HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2019; Ice Lake) Owner's Thread

Since we didn't have an owner's thread, I thought I'd make one! I imagine after Black Friday / Cyber Monday, this laptop will get a good bit more popular.

This is for the late 2019 (not early 2019) HP Spectre x360 13 that uses Intel's 10th-gen Ice Lake CPUs (i5-1035G4 or i7-1065G7).

I don't expect to post very often, but it'd be nice to have our information in one thread. If/when there's notable postings or guides, I'll happily update this OP with links to notable posts. In the next few days, I'll try to get a proper spec list written out here.

HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2019) Official Specifications:

• CPU: i5-1035G4 or i7-1065G7 (Intel Ice Lake 10th-generation, 10nm+)
• RAM: 8 GB or 16 GB LPDDR4X-3733 (soldered; not LPDDR4-3200 as erroneously reported)
• Display: all 13.3" diagonal 16:9 ratio + 90%+ screen-to-body ratio + micro-edge multitouch-enabled edge-to-edge glass with anti-reflection Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™. Option 1 IPS FHD: 1W low-power IPS WLED panel, 400 nits (1920x1080). Option 2 OLED 4K: 4K UWVA AMOLED, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3, VesaCertified DisplayHDR Tru Black, TUV-certified low blue light (3840 x 2160)
• Storage: all PCIe® NVMe™ M.2 SSDs. Option 1 TLC SSD: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB. Option 2: Intel H10 QLC/Optane SSD: 512 GB + 32 GB, 1 TB + 32 GB
• Color: Natural Silver, Nightfall Black with Copper Luxe accents, Poseidon Blue with Pale Brass accents
• Included on all models:
  • Windows Hello IR camera + webcam
  • Windows Hello fingerprint reader
  • 60.76 Wh Li-On 4-cell battery (user-replaceable; Torx screwdriver required; fast charge to 50% in 30 minutes)
  • Intel WiFi AX201 2x2 WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5 w/ MU-MIMO (soldered)
  • Microsoft Precision touchpad
  • Full-size island-style two-stage-backlit 1.3mm travel keyboard (body color)
  • Integrated dual array digital microphones
    
  • Audio by Bang & Olufsen, dual speakers
  • Accelerometer; Gyroscope; eCompass
  • 360-degree rotating hinge
  • 3x heatpipe, dual-fan cooling, with graphite sheet insulation + keyboard air inlets; plus 34% open-ratio of D-cover inlet, 2.8mm outlet height, added rear opening for inlet
  • Dual-chamfer, CNC-machined, faceted edge (power button w/ light & one of two Thunderbolt 3 ports)
  • Intel Project Athena Certification ("Engineered for Mobile Performance")--the minimum requirements for certification are listed below
    • Instant wake from sleep (<1 second) with biometric login
    • Fast wake up to Internet browsing time (<2 seconds)
    • i5/i7 with Intel Dynamic Tuning, 256 GB or larger NVMe SSD, 8 GB or more in dual-channel mode, optional Optane
    • 16+ hours of local video playback (150 nit, airplane mode) & 9+ hours of real-world battery life (250 nits, multiple live website tabs in Google Chrome, WiFi on, and Microsoft Office 365 tasks)
    • Thunderbolt 3, WiFi 6 Gig+, Gigabit LTE option
    • USB type-C fast-charging to 4 hours of battery in >30 minutes
    • Backlit keyboard, Precision touchpad, pen support
    • 1080p or higher touch 12" to 15" display with 3-sided narrow bezel and stylus support
    • Far field voice, OpenVINO AI, and WinML support
    • Modern Connected Standby/Lucid Sleep
    • "Consistent responsiveness on battery and power outlet"

• Ports:
  • 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C™ with Thunderbolt™ 3 (40 Gb/s signaling rate, Power Delivery 3.0, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort™ 1.4, HP Sleep and Charge)
  • 1x USB-A 3.1 Gen1 (also HP Sleep and Charge)
  • MicroSD card reader
  • 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo port
  • Webcam kill switch (microphone kill switch on keyboard)
  • OPTIONAL: WWAN 4x4 antenna w/ eSIM and micro-SIM for LTE

• What's in the box:
  • HP Spectre x360 13 laptop
  • 65W fast-charge USB-C power adapter (w/ braided cable) + extension
  • Leather-esque laptop sleeve (w/ slot for included stylus)
  • HP Pen Windows Ink-certified (dark ash silver)

My Build: I just ordered the Nightfall Black i7-1065G7 / 16 GB / low-power FHD display / 512 GB non-Optane SSD. It says "shipping on Dec 16th" and "arriving on Dec 24th"; my first laptop purchase in 3+ years and I'm pumped.

My only useful buying advice, haha: if you care significantly about SSD performance, I'd recommend avoiding the Optane SSDs, which are the abysmal Intel H10 SSDs. It's a very slow QLC SSD with a bit of Optane caching. Not as terribad as a SSD/HDD hybrid of yesteryear, but still much worse than a TLC-based SSD. Anything non-Optane = a TLC SSD. I've seen two people with non-Optane drives (both 2 TB straight from HP): one got a Toshiba TLC and one got a Samsung TLC.

