Owner's Lounge: Spectre x360 - 15-df0068nr (Late 2018) - 8565U cpu, MX150 gpu

This lounge is for the HP Spectre 15 inch "df" line released late Oct, 2018. More specifically, I'm hoping this thread would be mainly for the less powerful versions that comes with an i7-8565U Whiskey Lake processor and an Nvidia MX150 gpu.
Please note, also part of the df line, are the more powerful versions of this laptop with an i7-8750H Coffee Lake processor and Nvidia 1050Ti (Max-Q) gpu. I'm sure there will be overlap with both versions when it comes to drivers and troubleshooting issues.
* skip to the 2nd post for a look at the laptop

I got mine from HP.com but similar variations will be released with slightly different model numbers (I'm guessing 15-df00XXxx). I read that Best Buy will have this line by Dec, 2018.

More specific specifications:
- The MX150 graphics card is the 25W version, which means 25% more performance over the 10W version
- Monitor: 0x0000AF06 AU Optronics, Model: 0x000030EB, AUO30EB, 12523
Gamut coverage: 90.0% sRGB, 65.8% Adobe RGB, 75.6% DCI P3
Gamut volume: 108.5% sRGB, 74.7% Adobe RGB, 76.8% DCI P3
Delta E*76: average 0.18, maximum 1.19
- maximum brightness 329.91 cd/m2 or "nits"
*calibrated using Spyder4 Elite, displayCAL

Gamut Coverage: 92.6% sRGB, 73.4% Adobe RGB 75.1% DCI P3
Gamut Volume 148.3% sRGB, 102.2%Adobe RGB, 105.0% DCI P3
Delta E*76: average 0.65, maximum 21.22, RMS 2.98
*using i1Studio spectrometer


Drivers and Support material
- support page for generic df0000 Spectre x360 15" models (big thanks to @KLF)
- model# df0068nr support page - search for your version here

- Service and maintenance guide (add ".pdf" to the end of the file name)

- HP support specifically for the Spectre line:
888-817-4633 Mon-Fri 8am to Midnight EST, Sat and Sun 9am to 9pm EST

Opening up the unit (taking off the bottom cover):
pg.30-31 of service manual - You need to peel off both the front and back rubber stoppers for this. Note: There's a thin, black, opaque tape between the rubber stoppers and the cover. This should be peeled off WITH the rubber stopper but the tape is more adherent to the back cover. Start peeling off the stopper and if you see white colored adhesive you didn't get the black tape. Stop peeling and look closely. I used tweezers with needle like pointers to pick it off. Then peel them off together. If it's clear, shiny and black you got the tape. If ended up peeling off the whole rubber stopper without the tape then you'll see white adhesive material on the stopper. It's okay. Peel off the black tape still on the laptop to reach the screws. They're there.
Make sure you removed all 8 screws. Start prying from the front and then both sides. Work your way to the back. There will be a lot of resistance when you get close to the hinges. This is because there's a row of plastic teeth in the middle of the cover that you can't see that's latching onto the base of the laptop. Keep in mind that the cover is made out of metal. It won't break. Gently open up the cover with increasing strength until you hear something snap. That's the sound of one of the plastic teeth breaking off (at least this is what happened with both of my units). If you took the cover off without breaking this tooth, you're the man! Good luck.

Re-pasting the Thermal Interface Material:
pg.60 bottom figure (for 8565U models) You only need to remove the 3x2 = 6 screws to remove the two heatsinks. These screws are adjacent to the CPU and GPU. You do not need to remove any additional screws holding down the fans or battery.

Compatible SSD: [pg.35]
- I was able to successfully install the Samsung 2TB 970 EVO

Compatible RAM: [manual pg.33-34, When taking off the metal cover note the small gap in the middle on the side closest to the front of the laptop. Stick a small probe in the gap and gently lift. It's going to be more difficult to put the cover back on the teeth (labelled by the dotted lines).]

- My laptop came with 2x8GB 2666MHz Samsung M471A1K43CB1-CTD RAM modules, and ran properly at 2666MHz. This was a pleasant surprise as the specification on the website reads, "16 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB)", i.e. 2400MHz speed. According to the service manual, some versions of this laptop will come with 2400 RAM. The cpu in this laptop -- i7-8565U Whiskey Lake -- also advertises max support of up to 32GiB, 2400 RAM. But it's running at 2666 right out of the box. I don't think there's any overclocking or XMP going on. The 8750H version supports supports up to 64 GiB of dual-channel DDR4-2666 memory.

- Corsair Vengeance 2x16GB DDR4 2666 (PC4 21300) 18-19-19-39 latency: CMSX32GX4M2A2666C18
This is the RAM from my old computer and it seems to work fine on my computer, 8565U (easy install, simple plug and play). It runs at 2666

Please let me know if you got other RAM modules to work. I'm curious if higher RAM speeds or other 2666 RAM with lower timings/latency are compatible. I'd also like to know if 2x32 = 64GB is possible (for the 8565U version; 64GB is possible for 8750H version).

