HP Spectre 13T-3000

Just received mine today after a very long wait. There is what looks like dust or dirt behind the glass which shows up as a black spot, and there is a small ding in the bottom cover. Now I don't have time to get a replacement before gifting it, and I hate the idea of someone needing to attempt a repair on a brand new unit.

Based on my experience I can't recommend this model.

 

Yeah, that one has no fan! Passive cooling with the Y Haswell. Probably not feasible with an i7.

Regards, Jim

 

Do you think the dust-spot is a dead pixel? That together with the ding would make me return it if at all possible. Maybe the can expedite somehow for you?

 

Best Buy has this unit in stock as model 13-3010dx. You could get one quick from them. And return the one you got from HP and complain loudly. They may give you an additional refund to cover your pain and suffering.

Good luck, Jim

 

I ran across this sleeve for 13.3 inch laptops.

Tamrac 170385 Superlight Computer Sleeve 13.3in 170385

Regards, Jim

 

is this a different version..or 13t's ?

 

But it's only the 4GB/128GB SSD version, so not what I had ordered. The one I ordered was 8GB/256GB SSD. I called them, but they had nothing to offer in the way of help.

 

When I look at it with a magnifying glass, it has the wrong shape to be a dead pixel. I'm pretty sure it's dust/dirt. I asked them when I called if they could get a replacement to me in no more than 2 weeks (by the 20th) and they had nothing to offer in the way of help. Really poor customer service.

 

This sounds like a really bad experience. Did you get to talk to a supervisor? Sometimes that helps, but maybe there's only so much they can do.

 

One other thought: if you ordered the laptop in Nov, the return policy extends out to Jan 15 ( Holiday Shopping Shipping Deadlines and Holiday Return Policy | HP® Official Store). You could give the item you have and then have it shipped out for a replacement.

 

I think the 13t-3000 is the model HP puts on units sold from the HP store. And the 13-3010dx is the model HP puts on second party vendors.

Regards, Jim

 

Thanks for the ideas. I decided to call back and I did get a supervisor. They suggested the smart buy option, which is similar but comes with the QHD screen. They think they can get it here by the 20th. Could anyone that has the QHD display tell me how it looks running at 1920x1080?

The laptop is for someone else, and I originally ordered the HD display because that was their preference. From my experience, displays normally look best running their native resolution. Thanks.

 

*Possibly* making the splurge tomorrow. Anyone have any tips for things I should look out for? Any additional purchases I should get with it?

 

Hi guys,

I personally just got an XPS 12 a few weeks ago and it's not as great as I thought it would be since the touchpad is really quirky and not at all that great.

For those of you who own this laptop what do you think of the touchpad? Is it as good as HP makes it seem? Is it as good as the MacBook Pro's touchpad? Is it a synaptics pad?

Any other issues I should be aware of?

I need to return my XPS 12 quick and HP's got a 20% off on this model right now.

Also, how's the 1080p display vs the 1440p display?

Thanks all! I'll try to read up on the past 42 pages like I usually do before i buy a lappy, but this one is time sensitive!

 

I decided to go with the 1080p screen, because most applications, movies, etc look perfectly fine at a 1080p resolution. If you get a higher res screen, its pushing more pixels and requires more processing power to render, most likely reducing battery life. Higher resolution screens I could see being used more for video/picture editing and other image intensive tasks, but then I would argue that an ultrabook shouldn't even being doing such intensive tasks. It also makes text sharper if you need to read/type a lot, but I've played around with QHD screens at Best Buy, and only a handful of programs use hi res screens properly. The rest need to be manipulated to be more usable. The traditional windows desktop for example looks minuscule on a QHD screen until you either magnify everything or lower the resolution.

 

Yeah I sat this beauty at Best Buy; however they only have it with FullHD. I will say this though: I did resolution changes to a different system at the store that had QHD+ (for Lenovo) down to 1080p and it definitely did not look too good so I am not too sure how good this one will look. Good luck!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

