past any time to get a full refund, you can resell it and lose no more than a few hundred dollars, vs., well, many more dollars if you want to sell your Zbook. Both will start to get discounted once they've been out for 6 months or so, but if you have a defect-free Spectre you won't take a bath reselling it, even on NBR. Anyway, this is my best judgment from about 5 years experience buying significant quantities from both product lines, but it is 1 yr stale and things do change a lot in that time, especially with Ms. Whittman as CEO, a little more customer friendly than past HP honchos.

I think I'm going to wait out the 6 mos and buy the Spectre 13T when the bugs have been largely worked out and more generous discounts are available. Or I might just be the one to buy your 6 month old one, lol!

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

 

Well, I'm not sure the Zbook is the ideal solution for me or not. The standard screen res 1600 x 900 is not ideal, and the higher res option (1920 x 1080) doesn't have a "touch" option. The i7 configs are very pricey and an SSD pushes this over the top.

 

Yep, the Y2P has a pentile screen (RGBW), but that wasn't directly the cause of the yellow issue. Apparently the Y2P wasn't delivering enough power to the panel, which a BIOS update was able to fix. This is actually the same screen as the Samsung AB9+'s, which didn't have the yellow issue.

----

I agree with lovelaptops on getting the Spectre over the Zbook. The "Smart Buy" Spectre models are really well priced, especially with the coupon codes HP regularly has.

By the way, as anyone installed a Linux distro on the Spectre? If so, were there any issues?

 

Yes, the smart buy is a really good deal! I was not so smart and went with a custom build

hack6500 put Kubuntu 13.10 on his Spectre 13 and has a few screen shots on page 18 of this thread. It looks like most things worked out of the box.

 

I think my first choice for a laptop if the price came down about $500 (or $600) would be the Ativ Book 9 plus (NP940X3G-K04US - $1800 from Samsung).

 

Ah, thanks for referring me to that post. Really great to hear touchpad and wireless work out of the box.

hack6500, is suspend working for you?

 

Buying tip:

The smart buy comes with a one year warranty vs the 2 year in the custom buy variation. If and when the Smart Buy comes back in stock and you combine it with the 5% coupon code, you are effectively saving 12.5%. But if you call in the order and negotiate with them, they can give you up to 10% off and a 2 year warranty on the customizable version.

When it all works out, I paid about $75 more for the customizable version over the smart buy and received an extra year of warranty. The trade off is that with the customizable version, I do not get Lightroom 5.

 

Hello,
I have been testing the Zenbook Infinity UX301LA and the Samsung ATIV Book 9 X3E. (I didn't even test the Yoga 2 Pro (color issues), or the Acer S7 (don't like the white design), or the Vaio Pro 13/Fit 13a (both loud fan issues). The Zenbook had an "average quiet" keyboard, however the space bar and enter key were loud. The fan on the Zenbook was good (no fan most of the time, nice fan sound when it did came on). The Zenbook's screen (FHD version) however had a strong brownish-yellow tint on ~1/3 of the screen area. The touchpad was good.
The Samsung had a worse touchpad, a significantly louder keyboard (not usable in libraries), and the fan had a very quiet but annoying hissing noise *all* the time. The 9 plus is said to have a similar keyboard, though fan and touchpad is said to be better.
I didn't get a Macbook Air either because I need windows, and Macbooks are said to have poor support for Windows (bad drivers, fan noise etc.). Which is a shame, I really hope the 2014 Air will support Windows perfectly.
Since the HP seems to be lower priced, I'm a bit worried that quality issues (like SSD/motherboard failures) might occur.

Other than that, I would like ask if you could please give as much feedback on everyday usage (especially multi-tabbed surfing. BTW check out the new Opera browser for decent performance (you can use the extension "download chrome extensions" to, well, download Chrome extensions)) regarding:
1. -> how does the fan behave (especially at night when one can hear high pitched whining noises etc.)?
2. -> does the touchpad allow to navigate across the complete screen at full resolution, _with a *short*, quick swipe_, or does one have to make long gestures across the touchpad? (mouse pointer speed set to max and pointer accel. enabled, of course)
3. Most important, how's keyboard noise? Does the keyboard rattle, does the space/enter key rattle? ("Imagine your lying in bed at night, would another person be annoyed by the noise when you start typing?")