For reference:

Model numbers used by this late 2019 version:

• 13-aw0023dx (Best Buy: i7 / 16 GB RAM / 1 TB QLC/Optane SSD / OLED / black)
  
• 13-aw0013dx (Best Buy: i7 / 8 GB RAM / 512 GB QLC/Optane SSD / IPS / silver)
  
• 13-aw0020nr (HP.com: i7 / 16 GB RAM / 512 GB QLC/Optane SSD / OLED / silver)
  
• 13-aw0070tu (HP.com: i5 / 8 GB RAM / 256 GB TLC SSD / IPS / silver)
  
• 7AL88AV_1 (HP.com custom; cheaper)
  
• 8NS97AV_1 (HP.com custom; pricier)

Press Photos (uploaded to Imgur; originally from Notebookcheck's impressions here)

 

List of Reviews for the HP Spectre x360 13 (late 2019)
(updated 1/13/2020)

Review Articles

• 1/13/20 | Ars Technica: HP Spectre x360 13 review: A high-end two-in-one that’s hard to beat; a diamond in the rough — Ars Technica Approved
• 12/27/19 | Notebookcheck: HP Spectre x360 13-aw0013dx Convertible Review: Powered by Intel Ice Lake — Score 88/100
  12/27/19 | Engadget: HP Spectre x360 13-inch review: Stylish, powerful and flexible — Score 94/100
• 12/19/19 | Tom's Hardware: HP Spectre x360 13 2019 Laptop Review: Outstanding Battery Life — 4/5 Stars
  12/17/19 | Gizmodo: HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2019): A Pretty Little Package — Recommended
• 12/17/19 | PCWorld: Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 vs. HP Spectre x360 13t: Which premium laptop is best? — Winner: HP Spectre x360 13t
• 12/16/19 | Digital Trends: HP Spectre x360 13 (late 2019) review: Smaller, faster, and better in every way — Editors' Choice Award; 5/5 Stars
  12/16/19 | The Verge: HP Spectre x360 13 (late 2019) review: yeah, this tracks — 8 Verge Score
• 12/12/19 | Digit: HP Spectre X360 13 Review — 74/100
• 12/6/19 | PC Magazine: HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2019) — 4/5 Stars: Excellent
• 12/5/19 | PCWorld: HP Spectre x360 13t Review: A thin-and-light that hasn't taken away all the good stuff — Editors' Choice Award
• 12/5/19 | CNET: HP Spectre x360 13 (2019) review: An incredible shrinking 2-in-1 — Editors' Choice Award
• 11/28/19 | Laptop Mag: HP Spectre x360 (13-inch, Late 2019) Review — Editor's Choice Award

Review Videos

• 12/27/19 | Engadget: HP Spectre x360 13-inch review (2019): A high point for ultraportables [7:03]
• 12/19/19 | Andrew Marc David: HP Spectre x360 13t (Late 2019) FHD Review: Amazing Battery at a Great Price! [13:35]
• 12/16/19 | PCWorld: Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 7390 vs HP Spectre x360 13T: Which is better? [17:50]
• 12/14/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 2in1 Update [16:20]
• 12/12/19 | Digit: Tested! HP Spectre X360 13 Review [7:55]
• 12/9/19 | MobileTechReview: HP Spectre x360 13" with Full HD IPS Display Review (Late 2019 Gem Cut) [5:17]
• 12/6/19 | TheDigitalDigest | HP Spectre X360 13t 2in1 is a Winner(on the third try)! [15:23]
• 12/5/19 | Dave 2D | The Best Hybrid Laptop (= Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 vs HP Spectre x360 late 2019) [7:16]
• 11/30/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 13t 2in1 Ice Lake Refresh - DOA or Third Time's a Charm? [9:21]
• 11/22/19 | MobileTechReview: HP Spectre x360 13" OLED Late 2019 Review [11:18]
• 11/19/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 2in1 Update [11:52]
• 11/11/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 Exchange Update [8:11]
• 11/08/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 2in1 Update Pt.2 [9:30]
• 11/06/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 Late 2019 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 [20:58]
• 11/03/19 | Andrew Marc David: HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2019) Review: OLED & Ice Lake! [14:26]
• 11/01/19 | TheDigitalDigest: Lenovo YOGA C940 vs HP Spectre X360 Performance Benchmarks [7:26]
• 10/31/19 | TheDigitalDigest: Lenovo YOGA C940 vs HP Spectre X360 Late 2019 Ice Lake Refresh [33:35]
• 10/29/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 2in1 Update [15:47]
• 10/25/19 | TheDigitalDigest: HP Spectre X360 2in1 13.3" 4K OLED Intel Ice Lake 2019 First Unboxing on YouTube [11:51]

 

Well, that's a clean sweep: 3x Review Articles + 3x Editor's Choice Awards. Looks like this is the best 2-in-1 for 2019 so far: we'll see what else comes out soon.

Today, both CNET and PC World gave it the Editors' Choice.

 

Tempted by this. I do wish HP would add their "battery care" function to this so as not to charge to 100% (I use as desktop majority of the time). I'm used to having this function on all Dell laptops (via their Power Manager). Apparently the late-2018 Spectre x360 has it, and some ProBooks and presumably EliteBooks have a similar setting. But not on this latest Spectre x360, at least not yet.

