NOW AVAILABLE: HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook 15t-4000 (12/4)

I just purchased this computer and so far I am happy. But I'm having a bit of an issue and wondering if anyone could lead me in the right direction. I have a copy of Windows 8 Pro which I would like to do a clean install of on my new laptop, but I can't seem to get it to work. I've already created a bootable usb stick to use for the installation. On my old computers I would simply restart into the boot menu and select my usb to boot from, but it seems the process has changed quite a bit from what I've done in the past. After a bit of hunting around I found that in Windows 8 if I went to 'settings' -> 'change pc settings' -> 'general' -> 'advanced startup' -> 'restart now' I could get to a menu that supposedly allows me to boot from my usb drive. Unfortunately when I do so, I keep getting an error message that says 'the selected boot device failed. press enter to continue.' I know the bootable usb works fine because I tried it on a couple of other pcs which allowed me to access the Windows 8 installation menu without a problem. Anyone know what I might be doing wrong? I just want to be able to put a fresh copy of Windows 8 pro on this thing and get rid of some of the HP bloat that was installed. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Try booting from a USB DVD drive with the W8 disk in it?

 

After having this for two weeks I can say it is a very nice PC. The fan never gets loud, it never gets too hot, its fast and responsive, the touch screen is great and has a decent color gamut. My main wish is that the screen were not so glossy, although its not glossier than other glossy screens except the MacBook Pro Retina (which I compared it to at length).

 

Thanks, I will have to pick one up and give that a shot this week.

 

1. Does this laptop support a 512GB SSD drive, if so what are the compatible devices?

2. Can the following SSD drives be used in this laptop?
Amazon.com: OCZ 512GB Vertex 4 Industry's Highest I/O Performance Up to 120K IOPS SATA 6.0 GB/s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive With 5-Year Warranty - VTX4-25SAT3-512G.M: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: OCZ Technology 512GB Vector Series SATA 6.0 GB/s 7 mm Height 2.5-Inch SSD with 100 IOPS And 5-Year Warranty- VTR1-25SAT3-512G: Electronics

Amazon.com: Crucial m4 512GB 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT512M4SSD2: Computers & Accessories

 

Yes, you can replace the hard drive in the HP with any of those SSD drives.

 

This laptop isn't available anymore at HP's web store today

 

Can the mSata drive be replaced with these drives. In HP manual, anything more than 256GB of SSD is not offered. So can the 32GB mSata be replaced with these 512GB drives?

 

I noticed that; hoping that is just a glitch. It seems like a pretty good laptop.

 

You can still find it for sale elsewhere like on Amazon. I don't know if it's a glitch since it is the HP website. I wonder if they discontinued it.

 

For anyone who has the laptop, have you guys have problems with the track pad suddenly stop working? It happen to me twice and I have no idea why... It works again when I restart the computer.

It is NOT me locking the track pad! I double checked!

 

I disabled the trackpad locking feature. Mine has been fine ever since.

Looks like you can't buy this laptop anymore. Very odd as they only started selling it one month ago and HP has nothing else which is comparable.

 

Chris Wahl did a video review of the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook 15 here:
The HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook 15 Reviewed [Video] | Wahl Network

 

Another review here:
HP TouchSmart Spectre XT 15-4000 Review

 

Can anyone find this laptop for sell? HP and Amazon both do not have it.

 

Looks like TigerDirect and abt still have it.

 

I sent mine back. I really liked it but two niggly things bothered me. The fan was quiet except when the laptop is held at an angle, for instance with the bottom angled up at 45 degrees on your stomach while browsing in front of the TV. The fan would start a mild buzzing as if it was rubbing. Secondly, the glossy screen was quite reflective compared to others, for instance the Retina MacBook Pro. Watching Netflix I could see the silver palm rest and bookcase behind me reflected in the screen during darker scenes.

I ended up getting a Retina MacBook Pro. The 16:10 display with reduced reflectivity, lack of any fan noise when web browsing, lower weight, slightly smaller size, better battery life, quad core CPU, and the GPU sold me. I am planning to run Windows 8 as a VM.