Also, how "white is the white" on the 1440p model's screen?

Thanks!

 

I agree that the Samsung's keyboard is noisy, especially the Space bar, which is loud and feels and sounds "cheap" I also agree with all of your assessments with one exception. I'm fairly confident the Asus you tested had a defective screen. It's the same screen as on theI Ivy Bridge version and it is probably the highest quality fhd 13" lcd in the market, with nearly 100% sRGB coverage, very accurate without calibration, almost 500 nit brightness and over 1000:1 contrast with very low black values. If the scree was your primary reason for disqualifying it I'd advise you to check other samples. I dare say even without checking another sample you can purchase this without hesitation ; that screen is nearly legendary (!} and not known for quality control problems. (The 301LA's predecessor was known for other quality problems, but they were sorted out some time ago.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

As many of you many know from the beginning of this thread, I was one of the 1st to receive my Spectre 13T and I immediately reported my thoughts and I answered almost all the questions. It been about 3 Weeks since I had received it (Had since 10/31) and today I decided to return it. (FYI: My Spectre was fully loaded)

Before I list my very short list of reasons why I decided to return it, let m quickly say this laptop is Awesome and to any potential buyers who is looking on this forum to determine if they should purchase the Spectre or not, I will give this laptop 9 of 10. If you are looking for a Sexy, powerful, Beautiful, Crisp and vivid screen that is well built, the HP Spectre 13T is one of the best out (specially Specs-to-Price Ratio). The only other Ultrabook I would consider getting will be last year's Asus Zenbook UX31A.The new Asus UX301/302, while very nice, sexy, powerful (if you go with the i7-4500U or i7-4558) and it too has Very nice screen, but the Gorilla Glass made it heavy and it is fingerprint magnet (Though I will admit the Gorilla Glass against the blue added to it appeal) And it is too pricey in comparison to the HP Spectre.

With said, the my major reasons for return my Spectre is the Silver on white keyboard. With the Keyboard Light on, the keys became very hard to see...kind of washed out, if you will. Turning the keyboard light off is actually better. As many of you know, I complained about this earlier on. Also, when I type with both of my palms on the deck, from time-to-time (As I am doing now) the Win 8 will screen would randomly go Metro, Then I'd have to hit the Desktop icon to get back. also, for me, the keyboard isn't very practical to type on for long period of time (IMO)

With the two flaws I mentioned above, they weren't the actual deal breakers. What it simply came down to is, I am not an Ultrabook Person, yet. (I thought I was) And I am not saying that I going back to my 18/17 inch laptop ( e.g. MBP 17, All generations of Alienware 17 and 18), but I like the option of having a more power CPU other then "U" i7, the option of having a discrete GPU, a good build laptop with a solid keyboard. I am not a gamer, but a heavy PC user, photography, video editing and I am Sr. Network Engineer who uses Visio with very large files. I wasn't certain if the i7-4500U would stand the test of time. To be fair, I didn't put it through extensive testing ((because that's not what I am about), but my 21 day to return my HP was coming to an end and I asked myself a question: Would I be happy with this laptop for the next 2 years? and my answer is "no" because I am Power User.

So what I ended up getting to replace me Spectre... The new Dell Alienware 14 (the latest gen). I chose this because I got a heck of a deal, it is small and portable (maybe not to some), very, very powerful, it now has an IPS w/ Anti-Glare Screen (Yes, Dell put in an IPS screen in this puppy) and it has a Aluminum chassis. I got a refurbished model from a top tier eBay store. And the best part, I only paid $1670 no tax and free shipping. See the Specs below and see why I got a good deal. Truth be told, I wouldn't have brought a new Alienware 14, as the refurbished model I got cost $2535.00 with tax, new ( no way in the hell would I pay that amount for a 14' laptop Anyway, below are my specs.