 

Oh, that'd a great tool: I never thought about it. I usually use my laptop on-the-go, but for some days, it might sit plugged in for a while. Not the end of the world, but definitely nice to have a limiter to 80%!

If there's a thread on HP's Community forums, maybe we could put a "feature request" in. If they've added it to previous Spectre x360 models, they probably could add it to this one, too.

 

Lots of threads on the HP forums asking for that feature (on various models), invariably they answer with "oh don't worry it's safe to charge to 100%, charging will stop automatically, it doesn't harm the battery." Technically true but missing the point.

BTW thanks for the very comprehensive list reviews/videos you compiled!

 

Typical corporate speak. We used to have a Dell rep on the old XPS 16 actually here on NBR forums that could get actual answers. You weren't kidding. For whatever unknown reason, some HP laptops did get it in a BIOS update.

Yeah: the idea is to not leave the battery full at 100% for long. Alas, maybe better not to hold my breath for HP here and maybe remind myself to unplug after 100% (or 80%). Maybe there's like an app that can send a notification, "sufficiently charged", so I'll remember to unplug.

 

Agree with the reviews the new model is almost perfect. HP was smart not to go Dell's way and instead keep decent keyboard travel and USB-A. If they could do on more "retro" thing and make the display 16:10 like on the XPS 2-in-1, it would be perfect.

 

Oh I was concerned about lack of Intel Optane option in Italy: we can choose between three models at the moment (Full HD, 4K OLED w/ 512 GB and 1024 GB).
After reading this topic, I'm not concerned anymore.
This means that if you haven't Intel Optane, you can add a second SSD?

What about the display digitizer for pen input? The usual average jittering digitizer?
There is another topic blaming about the digitizer grid that's visible above the display.

My unit is arriving on December 20th (4K OLED, 1 TB SSD Nvme, i7).

 

Happy to add them! It was hard to find reviews as the sales started, so I wanted to compile them. I didn't expect such good reviews, honestly, but I'm hopeful the holistic experience is as good as described.

Very, very true. Dell took one step forward with the 16:10 display (and strong CPU performance), but about 5 steps back with that keyboard. I don't know about other people but the keyboard is the major selling point for a laptop these days. Otherwise, to me, they feel like tablets-with-bad-keyboards-permanently-attached.

Oh! That's interesting: in the US, the stores seem to only carry the QLC/Optane SSDs, while on HP's site you can customize with TLC SSDs, too.

There is actually just one SSD M.2 NVMe slot (I used to think there were two, too!). HP is not using the standard retail standalone Optane M.2 + normal SSD M.2, but the QLC+Optane hybrid SSDs (the Intel H10 SSD to be exact, OEM-only). It's both technologies on one M.2 stick. I mentioned this briefly, but the QLC+Optane SSDs HP uses (and charges more for) are quite slow and likely slower than their normal SSDs: they use just a bit of Optane caching to hide the big performance degradation inherent to QLC NAND. QLC NAND is significantly slower than TLC NAND and sometimes even slower than spinning HDDs.

A review of the Intel H10 512 GB QLC + 32 GB Optane SSD by Anandtech is here, if you want the data:

Even if you just use the 32 GB Optane cache alone, it's still a quite slow SSD for 2019.









If you look at a holistic test series, it's even more clear (and the QLC/Optane drives are terrible once you fill them up--much worse than a normal TLC SSD). Here they test 512 GB QLC only (top blue), hybrid mode (orange, default mode), and 32 GB Optane only (bottom blue).



HP/Intel market "Optane" as fast, but they don't tell you that it's not pure Optane: it's a QLC/Optane Hybrid that is 95% QLC and 5% Optane. The Optane is only there to fix this-slower-than-a-spinning-hard-disk (sequential write speeds) QLC-based SSD.

If you were after SSD performance, I'd definitely go for the other normal TLC SSD. They'll likely be more performant, have longer longevity, and perform more consistently (at higher levels to boot) than the QLC/Optane hybrids. People seem to be getting either Toshiba or Samsung SSDs, which are both good signs.

But, if you want the QLC/Optane hybrid, it's definitely won't be as slow as a HDD overall: no way. It's still an SSD.

//

On the jitter: I think MobileTechReview addressed this, as did TheDigitalDigest: the normal jitter is still there, esp. in diagonal lines, if that's something you're wary of.

 

I put up a thread on HP's forum to "request" the HP Battery Care Function to the UEFI of the late 2019:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteb...tion-quot-battery-charge-limit-to/m-p/7329598

//

+ added review video from Dave2D to the list: spoiler, he preferred the Spectre x360, too.

 

Some of these reviewers barely use these devices and it shows, which makes me wary of even their positive comments. Are those positive comments even real?

Who are you and what did you do with Tom Brant of PC Mag, [ checks notes] Tom Brant of PC Mag?



I can sympathize with simple omissions, but how can you have gone through an entire review without 1) reading the spec sheet, 2) looking at the product page on HP's website, 3) glancing at any other review, and/or 4) double-checking what you wrote about this laptop two months ago? This guy purposefully calls out the lack of an IR camera: why? He didn't believe it could be done after the continual problems Dell's had?