Needless to say the rMBP was quite a bit more expensive. The new Samsung Chronos 7 is looking like a good competitor to the HP, but it's not out yet.

 

Also the ASUS ZENBOOK Touch U500VZ looks like a good competitor, but it also isn't out yet. Has anyone seen or heard much about this model?

 

Looks awesome, hopefully they've tamed the fan noise issue which plagued the UX51

 

This is interesting... HP is showing the Spectre XT TouchSmart at CES:
At CES, two HP laptops do Windows 8 right | CES 2013 - CNET Blogs

 

Also it's available again at Amazon from TigerDirect:
Amazon.com: HP SPECTRE 15-4010nr 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver): Computers & Accessories

 

Have you had this issue again? It's driving me crazy!

Everything was working great when I got the Spectre on January 8. Yesterday (Jan. 11) while watching some videos the sound started cutting out/buzzing about every 30 seconds. Today (Jan. 12) I'm still having this issue and I tried restoring the Spectre to its original factory settings, but it still has the buzzing issue. I have played around with the beats audio, but that doesn't fix anything.

Here's an audio sample:
Sample
A couple of spots where it cuts out:
1) time 13 seconds on the word "world"
2) time 16 seconds on the word "your"
3) time 32 seconds on the word "don't"

 

I don't know why but it stopped happening on mine after a reboot.

 

I am in the market for a new laptop. The HP Spectre touchsmart 15t-4000 or the Samsung new Chronos 7 series 700ZE are the options. Which one do you guys recommend?
The advantages that I see with the new Chronos 7 are 1TB storage and long battery life. The Video card is not important to me. The advantages of HP is current availability. I do not know when the new samsung chronos will be available. If it is couple of weeks, I can wait for the Chronos.

 

You can easily replace the HP's hard drive. The battery life is going to be around 3.5 - 4 hours.

I read that the Chronos won't be out until spring.

 

It's back up on the HP web site with 500gb 5400rpm, 500gb 7200rpm, and 128/256gb SSD options. Seems a bit cheaper too.

 

bluecaps

I have the same dilemma as you, I was contemplating between the two laptops since I need to upgrade mine as well. As someone pointed out the chronos wont be available for a while, and the price is yet to be announced. One of the advantages is the bigger hard drive. But this HP laptop looks far more presentable in my eyes if you are judging just appearance. 500 GB harddrive is big enough to store plenty of data on it and you can change it or buy an external HD as well.

Anyone know where I can buy this laptop and get it shipped to canada. I have tried amazon, ebay and the HP site but no luck. Its only available on the american HP site and not the canadian. The sellers from amazon wont ship to canada and its yet to be available on ebay the last time I checked. Any ideas where else i can purchase this laptop?

 

Sukar, I can't find it for sale in Canada yet either. However, I live close to the border - if I was to buy it I would simply have HP or Amazon ship it to one of the many mailbox businesses on the US side of the border (I use Mail Boxes International in Blaine, WA) and pick it up and bring it across myself.
I'm still doing some research and comparisons before I buy. Currently on my list are:
1. HP Spectre XT TouchSmart 15"
2. ASUSPRO BU400 14"
3. ASUS ZENBOOK Touch U500VZ 15" (although I think this might be too expensive when its available)
4. Samsung Chronos 7 series 700ZE 15"

 

WhiteRockMike,

I live close to the border as well, i can see detroit from my balcony, plus I have relatives all over the states but its a hassle getting it shipped elsewhere because you pay for shipping twice then, first from the seller (HP, Amazon) and then again to get it delivered to your doorstep. Not sure why its not available in Canada. Surprised to see its not even listed on Ebay or Expansys. The Chronos would be the other choice for me but I dont know if I can wait another few months for the laptop to be released. No exact date has been mentioned or the price. Specs wise the chronos might be better but appearance wise I would have to give it to HP

 

Is it just me, or does the abysmal battery life (3.5 hrs) pretty much disqualify this "Ultrabook" ? Even DTRs are getting better battery life than this. To make matters worse, 5 lbs is hardly comfortable for transport. This model strikes me as both the best and worst of worlds in a 2013 laptop. And a $1,399 with base configuration - HDD of all things - it needs to meet a very high standard. Am I missing something here? Got my facts wrong?