 

HP Spectre x360 15 inch (late 2018) - First Look

corresponding Windows Central article

*NOTE - The reviewer keeps mixing up the two versions of this laptop which is misleading. Just to clarify, there are 2 versions of this laptop:

Version 1 (less powerful, more battery efficient (hopefully)):
CPU: i7-8565U (4 core, Whiskey Lake)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2 gigs of VRAM)

Version 2 (more powerful, less battery efficient):
CPU: i7-8750H (6 core, Coffee Lake)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (Max-Q) (4 gigs of VRAM)

You can't mix and match the CPU's with either GPU's. It'd be great if I was wrong because I'd love to have the 8565U with the 1050Ti (Max-Q) graphics card (almost twice the performance of MX150). But I can't. This option is not available. Yet this is exactly what the article lists as the specs for this laptop in the article, which is very misleading. Please, let me know if this option exists! If so I'll proceed to returning this laptop for the 6th time in 4 months.

I'd post a different review, but for now, this is the only review and video clip of this laptop (other than the touched up promotional HP video).

Issues and Fixes:
----- Wifi card disconnects and shows an error after coming out of sleep: This one's a classic. About 20% of the time it comes out of sleep there's a yellow exclamation sign over the WiFi sign on the bottom right and the on-mouse-over bubble reads "No Internet Connection" (but still connected to the network). You have disconnect and reconnect to fix it. It seems to happen more when the computer's been asleep for a longer period of time. It seems this happens to a lot of people after a major Windows update. Hopefully this is not a hardware specific thing as suggested by the 2nd link bellow:
Thread from Dell with the issue unresolved for over a year
no Power Management Tab in network adapter properties

Fix: none so far
The go-to thing to try is to set "Wireless Adapter Settings" under advanced "Power Options" to "Maximum Performance" on battery and plugged in. However, many of the options under advanced power options is missing for me, including "Wireless Adapter Settings"

----- There's no Intel Graphics Control Panel for the integrated GPU (Intel HD 620) when I right click on my desktop (nothing in the systray or program group). There are no intel programs installed. I have the latest driver from HP support installed. When I try to install the latest driver from Intel for Intel 620 it says that "The computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software." Could this be because the 8565U processor is too new?

I calibrated the monitor and things still look a little "washed out" (unless it's daytime and there's some sun). I'm not sure, but maybe it has something to do with the backlight (white LED). Or maybe the contrast ratio isn't very good. Adjusting the brightness doesn't help. I'm trying to adjust the saturation through the Intel Graphics Control Panel.

Fix: Reinstall driver: Device Manager --> Display adapter --> Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 --> right click uninstall device (delete drivers) --> reboot and install driver again from HP support site; As it turns out, I didn't mess with the Intel Graphics Control Panel settings. The display looks a lot better after calibrating it using a spectrometer (colorimeter didn't help much). Things don't look washed out anymore.

 

https://support.hp.com/za-en/product/hp-spectre-15-df0000-x360-convertible-pc/23238160/manuals

Service and maintenace guide:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06162318

What I can quickly note:
p.66 I'm happy to see that the power plug is a separate component with a cable to the motherboard. Cheaper to replace than repairing or replacing the whole motherboard.
TPM. Nice to have so you can enable bitlocker right away.

 

THANK YOU!
I have no idea why the Spectre service people couldn't provide me with these links when I asked specifically for the drivers and the service manual. This would have helped a lot when I was opening up the computer for re-paste, and RAM and SSD upgrades.

I've never used bitlocker. I might try it out, but it seems like it hampers performance.

 

I didn't like the monitor of my unit so I returned it (looks like bleeding). Hopefully the new one they send me is better. The bleeding was most noticeable on the blue Windows setup screen. The side edges were noticeably brighter/lighter and the very tip of the bottom corners were darker. My old computer (Dell XPS 15 9550) is not as bad. The max brightness of the new Spectre is definitely better than the 9550 which is good because I often felt like my screen wasn't bright enough when I was using it during the day.

 

Can i ask you more info about this product , since i am planing to buy this device :
HP Spectre x360 - 15-df0797nz (i7-8750H,FHD Sure View for Privacy , 16 GB , 512 GB)

- What about build quality is it solid like Macbook ?
- If you return back and you need select device from this device what you will select :Spectre x360 Late 2018 or XPS 9570
- About the battery how long while use the device from full charge
- Can you upload picture for device beside the XPS to compare

Sorry agin for the long list .
Thanks

 

There is no dates on those pages. It is possible the service manual was not yet available by the time you asked for it.

Some performance loss is a trade between someone unauthorized accessing your computer/files or not. I have it on my work computer, of course, and also on my personal laptop (Elitebook 840 G2) that I usually carry around. I don't use bitlocker on every machine I have. On a computer with TPM Bitlocker is a breeze to enable and use, since the password is recorded in the tpm chip.