A shame. And on the cumbersome type-A port: it seems like you can still plug it in without pulling down the flap yourself. And it gained 0.1", and now that's a "con". Shaking my head here...

 

I don't exactly agree with some of the complaints in the PCMag review. It says the laptop is too thick - I think thinness is way overrated, especially if you can get good battery life and port selection instead. It says the "drop hinge" USB-A port requires two hands to operate - this is not true, I know from experience on my Envy 13 (insert the plug at a little of an angle, bottom first). And it says there's no IR webcam, which I think is incorrect for all variants of the new Spectre x360 - even the base model is listed as having it.

EDIT: I only saw page 2 of this thread just now. I see we had the same reactions. Great minds ...

EDIT 2: The response to your suggestion about Battery Care is even more idiotic than I expected. It looks like the person understood your problem to be that the battery won't charge to 100%, when that's exactly what you want! Oh, HP.

 

I'm still wondering why nobody does care about the severe problem with the clearly visible and thus disturbing digitizer layer on the OLED model. This 's going to be a massive showstopper for this otherwise very promising laptop.

Go to the shop and physically check the picture quality with a white or bright background and small text. Check the text sharpness and also the display quality (bluriness) of small thumbnails (make e.g. google picture search for desktop wallpapers).

I own the Spectre 15 with OLED and checked two Spectres 13 in different shops. Everywhere the same. Also a German user posted same concerns in several forums.

Once you notice the problem, there's no way not to fade it out afterwards.

Hopefully it's not on every machine (if HP/Samsung managed to resolve) but there are plenty machines with the problem sold.

BR
Twain

 

Can you link the references to these complaints? I'm receiving the OLED Spectre on 20th December. Now I'm worrying about this issue. This model is not available in shops atm so I have not the possibility to check before.

 

The 3rd post in this thread shows real life pictures for the mentioned case. Imagine it's a 4K display and the text is pretty blurry. On an IPS 4K display or on an OLED 4K without touch (e.g. Dell) the text would be much more sharp and clear.

It has nothing to do with the OLED pixel array, the overlying digitizer pattern "washes out" the contour of text and graphic objects.

It's possible that not all the OLED Spectres suffer from this problem. Would also be interesting for me to know.

 

The unit I played with at Best Buy had the exact same issue. I'm pretty sure all the OLED displays (at least of the Spectre x360) will have this. Some people may not be bothered by it, but between this, the price premium, the hit to battery life, and the limited value of 4K on such a small screen, I'd just go for the 1080p IPS display. (I say this as a huge fan of OLED TVs - have had a 65-inch LG OLED for 3+ years and love it. But the trade-offs on a laptop aren't worth it.)

 

Oh, yes, haha. That PC Mag review: just walked away frustrated. Consumers should hear genuine flaws, but that reviewer clearly didn't spend much time using the laptop: how can you get even the spec sheet wrong, i.e., he literally about the "impressive" IR some weeks ago and it's on every model. Consumers literally cannot buy a late 2019 HP Spectre x360 13 without an IR Camera.

And, had the HP Spectre x360 had been thinner, would we have heard about throttling or battery life?

The USB-A: OK, nice. It wouldn't have been a big concern even if you did, but it's nice to know.. The Dave2D video also showed it being done one-handed:



My only concern might be paint chipping or does it have a gentle release? But, even then, it feels like a minor concern at best.

And, yup...I replied, trying to make it clear: we'll see what happens. I suspect the thread dies or he ignores everything I've written and copy-pastes the next paragraph from the script. Sigh...

I agree; I didn't look too carefully on the OLED model in Best Buy to check this, but I've heard it from a bit too many people for it to be a one-off concern. I'll look closer my next time there; it's one of the many reasons I avoided the OLED.

Quoted for the truth. OLED is stunning for TVs, i.e., displays connected to a permanent power source. But for laptops, it'll be 2-3+ more panel generations until the battery life gets much closer to an IPS. I've used IPS laptops for years: as long as the panel gamut is ~100% sRGB, you're seeing every color that is displayed on 99.99% of the web & essentially every non-movie application. HDR & 4K have not really been well implemented in Windows (or the web). The screen is gorgeous, though, if you really only watch movies and/or don't care about battery life and/or the 4K/HDR foibles.

My old XPS 16 with an RGBLED-backlit IPS panel w/ 120% AdobeRGB coverage (which was wild in 2009): higher gamut displays necessarily consume more power and after sRGB, I just don't watch enough movies in 4K / HDR to halve my battery life just for OLED.

I used to tell myself, "Well, you'll be staring at all day. Might as well make it a good screen." In reality, I got used to the screen within a few days and it didn't wow me anymore, but even after the honeymoon period, I was perpetually reminded of the worse battery life.

 

Added the FHD update from MobileTechReview. Timestamps linked below! She notes battery life is 2-3+ hours more than the OLED (thus total 10 hours "without trying too hard"). Better than the OLED for the visible digitizer issue, mentioned above.