 

Looks like Bestbuy Canada now has one version of it available online:

HP ENVY Spectre XT 15.6" Touchscreen Ultrabook - Silver (Intel Core i7-3517U / 128GB SDD / 8GB RAM) : Ultrabooks - Best Buy Canada

 

lovelaptops,

Only 3.5 hours of battery life? Sure about that? For some reason I thought it was closer to 5 hours, might have misread that then.

WhiteRockMike,

Thanks for the link, good to see it finally show up for purchase for canadian residents. Why does that model only have 128GB? Should it not be 500GB?

 

Is anyone aware of any good professional reviews of this laptop? It seems so odd to me that none of the major websites I've checked (cnet, engadget, laptopmag, pcmag, pcworld, etc.) have reviewed this laptop even though it's been out for months.

 

Yeah, sad to say. Sorry I'm pressed for time to provide links but there are plenty of reviews - plus I'm pretty sure HP only estimates 4 hrs. I just don't get it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

 

I own this laptop and can confirm the 3.5 hours of battery life. I am rarely unplugged for that long, so it really doesn't matter to me.

 

I got the 500gb hard drive with 32gb mSATA SSD cache drive. It is very fast. This is the best option, because you aren't paying for SSD and you can upgrade it later when large SSD's are cheaper.

 

I can get about 4 to 4.5 hours in Battery Saver mode with the brightness turned down a bit. Honestly, this thing recharges so quick it won't be that much of a problem. 3.5 is the standard though with everything running at max. it's only a 4 cell battery. I'm shocked HP didn't go a bit larger, but I think they wanted it to come in under 5lbs. However, the weight is so well balanced in this laptop that they could have opted for the larger battery and it wouldn't have mattered.

Just as a note, I am also running the 256GB SSD drive which may help on the power side.

 

I have received mine with following configuration

HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook 15t-4000
• Windows 8 64
• 8GB System Memory (4GB 1 Dimm + 4GB on board)
• 500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
• 32GB mSSD Hard Drive Acceleration Cache
• Microsoft Office Trial
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3517U Processor + Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
• FREE 2-year Norton Internet Security subscription (a $99 value). Pre-installed.
• 4 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD BrightView LED-backlit IPS TouchScreen Display (1920x1080)
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated dual array digital microphone
• Intel 802.11a/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Backlit Keyboard
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 10
• No Internal DVD or CD Drive
• Included 2 Year Warranty

Got $108 + 75 corporate discount + $15 coupon,

Also ordered HP 4 year Accidental Damage Protection with 3 day Onsite Response for 2 y warranty Notebook HW Supp for $147( corporate subsidized)

Laptop works great but poor battery life and mine seems to have manufacturing defect. screen is not well flushed with bezel and small gap b/w top bezel and screen which would be good dust collector. Did you guys noticed same issue ? I am planning to exchange it.

thanks
Sam

 

I just received this laptop yesterday. BestBuy Canada was selling them at $800 ($700 discount) so I jumped on it. It seems that HP is discontinuing it in Canada. The model here is 15-4095ca and comes with only a 128GB mSata drive. At $800 it seemed like a no-brainer but at the same time it makes me wonder why the huge price drop. Are there ongoing issues with this machine? I have 2 weeks to evaluate to see if I encounter any major problems that would make me want to return it.

Here are some general observations about the unit I have.