Thanks Fred, I never really left the fold, just got really busy and kind of decided to let you all be the, ah, testers! That QHD->1080p conversion is a question I'm eager to learn the answer too before deciding on my screen selection. As discussed, I am inclined to go with the i7 and the QHD if only for resale value (I do tend to be fickle about my laptops - own 6 now and either can't bear to part (2 Sony Zs) or their too old to be worth as much to anyone else as they are to me as trusty backup machines or, maybe HTPC one day (HP DV4T C2D - it was $549 in 2009 on sale at Staples! For back then, it was a lot of computer for the $ and now with an SSD it feels pretty darn fast and hasn't given us one day of trouble in 4 years. Take that, HP trolls! Same went for my monster beast Pavillion DV8T, first Core i7 Quad i7-720, still pretty fast at most things by today's standards. Gorgeous 18.5" TN with great viewing angles and phenomenal colors. Bought new loaded with everything - even TV tuner, every port imaginable, excellent iDT audio with subwoofer, great DTR and media machine. They were selling on eBay for $500 - vs. cost when new of $949 (with $400 coupon - those were the days of discounting!) Anway, buyer gave me cold feet and i let it go for $350; probably one of the dumbest laptop deals I've ever done. Main achilles heel: battery life of app. 75 minutes! I had 4, so I could count on 5 hours!

But i do digress.

I want this 13T-3000 8GB/256GB/1080p/QHD, want to pay less than $1,200 - $50 from Fat Wallet. Pretty sure I could talk HP into giving me that deal over the phone. I'll probably try tomorrow.

 

Hi! Just received my 13t today! The reviews from this forum definitely aided my decision in getting this little puppy. Its nice and light, haven't had the opportunity to play around with it just yet. So far, disliking windows 8.1 and missing my old Windows 7 but I guess I have to start getting use to it. The laptop itself looks and feels very well built, fast processor, very crisped screen, very responsive touch screen, clear and loud sound. The adapter that came with the computer got hot pretty quickly, a lot faster than the travel adapter I had from my previously laptop. I still have the 90w travel adapter so I would probably continue using it instead of the 45w that came with the laptop.

I was wondering if anyone could comment on their fan noise? So far from the 2ish hours I've been playing around with it, there's practically no noise when using it for simple browsing or typing, but when I'm watching a video there's this hissing/whistling noise (not the regular noise).

For those of you who wanted to know what the keyboards looked like in the dark with the backlight on and off:

 

I only just got mine today. My initial impressions are all positive. I have the qHD screen which looks great for the few things I've played around with. I don't have a blue-ray player to hook up to it so I can't comment on 1080p content. If I can find a test somewhere all report back.

I really like the touchpad! Yes it is great! The speakers sound fine to me, but I'm not hugely picky and don't expect much from a ultra-thin laptop. The keyboard is good, probably great compared to other ultrabooks (this is my first).

I did notice a buzzing noise under the right side of the keyboard that died down. It doesn't really bother me, but I do plan to keep an eye (er ear) on it.

EDIT: I guess one thing I am worried about - my old HP Pavillion zd7000 also had backlit silver keys. What bothered me is that the silver paint eventually rubbed off after much typing. It would be a real bummer if this happened with these keys as well...

 

Congratulations Fred! It's about time! As for the 1080p tests, there are loads of 1080p videos on Youtube. Not as good as a Blu Ray, but certainly indicative of how 1080p native content will look on adjusted resolution on the QHD. Keyboards are always tricky. I've had a number of standard white on black where the white paint wore down after a while. I don't know a reason why silver should be more vulnerable, but if it really concerns you a great deal, you can get a keyboard protector made for the machine (may have to wait a bit for this new model) and see if you can get used to it. The Moshis are really easy to get used to on Macs, but I've found others a little like wearing rubbers (the galoshes, I mean!) in the rain, but I used one for a year until I took it off and found what I was missing. Frequent cleaning with a screen cleaner solution should keep the finger oils off the keys so as to slow down the rate of degradation of the paint. Good catch there, as at this price you have to look for somewhere HP cut corners.

Please do continue to report in. Battery life would be great, as would your sense of screen brightness, contrast and color gamut/accuracy - simple "eye" tests would suffice until someone professional sees to review and do lab measurements on the darn product.

Enjoy!

 

Okay, I did find some videos to watch. I went to the MS silverlight demo's and watched a few youtube 1080p trailers. These looked from very good to excellent to me. Perhaps I'm less picky than some but both the sound and video were surprisingly good for such a small device. I ran one of the trailers on my old Acer 20-something inch 1080p monitor (TN) and it actually doesn't look as good to me.

Charging seems to be taking a while. It's been plugged in for 6 hours and is showing 54% charged. Hmm...

 

Hi,

I'm curious about the outside touchpad 'Zones'... are they actual depressible buttons or just touch sensitive for swiping in?

Many thanks

 

The touch zones are just textured areas of the touchpad. You swipe them as you would the edges of the screen. The is very much a Windows 8 thing (which I'm still getting used to).