 

The HP Spectre model that you're looking to buy is fundamentally different from the one that I have in a couple ways:
1. 15-df0797nz has a more powerful cpu/gpu: Mine has the 8565U cpu and MX150 gpu. Your version has the 8750H cpu and 1050 Ti gpu. Your version is more powerful / faster, better graphics. But it also uses more power/battery. The 8750H is 45w and has 6 cores. The 8565U is 15w and has 4 cores. So the 8750H laptop will use more power, be hotter, the fans will be running more (more noise), and you'll get thermal throttling for sure, meaning that the processor will not run as fast as it should. I'm hoping the cooling will be less of an issue for the 8565U (but I'll probably get throttling too). These laptops are very small/compact and it seems like thermals are always an issue. They redesigned the new Spectre's so we'll see how efficient the cooling is.
2. 15-df0797nz has lower resolution display: I have the UHD display (3840x2160) and the one you're looking at is FHD (1920x1080). All things being equal, the FHD version will get significantly more battery life. My eyes have gotten too used to the UHD display so I can't get the FHD anymore. I've also noticed that, in general, the UHD display versions of laptops have better sRGB coverage. I'm not sure about the contrast ratio, brightness, color representation, etc; but the bottom line is, my eyes like the UHD displays for sure.

There's obviously a lot of variables when it comes to battery life depending on what you're doing on the laptop. I browse the web, use office (word, excel, powerpoint), watch some videos... I don't play any games, don't do video editing, compile code, etc. My XPS 9550 gets about 4 hours of battery life (78Wh battery). For the previous generation Spectre (8550U) I got about 6 hours. I haven't used my new Spectre (8565U) so I can't tell you right now how much battery life it gets. I'm guessing about 6 hours. If I can get 7 hours I'd be very happy. I'll be ecstatic if I can get 8hrs!

The laptop you're looking into ( 15-df0797nz) will have a different battery life. The two differences I pointed out above work in different directions when it comes to battery life. The FHD screen will give you a lot more battery life, but the more powerful cpu/gpu will reduce battery life. If I were to get a FHD screen (8565U with FHD), I'll probably get more than 8hrs of battery life, but like I said, I need the 4K UHD display. I have no sense of how much the more powerful cpu/gpu will affect battery life. With FHD and 8750H (15-df0797nz) maybe you'll get 7 hrs?

If battery life is really important to you and you want a 15" laptop, you might want to look into the MacBooks or the 15" Surface Book 2. For whatever reason the Mac Books get a lot of battery life and the Surface Book 2 get's an insane amount of battery life. Both laptops price at a premium though; they're expensive. Otherwise you might want to look into 13" laptop for more battery life. HP claims that the new HP Spectre 13" has the longest battery life in it's class, 22hrs+. Which probably means you'll get like 10hrs??? Again, I'm guessing here. I need a 15", I can't get a Mac, and I can't get the Surface Book 2 (no TB3).

I was pretty impressed with the build quality of my new Spectre. Pretty solid. The screen is not flimsy or wobbly. The hinges are pretty solid when I move the screen 360 degrees (tablet mode) everything feels pretty solid. But the build quality on the XPS and MacBook is better. I like the aluminum casing on the XPS and I like carbon fiber where your hands rest. This is all plastic on the Spectre. But the Spectre is still very solid. [EDIT: @silverwolf0 points out that "this is a metal laptop. It's just the density and painted finish are different compared to more premium builds."] I really like the new look on the new Spectre. It's sexy. I really like the new silver on Poseidon Blue colorway. It's a lot better than the rose gold on Dark Ash Silver in my opinion. The facaded corners (where the power button and TB3 are) makes the laptop look a lot sleeker. It's a sexy laptop.

You need to realize that I'm getting the Spectre mainly for the 8565U processor. I don't do anything that's too CPU intensive and I really want more battery life. There aren't that many 15" laptops with 15w processors and I like the Spectre the best. But it seems like you're going for the 8750H processor. If I was getting a laptop with the 8750H processor, I'd get the one with the longer battery life (given it gets more than 1hr more). The XPS comes with 97Wh battery vs the Spectre's 84Wh. If the Spectre x360 8750H and XPS 9570 has the same battery life, I'd get the XPS 9570, mainly for the better display. Also because I never video chat and I don't think I'll use the tablet mode on the Spectre at all.

- Do you video chat a lot? The Spectre is better for this. The XPS has the camera on bottom (looking up your nose) and shoots in 720p. The Spectre has the camera on top and shoots in FHD. I think this means you can use Windows Hello to unlock your computer. But all the newer phones these days have a better front facing camera than either of these laptops.

- Will you be using the pen a lot? I don't think the FHD version of the XPS 9570 supports the pen function. The UHD version does support pen. The Spectre and the XPS use different technology for the pen so you may want to look into that. And of course the XPS doesn't swivel 360 degrees to be used in tablet mode.

- Do you use a lot of Bluetooth 5 devices? The Spectre comes with BT5.0 but the XPS has BT4.2, but you can upgrade the WiFi card on your own for the XPS. I can definitely use more range for my bluetooth devices.

I returned my Spectre for a new one so I don't have it on me at the moment.

 

Thank you very much for you help i give me lot of information which will help to select.

 

I had the earlier 2018 spectre x360 15 with 8550u and mx150, which had no numpad and awful side speakers. Then they added the numpad and speakers on top for the intel-amd version. Now they have changed the design yet again with hexagonal cuts. And it's still 2018.