• The full HD touch display is awesome. I find 15.6" and the full HD to be very workable for me.
• The keyboard and trackpad are good. One change I'd like (this may be a personal preference thing) is to have the trackpad centered on the spacebar and not on the laptop.
• The battery life isn't great for an ultrabook. I would rather this machine be a little less wedge-like and have a bit bigger battery.
• I've read some comments about the poor finishing on this unit and can attest the same. The metal trim on the edge of the screen lid is slightly bent and uneven. The place where the base of the laptop and top surface join has small gaps in spots. These things aren't major problems but I think some changes to how the laptop is constructed is needed to resolve these problems. I get the feeling that HP wanted to make this machine like a MacBook Pro but cut some corners in doing so.
• My unit doesn't have anything in the hard drive bay and as such doesn't come with the HDD mounting kit. Ordering the kit will cost me an insane $70 + $25 shipping. This kit is only is a mounting bracket and a specialized cable to convert SATA to the connector on the motherboard.
• Crucial lists a 16 GB memory upgrade kit which seems to be a pair of 8GB DIMMS. I've opened my unit up and there is only one DIMM slot with 4GB in it. The other 4GB is soldered on the mainboard.

Overall I like the HP but probably wouldn't have bought it if it weren't for the huge price cut. The specs that I've seen for the upcoming Samsung Series 7 Chronos seem far better but I would also expect the price of it to be north of $1500.

 

Awesome price dude

 

Hi,
Just got the same too Friday ;-)
Where can you order the second hard drive bracket and cable? I found the part # in the service manual but can't find it anywhere online!

Cheers,
Fred

 

Can the msata slot be used as a main drive while the HDD can be used for storage. if so, is the the masta slot SATA2 or 3?

 

You can get it from IMPACT COMPUTERS - Customers Portal which was recommended by the HP Parts customer service. I believe you'll have to order by phone. I know this part isn't available through HP Canada and HP US can't ship to a non-US address which is why Impact Computers was recommended.

Yes, the mSata works as a main drive but I don't know if it is SATA 2 or 3.

 

Ok great! thanks for the information! I tried insight but horrible service (on hold for 25 minutes before speaking to someone who told me that they don't really deal with simple customer (only with 100 employees and up!)... then tried couple of place including HP who was saying that they can't order and that I need to call insight ;-)

will try that one... just can't believe that they sell this for 75$ but laptop is useless without this (128GB is not much)

 

Are you running 256GB SSD along with the stock option of 500GB hard-drive? I have read the recent review on engadget and they were disappointed with the battery life the laptop offers. They also mentioned how the laptop has potential to run faster and smoother with a 256GB SSD. I am debating whether to buy this laptop or wait for the samsung chronos. But what are your thoughts on the laptop with the additional SSD drive you have?

 

Has anyone found a good source for a second power adapter for this notebook? I was looking at the accessories on the hp site but noticed that the two they show for this model don't appear to be fully compatible. One has reviews that state it loses the rapid charge functionality, the other has reviews stating that it simply does not fit.

 

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could be kind enough and upload the blue spectre desktop wallpaper? I would greatly appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Michael

 

I've been trying to get the hard drive bracket for the past week. I had it on order from impact and then I received notification that my order had been cancelled due to the part not being available. I tried a few other ways of getting this but so far it seems that this part isn't available yet. This is probably due to the laptop being a new design. The last thing I'm trying is to get a friend of mine in the US to order it for me. If this doesn't go through then I'll probably replace the 128GB mSata card with at least a 256GB card to get me through until I can get the hd bracket and cable. I'd like the Mushkin 480GB mSata card but it seems hard to find.

 

I'm curious if that Mushkin drive will fit with it being thicker than a normal msata.

 

I just got this pc 2 days ago. I ordered it with the 7200rpm drive to replace later with a SSD. So the talk about changing the drive in the last few posts is important. Which programs can I remove from the pc? I wanted to do a clean install but unfortunately I don't have the disk. I really like this pc, my last one was a Dell Inspiron 1520 when at the time it was considered top of line. I am happy with the specs, maybe if it could be less wide it would be perfect for my bag. The screen looks perfect so I don't know if I need to calibrate it. If you have any recommendations to improve or make changes to it to get the most out of it I would really appreciate it!