HP Spectre x360

That's sad. Chalk up my first example of HP shipping a bogus system.

-Matt

 

I think you should ask for what you wanted and thought you were ordering, a 6560U with Iris 540.

The web site is messed up, as the 6560U top selection w/16GB was already observed over a month ago. Something messed up the ordering system since then. It's supposed to be the 6560U + 16GB.

The build list created by the online ordering generated that 6500u 16GB build in error.

Ask HP to make it right

 

I thought the only configuration available with 16GB RAM is i7-6500U..

Does a 16GB 6560U actually exist?

 

It did when I first looked at the 15" online customization, it's news to me that the ordering page has gotten messed up.

Call in, and work with an HP sales person to make sure you get what you need.

 

I just checked that for the 15", there are these options:
6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U Processor Dual-Core + Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 (with 16G memory) +$60.00
6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6560U Processor Dual-Core + Intel(R) Iris(TM) Graphics (with 16G memory) +$200.00

So it stands to reason that there should be a 13" i7-6560U 16GB configuration too.. I'm going to check with HP whether the online ordering is messed up or there is no i7-6560 16GB for 13".

 

Those are tough conversations with a vendor, you will likely need to escalate to a manager, and maybe one more level. Mistakes in the ordering system happen elsewhere, and straightening them out takes patience and persistence.

On your side is that there is a 6560U + 8GB configuration. There is no reason to not offer the 6560U + 16GB.

Good luck

 

In any event, thank you for being a Guinea Pig @gizmodian!

Personally, I'd be asking for more than $100 store credit because it assumes you are going to buy something else in the short term. Or ask for a partial cash refund.

 

So I spoke with HP today. It went about as well as I thought. Spoke for an hour and didn't really get anywhere.

The customer service representative doesn't have a basic understanding of integrated graphics. I guess the more tech-savvy people who'd be helpful in cases like this are in better jobs. She kept insisting that they will order a new replacement with the same configuration and this time I will receive a laptop that has i7-6500U with Iris 540 as stated which is impossible since Intel doesn't even make such a chipset.
I confirmed that whatever internal system they use for ordering has the exact same CPU options as the web storefront, including the erroneous i7-6500U + Iris 540 configuration. So I came to the conclusion that there is a mistake in the ordering system and for whatever reason HP doesn't offer i7-6560U with 16GB RAM for the 13" at this time.
She couldn't offer me anything more than $50 credit/refund either (because they use "an automated system" for that).

It's too bad HP doesn't have a 13" i7-6560U with 16GB RAM, but it's still a fine machine with the i7-6500U. After EPP discount and the $50 refund, the total for me came out to be a just above $1300 which I think is a fair price for it so I'm just going to leave it at that and enjoy using the laptop.

 

@gizmodian thanks for the update. Sorry to hear you ended up with someone unhelpful at HP. Sounds like a pretty frustrating experience.

-Matt

 

My Spectre is about a year old - ordered in June last year and the past few days the trackpad has seemed to intermittently "stick" when I click. Has anyone else had this issue? Wondering if I should contact support about it... really don't need a useless trackpad and up to this point it has been a dream.

 

She wouldn't escalate to a manager when you asked?

Sometimes you need to call in multiple times to get someone clued in enough - enough experience on the line with escalations - to get you to where you need to go.

It can be frustrating and time consuming to deal with it over the phone, but if you give up it's over.

You can return the item and try again when they fix the web site, or keep calling until you get someone that can actually fix the problem.

They can't order if the site doesn't offer the option, that's the conundrum you are in now, you just need to find someone at HP in escalation that can help get to the right people to fix the site.

 

Looks like I'm slowly encountering more issues:

1. For the past few days my wifi would drop randomly for 1-2 seconds. It does this randomly, sometimes once per hour and sometimes twice per 10 minutes. I downloaded the most recent driver from HP's site (v18.33.1 from 2/4/2016). This issue appears before and after I've installed these drivers.

2. Today I couldn't wake my computer from sleep. I put it to sleep last night and today nothing I press would power it back on. Had to do a cold reboot instead.

Does anyone have any ideas regarding these issues?