IPS FHD (click here to jump to the video portion)

• 356 nits
• 98% sRGB
• 77% Adobe RGB
• 2.2 Gamma (perfect is 2.2)
• 6700K (perfect is 6500K)
• 0.28 Black Level (lower is better)
• 1270:1 Contrast (higher is better)
• 1.19 average dE (under 2.3 is considered indistinguishable; lower is better)
• AUO5E2D Panel
• Battery life: "2 to 3 hours more than the OLED; 10 hours without trying too hard"

OLED 4K (click here to jump to the video portion)

• 353 nits
• 100% sRGB
• 100% Adobe RGB
• 2.1 Gamma (perfect is 2.2)
• 7600K (perfect is 6500K)
• 0.00 Black level (lower is better)
• 252,000:1 contrast (higher is better)
• 1.75 average dE (under 2.3 is considered indistinguishable; lower is better)
• Battery life: "7.5 hours"
• SDC4142 Panel

Battery life is a good bit closer than I expected between IPS vs OLED, but as Lisa mentions, it will depends your APL (i.e., what percent of your screen is white? That is, are you forcing a dark theme everywhere, even on incompatible web pages?). A good primer on APL from Anandtech. However, some upsets: the IPS is ever so slightly brighter, has better gamma (2.2 is perfect), has better color temperature (6500K is perfect), and has better color accuracy (1.19 vs 1.75; though both are indistinguishable). OLED absolutely dominates in color gamut & contrast, as expected.

 

I don't want to add the dozens of "hands-on impressions" videos & articles to the 2nd post list, but here are two just this week anyways that will probably have a full review imminently:

TechRadar
Thurrott.com (yes, it is weird calling it the "5th gen"—everyone's already settled on "late 2019"; who's honestly been counting HP Spectre x360 13 generations?)

 

Surprisingly, despite the provisional delivery date (20th December), yesterday I received my unit and... I instantly looked for the claimed "screen door effect".

There it is. But, in my opinion, is not as bad as expecting (ok, there shouldn't be any at all) and you are going to see it only if staying as close as the mouse pad, more or less, and fortunally only on bright colors.

In my opinion it is a minor effect compared to a Full HD pixel array.

Generally speaking, it appears to me like a grainy anti glare coating. I'm not completely happy about the display because of that, but I can live with it, and I don't think it is affecting the sharpness or the resolution of the display with thin fonts and lines, but I will investigate further. Colors are astonishing. I expected a bit more brightness but probably it has ambient light detection and is limiting something?

 

That's awesome! I think HP's moving a lot of the units now, as mine just got an updated date: previously was Dec 16 shipping -> Dec 26 delivery. Now it's Dec 13 shipping -> Dec 19 delivery!

Congratulations on receiving the first one so far in our thread!

All right, that's very valuable feedback. It's a good sign it's less prominent than expected; only some reviewers have commented on it, which fits that view. And, yup: 166 PPI vs 322 PPI. Definitely crisper, I imagine. It's disappointing it's even there, but it is OLED, too. Let's say there are reasons for both options, but OLED is king for content consumption.

On the brightness: for an OLED, I'd call it "average" brightness (which probably helps retain battery life). I'm not aware of any ambient light detection, but there could be. If it's not in HP's settings or the BIOS, have you tried Mobility Center? Right-click the bottom-left corner of the screen and find it at the top.

On my Dell Inspiron, I've got a setting here for it (it's just too erratic, but it also does limit the peak brightness, too):

 

Just don't focus on it... because it's annoying and it shouldn't be there; it's not as clean as my Galaxy AMOLED display, but at the same time the behaviour is completely different from a IPS.

In these days I have to decide if the dot matrix layer is acceptable or not (so, I will keep it or return) . For sure not the smoothest experience I expected.

 

I agree. It's frustrating it's even landed in a $200 option. There will be teething pains for 13" OLED panels, but this issue bites because I only ever expected battery life & burn-in as the negatives. This panel's brightness & digitizer leave a little and a lot desired if they're that noticeable.

Agreed. I've told myself the same on its flaws; if it's not good, I'll just get a refund (as I don't think HP considers the digitizer "broken" or "unexpected": it seems like it's just designed that way). Then, I might as well just wait for Tiger Lake next year (or if AMD can get its head in the laptop game) if my Inspiron can keep its keyboard working. Maybe HP needs a few OLED generations under their belt (or maybe microLED will come). It's a definitely personal decision and there's good reasons both ways. (unrelated: if I do refund and return this system, maybe I can "transfer" this thread to another OP?? Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Hopefully people who keep the system can still use this thread).

I think I'll add a "personal experiences / reviews" section to the first post, too, so everyone else what reviewers likely didn't notice or didn't care about.

Thank you for updating. Good luck in deciding.

 

Ok for now it seems to be that during normal use the dot pattern doesn't frustate so much; it becomes annoying when you are drawing on a white surface and obviously in that situation you are near the display, so the pattern is clearly visible. The pixel definition is not affected, but you are not perceiving a clear surface as it should be. Probably is still a better situation than the moirè effect perceived with a Full HD, but is... sad.

