HP Spectre x360

According to mobiletechreview the memory is unfortunately soldered to the motherboard... sooo what you have is what you get...
I got this a couple of days ago as a replacement for my Y2P and I must say I like it a lot.

 

To me, Windows 10 has a better start menu (combined Metro and traditional) and a better settings interface with the action center and no more charms. Sorry, I'm old school and like keyboard shortcuts and mouse mostly, so other than scrolling and zooming, which work fine, I have no feedback on the gestures. I think the upscalling is a bit better than Windows 8.1, but ultimately, it is the software developer's responsibility to update their code (and most are) with the newer HDPI API calls in Windows.

 

The orientation driver was broken in the original version of Windows 10, but was addressed in 10041. I manually loaded a mix of drivers from Intel and from the HP support download site (the HP Windows 8.1 drivers work fine on Windows 10).

 

The RAM is soldered and only the battery, WIFI card and SSD are replaceable, however, I'm sure the WIFI card is whitelisted. The SSD is NOT a PCIe, but SATA drive and is a M.2 2280 form factor. You can see an internal photo here (notebookreview.com).

 

i was going to hop in and post about the memory also. i went to bestbuy today to check out the 1080 version since they show the QHD model as preorder. figured i might settle if it looked ok in person. when i mentioned the QHD version the sales guy looked up the sku to see when it might be in and it showed one in the store. it was up top with the 1080 versions. i brought it home and took off the bottom cover before i powered it on to confirm the ram question.

its jut like the pic posted above except there's a metal shield snapped over the elpida chips.

the 512 is a sammy also if anyone cares.

the backlight button isn't even an issue.

the QHD screen isn't as astonishing as i'd like. my retina MBP looks better. i dont know the exact reason but i can tell you my chrome bookmarks are WAY more crisp on the rMBP and look pixelated on the x360. certain menus in windows look terrible as well. even boot camp win7 looks better.

the multi-touch is ok, but my trackpad seems to "flop" around, as if its loose. it's no where near as solid as the rMBP.

gonna give it a week or 2 and possibly try an xps13 and if they both disappoint i'm just gonna buy another macbook and use boot camp.

 

I wish the RAM would be upgradable. I live in Greece and possibly the best price i can get will be from Germany, but so far in the HP.de i can see two models: one with 4GB, 256 SSD, FHD (999 euros) and one with 8GB, 256 SSD, QHD (1299 euros). So, if i want 8 GB i have to pay 300 euros more! That's so bad. And when (or if) it comes here in Greece, i am expecting it to be even more expensive: for example, i just saw that in HP italia the 4GB, 128 SSD costs 1100 euro! That's 1200 dollars for the base model! Outrageous... Do you think there are going to be any other configurations soon?

 

alkpit: The USD is on the rise so EUR prices *may* increase in the future.

shadowarachh: The pixelating might be caused by the scaling in Windows. You probably set to 150% or similar and Windows is best either at 100 % or 200 %. The best hi-res 13" screen resolution for Windows would probably be the 3200x1800 @ 200%.

 

Hail Europe.

When will the $999 model be available in Best Buy? That would be the best deal i could get, if i found a way to get it from the US.

 

It's the usual problem of having to avoid import duties and/or local VAT - typically why it wouldn't be available at the same price in Europe to begin with.

FYI, I ordered mine online (in the US) on 3/24 and it shipped today (3/30) - the order status page, which has changed for the worse since I last bought from HP a year ago, still says '15 days to customize' and gives no indication that it shipped...only the FedEx notice to me did.

Shame about the memory. I am not sure I understand why you would solder it to the motherboard - aren't you just saving the space and weight of a couple of tiny clips?

 

Can anyone comment on the sturdiness of their hinges? Mine seems wobbly (when opened at laptop angles, if I use the touchscreen, there is a lot of swaying back and forth - oscillations if you will), and when it tablet mode, it won't hold a position that's barely open (the screen raised just a bit off of full tablet mode). Is mine too loose, or is everyone's experience the same? It's been a while since I've had my Yoga 2 Pro, but I never remember it being this wobbly...