Once again, the Spectre 13T-3000 is a great machine (- the keyboard) and wonderfully built if someone is looking for an Ultrabook (.Please read my previous post to get my initial thoughts) In the end, I keep my laptop plugged up majority of the time and like a beefier CPU and GPU and I don't lug my laptop around a lot so portability isn't major concern (Hence the comprise of a 14 inch).

Haswell i7-4900MQ Processor (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
14.0 Inch IPS FHD (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare Display
16GB Dual Channel DDR3L
512GB Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M with 2GB GDDR5
8X Blu-Ray BD Combo
Windows 8 Pro
Broadcom 4352 802.11 ac 2x2 and Bluetooth 4.0
Anodized Aluminum Chassis

If anyone has any more questions regarding the HP 13T-3000 (between me and other on this forum, I think all of questions have been answered), please let me know. I am returning it tomorrow

Thank you for reading my novel :hi2:

 

Nothing wrong with that config at all! That's really tempting and a hell of a deal too. I was actually more on the return bubble early on but have grown a little more attached to the Spectre than I thought. I do my heavy lifting with a desktop at home and this is more or less the machine I do all my "casual" consumer stuff on, or minor work like run VPN back to the office. Hopefully I'll keep enjoying this laptop and get more accustomed to it. Granted, I'm only 3 days in, so we'll see how it goes. I'd like to keep this for guy for three years, but we'll see.

Good luck with the Alienware. Dell's high end laptops are really nice...usually very pricey too so that deal you got is great.

 

Thanks, Jake! I too have grown more attached to my Spectre over time; It indeed a sweet PC. My Alienware will be my Power PC and my iPad will be my Surfing/Email PC, that or my new cell phone, which is the new Nokia Lumia 1520 that just came out. If you are not familiar with this cell phone, read up on it.

Lot of luck in your IT Career!!!!!!

 

Hello everyone
Thanks for all the the reviews you guys took the time to post. It made me decide to buy the basic version since it is more than enough for me.
I found a coupon: PC 1723 for $120 that could be used for this laptop. After that I called HP and asked for any Black Friday deals. They offered me a $75 discount. Told them I found a better deal online and they offered me $50 on top of the coupon if I buy it right way. That brought the total savings to $170.

 

Wow, that looks like an excellent rig for the right price!

Thank you for your review, It really helps a lot! It is very reassuring to hear that the 13t-3000 unit will probably be the right fit for me. I will need to carry two laptops and my work laptop is quite big.

 

Hi there,

I am seriously considering the Spectre 13t. I am nervous however, on what seems to be a developing discussion point on the "power" of the laptop. I surf the web, email, youtube and plenty Word processing (attorney) for HOURS on end. No gaming ( of any sort), no graphic designing, no photo editing (of any sort, for any reason). Is this laptop's "power" suitable for such a profile?

Your statement: With the two flaws I mentioned above, they weren't the actual deal breakers. What it simply came down to is, I am not an Ultrabook Person, yet. (I thought I was) And I am not saying that I going back to my 18/17 inch laptop ( e.g. MBP 17, All generations of Alienware 17 and 18), but I like the option of having a more power CPU other then "U" i7, the option of having a discrete GPU, gave me something to think about.

 

I am seriously considering the Spectre 13t. I am nervous however, on what seems to be a developing discussion point on the "power" of the laptop. I surf the web, email, youtube and plenty Word processing (attorney) for HOURS on end. No gaming ( of any sort), no graphic designing, no photo editing (of any sort, for any reason). Is this laptop's "power" suitable for such a profile?

Your statement above gave me something to think about.