 

-deleted-

accidental double post

 

I actually had exactly the same problem. But I received both a windows update and I updated to the latest Intel wireless drive. They are as follows:

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265
Version 18.40.0.9
Build Date 25/02/2016

Windows 10 Pro
Version 1511
Build 10586.318​

You will need to down the wireless drivers from Intel's website directly but this fixed my problem.

I sometimes have this issue too. It appears to be connected with Windows' "Fast Boot"/"Hibernate" setting. You probably know what a Hibernate; Fast Boot essentially causes Windows' to hibernate its Kernel but unload everything else.

Although this shouldn't cause any issues, I've found that it can cause problems where some issues arise with the Kernel. Windows' then restores a kernel with issues from the SSD which is obviously problematic. I've found that this can manifest in any number of ways (e.g. memory management issues, graphics corruption, etc.)

You can try switching off Fast Boot if you like (but it obviously slows down the load time of your computer). Otherwise, a restart of your computer causes Windows to launch from a truly fresh clean slate which solves all problems for me. I find that I probably have to do a true restart once every couple weeks in order to completely "reboot" the Kernel.

Obviously, performing a hard power off by holding down the power button also works - but I try not to do that at all.

 

I just bought the Dell Active Stylus pen to use it with the Spectre x360 (Skylake version).

My question is: the pen tip seems to be made of hard plastic and without any spring inside (like for example the surface pro 4 pen)..Is there a risk to scratch the screen?

 

You're good, no worries. The tip will be fine -- I've had zero issues with mine. And remember the screen is covered in Gorilla Glass so that's another layer (literally!) of security.

-Matt

 

Are you sure the screen has a gorilla glass protection? I didn't found official information about that.
Anyway just tried the Dell stylus pen with one note and seems very good

 

(ooooh just noticed you're Italian -- molto bello!!!!)

Excellent point! I see it (Gorilla Glass) mentioned frequently in reviews, but didn't spot it on HP's spec list after a quick search. I'll do more research tonight and report back if I find it.

I found a small app (Elan StylusControl 1.0.0.11) -- I don't recall if I downloaded it from HP or Dell but I can try and upload it here if you're interested. I'll also try to find the original link for it later!

-Matt

 

Yes I'm italian
I just realize the two buttons were already working...they work only while the stylus is touching the screen

 

Been having this issue since the last WI-FI update....Initially, I wasn't a fan of direct downloading drivers from Intel....until the last couple of calls to HP support and watching them go to the Intel Driver site was THEIR initial step to download drivers and troubleshoot. So, I upgraded the WI-FI driver.

Thanks, illuzn!

 

FYI the Dell Active Stylus is on sale at Dell for $15:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/pro...222660215844c94940922&ven3=263203011506417848

Same price at Amazon, though on backorder:

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Active-S...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

-Matt

 

Neither am I but despite all their bluster about customising drivers the fact is there is no customisation of the Video and Wifi drivers.

The Synaptics touchpad driver is however customised. Using the driver from Synaptics directly causes the touchpad to be enabled even in tablet mode (which is a huge problem if you use it to read documents in portrait mode (and was also a massive problem for around 6 months while HP failed to update it's version of the touchpad driver so that "reverse trackpad" as a setting was persistent).

 

No, I didn't take it that far. I'm pretty happy with the machine, so I didn't want to spend too much effort on trying to get a i7-6560U + 16GB RAM configuration.

I don't know if it was the result of my call, but the website is fixed now and correctly lists "6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U Processor + Intel(R) Iris(TM) Graphics 520 (For 16GB memory)." No other 16GB options.

 

Unfortunately the wifi drivers didn't work for me. Even after upgrading them they still randomly disconnect for 1 second all the time. I also tried uninstalling the Intel drivers and using the default basic Microsoft drivers, which also doesn't solve the problem. I hope it's not a hardware issue. If the wifi is constantly buggy like this and can't be fixed I'm going to have to return my unit and really warn people against buying this laptop.

I have also encountered the trackpad being enabled in tablet mode issue. I used the latest drivers straight from synaptic. However that's the only driver I can use as the most recent HP one has that reversed scrolling issue that can't be fixed. This laptop is really a hassle.

 

Gotten myself a Spectre 13-4103DX (6500u / 8GB / 1080p) build of this laptop. So far so good, only Synaptics drivers are not saving configuration through reboot and unable to remember gesture after wake from sleep.