 

Is anyone running Linux? I installed Fedora 21, and everything worked out of the box except for audio. Running lspci | grep Audio, I don't find RealTek audio listed, although the system does find the Intel HDMI audio.

I'm curious if anyone has audio working on this laptop running Linux. This is a great system and works well on Windows, but I'd love to run Linux on it as well.

 

That's how the hinge is, it hasn't been an issue for me.

 

Hinges seem quite sturdy here... I would say better than my Y2P...

 

After spending a week coding on this machine, the most annoying thing is the cursor button. The up and down button is so incredibly small I keep confusing them. Also I hit the shift button (the next adjacent button) accidentally 50% of the time. Also, the left right cursor keys are marginally better.

 

i already have a hp laptop so the keyboard layout wouldn't bother me.

for anyone in the uk, hp are offering £80 off for purhcases over £700 and £150 off purchases over £1000 for the next few days. makes it very tempting to pick one up, details of codes are here http://www.vouchercodes.co.uk/hp.co.uk?rc=2714387

 

Thanks for sharing. Are these codes valid for the Spectre? It appears to be for selected models and i am not sure the discount can be gained with the Spectre.

 

thank you. ill report back with what happens.

EDIT: it was at 200 so some things were blown up. i've always preferred the smaller icons so i turned it down to 150 and its a bit sharper. too bad the trackpad can't be adjusted.

can someone else try tapping along the top then along the bottom rapidly and telling me if your trackpad feels way more sturdy at the top and kind of loose near the bottom.

 

i had a spectre in my basket and the code worked. haven't pressed buy yet. can't justify the purchase as i don't really need a new laptop at the moment but i doubt there'll be such generous offers available until maybe black friday

 

Answering my own question RE: Linux compatibility, there's an issue with the audio driver:

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95731

 

Either way, i live in Greece and i think HP.uk doesn't dispatch abroad, but i hope i will find a way to buy it from another country, since i doubt it will be availabe here anytime soon and i need it. Thanks.

 

Since the bottom of the pad is click-able there is more give.

 

My hinge closes when its barely open. I don't think its a problem either.

 

I did a clean install and nothing seemed to readd the HP power options . Anyone know what installs... or even know what the settings are. May just restore from the factory image to see if it makes a diffference... ironically I think the factoryimage was a bit faster than a clean install...

 

I am on my second x360 , the screens white has a yellowish tint to it just like my last one , Normal ? is there anything that will make the whites a brighter white?

 

Normal, the default color profile is on the warm side. You will need to calibrate the display to your liking or download and install someone's created icc profile. It is common for default color profiles to be cool and user's calibrate their displays to make them warmer, looks like you are experiencing the opposite. I like the default color profile, I find a warmer display to provide more real like colors and to be less taxing on my eyes.

 

There isnt really much control in the intel graphics gui beyond brightening color is there a program that i can get to further mess with this? where can i get icc profiles?

Also to further review the spectre. the edges are sharp where my hand goes to rest on the track pad. may need to rethink this purchase it's a slick looking pc but if i cant use it whats the point

 

For best results you will want to use display calibration software with an accompanying colorimetric device such as Spyder. Most free or built in options assume you have access to monitor settings, with a laptop you do not. In time users who like to calibrate their displays, photographers for example, will probably post the icc profiles that they create doing so. For example when the X1 Carbon Touch first came out the default color profile was ice cold, luckily someone posted a calibrated icc right away that remedied this.

My palms rest above the edge so that hasn't been a problem for me.

 

theres a big difference between more give and straight up loose. its just a nitpick but for something marketed as a premium device there shouldn't be sloppy things IMO.

my entire pad is clickable on my air and retina and if they were like this it would be a defect.

 

Mobiletechreview was right, the pen from Dell does pair better with the x360 than HP's own. While the HP pen requires you to press it against the screen to be recognized the Dell just requires that the screen be touched which of course makes it easier to use.