 

Yes, I think for you, as you described your needs, the HP Ultrabook will work for you and has plenty of power for what you are going to be using it for. Please don't get me wrong, the i7-4500U is powerful enough for what it was designed for (your type of demographic). The only thing you would need to determine is, is the keyboard layout and the deck good and comfortable enough to type on for long periods of time. For me it wasn't, but for other it may be perfect. Also, the 13.3 screen is nice, but too small as I have come to learn, so having a little bigger screen helps. I am approaching 43 and while my eye sight is OK, I'll be the first to tell you, they are not what they use to be.

 

Your user profile is almost exactly the same as mine except for your heavy typing. The Spectre 13t-3000 is more than adequate for your needs. In fact, my last laptop was an i3 and it was also more than adequate for my needs. But, if you do a lot of typing, getting a laptop with a keyboard that you are comfortable with is the most important factor. So, what ever you decide to buy, make sure the vendor has a very liberal return policy.

Good luck, Jim

 

It's really easy to agonize while waiting for this laptop to ship. I have a little over two weeks to go.

I take it as a pretty good sign that those of you who have gotten yours are pretty quiet on these forums. That is to say, aside from the crackling sound issue reported by a few people, I haven't seen a host of issues aired here.

 

As a point of reference for the power discussion, nearly four years ago I bought a top-of-the-line Sony Z11 for nearly $4000 (admittedly a lot of that cost was in the 512GB SSD). This is a 13.1" notebook with a normal 35w TDP dual core i7-620m CPU, running at 2.67GHz with 3.33GHz turbo.

According to the benchmarks, that 35W TDP CPU gets a CPU Mark of around 2700-2800 points. The 15W TDP i5-4200U scores 3400-3500 on the same test, and the i7-4500U about 4000-4200. If you go for one of the business class notebooks, the i7-4600U bumps the score to 4500-4600.

Considering the Z11 was considered a normal, full-powered laptop for advanced users, and considering that the requirements of productivity software hasn't changed a whole lot over that timespan, these ULV CPU scores aren't bad at all!

 

WOW! Your new laptop is going to be more powerful than my desktop! Congratulations on your decision.

Good luck, Jim

 

Very interesting! So, PC power has increased significantly over the last few years, but application power requirements have not.

Regards, Jim

 

Yeah, it is hard to keep calm when waiting for delivery of a new toy. Keep the faith!

Good luck, Jim

 

That actually depends on what applications you run

If your session before was word app, email app, music app, browser of all the same versions then probably not. But MS has a bad habit of turning older versions of their office suite into bloatware so that they actually require more processing power. At least this is the what Wintel conspiracy theory holds. I think in general that software developers get accustomed to more power being available and sometimes efficiency might be abandoned in order to get more functionality into a product more quickly.

For people who process data or do other intensive processing (in excel, matlab, mathematica, R etc) they will appreciate any improvement in performance no matter what.

Games always require more processing power, but that's mainly for the graphics card not the CPU. Still there might be some benefit for newer games running with a new CPU. There is also somewhat of a conspiracy here: new games don't always scale down to old or low performance hardware very well forcing some to upgrade their graphics cards or their whole systems.

-Fred

 

This is a great comparison, thanks!

 

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any good links to post on the current good deals? As soon as Dell brings the Dell XPS 13 configure option online and I see what they offer, I'll likely be ready to purchase. I'm not sure HP will have Black Friday deals on the 13t-3000 but if anyone has some good links to coupons, I'd appreciate it.

 

I found mine googling for "hp laptop coupon" and "hp 13t-3000 coupon". I think I ended up on couponpal's site.

The best deal you can get right now is the "smart buy" option which has an instant savings of $100. You can then apply the coupon code for an extra 5% off.

As others have pointed out, you might do better if you work with a customer support person (especially if you want 3 year coverage etc).

 

Quick update on running Linux on the Spectre 13T-3000, I PM'd hack6500, and he told me that suspend works great with Linux (Kubuntu 13.10)
For more info about what works, hack6500 posted more details on page 18 of this thread. Basically everything seems to work. Linux support on Haswell Ultrabooks in general seems to be really good.