Oh, my machine seemed to be delivered in a unripe state, because the day after the first boot I had to wait several minutes to let the PC do the BIOS Update (Automatically downloaded and installed without my permission!!!); sometimes I have problems with the Wi-Fi which losts connection, and the pen sensitivity was too low. But... I can't stand the "jitter complain", because it's true that, in certain situations, if you draw very slow and with the pen tilted, it draws a drunk line, but if you hold the pen more perpendicular in respect of the display and-or you draw with more pressure or faster, there is absolutely no problem, and I don't think people will draw very short lines very slow... they probably will draw faster or zoom in to enlarge the zone which they want to draw in.

So, a problem gone away after this investigation.
BUT... They don't provide a software which you can modify sensitivity with! Surface app doesn't work… Oh gosh… I want more sensitivity.

Colours are beautiful, even better after custom probe calibration, expecially blue shines. And now the "switch off the light" plugins for browsers make a lot of sense! I love to browse YouTube with Dark Themes, webpages in dark... I think reading books with black background is not healthy...? but solves two problems : you don't see dots and you save a lot of energy and led lifetime.

So, I literally fall in love with the 2 in 1 world with Amoled display. I'm uncertain about keeping this guy or sending it back (right of withdrawal in Italy lasts 14 day since delivery) and trying a Surface Pro for another month, but I already know that a Surface hasn't the same handy hinge configuration that lets the tablet to be used as a tent or reversed with a customizable angle (very nice to watch films far from the PC, for instance), and in this way the Spectre is very nice.

... It seems to be that there are few 2 in 1 Amoled PCs: Lenovo Yoga C730 Amoled, which is unavailable at the moment, and the 13" and 15" HPs. (Are we sure that the Yoga panel isn't affected by "chickenpox" on the screen?).

Other possibilities?

I don't like IPS for tablet use and their poor black level, and there is also the back-light bleeding problem from strong angle of view.
I don't understand the complaints about white of the OLED: even IPS are not perfect from this point of view.

The perfect machine would be a 16:10 display (13"-14" to have enough room to draw - 13" has more or less the same length of an A4 sheet and is a very handy format) with touch OLED and 360° hinges.

 

Looks like hp.com has this starting at $800 today (i5/8GB/256GB). That's $50 less than the lowest I've seen so far. Today's the last day for the 20% off offer via Chase Ink business cards (hp charges right away, not upon shipping). Tempting.

 

I've added 2-3 new reviews & videos today: Verge & PCWorld. The PCWorld video finally mentions that the default Optane drive is actually a QLC drive.

 

I just received mine during the weekend. I bought it for 1500 CAD(=1130 USD) on HP Canada online store. Our home computer died two weeks ago and we needed something to replace our beloved macbook pro 2014... I convinced my wife that we could get much better specs for less with a PC! FYI Macbook pro in Canada costs 2000 CAD!

HP Spectre x360 13 (Late 2019)

• CPU: i5-1035G4
• RAM: 8 GB
• Display: IPS FHD: 1W low-power IPS WLED panel, 400 nits (1920x1080).
• Storage: Intel H10 QLC/Optane SSD: 512 GB + 32 GB
• Color: Natural Silver

I really like the keyboard. I use a 3yr old Precision 5510(aka XPS 15) for Work and that white keyboard looks so much better. The trackpad is not bad, but it has a slight depression before it actually clicks. It's not too annoying, but you can kind of feel it move especially in the lower zone.

I've never used tablet mode before, so I'm very confused at the menus. Not sure I'll use it as a tablet much.

There is an Optane process(Intel Optane Service ?) using about 20%CPU intermitently. It's not too annoying, but kinda makes the computer run hot sometimes.

Battery life seems pretty good especially for normal day to day use. I expect >10hr of browsing/watching videos easy.

Pen is a gadget, I wouldn't use it for professional work.

 

I have many problems using the pen, and I'm angry because it lacks a pen control panel which you can set sensivity in.

There is the standard Windows Ink section that allows to change buttons, but no sensivity slider.
The pen tends to miss the beginning of the input sometimes and Windows seems to be confused about palm touch despite the setting is to ignore touch input when the pen is near the PC. I can suppose that sometimes the system doesn't see the pen for a very short time and picks up the touch input.

I want to format and reinstall the system to see if that's a driver issue.

I tried my schoolmate's Surface and, despite it has some jitter too, it feels way better (the pen itself is nicer) and slightly more sensitive.

 

It looks like HP moved the Pen Control App to the Microsoft Store:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/h...h=1&wa=wsignin1.0&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

If your pen isn't supported complain to HP, it looks like others have to no avail... but I'd keep trying to work with HP - open support tickets until they update the app.

HP Pen Contol App not compatible with Hp ENVY x360 15m-dr0012dx
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteb...compatible-with-Hp-ENVY-x360-15m/td-p/7339382

Yup, the Pen Control App is still from 2017 in this 3rd party support area:
http://www.laptopdriverslib.com/2019/11/hp-spectre-x360-13-ae091ms-drivers.html

‎09-16-2019 12:59 AM
Check for Windows updates in your settings and make sure it is up-to-date and restarted. Still if it didn't solve the issue then install driver from following link:
https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp82001-82500/sp82491.exe
It worked for me.