 

good to know. i was going to get one for fun and couldn't decide between paying more for the hp since it was in store or waiting on the dell which was half the cost.

 

Sometimes mine pushes down, but it's not a click, so I see what you mean.

I find the edges sharp as well when using the touchpad. I'm thinking about filing them down.

I haven't found the screen to be yellow on this computer, but I'm coming from a gen 1 Yoga, which has the yellowest screen I've seen.

 

I just bought a Wacom Bamboo figuring a plain capactive touch stylus would work. Useless. Back to Best Buy.

 

yeah the dell stylus is only $35 and reportedly works better. considering the HP is $58 its a no-brainer for anyone in need of a stylus.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&orig_s=gen&sku=750-aagn&s=dhs

 

Yup if you are are interested in the pen the Dell Active is the way to go. The HP Active works but the tip needs to depress so requires pressure while the Dell does not. I use the pen on my SP2 as a mouse when in tablet mode all the time, nice to be able to do the same with the x360. Just be aware the pen doesn't reach the extreme edges of the screen, not uncommon even with full blown digitizers. For example, bringing up the "X" on Metro/Windows Apps is hit or miss and "Show Desktop" from the taskbar is not accessible at all.

 

Do someone own non-US/UK version? I would like to know whereas the keyboard is US/UK only or contains also accent chars (localized keyboard layout)?

 

Does anyone have the QHD model? What about its battery life, is it much shorter than the FHD model?

 

The thread is quite idle, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since there aren't any major issues to discuss or try to solve. In the XPS thread there were dozens and dozens of posts about different problems, so i guess there are no dea breakers here.

PS: I 'm still waiting to find a good configuration to buy (Greece)

 

I noticed the same about this thread, been popping in every now and then to see if I could contribute anything. Very happy with my x360, has really become my go to device and has parked my much loved Surface Pro 2. Two accessories I would highly recommend; the Dell Active Stylus and a Shaggymax screen protector/swiper. The screen is beautiful but gets mucked up easily, so the Shaggymax is nice to have around to wipe the screen down and protect it when on the go.

 

Flash player was giving me issues in Firefox (image corruption, freezes, crashes, etc.) and I figured I'd try updating the Intel graphics driver since a newer version is available, and it appears to have cleared things up. I had to un-install the version that's factory installed in order to install version 4156 that I downloaded straight from Intel. Besides that, no issues at all.

After re-booting from the driver install, Intel's "Display Power Saving Technology" was turned on when running on battery power, which I could see because I saw the screen brightness/contrast level shifting around. Of course I was easily able to go into the display control panel settings and disable this feature, unlike the Dell XPS 13 I had previously for a brief period before returning it. Sorry for the tangent, but good grief I still get angry thinking about Dell's decision to force that setting on and not allow the user to disable it.

 

This is pretty frustrating (as for the XPS 13) and kinda funny too. I hope they had such a setting for the always on backlight key, too!

 

Heh, I knew that little lit-up key would irk some, which is why I mentioned it in my first impressions post way back when. Good thing it doesn't bother me in the slightest. The XPS 13 does have two keyboard backlight brightness settings, though, which is nice.

 

In the past few weeks, I haven't really noticed anything bad. The cursor keys could be larger.

 

I've been using the Dell pen for the past week and its great I don't miss the pressure sensitivity because I just do text or simple line drawings. The cursor does appear when the pen is a few mm away from the screen which is nice. Great purchase. Must have if you use One Note.

 

The HP Support Assistant lists an update needed for Intel HD Graphics but won't install as for some reason it is downloading an old driver, 4029. So I installed the new driver from Intel manually using the Device Manager. Your settings went back to the default since you removed the driver, my settings remained intact after the upgrade.

Running the HP Support Assistant it will still report the need to upgrade the HD Graphics until you delete the logged update need. Re-run it and it shows as up to date.

 

For anyone interested, or just as an information, the i5-8G-256 SSD FHD model is at last available in Best Buy. I think this is an ideal configuration and the price amazing.