 

Suppose I can chime in with a bit more detail.

Booting a few live cd's will demonstrate the amount of compatibility out of the box, Haswell Linux support its very impressive indeed. Finally eh?
There was/is room for improvement, but I was determined to give it a go with minimal skill or work required and was happy to have a fully functional install in under a half hour.

Kubuntu Linux area's which I had issue: Suspend isn't 100% more like 95% as I lost my mouse1 (trackpad) 5-10 times of at least a hundred attempts. wifi came back online fast and that was what I was most interested in testing. The trackpad issue can be resolved using LINK_NEEDED. The gestures are something which can be configured, but kubuntu specifically didn't offer anything to take advantage of the larger trackpad or screen gestures out of the box. Once I installed the synaptic tool I was happy to find an option to disable the trackpad while typing, with a delay! that fixed my 'grazing' issue with my fat thumbs. The sound issue is definately 'meh-able. I was forced to use these tips which allowed me to over modulate to 140% which gave a similar sound level to 'beats'. I don't like fake over-modulated sound and this spectre certainly has it. I 'easily' installed steam and had about 20% of my titles available... I managed to get the beta of planetary annihilation to run, but it crashed randomly and was unplayable, albeit its still beta. I used several other titles with impressive results, but i yearned for greater support of my entire library, some day right? Cannot wait to install SteamOS on the Spectre... i will do it!

I used the kubuntu for several days and while satisfied greatly with a secure open source ultrabook i returned to the dark side. windows N would not accept my license (or country choice more likely) so i used 8.1pro. After install i was amazed at what DID'NT have native drivers! seems no one wants to pay the microsoft tax to get them included... hmmm.. sounds familiar! My stash of SWSETUP recovered from the original image worked for the most part.. however after scratching my noggin, there is still one un-known device. SOUNDS FAMILIAR!

I have been putting 8.1pro through its paces, and can elaborate on this install if anyone chooses, the only oddity is creating the suspend partition the size of your system memory. Otherwise windows and its 'features' take full advantage of this device nicely, my steam performance is so far better than expected, but my ultimate verdict is still out.

 

Questions: What is Windows N? Second, since the 13t-3000 comes with Windows 8,1, why were there any driver or license issues when you went back to Windows 8.1? The first thing I did when I received my 13t was to make a set or recovery DVDs. So, any time things get messed up, I can restore the 13t to the way it shipped from HP.

Regards, Jim

 

mcsey....

I'm not sure if you're still reading this forum since you returned the device, but I have a question regarding the backlit keyboard. I agree black keys would have been better but HP likely wanted to avoid a MBA comparison.

Could you explain the problem in more detail? IOW, if you were in a bright room, backlighting is kind of irrelevant, and if you were in a dark room, how did the backlighting not stand out enough? How did the silver keys blur or blend in with the lighting to the point where you couldn't see the individual symbols anymore? It seems like a non-issue to me, but you had the device and I'm still waiting on mine, so I just thought I'd ask.

 

I am not sure if mcsey is reading this forum, but I just did a test of the backlight issue. In normal light the keys are silver colored with black characters. Easy to read. In very low light the keys are very dark grey or black and the characters have the backlight shining through. Easy to read. I don't see the problem. But, I have never had or used a laptop with a backlight keyboard. Maybe someone with more experience using a backlight keyboard could comment.

Edit: I leave the backlight off in normal light. In very low light, I would turn the backlight on.

Regards, Jim

 

Hi Jim,

Just a guess, but I think hack6500 is trying a clean install of Win 8.1pro. The laptop comes with Win 8.1 (not pro). I suspect that if you started with the laptops original Win 8.1 disk image (with all drivers working) and did an upgrade to Win 8.1pro you would sitll have working drivers. But a clean install from scratch can be tricky since you have to make sure all the drivers are available for the installer program (or you have to install them yourself afterwards). The microsoft installer tries to run around and find the drivers for your system but that doesn't always work with a recently released system like the 13t-3000. Usually you can go on the manufacturers support website and download all the drivers you need (I don't know about HP, but this is how Dell does it).