I want to know if the screen has improved at all since the early 2018 model I owned. It was way too reflective with poor contrast. Wasn't all that colorful either. Speakers were abysmal. I know the speakers have improved since then, but by how much?

Also, this is a metal laptop. It's just the density and painted finish are different compared to more premium builds.

 

I am looking at this laptop. HP is given me $1350 in gift cards because they can't repair my Envy 17. After 3 Envy 17 eventually failing I am going with the Spectre unit instead but they are more expensive and I can't seem to find a coupon.

I wish it had builtin LTE like the 13 inch units though.

I am shocked the laptop is cheap plastic. HP laptops always look really cheap for that reason.

Definitely going for the more powerful units as battery life isn't that important to me. I rather the power.

 

[EDIT: I checked and the laptop, including the back cover is DEFINITELY made out of metal]

I must have been mistaken. Please see the previous post by @silverwolf0. He corrects me and points out that it's made of metal. It seemed plastic-like to me but must be a very thin metal.

I wish there was a version with the 8565U processor and the 1050 Ti gpu.

17" sounds sweet. I'd consider it if battery wasn't an issue, but not sure what it'd be like to carry around a 17".

 

Yes, they've been updating this line a lot. This is why I wanted to create a model specific lounge. There's so many threads that doesn't specify the model in this forum and it seemed to me that the Spectre owners were splintered.

A lot of people don't like the numpad because the keyboard is off center. Numpad used to be requirement for me but I got used to not having it. But now I'll have to get used to the Numpad again. I definitely type gibberish sometimes because my hands are off.

I can't comment on the quality of the speakers because I never had the version with the speakers on the side. Also, I'm not sure what to expect out of laptop speakers. I think they're fine. I've watched some reviews and they seem to say that they're "still laptop speakers". So I guess it's nothing special. I personally don't use the speakers much when I'm out with it and rely on better speakers when I have it sync'ed up with my peripherals at home.

The screen/display is a big deal for me. It's still pretty glossy for sure. I tried putting on a matty screen protector on the middle model (the one between yours and the new one) but it dampened the brightness so I ended up throwing it away. It's annoying when there's sun for sure. I'm on the same page with you when it comes to the quality of the display. The middle model's colors seemed washed out. I like the Dell XPS displays better. It just looks crisper, seems to have better contrast ratio, has a wider color gamut, and has less bleeding (although the edges look a little darker). I'm waiting for my replacement for my new model and the reason why I asked for an exchange is because of the display. As soon as I turned it on the blue Windows setup screen showed up and I noticed bleeding on the sides and darkened bottom corners. I'm hoping I just got a bad unit. I played some 4K video clips on youtube and it looked pretty good. I didn't notice the washed-out-ness that I noticed in the middle model, but wasn't too impressed either. I saw a review from July of the XPS 9570 that boasted the display: 98% adobe RGB, good color representation even though the Reds are still a little out of wack. I don't need 100% adobe RGB, but I'd like 100% sRGB. This site compares your monitor with the middle version (scroll down a little, left two columns). It says your version has 87% sRGB coverage, and the middle version has 90%. I'm hoping my new version has 100%, but I doubt it. The Delta's for the Spectre's are high, but calibration seems to help.
[I calibrated the monitor and it says it covers 90% of sRGB. I don't think they changed the monitor from the previous version.]

If you don't like the colors it my be worth investing in a colorimeter. It definitely helps with how things look when you calibrate your monitor imo. I think everyone should calibrate their monitors.

One thing I did read for the new Spectres is that the max brightness went up and this seemed true. On my XPS 9550 and the middle Spectre model the max brightness was not enough for me for daytime use.

Thanks for pointing out the non-plastic material. Definitely happy to hear that.

 

@silverwolf0 btw, did you use this fix for you touchpad?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/...e_precision_touchpad_on_hp_spectre_x360_2017/
For the middle 2018 version of my Spectre, this improved my touchpad remarkably. I'm not sure if they fixed this on the new version. Or whatever Windows Update.

[EDIT: I did not have to do this fix. I already had Precision Touchpad, but it may be because I did a clean install of Windows]

 

More late 2018 15.6 models are showing up on HP.com, including some sporting the higher end Vega graphics card.... And new 13.3 models are making their first appearance:

https://store.hp.com/app/slp/spectre-family/hp-spectre-x-360

 

I'm not familiar with the 13 inches. I'm pretty sure the ones with the Vega graphics card are from the previous generation from earlier in the year. HP ditched the Radeon Vega for the Nvidia 1050Ti (Max-Q) for their more powerful lines. I checked all three Vega models in your link and there's no mention of the camera switch and lists a full SD slot in the specs. The new design replaced the SD slot with a micro SD slot which people don't seem to like.

 

I'm looking at getting the 1050Ti flavor of this machine. My goal is to replace my aging laptop and my mid-range desktop for video editing, mid-range gaming and music production. It will mostly live tethered to two or three monitors in a desktop config but need to go on the road when I travel. Some questions I'd like your thoughts on:

* When I'm just doing normal browsing / office work, will the fans come on or do they only come on when pushing the processor or GPU with gaming etc? Is this an option I can set in the power controls (to keep the fans off and throttle instead)?