 

I think the thread is dead because this computer has not had the same level of awareness that others like the dell xps 13 have gotten. It was only recently that engadget reviewed the spectre x360, and the verge has still yet to review the notebook but they had plenty of time to get that new macbook review out. They reviewed the dell xps because of the ultra thin bezels so it seemed novel to them. Hell, even notebookcheck has yet to do a full on review.


Personally, I think the new spectre is the best convertable/notebook on the market in its segment right now. It's not the thinnest, or lightest, but it has the best combination of trade offs. The reviews at best buy, the exclusive retail carrier in the US are generally stellar, but many people still don't know about this.


Also, to further your previous point about the hp/dell stylus, a guy posted a comparison video showing that the dell stylus does in fact perform much better.







He was about to return the spectre but after getting the dell pen found it much more usable for the drawing he intended to use it for.

 

Yes, that's true too. I was on the XPS 13 and initially loved it but as i was seeing owner's reviews i lost my enthusiasm since there were many cons. The Spectre looks much better for my needs.

 

Just a mini review as gratitude for the post which I followed. I got the i5, 512, 8gig, FHD.
Comments on various things I remember from the 8 pages.
*Fan noise - only heard it once when I was resting it on a pillow and it couldn't 'breath'. The noise is not bothersome if it does turn on.
*Keyboard light button: I don't find it distracting and think it's kind of cool.
*Function keys: I like the pc function priority so increasing brightness is easy without also pressing Fn.
*Construction: Best I've ever owned. Wow. The polished edges are about sharp enough to cut you. It feels hefty/dense but you just can't help but thinness when you hold it. It just feels like a CNC work of art.
*Battery: Still on the fence here. I think I got 10 hours once with constant internet wifi use. I wanted 12 and I don't think mine will ever get 12. It feels like it will probably end up giving 8-9 hour consistently.
*Hinges/Folding: Works perfectly. It seems like a giant tablet and I haven't really used it that way.
*Touch: Maybe windows 10 will implement touch better than windows 8. I think it's a cool option to have even if I don't use it much. I will get the Dell stylus.
*Touchpad: I do get annoyed with the right click. There's some sort of magic going on there and maybe I need to tweak settings. But I've raised the white flag and if I want a right click I literally go to the extreme bottom-right corner to click.
*SD card slot: It is almost perfectly flush. Wish it was all the way flush but it's good.
*Screen brightness: It can get really bright but in the daytime that can be handy. At night sometimes I wish I could turn it down lower than the lowest setting.
*Support: Called about a wireless adapter issue. Amazing support. Updated a driver and that was that and they kept calling back to just check in and see if things were still working well and if I was satisfied. I'm thinking they must really be trying to up their game and it shows.
Power adapter: small. long cord. connection is perhaps a tad bit fragile but that's subjective at this time.

Overall, I'm glad I didn't get the XPS13. I think if HP upgrades this in 2016 to bezel-less it will be a legend. It's a delight to pick up and it just screams quality.

 

Lovin' this laptop. I was seriously considering the XPS 13 like many have, but glad I found out about the Spectre x360. Great information in this thread. I ran into an issue with the wireless connection initially but got it resolved. After a few sleep/resume sessions, my wifi would stop working and fail to connect to the netwwork, with the temporary solution being the need to restart my router. After some research, the solution was to disable the "Allow computer to turn off this device to save power" under the wifi network adapter properties in Device Manager. Thought I would post this in case anyone else ran into similar issues.

Every now and then the sound on the Spectre would get a little scratchy, it seems to be intermittent though. Has anyone else had a similar issue?

I've also been looking for a tempered glass screen protector for the screen. Any recommendations on this? Is one even needed?

 

For right click just use two-finger tap. If you want to do it with a click increase the area, it is very small by default. Also I would recommend turning off the Advanced Filters under Smart Sense to avoid the feeling of dead spots on the pad. I have yet to use a mouse on my x360 so I suppose I am good with the touch pad.

If you get the Dell Active Stylus you will use tablet mode more frequently. I use it all the time when reclining on the couch or bed.