Here's a fix I found in stackoverflow (Credits to whoever wrote it):

Step 1. Create a text file, paste the code below and save it as <filename>.bat

Code:

taskkill /im SynTPEnh.exe /f
Start "" "C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe"

Step 2. Create a task schedule with followings config:
Triggers: On workstation unlock
Action: Start a program (Point it to your <filename>.bat file)
Condition: Untick "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power"

Optional Step 3. If you want to hide command prompt from appearing every wake from sleep:

Code:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run chr(34) & "C:\<Where your bat located>\<filename>.bat" & Chr(34), 0
Set WshShell = Nothing

Don't forget to point your task scheduler to execute .vbs instead of .bat.

 

@DarrisT: For me the latest Synaptics Drivers v 19.0.12.107 work perfectly and remember my gestures.

Check if you are running this version (don't download the direct drivers from Synaptics).

I messed around with this for ages for a while because it wasn't working. I also have 1 ClickPad Profile set up with my settings in it - this may or may not be required.

There was also a registry "fix" which never worked for me.

 

@illuzn: I'm running .98 version and I'm unable to find .107 drivers in both HP Assist and HP official website, may I know how you got the update file? Thanks in advance.

 

@DarrisT: It came as an update through HP Support Assistant (I think) and I can't find it online (unsurprisingly). To be honest it was around December and I don't recall - strangely I'm now wondering whether it was through windows update (although this is probably not the case).

Not sure if the drivers are cached anywhere by HP Support Assistant - if they are point me to them and I will try to send you the files.

The only other thing I might suggest is to fully uninstall your touchpad drivers and then allow HP Support Assistant to try to install the appropriate driver.

I'm also from Australia so the drivers might differ by region.

The OEM Synaptics driver available here definitely fixes this issue but does not disable the trackpad in tablet mode (which may or may not be a problem for you). Coming from a Microsoft Surface Pro, I've found that driver support is definitely an issue with this laptop (as opposed to the regularly updated drivers on the Surface). For example, the video card drivers are now around 6-8 versions out of date.

 

Same model friend!
actually i use this method and it's awesome so far, copying this from another forum

____________________________

Found an answer that worked on another forum. I will copy paste the answer for you all. This solution worked for me, my mouse settings now hold after restarting.

*****

I think I found a fix! After mucking around in the registry, trying all sorts of stuff, moving keys around, with some PARTIAL success but not totally satisfactory... something caught my eye...
Open up regedit.exe
Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynTP\Install
Note this is LOCAL MACHINE, not CURRENT USER.
Look for a key in that Install folder called DeleteUserSettingsOnUpgrade
Double click and change the value to 0
Now go back to the Synaptics control panel, set everything how you like, and reboot. See if it holds. It is holding on mine, still have to test on another computer.
So, this is a sign something weirder is going on behind the scenes, if the driver thinks it is "upgrading" after every reboot.... but anyway, if it works for now, good enough for me!

________________________________________
Let's put some keyword here
Spectre X360, Touchpad not saving settings, Synaptic drivers not saving settings, reboot, shutdown

 

Someone using a newer GPU driver, with good results? If so, which version? (For the Skylake 520 GPU version)

 

Running Intel direct drivers build 4444. No problems so far.

The HP direct drivers are very buggy and I recommend the intel drivers.

 

Thanks! Just installed it, and at least it boot
A tip if someone else tries, I had to uninstall the HP drivers first, to be able to install it. The error message you get otherwise isn't that crystal clear.

 

Anyone know what the maximum speed of the SD card reader is? Can't find specs.

 

Has anyone picked up the x360 with the i7-6560u and Iris Pro 540?

How's the battery life during web browsing/youtube/netflix?

How's the software/hardware so far?

Does it overheat?

Can the ram/ssd be upgraded?

Can the cooling solution be unscrewed? (in order to apply better thermal paste.

Thanks for any and all responses!

 

Look like it's at least UHS-1
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/nplack/media/Sandisk 32GB_zpspud6bpsb.png.html

From this comment thread:
https://disqus.com/home/discussion/...nd_laptop_reviews_by_mobiletechreview/oldest/

 

Can confirm it works well with my UHS-1 SD and at the same speed as my UHS-1 USB 3.0 SD card reader - so I assume it must be at least that.