That was from:
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Noteb...download-Hp-Pen-Control-Software/td-p/7003750

Good luck, and please come back and let us know what you find that works for you.

 

Nope, that app allows only to change two buttons (and few options, less than in the Windows Ink panel) and they are swapped, too.

 

Hey everyone,
I got my X360 (OLED) yesterday and I'm wondering if you guys are also facing the issue with the loose touchpad (touching it results in a slight rattle which is somewhat annoying). Fortunately no pop sound at the edges and build quality is very good in general (except touchpad). Still deciding whether to give it back or get used to the touchpad. My 2017 Elitepad 1030 has a very firm touchpad, no comparison to the X360.

 

Long-standing issue with HP. We've had 2 Spectre x360 (late-2016) and 1 Envy laptops in the household; only one of the Spectres didn't have the rattling touchpad. It doesn't really impact functionality but is something they should've addressed long ago, as it detracts from the premium impression these laptops are supposed to make.

 

A few quick replies. My unit just came in today, 4 days earlier than expected. HP's order status page is essentially worthless: it only marked it as "shipped" about 2 hours before delivery.

1. I've not setup the pen, but I'll see what I can find about the sensitivity & what-not.

2. dio2604: my touchpad doesn't have any rattle at all. Now, the bottom 1/3 is a button, so that bit does go down and up; it does register a click, though, so I think that's all to be expected? There isn't a "rattle" here on mine. It does feel firm and responsive. I'm sorry to hear about it being loose on yours: I have heard other people bring up this issue, specifically the Digital Digest's videos in the 2nd post.

3. I can confirm that on mine, choosing the "Optane Free" SSDs = a 512 GB Samsung PM981a SSD. This is the OEM equivalent of the 970 EVO Plus, so it should be super quick. Will bench and post soon.

4. QC overall is great. However, the left hinge is off-kilter (by 15 to 25 degrees); it's not rubbing the chassis, but it is close. Debating if I want to send it back or just "note it" for the next warranty repair when it has a catastrophic (i.e., unusable) issue. I'll see if it fixes itself in a few rotations (doubtful, but we'll see). Don't hate it, but now that I've seen it, it's a little hard to unsee. The only serious worry is a mechanical issue down the line.

5. Price protection worked great, for anyone who bought it on Cyber Monday.

Nothing else of note, except perhaps: absolutely, immediately, without delay uninstall McAfee. My fans were going wild. Removing that and running Windows Update (which included the latest F10 BIOS) and it's working good so far. I'm staying on 1903 for now, as there seemed to be a few HP bugs in the wild with 1909.

The hinge is a little worrying: we'll see what happens. I'll upload pictures later, if anyone else comes across it: at least we can document what we're seeing and what's the easiest/best way to get them fixed.

 

The hinges are another long-standing issue. I returned a Spectre x360 in late 2017 in part because of the crooked hinges. That one also had rather annoying coil whine. Again, no impact to functionality as far as I could tell, but frustrating that HP designed such good hardware but isn't executing consistently in QC.

I've been tempted by the latest Spectre x360 but will probably stick with my ProBook 430 G6 for now. It's not sexy and a little heavy for a 13-incher but really well built, touchpad feels nicer than on the Envy, and zero coil whine. (And after the various discounts it was less than $400 for an 8th-gen Core i5 with IPS, might be the best-kept secret in laptops.)

As for McAfee, yes it's trash, I wonder how much manufacturers get from Intel to put it on new PCs. I always do a clean install right away. That used to be a pain but it's pretty easy and quick these days - the install itself takes like 10 minutes and then Windows Update grabs most or all of the drivers.

 

Just got mine yesterday, but I have to wait till Christmas to open it lol.

I'm wondering whether I should do a clean windows install. I actually do want some of HP's software, Command Center/Coolsense in particular. I've also read there's a utility to tune the speaker sound and a few other things. Would it maybe be better to just go through and uninstall the programs I don't want? Or that's just nowhere near as good as a fresh install?

 

i installed a new Windows last night in a separate partition drive, so the original Windows that came up with this laptop is still there, so there are 2 Windows for me now, we can select which Windows to go in, when the laptop boots up.. maybe this is the best way so far if you want to install a new fresh Windows while still keeping the old original Windows that came up with this laptop when you bought it?

regarding the drivers n softwares, i first download all drivers n softwares from the HP site. you can install the HP software as there are also available to download in their site.

regarding the sound / speaker utility, it was automatically installed on my new Windows, when I connect to the internet, that Bang Sound software was downloaded from the microsoft store.

I dont know if there would be any different or no with the original Windows & softwares that were already installed on the spectre when we buy it, thats why i choose to install on different partition to still keep the original windows n software.

hope that helps you

 

hi guys, i just bought this spectre x360 OLED 4K few days ago, and the screen is too yellowish (for me at least).. I dont know if all spectre x360 OLED 4K has this same too yellowish or no, since there is no other this same type of spectre around here so i cant compare with other same type unit..

the build quality is well good enough for me, no cracking sound whatever in casing, etc.. It is just big problem for me that too yellowish color on screen..

Have you anybody tried to calibrate the screen? If so yes, can you anybody share the icc file to others with us here?