Best,

-Fred

 

Yup, I am still reading this forum. With regards to the keyboard, the keys are silver and the letters/characters appear to be a dark gray (Sort of translucent) with the keyboard back light turned off. In this scenario, the keys are very readable because the keyboard becomes silver on black, if you will.

The problem for me is when you turn on the back light keyboard, the keyboard can be very hard to read under many internal lighting situations because it looks like a white board (washed out) because now the keys becomes silver on white. This is the very reason why Apple and many others got rid of the silver on white keys. (This issue is was found on many earlier cell phone) Again, this is very subjective and the keyboard with the light on may be just fine for others. I am just simply offering my opinion. I use my backlght extensively and the fact the I can read the keyboard better with the keyboard backlight off was an issue for me.

So the problem can simply be chalked up as a contrast issue. Before I returned my Spectre, I kept my backlight off 97% of time, even in a dim to dark room. With my past laptops, my keyboard backlight stayed on 100% of time.

I agree that HP probably didn't wanted to copy the Macbook Air, but if they wanted to differential themselves, they should have done it elsewhere because a keyboard is a very functional part.

Remember, your eyes are not my eyes, so you may be ok with the backlight on.You just have to get it and try it to see if it works for you.

Just for the record, the "silver on white keyboard" issue wasn't the reason why I returned it. Hope this explanation helps!

 

Why this complaint? In this day and age doesn't everyone know how to touch type. Why would you possibly need a keyboard light?

 

Thanks for both of your replies. The laptop I'm using now doesn't have backlighting at all, so I'm going to view the feature on the Spectre 13 as an upgrade no matter how strong or weak its implementation.

 

mcsey2k1 did a really nice job summarizing thoughts on the 13t-3000 and providing reasoning for going with an impressive (and hefty) Alienware rig back on page 27 (hopefully this link works):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/735074-hp-spectre-13t-3000-a-27.html#post9462981

 

Relax with the tone of your reply, no one is complaining or trying to start a war on this forum. I wasn't complaining, I gave my observation not only on the keyboard, but on other aspects on this laptop. If you take the freaking time to look a my previous posts, you'll find that I glorified this laptop and never once did I degrade it. I unselfishly answered all questions.

People come to this board to seek information to know whether or not if they should get a particular laptop or not, in this case the Spectre 13T. They seek opinions, once again, opinions from people who have purchased a laptop. Opinions are subjective not facts.

With regards to keyboard lights, to some, it may not be a needed feature. However, to a lot of people keyboard light is important, especially to people who eye sights are not what they use to be, like mine. The backlight feature wasn't the problem, it was the contrast of silver on white when the backlight was turned on.

Once again, if you read my previous post, you will know that If I had to get an Ultrabook today it will be the HP Spectre 13T, hands down (even with the silver on white keyboard issue) If you can't offer any positive criticism, please stay off this forum. People come here for positive and informative information, not negativity. Have a wonderful day. :hi2:

 

I use my backlight extensively and it is a very important feature for me. Every laptop should be able to do it well.

 

Jim: exactly.

I received the unit with win8.1 and simply saved the SWSETUP directory for use later (as an aside: I also signed up for, AND logged into the free 50gig box account) and rebooted to wipe the drive and begin to play! I took photo's of the system devices, unfortunately i believe i missed a hidden device.

Win8.1N is best described here: What is a Windows 7 N edition? - Microsoft Windows funny how so many people are not eligible for this 'choice'! Thats what we get for living in the US. I attempted, not extensively to trick the installer into believing i was from the UK but it always asked for a key. now this copy is from my MS partner network, which states that this shouldnt need a key which is strange, and my non-N working key doesnt work. its not really a big deal, but i feel its a simple contry/keyboard choice preventing my install. i might play some more.

either way i will chime in as having just recently boxed up my Apple Air 11" 2011. its boxed up, i got fed up with OSX, i tried to ride it out but gave up. the 11" was very useful while lounging and while active, however at the desk or table i always wanted more. the power adapter was AWESOME and love the apple adapters, the case was plain futuristic.