* Anything in particular I should look for in a dock? Does this dock look suitable? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CMKLNMN

* Does it feel off-center with the keyboard not centered under the screen due to the 10 key? Do you have to shift it over to the side?

 

My replacement unit came. I repasted the cpu/gpu, replaced the SSD and RAM, and did a clean install of Windows 10. I'm using my new, spiffy laptop right now.

Oddly, the unit came without 6 of the screw under the rubber stoppers. I called Spectre support and they're mailing them to me (also offered to come to my house to install it). The mylar sheet that covers the cpu/gpu part was oriented wrong. HP needs to work on their attention to detail.

I usually never buy warranties but the Spectre support guy talked me into buying a 3 year warranty that covers accidental damage. I bought it ($300) because if I don't end up using it, they'll give me my money back once the warranty ends in 2021. This would have been very useful with my old XPS (I could only find the motherboard on eBay and it was definitely more than $300). Plus, if I drop my laptop and the monitor cracks or I spill water, the warranty covers it.

I'm not too impressed with the display. It looks like they didn't change the display from the previous model. I exchanged my first unit because I saw some bleeding on the sides which was most notable on the blue background when windows is restarting. The sides looked brighter (uneven) and the bottom tips looked darker. The second unit is better but they're not gone. The 4K clips I watch on YouTube look great but when I'm doing things in windows the colors look a little washed out. When I had the previous model I replaced my unit for the same reason so it seems like it is what it is with these Spectre's. I hope things will look better once I calibrate the monitor. In general I think the Dells (XPS line) come with better monitors. Maybe I'm being too picky. I'm happy with the model thus far and plan on keeping it. I'm happy about the max brightness. It's definitely more usuable vs my old laptop when there's a lot of sun. This is most likely because I'd been using my old laptop (XPS 9550, 360nits) for >2.5yrs. The previous version of this laptop was 330nits and I still thought it was brighter than my old laptop.

The fingerprint reader (chip based security) is far superior vs the previous model. The previous model's was on the side of the computer and was unusuable -- had to make multiple attempts and denied me a lot. They moved it to the bottom of the numpad and I've been using it without trouble to login to windows.

I think I'll get about 5.5 hrs of battery life on normal use (office, web browsing, maybe some youtube clips, best performance setting on windows, 60% brightness) which is a little disappointing. [EDIT: I got >7.5 hr just browsing the web and writing e-mails I think it's because it's cold today and the fans were off the entire time, 60% brightness, best performance setting] I'm not sure how much under-volting will help (it didn't really do much for my old laptop). Oddly, the battery came uncharged which is not good. Batteries should be about half charged when its not in use. I had to plug in the computer to turn it on. It's supposed to come with at 84Wh battery but battery report shows 82,790 mWh which I'm unhappy about. I'll probably call them again. I'm assuming it'll count as warranty use which means I won't get my money back? That sucks. [EDIT: Yes, if they ship me a new battery I won't get the rebate. The Spectre support guy has been working with me (called me back) and after using the laptop for a few days the new battery report reads 83,160 mWh. So it went up. The guy told me that it's because it's a new battery and needs to adjust a little bit. I hope it continues to go up a little until it meets the specs (84Wh).]

Love how the vents are on the sides so it doesn't blow against my lap. Although i read somewhere that this isn't as efficient when it comes to cooling.

[EDIT: I called Spectre support. The guy had to check with his supervisor and told me that part of the battery is reserved for the bios? Does that make sense to you guys? My battery report says the "design capacity" is 82,790mWh and the "full charge capacity" as the same. And the "capacity remaining" measurements hits the max, so it seems like there's no wear. It's weird because my Dell XPS 9550 which also has a 84Wh battery reads 83,995mWh and charged to this level when I first got it.]
- Okay, the guy called me back on his own volition and made me run an HP UEFI test for the battery. He made me e-mail pictures a picture of it to him as well as my battery report. He's going to call me back in 3 days and told me to use the battery and charge it when it falls to around 25% a few times until then.

 

The Windows Central review claims that your version of the laptop can support "up to two 5K monitors".