Okay, I've run into my first real problem. I left the laptop plugged in all night, unplugged it and tried to boot, but booting (or even posting) doesn't happen. The power button blinks briefly.

After plugging the unit in it booted normally, but the battery is showing 54% charged after being plugged in all night. Very strange indeed... The other bit to point out is that the adapter is plugged into my UPS - but this really shouldn't matter (I don't think).

I would normally assume something like this is a BIOS issue. Has anyone else had this issue?

 

There are no "buttons" on/in the touch pad. The whole touch pad, including the two zones seems to be hinged at the top. If you press any where on the entire touch pad except for near the top, you get a "click". I think it can tell if you "click" in one of the edge zones. For example, if you swipe from the left edge of the touch pad, the charms display comes up. If you click one of the charms targets in the touch zone, you go to that target. If you click on any other part of the touch pad, it quits the charms display.

Jim

 

Mine charges very fast to about 80% then it seems to take quite a while to get to 100%. Yours sounds like something wrong somewhere, The adapter puts out 19.5 volts with 120-240 volts AC input. Maybe try plugging in to an outlet, not the UPS?

Jim

 

Well, on a hunch I checked for a BIOS update. Low and behold there was one which I've installed. I would recommend that you guys wait to see how I fare before you rush out and apply the update though. Still, if I had a nickle for every new computer I've owned that needed a BIOS update...

Now my battery shows 0% charged. Maybe they forgot to install the battery? Very strange.. It's possible that another driver needs updating, but this isn't looking too good...

 

Hi, I'm new here. :hi2:

I just recently decided to get a new laptop with Windows 8 since my current Asus 15.6 laptop is several years old and seems a little outdated by today's standards. I am a programmer in an IT department.

I had recently ordered an HP Envy 15t Quad TouchSmart. Here are the specs.

• Windows 8.1 64
• 4th generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700MQ Processor
• NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GT 740M Graphics with 2048MB of dedicated video memory
• 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
• 1TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
• 24GB flash Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
• No Additional Office Software
• Security Software Trial
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
• No Internal DVD or CD Drive
• Backlit Keyboard
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam w/ integrated digital mic
• 802.11b/g/n 2x2 WLAN and Bluetooth(R) [2x2]

Then I started reading about some people who were not thrilled with that model's display, so I got online and discovered the HP Spectre 13t-3000.

I was in a quandary! Then I remembered that HP has a 21 day window to return a laptop if you do not like it and I verified this with their customer service. So I ended up discovering a 20% discount code for HP laptops over $1000 and I ordered an HP Spectre 13t-3000 with the following specs. I got this for $1092 before taxes. I thought that was a pretty good deal.


• Windows 8.1 64
• 4th generation Intel® Core™ i7-4500U Processor + Intel® HD Graphics(For 8GB Memory)
• Onboard 8GB DDR3 System Memory
• 13.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080) Touchscreen
• 256GB Flash Solid State Drive
• No Additional Office Software
• Free Upgrade to 1-yr McAfee LiveSafe service™
• 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• No Internal DVD or CD Drive
• Backlit Keyboard
• Included 2 Year Warranty
• Webcam and Microphone
• 802.11 AC WLAN and Bluetooth® [2x2]

Now, once I get them both, I can see which one I like the best and return the other one. I am fairly sure that I will love the Spectre's display better, but I need to see if I can get used to the smaller screen that I am used to. I am strongly leaning towards the Spectre over the Envy but I am happy that I will have a few days to decide for sure.

It was very helpful reading this forum and I decided that at the 13.3" size, the 1920x1080 would be fine for me. I think that the QHD is a little overkill at this size display. Also, I went by Best Buy and checked out one they had in the store at 1920x1080 and thought the display was gorgeous.

 

Hi - I ended up returning mine. HP support tried to dissuade me of course but otherwise was very painless, they paid for return FedEx shipping, and 100% refund. That to me is amazing! 21 days no-hassle 100% refund and a 2-year warranty can not be beat right now IMO. That being said, I got the Spectre 13t with the i5-4200u, 4GB RAM, 256GB SDD, and the AC wifi (did not get qhd display), and returned it for three reasons:

1. It started making a "chirping" or intermittent buzzing noise just below the upper right-hand side of the keyboard. It was relatively loud and became constant after the machine was running for about 10-15 min. Not good - and I'm wondering if this is the same noise 2-3 others have noted early on in this forum (I have read this entirely through and posted a few times).
2. I do like to game and this may not be the platform for gaming. I play slow, turn-based games like Civ 5 which have a lot of graphics tweaking options to ratchet down the hardware requirements, and not a lot of active motion at any one time, but are still very CPU/GPU intensive. While the processors handled the rendering fine, and I was actually able to play Civ 5 in full 1920x1080 with all video settings to FULL and it was BEAUTIFUL AND SEAMLESS, without so much of a stutter when moving around the world. The sound was also amazing btw, esp. for such a small laptop. BUT, after just 30 seconds, the bottom near the hinge (where the long vent is) would get HOT HOT HOT and the little fan would start whirring, eventually climbing to a high-pitched and annoying screech. I actually tried ratcheting down everything, including dropping to 1400x768 (the lowest res I was comfortable with going, since my older HP could handle that res), and it still was too hot and noisy. Besides the nuisance and discomfort, I imagined the processors would not last very long under such extreme duress.
3. When playing said game, I started to occassionally get a Win 8.1 popup message indicating I was extremely low on memory and to shut down some apps, starting with the Civ 5 game. If I clicked Cancel it would keep playing, but it was a mistake to only get 4GB RAM apparently. Oddly, my current laptop (HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14) is also running Win 8.1 and I play that same game and have never seen that popup.

So, it is apparent to me that although the i5-4200u processor is surprisingly powerful (and this laptop is beautiful and has amazing specs for the price and for being so small and portable, and the battery life was excellent), one may need a bit more cooling capabilities than maybe can fit into such a slim ultrabook in order to run any truly processor-intensive apps...like games.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, I'm still researching and cannot come up with a better alternative for the price - especially with the 20% off right now, plus the Fatwallet 5% back that somebody else on this thread turned me onto (cool if they actually DO cut you a check whenever you ask!). Call me crazy, but I'm considering buying another one - this time with the i7-4500u and 8GB RAM, which are basically free upgrades right now. I use the laptop for other purposes of course, and maybe the chirping issue was just a manufacturing defect with my one.

I also love the touch-screen btw and the touchpad is very responsive and quiet for "clicking" - haven't quite been sold on all the Win8 gesture stuff yet, but with the touch-screen I do finally see some potential here.

If anybody else has a better option for a 14"-or-so laptop that's still small and portable but more suitable for gaming, and under $1400 (my self-ascribed budget for something I WANT but don't NEED), I would love to hear other options. I don't trust Acer and hate their keyboard layout (I am also a writer, programmer, and application developer btw), and have always liked how HP's keyboard feels. I want Haswell for the great battery life, but have started to look at great 3rd-gen deals too to keep the playing field open.

Brad

 

I'd give it another go Bardmaster. Sounds like the chirping problem was a defect.

I ordered a Touchsmart 14 Envy two months ago and was unbelievably frustrated that I got a crappy lemon. The screen had flickering issues and it wouldn't even boot right half the time. I sent that back annoyed and have been using a tablet until now. My Spectre 13 comes in tomorrow so I am praying that it works smooth and fine.

Seems like there are always unfortunate people who get a custom build from HP that is screwed somehow. But it sounds like the majority are all good. I just hope I get a perfectly working machine and don't have to waste time returning and waiting again.

I think the i7 and RAM upgrade will assist with your gaming requirements - but still I would caution that this ultrabook might not be the best gamer. You could look into the Gigabyte P34G if battery life isn't a big necessity for your needs

 

Ordered a Spectre 13T on November 7th per everyone's recommendations in here and received it yesterday. Loved everything about it, however it would restart itself, without warning, about every 20-30 seconds. I have a feeling it is a loose connection or power supply problem. Called HP up to return it and configured another with a 20% discount and free return. Customer service was great! Laptop is amazing, just wish I didn't get a lemon! Hopefully my next one is better.

 

Dang, it seems like lately in this thread that HP is having some quality control issues. I hope these issues are solved fast and hopefully we don't see other issues down the line after return period and warranty.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

 

I think it was just a matter of time. Not enough people had these laptops for there to be any way of guessing the failure rate. Well, apparently the one I got yesterday had a dead battery. Oh well... If I can't get a laptop from HP before Dec 15th, I will have to consider other options. I'll take a second look at the Zenbook...

 

Well, I went ahead and processed a return. If they can't get this to me before I leave in two weeks then I will get a different laptop. Not a great start for this new laptop...

 

Just got an email saying that mine has shipped. 10 days earlier than expected, so that's nice.

Thanks to everyone who's provided feedback on theirs. Now I know what to look out for. The fan noise seems to be the biggest issue.