ITS TRUE STEVE JOBS TRAVELED TO 2013/2014 and brought back the future on Jan 15, 2008! This Spectre is that future, and its replaced my air for good.

The backlit keyboard and newfangled huge trackpad are differentiation's only, and i have grown to like both. I use the backlit when it works and not when it doesn't i see no downside to it at all. Also, the always lit (ultra-lit) F5 key is nice as a quick reference for the F5 key which i often use. that pesky FN key needs to be reversed though. And while I am it, the sypnatic util in kubuntu is MUCH better than the windows, i am having trouble with the dang right 'click' area.

I am also concerned with the pwr adapter, it seems that there is always stress placed on the barrel either one way or the other. only time will tell if it will fail. does anyone have a line on these poweradapters yet? i want another one, they are cool.

 

(NOTE: this post is extremely wrong for the following reasons:

1) I have no discipline at all when it comes to speaking my peace ;(.

2) This issue has long been a "pet peeve" of mine and I've wanted some kind of forum in which to express it

3) I think backlit keyboards are a proxy for other features the market has been clamoring for for years (another great example: high resolution, high quality screens on laptops) and it has finally been addressed, so in my view, the last thing I hope to see on blogs and forums is the opinion that these long sought universal features are unnecessary - just my opinion, but where better to express it?

So read on if you are interested and either skip or just read the final 2 paragraphs if you just want the gist. Thanks for indulging .

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I chose this post upon which to comment, but this is about the entire issue of the 1300T's silver-on-white backlit keys - which I haven't seen lit, so I'm going on the comments by those who have and on my experience with similar color combinations, particularly silver/gray keys with virtually any color characters - unlit or lit.

First, I would doubt that even 50% of people on this forum are strictly touch typists. I am about 80% touch, but I use quite a few different computers and keyboards and each has a couple of important keys placed differently (eg, Thinkpads, escape and delete keys, Fn keys, etc.) or sized differently (cursor arrow keys, size/placement of shift key - eg, Sony Z2 and Z3 - ) or used differently (with vs. without pressing Fn, etc.). Personally, for those reasons alone, I find I have to peek at times. I have not owned a laptop without a backlit keyboard since 2008 and I have a significant adjustment to make when I use someone else's keyboard that is not backlit, though the adjustment is reduced if the keys are black and the letters are bright white. Thus, IMO, for a majority of users, even "sophisticated" users, it is not an accurate assumption that "everyone knows how to touch type" and wouldn't benefit from a well lit keyboard. Ironically, it took about 4 years of hue and cry from users and professional reviewers for most manufacturers of $800+ laptops to light their keyboards, just as the same hue and cry preceded the now-universal use of FHD IPS screens on laptops (going overboard, IMO, by one-upmanship with useless - again, IMO, QHD resolutions!) I don't think you're going to see a decent laptop (or even hybrid keyboard) without a backlight anymore (though worth noting they are big battery suckers so 100% on battery will take about an hour off.)

As for backlit keyboards with virtually anything but black keys and bright white lit characters, I have always found them difficult, whether backlit in low light or either way in bright light. To the extent that I do need to look at the keyboard for reasons stated, I find that silver keys invariably pick up reflections and that no matter what color the characters are - with or without backlighting - they are much harder to quickly discern than white on black (the exception I know of being Alienware, with their awesome bright color backlighting). I've demoed or used quite a few such keyboards, most recently a Samsung Ativ 7 for 30 days. (It is, btw, a pretty nice ultrabook which, though not as sleek as the Ativ 9 (and now offering lower resolution, "only" FHD!) it pretty much matches or exceeds the Ativ 9 feature for feature but also has more ports (and full size), user-changeable RAM, up to 16GB dual channel, and user changeable 2.5" SSD. Plus, it lists for just over $1,000.) Anyway, it has silver keys with transparent characters that look dark gray/light black with backlight off, dim white with light on. Well I, who have owned some 15 laptops over the past 4 years took this one back after 30 days pretty much due to the keyboard/backlighting issue. At first I thought I was nuts, that I mostly touch typed and certainly could see the keys (less and less with age!), but in truth it was hard to discern some of them at the quick glance you want and the lighting made everything worse except in very dark rooms. I felt a bit vindicated when Lisa Gade of Mobiletechreview.com, in her Ativ 7 review pointed out this problem and implied elsewhere it could be a dealbreaker for some on this otherwise excellent product at a very aggressive price.