The short answer is probably, especially in the summer or when you're at a warm place. With my version of the laptop, the fans kick in at the low, 3000 rpm level when my CPU core temperatures hit about 43 degrees Celsius. There's a quiet, flowing sound and then it turns back off (0 rpm) when the temps go back to around 36 degrees. I'm pretty sensitive to noise and it doesn't bother me. < 43 C is a fairly low temperature to maintain in my opinion. I think we have to assume that the more powerful version will run hotter (even at low stress?). I repasted my cpu/gpu so that may help keep the temperatures down a bit. I've been using the laptop for a few hours today and the fans were off almost the entire time. It kicked in a couple times but then turned off after a little bit. I don't have Office installed yet. I've been doing some web browsing and writing on this forum and textpad (not using Office) (so essentially the minimum use). I haven't watched any videos and windows was running at "best performance". I was on battery most of the time but plugging in the laptop didn't seem to affect anything. Importantly, today was a relatively cold day 19 C (66 F) and I had no heating on at home. Yesterday, it was warmer and I was watching some YouTube clips and the fans were on more for sure (3000 rpm). My temperatures were above 45 degrees for sure (high 40's - low 50's). I'm not sure what the thresholds are for the GPU since I haven't done anything graphics intensive yet (e.g. watching videos offline). So if you're just browsing the web in a cooler environment, the fans may not be on, but like I said the 8750H will run hotter so maybe not. I'll obviously doing more than just browsing the web so I'm pretty sure the fans will be on at 3000rpm most of the time. When you're playing your graphics intensive games the fans will eventually kick in on hi mode for sure and the noise will be more noticeable for sure. Not sure what that's like on this computer yet.
I don't have too much experience with fan/performance control. I think people may use third party software for this??? I just tried SpeedFan but it's got very inaccurate temperature readings (like off by -15 C). I'm not sure if people use ThrottleStop to do what you want to do (keep the fan on and throttle instead). I use it to undervolt my CPU. I did a clean install of Windows to get rid of all the bloatware but windows installed some HP programs whilst installing the 41 driver updates as soon as I ran Windows Update. One of the programs it installed was HP Command Center:


I have no idea if the program works well or not, or if people out there use it as intended. It seems like the options are for making sure the fans are on, not off. There's no option for quiet mode. For some reason I see far fewer options for Windows 10's advanced power options. There used to be options for passive vs active cooling, dedicated vs integrated GPU use... Any idea why they're all gone? One of major windows updates? Is this specific to Dell vs HP?

If you're looking to power the laptop via TB3, then no (it only provides 60W). I had a 1 cord solution for docking my old computer and it was pretty awesome only having to plug in 1 little TB3 cord into my laptop when I came home -- for all my peripherals, for my 4K monitor, and to power the laptop. I was able to keep my power adapter in my bag the whole time for when I took my laptop outside. If you're going to rely solely on the TB3 dock for power and not use the power adapter at home, you want a TB3 dock that supplies at least the amount of power that the power adapter does. For you, this means 135 W (8570H / 1080Ti). For me, 90 W (8656U / MX150). This is important for 2 reasons: if it's <135W... 1) It's not going to charge the laptop as fast (I'm pretty sure this laptop supports "fast charging"; whatever that means. The previous version does.) and 2) More importantly, your laptop is not going to perform to its fullest capabilities. I'm pretty sure you won't get max performance using the battery either. My XPS 9550 requires 130W. Initially I got a <100W TB3 dock and I verified that I wasn't getting the performance I was getting when I had the power cord plugged in (at least the GPU, for sure). I also didn't get max performance off of battery. In May 2018, when I was looking into this, the only TB3 dock that provided enough power (130W+) was the Dell TB16 Dock. It provides up to 130W of power (so, still a little less than 135W that'd be ideal for you). [EDIT: the TB16 is designed for Dell laptops, it's only supposed to supply 130W of power to Dell devices, and only 100W to non-Dell devices]. Everything worked fine -- powered and charged well, 4K monitor worked well, all my peripherals worked well, and the GPU performed as well as when I had the power cord plugged in. It gets mediocre reviews but I was very happy with it and didn't have any of the issues brought up in the reviews.
But as I type this, come to think of it, my laptop broke a month later. Hmmm... I was planning on using the same dock but now I'm not so sure. Maybe a 1 cord solution is asking for too much at this point. There's a lot going on there in such a small port. TB3 has been out for years now, yet there aren't very many devices for it. I feel like it's still in its infancy.
If I were you, I'd be most concerned about whether dock will support all your monitors without any trouble. I feel like the most common complaints I saw for TB3 docks was about how the dock didn't support their monitor setup properly (e.g. something along the lines of... the person was trying to have 2 external monitors working, 2 x 4K @ 60Hz, using the 2 display ports on the dock but one of the monitors was only 30Hz, but someone else with a different computer got it to work at 60Hz by using 1 dp and 1 TB3 (on the dock not the computer). So I'd look at the reviews or whatever forums out there to see if people were able to achieve your setup using the dock, using the same ports available to you. For example, looking at the product you linked me it's got a HDMI 1.4 port, which is no good for a 4K display. 30Hz sucks! If you have 2x4K 60Hz displays and 1xFHD display than looks like it'll work, but I'd want to see a few people say that they got this exact configuration to work in the reviews. But if you have 3x4K 60Hz displays I'm not sure how that'd work. You'll use the two display ports on the dock and either the HDMI 2.0 port or the other usb-c (or TB port) not connected to the dock. I have no idea whether that'll work. BTW, that second usb-c-looking port closest to the right corner port of this laptop is either a USB-C port for some versions of this laptop OR another TB(3?) port for other versions (in which case is the 40gigabit bandwidth split between the two TB ports? In which case will it support what you're trying to do with the dock given less bandwidth?). If that second port is a USB-C port, is it connected with the GPU to support displays? Which GPU? You may want to call Spectre support. And if you have 5K monitors or 120Hz monitors, I have no idea about anything.