The problem is I dont have calibration hardware/tool, and it is quite expensive for me to buy it just to make my yellowish screen right, loll.. so, if there is anybody can share/that has calibration tool can calibrate and share the icc file here, i will be so much thankful !?!!! As this is the one really issue for me now with this current new laptop that I just bought!!!!!

Thanks!!!!!!!

 

This is a good input: since I have at least 10+ pieces of HP software/bloatware, but there's only one available on the site. Hard to tell which are just site bookmarks, which do something important, and which are extraneous. Good to know that seemingly some of them are instead offered on Windows Update.

I didn't do the dual-boot, but used Macrium to create a backup.

So far, I've only uninstalled HP Smart (the printer setup bloatware) and McAfee. I had noticed "AppHelperCap.exe" was eating up CPU cycles; not sure what it does, but it's called from "HP App Helper HSA Service" in Services; the HSA makes me think HP Support Assistant. I didn't uninstall this one as it seemed useful for driver updates (but might remove it now because apparently Windows Update can grab it).

I disabled that service and, man alive, the laptop is cool to the touch now. That thing needlessly ate 5% to 15% of CPU for no reason and prevented the CPU from idling. It's much better now: 1% to 3% at idle, with third-party stuff checking in, but nothing as terrible as "AppHelperCap."exe"

OK, on my non-Tilt pen, I've also not got any sensitivity choices anywhere. Just setting the buttons to different actions, unfortunately, just the same.

//

Benched the SSD today. CDM isn't a great benchmark, but it's comparable enough. This is on the 512 GB TLC SSD:

 

That SSD looks pretty damn fast to me!

Also, disabling "AppHelperCap."exe" sounds like a great tip! I was reading on Reddit that using the control panel to set your power plan to limit the max CPU usage to 99% also goes along way to helping with cooling, and even battery life. Basically stops the I7 from hyperthreading or something, which is apparently a thing it does more often than it actually needs to. And unless you are doing some seriously CPU-intensive stuff, you'll never notice a performance dip.

 

BREAKING NEWS: pen jitter avoided!

I tested the Wacom Ink Pen Plus and, when I installed the blue nip instead of the default one, I increased the pen precision on the display... so much that the jitter is almost gone away! It's a very nice pen, I suggest you to close the HP Pen in your box and just use this one with the blue nip. It also has its own software (Wacom Pen app).

I had the inspiration because I'm trying also the Lenovo Yoga C940, and its pen is very jitter-free. If you use the Bamboo, jitter appears, but when you use the blue nip, surprise! It becomes almost as straight as the original pen.

BUT... it seems to be, the ****ing digitizer of the Spectre doesn't recognize tilting at all! Come on, HP... the defeat of the jitter is a big step up towards keeping the Spectre with me. The Yoga has a waaaay better digitizer, a better audio, a better keyboard with a true Enter key, BUT the display isn't OLED (and you can see even on that the grid of the digitizer, despite is thinner than the Spectre one... it's smaller, but it's there) and is not the fastest display on the earth, for sure... not a turtle as the Dell XPS 7590 Full HD, but only "ok" for seeing very fast images (like motorsport) properly! You get the impression that is somehow "blurred". The HP Oled display doesn't have this problem, ok it's still a 60 Hz display but the response times are decent.

So... now I'm happier but undecided to which one keep with me.

 

What do you mean "true Enter key"?

 

I mean the shape of the key: on the Spectre, the Enter is a small rectangular key; I'm used to have the classic Enter key, mirrored-L shape that is as long as 2 key rows; it's more comfortable and I don't risk to push other keys for mistake. Other keys on the Spectre, for instance </>, are in weird position.

 

Ah, okay, interesting. See that would actually screw me up, I haven't typed on a board with a 2 row Enter key in years haha.

 

Hi. I am thinking to buy this laptop. Is there a way to buy one with windows 10 pro instead of Home?

 

Sure is! Just find a model you can "Customize and Buy", you can select Windows 10 Pro towards the top (it's like $70 more I believe). You'll have to wait a while for the laptop though (2-3 weeks) so you might as well pick the exact internals that you want while you're at it.

 

guys.. when you decrease the brightness, can you see something like dark grey lines if u see the screen through a camera?

but we can not see that dark / grey lines when we look at the screen directly without a camera. is this called PWM guys?

but, when i increase the brightness those dark grey lines disappear and almost not visible even when we see it using camera, but i think those lines are still there, it is just not really visible when the brightness is max.

is this totally normal ??

i made the video here

can you check and tell me if that is totally normal?

i am kind of big worried now because of the quality of this amoled screen on my laptop, it is too yellowish , and besides that, also those grey lines when viewed using a camera like in the video i uploaded above.

 

Yeah on my unit I could see at least two horizontal bands in the middle of the display. Anyway, I'm returning my Spectre, because the overall impression is so and so to me.

 

I wonder why it is so bad performer compared to other ice lake laptops ( https://www.notebookcheck.net/These...ore-i7-Ice-Lake-laptops-of-2019.448813.0.html)? Is it a matter of heat dissipating that do not allow for higher cpu clocks in HP spectre 13 360 or it will be adjusted and increased with future patches by HP?

 

What you did't like in HP spectre 13 360?