So, we all have opinions, just as we all have - - - - - - - s, but I do think backlighting in many ambient light scenarios, and overall visibility of key characters are very important, and I think it's kinda dumb when manufacturers occasionally use sliver/gray for keys with almost any color for the characters, especially when the backlighting is dim and/or very uneven. Clearly Samsung was not afraid with the Ativ 7 of looking like they were "copying" Apple, nor should anyone using black keys and white, backlit lettering; It's a virtual standard, one that, to my knowledge, Apple doen't claim a patent for, lol. HP has tended to "flatter" Apple with the layout and shape of its keyboard deck and keys, so I guess they are a bit more vulnerable to the "copying" accusation, but this started with the Envy series in 2009 and continued with the Envy Spectre series - at least through the Spectre 14 (my sentimental favorite - see my sig) - so that ship has long sailed. Asus tried something similar silver key experiment with their first Zenbooks and quickly went to white on black and haven't looked back since. Some "innovations" are, in my book, just unfortunate attempts to be different, not better.

As important as I think backlighting and clear visibility is, let me modify my implication above and agree with the gentleman who returned his Spectre 1300 and got that amazing Alienware 14 that has me - and you too, admit it! - salivating! I didn't take that Samsung Ativ 7 back entirely due to the poor key visibility - though it was a major factor - I really brought it back because it had Ivy Bridge silicon when Haswell was just around the corner. That said, if it had Haswell chips...I may well have returned it because of the keyboard !

Different strokes (ugh, that pun not at all intended!) for different folks, YMMV and all the good ways of saying: what's good for me is not necessarily good - or necessary - for you. But what is never ok is to deride people who value a certain feature, much less for lacking a skill that makes that feature less - but truly still at times - helpful.

 

Thanks for your reply. Very interesting. I had never heard of Windows N. With regard to right click, I don't think there is any specific area, just a two finger click anywhere on the touch pad will give a right click. And if you press and hold on a target on the touch screen, it will also give a right click. My main difficulty is highlighting text. It is awkward for me to use a click and drag. And I haven't figured out how to do it with a gesture. But I highlight text often with an unknown gesture when I am not intending to highlight.

Regards, Jim

 

Perfectly stated! And thank you for the help-- even after you returned. And for responding to my "power" question. I will be purchasing in 2 weeks!

 

I looked at most of the competition mentioned in this discussion and finally settled on the Spectre 13t-3000. To stay within budget I had to choose between i7/8 RAM or 256 SSD. I went for the better processor. I really wanted AC Wi-Fi and many ultra books still aren't offering it.
Yes, I would rather have white on black keyboard but no computer's perfect. I'm coming from an HP Mini (zero backlighting!) that I got for "free" with a cell phone contract. This netbook has served me surprising well for three years but I'm really looking forward to getting a "real" computer.

 

if you were gettin by with a mini i would've got the 256ssd over the i7. i doubt you'll need the power, you won't notice any difference

 

finally got this beautiful machine today, a day early and even had it rerouted to a fed ex store. I'm just admiring the build quality and the overall look.

I must say, I love the idea of having the touch zones and keeping my oily hands off the touchscreen.

 

Congrats! Yes, the build quality is excellent. And the touch zones was one of my favorites features. Enjoy!!!!