 

I'm not sure on the difference between the Envy or Spectre, but I found this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy...l-silver/5238400.p?id=bb5238400&skuId=5238400

$899 6560U with 12gb memroy and a 1tb HDD. The drive is easily replaced. I'm going to verify what RAM is in it. I realize HP only sells the 6560u with 8gb, but maybe that is just for the Spectre model.

 

I had that configuration for about a month (returned cause I wanted more RAM). The battery life and heat is on par with other (non-Iris) configurations, it doesn't overheat. You can view the results of some benchmarks I ran while I had it at http://imgur.com/a/4hloq. I was able to undervolt it -90mV for both CPU and GPU so that's why there is a significant difference in the Intel XTU benchmarks.

RAM is soldiered on as I understand. But SSD is upgradable (see this forum: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebo...ons/SSD-upgrade-for-spectre-x360/td-p/4949235).
Not sure about the cooling.. it may not be easy to remove the heat pipes.

 

I've got to disagree - my non Iris i7-6500U gets VERY hot just to the left of and above the escape key under load.

It also throttles the CPU significantly under load.

Obviously, easy to do this under a synthetic load like Prime95 but it actually occurs for me quite often with a non-synthetic load e.g. processing 50 photos from RAW to JPG or converting around 5-6 word documents to PDF.

 

One guy says it didn't overheat and the next says it does... I wanna pull my hair out! This is such a pain in the ass looking for a decent 2in1 that has power, battery life, an excellent screen, a good keyboard and touch pad, and good build quality.

 

Double Post Please delete!

 

Sorry I should have clarified... I use the laptop for two purposes:

• General Office work etc.
• Processing Photos (as a hobby).

For general office work and the like, the laptop absolutely has no problems. In fact, it runs extremely cool to the touch; so much so in fact, that right now the skin of the laptop feels cold to my touch (even in the troublesome top left corner area).

I frequently use the laptop on my lap and there are absolutely no problems with heat for this kind of use.

However, if you push the CPU/ GPU hard (like processing photos), the device gets very hot in the top left hand corner around where the escape key is. Internal CPU temps hit around 90 degrees (C) and I would estimate the skin temperature to be around 40-50 C (but only in that top left corner). It is not an issue if you have the laptop on a table but it can be unbearable through jeans and obviously holding your hand in that top left position hurts after a while (although I don't know why you would do that).

HP's engineering team have obviously recognised this as a problem but instead of beefier cooling, it has instead opted to use a power limiting strategy. Basically after a few minutes of running hot like this, the CPU will throttle down from its 15W TDP to around 9W TDP. This reduces CPU temps to around 60C and skin temps to around body temperature.

For the full details of my testing, see my earlier post on this topic:

Notice that after 2-3 minutes of 100% CPU load it drops the clock speeds significantly because of power limit throttling. Undervolting it brings the speeds almost back up to the "stock" 2.5GHz speed that the 6500U should be able to consistently achieve (see the blue sections where CPU spikes back up to 2.4GHz) but otherwise, it throttles down to around 2.1GHz and fails to achieve the 2.5GHz that it should be rock solid at.

That said, I'm not sure how much this affects your average end user. Obviously if you are gaming using this device, processing photos, editing videos, etc. this will impact your use but I dare say that 95% of users haven't even noticed this because their laptop has probably never even hit 100% utilisation for over 1 minute.

 

It's hard to find those with a good price that is
I mean Surface book can get you all of those, but it's pricey, very pricey

 

The OLED Display is now available

http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-spectre-x360---13t-touch-laptop-p3a84av-1

 

Very cool, thanks. Glad to see my pessimistic outlook was wrong!

By the way, if Trump invites you to serve as VP please turn down the request.

-Matt

 

Gadgetrants,
If Clevo can get me that P870DM Refresh before he ask id be glad to turn him down.

 

Is the bottom aluminum or plastic?

 

Aluminium

 

deleted -- saw some weird stuff, I must have been checking the OLED product page while it was being updated!

Here's a screenshot of what's currently up for the OLED model. Seems OK except that someone at HP still thinks there's such a thing as the Intel 520 w/Iris!



-Matt

 

No availability down under and the current HP sale applies only to HPs fairly ordinary laptop range.