Because they have the numpad to the right the letters aren't centered. The G and H keys aren't aligned with the middle of the monitor. The left part of the K key is at the middle. So the the letters are about two keys to the left of what you're used to if you're coming from a laptop without a numpad. Normally, when I'm at home using my external keyboard (with a numpad), I move the keyboard to the right of center a little so that my hands are centered, the alphabet parts are centered, and I'm centered with the monitor. When I'm on the laptop keyboard, I'm centered with the monitor but my arms and hands are a little to the left of center. But my eyes are centered which is more important. You have to get used to reaching to the left a little. It takes a little getting used to but I think I'm already used to it after typing this short response. But initially you're going to type gibberish sometimes, like the key one to the right (e.g "s" instead of "a"). I use the numpad a lot so I like having it.

 

Hello Nosauce, you said...

"I usually never buy warranties but the Spectre support guy talked me into buying a 3 year warranty that covers accidental damage. I bought it ($300) because
if I don't end up using it, they'll give me my money back once the warranty ends in 2021."

Very interesting... Did you purchase your Spectre and the warranty from HP?
Regards

 

Here's the link to the warranty: Risk Free HP Care Pack Rebate

Yes, I bought the laptop from HP.com and the guy from HP Spectre support sold me the warranty over the phone. It says it's a limited time offer and that you have to mail in the rebate form within 90 days of the expiration of the warranty.
Man, I'm doing HP a service through this thread -- advertising their new laptop, troubleshooting issues, and telling people about the promotion. lol, I feel like HP should be pay me, or give me a rebate on my laptop.

 

I ended up ordering the CalDigit TS3 Plus from Amazon. It's considered by many to be the best TB3 dock on the market. It has 5xUSB 3.1 Gen1, 2xGen2 ports, and a TB3 port so you can daisy chain with other TB3 devices (I'll be using it to connect my 4K monitor via a TB3 to DP cable). It worked well with my XPS 9550 but I ended up returning it because it didn't provide enough power. It's got other ports including DP1.2. It says it can "Connect up to two 4K@60Hz (4096 x 2160 30-bit color) monitors via DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C port, OR a Single 5K@60Hz display can be supported via the Thunderbolt 3 port." It doesn't say you can use the USB-C port to connect a 3rd (maybe FHD monitor). So I think you have to use one of the ports from the laptop itself for that 3rd monitor (if it's even possible).
It provides up to 85W of power which is a little less than the 90W the power adapter provides (for the 8565U version). One of the comments says that it works well with his (older) Spectre x360 15". It charges it, but I'm not sure if it compromises performance.

 

There's no Intel Graphics Control Panel for the integrated GPU (Intel 620) when I right click on my desktop (nothing in the systray or program group). There are no intel programs installed. I have the latest driver from HP support installed. When I try to install the latest driver from Intel for Intel 620 it says that "The computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software." Could this be because the 8565U processor is too new?

I calibrated the monitor and things still look a little "washed out" (unless it's daytime and there's some sun). I'm not sure, but maybe it has something to do with the backlight (white LED). Or maybe the contrast ratio isn't very good. Adjusting the brightness doesn't help. I'm trying to adjust the saturation through the Intel Graphics Control Panel.

 

Hi all

Might be of interest, some pictures of the inside of the Intel H / Nvidia GTX notebook:









RAM is soldered.

BR
Twain

 

Congrats on your new laptop! I didn't realize the RAM was soldered on. Definitely a relevant difference between our models. The heatsink is also one piece instead of 2 and overlaps where the CPU is, probably to dissipate the heat to both heatpipes/fans. My version has one module on the CPU/iGPU and one module on the dGPU.

On your last picture (components labeled 1834), are they both TB3 ports? Mine has 1xTB3 (corner) and 1xUSB-C (side).

I repasted with liquid metal and have been getting pretty good thermals. The GPU maxes out at 70 C. But then again, your GPU is a Ti 1050 max-Q which is like a 80%+ performance boost vs my MX150. I wish mine came with that GPU.

i7-8565U, MX 150 version:

 

Hello everyone, to owners of the new late 2018 15in model, how is the throttling for the cpu/gpu? Does changing to the performance in the thermal profile help with throttling? thanks.

 

I'm not sure how helpful my experience will be if you're interested in the 8750H processor (45W). I have the 8565U processor (15W, configurable TDP of 10 W TDP-down and 25 W TDP-up) and apparently the U processors are designed to throttle a lot based on power consumption.

The non-turbo frequency for the 8565U is 1800 MHz. The turbo frequency is 4100 MHz but when running stress tests it drops down to 2200. I'm pretty sure this isn't thermal throttling because my temps were pretty low. Disabling and Locking the Turbo Power limits using ThrottleStop fixed this for the most part. Now when I run TS Bench 1024M, it runs at the max 4100 @ 40W and then goes down to 3600 @ 30W at around 25% then stays there until the end. This is with the PKG Power setting. IntelBurn Test also goes between 4100 to 3600. Temps max out at around the low 80's C.

I'm using ThrottleStop to undervolt and have repasted with liquid metal.