Mine's got the i5, 8GB RAM, 1920x1080p, and 128GB SSD. I won't be gaming or watching movies on it, so I'll be pretty disappointed if it can't handle my everyday tasks.

I'm very intrigued about the free full version of Lightroom 5. I'm not a professional photographer, but I have fun messing around with GIMP and my wife loves putting together digital picture books. This is a professional piece of software, so it's going to take some learning, but it looks useful.

 

What are the dimensions of the laptop box? What's the total weight? Trying to determine how much it will cost to ship to a friend.

 

Hi SeaLevel274 - The qHD looks good in Native (qHD) and in FHD. When I hooked up my external Blue-Ray player, it looked awesome either way. If I looked very closely, I would give the nod when it is in qHD format, but not by much.

For me, getting the qHD option was SOLELY about getting me more real estate on my Desktop to have multiple windows open in one view. The qHD doesn't drain your battery as one think it does. I used my computer in qHD with light surfing, email and video watching and got 6 1/2-7 hours for battery life; with full brightness. In FHD will would get maybe 15-20 minutes more. Of course, this is unscientific

 

I want to get an idea about production and shipping times. For those of you who have received their Spectre, do you mind telling your order date and the date your PC arrived? Thanks

 

Sad to hear about the issues some folks are having. I have had several "thin and light" and ultrabook computers over the last many years. They've all had issues of one sort or another. My current Asus turns itself off at random which is quite annoying as you might imagine. I was hoping this HP would be issue-free. Hopefully my copy will be. I was *this* close to buying a Macbook Pro but decided to give this HP a try instead...

Wit regard to lead times... I ordered mine two days ago and the estimated shipping date is 12/17. My guess is that they are selling a lot of these with this giant discount. My specs are i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, and the screen upgrade.

 

Thanks for the feedback. That makes me feel better about having the option of using either screen resolution.

 

I ordered mine on 12/01 with shipping date 12/17 - it was for 1 day "order received', 1 day in "drop to the factory" and since then it is in production (based on what i read it takes 3-5 business days at this stage); keep in mind about the timing both China and PT zone. I guess the updates are not reflecting reality, they are eventually released in batches; because of the coupon they will wait to get more orders and ship them together and some of us will receive the laptop sooner; again China time is ahead the US and this will reflect in 'earlier' delivery if FEDEX is not snowed in.

 

Wow, well my laptop is now charging - showing 84% charged (started around 64%) something is ... fixed? Slightly worrying, but if it doesn't happen again I'm happy!

Okay, box dimensions: 13.25 x 17.8 x 5.25 in
Weight is probably about 5 lbs (guessing, laptop is around 3 lbs)

I bought a generic 13" sleeve. I got the STM ( stmbag.com) 13" neoprene sleeve (dp-2107). It's fits very well. Note that his has no extra compartments. This is going inside another bag, so I wanted something minimal. The bag gets a pretty good review on Amazon as well.

Okay, laptop is at 99%, so maybe I'm in the clear...

 

nice to hear..

are you guys also getting any warranty from HP or Square Trade... or no Warranty at all... still debating about my 2 old posts..

 

*post deleted*

 

I got the HP 3 year accidental warranty. The price was right (they had a discount on it, maybe they still do).

 

I did too, from experience HP has amazing customer service especially with the additional ADP warranty package. The turn around time for my old laptop was about 1 week for a fan and motherboard issue after 2.5 years of usage.

 

What did you do different to cause it to charge?

Regards, Jim

 

I don't really know... I think something reset itself. I spoke with someone at work who seemed to think that these new batteries have small micro-controllers on them that regulate the battery charging (basically keep the battery from exploding). So one possibility is that the micro-controller reset itself. I had the laptop unplugged and then realized that some lights were blinking. So I tried booting up with the power cord unplugged and that worked.

Now, here's a question, could some of the noises people here have to do with the battery? I doubt it's that simple, but the problem I had makes me wonder.

 

FWIW, when I was at Microcenter buying a wireless mouse and case for my new lappy, I took a look at the $2000 Zenbook which has the same configuration as the maxed out Spectre 13 (except that the Zenbook has the Retina graphics and slightly better i7 version).

I wasn't super impressed. At least not beyond what my impression is of the Spectre 13. In my mind, the Zenbook is nowhere near worth another $600-$800.

 

Hey does anyone know how long HP laptops remain "in production"? It's been in production for a few days and is estimated to ship on the 17th. Any chance it'll ship sooner?

 

Kindly let me know from where did you got open box ?
need to buy one