HP Command center has 3 profiles for me (not sure why I don't get the quiet profile). I tried out all 3 modes and get the same results.

 

I've two equal TB3 ports on mine.

Will also perform throttling tests asap.

 

The 45W isn't even offered in Canada yet, so couldn't even buy it if I wanted to. Might not even be offered at all considering the intel cpu shortage. thanks for the info, it is helpful, guess it isn't thermal throttling but throttling by HP themselves to reduce the temps and not let the chips cook like on macbooks.

 

Anybody find a way to control the fan manually on the 1050Ti version? Also is the security switch just for the camera(it doesn't affect the microphones? lol)?

 

Got meanwhile a second brandnew one, again the i7-8750/GTX1050-TI version.

I am working in a PC trade&repair shop and can say that the built quality of the (brandnew) devices is rather weak in absolute and not price related terms. The first one came with some painting defects and tiny dents on the shiny surrounding edge and a key ("H") which had a broken rubber switch cap (led to very shallow typing). The second one came with a deformated screen lid while beeing closed. It turned out to be a missing magnet in the case which normally forces the lid to close properly.

Otherwise those are great machines with a lot of power and pretty quiet operation.

 

Also performed throttling tests with standard settings: with XTU CPU stress test, the frequency has been all the time between 2.6GHz and 3.8GHz with all six cores running. With XTU benchmark it happened the same, final result was 1452 Marks. Also the same with TS benchmark 1024, where the result was 129s. I didn't see any thermal throttling during the tests.

CB15 Multi: 1144
3D Mark 11: P9140, GPU 8918, CPU 11084, combined 8498

Not outstanding but solid for such slim computer.

 

From what it looks like, the WiFi chip is NOT replaceable. Can someone please tell me that I'm wrong?

 

It's definitely soldered and therefor NOT replaceable.

 

Well damn. Do you know if the 13 inch is replaceable?

 

Can't believe my eyes. So depending on the graphics (and the related CPU) the RAM may or may not be upgradeable.
Apparently the i7-8750H/Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti uses up so much space, that there are no RAM slots, and RAM is soldered. What a shame! And I was about to go for this one. Looked too good to be true.
However, if you opt for the i7-8565U/ MX150 or for the (older, early 2018) i7-8705 VEGA model, then RAM is in slots.

What makes matters worse is that the service manual linked in the first post applies also to the 8750H model, but uses the diagrams for only the i7-8565U and misleads readers regarding the i7-8750H internals.

 

This was at the top of my list to get until I saw that part, from the videos I've the ram seems to just be similar to a sodimm but laid flat with spacing between the modules and not angled and partially covering one another like removable socketed ones

I don't want to get a 4K display just for 16GB of ram

 

Something is iffy here. Could it be that the 15" with 8750H has several models where SOME of them have replaceable RAM slots and others don't?

• Review of HP Spectre x360 15-df0126ng: https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Sp...-2-TB-SSD-4K-Convertible-Review.413909.0.html says its replaceable, but no evidence was given.
• RAM listing on AMAZON: https://www.amazon.de/PHS-memory-Sp...60+32gb&qid=1557171124&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmr2 the listing states that the module FITS HP Spectre x360 15-df0126ng and it was tested.
• Crucial RAM Upgrade page: https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/HP---Compaq/hp-spectre-x360-15-df0126ng again states, that RAM is upgradeable for df0126ng
• HP's service manual says RAM is upgradeable

In the other hand,

• Twain0 posted a photo with a soldered RAM. I am wondering what was the exact the model number on those machines?
• This Youtube review states, RAM is soldered:
• HP's website itself says, RAM is "on board": https://support.hp.com/us-en/produc...pc/23238160/model/24996896/document/c06182161

 

Hi everyone, sorry for dragging such an old thread from the depths but did not want to start a new one for this since technically the design will be the same as the current device.

While there are rumours of HP upgrading the 15in to i7-9750H and nvidia GTX 1650, see link below, shows a spectre with the new cpu, 16gb and new gfx card.

https://store.hp.com/webapp/wcs/sto...9001,10059&AccessorySearch=true&storeId=10151

There is a listing from a store.
https://item.jd.com/52149374383.html

Hopefully this model will be more widely available than the previous i7-8750H, since for example Canada only received the U-series 15in.

But I suspect the 15in U series will continue in most areas, since a listing has appeared on geekbench sporting cometlake-U, Intel Core i7-10510U.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/14037320

I wouldn't pay attention to the scores that much since the performance can vary from unit to unit on the same model. As seen below
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/search?utf8=✓&q=spectre+15
(some 13 in results in there as well)

so it appears the U series 15in will live on, maybe updated to mx250 which is a rebadged mx150. I would imagine an IFA announcement or just before IFA for this.

As a side note, HP is testing an Icelake spectre 13 x360, which is awesome but if availability will be an issue, it may be a while before most people are able to buy it, i'd imagine US being prioritized for the icelake version. Hopefully intel has enough of these icelake cpus to go around.

 

Just as an update to the one guy, even the new updated version of the laptop is starting at 82 watt hours, instead of the rated 84