HP’s Spectre x360 won plenty of covetous glances when it was launched at CES 2016 back in January, and now the wait is over after the company has finally made the laptop available. As you may remember, the unit is a refresh of the 2015 Spectre x360, but it is one of the most premium looking laptops on the market.
Customers can pick up the Spectre x360 in two screen configurations, the 13.3-inch 2K (Quad HD, 2560 x 1440) UWVA BrightView OLED-backlit, multitouch-enabled, edge-to-edge glass display, and the 4K packing 15.6-inch version.
As is usually the case, consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to configuring their machine with the potential to run the final cost up very high. Microsoft’s Windows 10 platform is running the show, with Windows 10 Home 64 the standard load and Windows 10 Pro 64 available for an extra $70.
Both size variant of HP’s new laptops come with 6th Gen Intel Core i7-6500U Processor and Intel HD Graphics 520 paired with 8GB of RAM configuration. If you need more power you can go right up to a 6th Gen Intel® Core i7-6500U Processor and Intel Iris Graphics 520 with 16GB of RAM for an extra 150 bucks.
A 256GB solid state drive provides the storage capacity at the low end of the Spectre x360 range, while an additional $500 will afford you a meatier 1TB SSD.
The price for the core 13.3-inch model is $1499.99, which in itself is a lot but reflects the convertible’s position as one of HP’s premium laptops. If you want to configure it with everything but the kitchen sink, that will run you up to $2299.99.
It is worth noting that the 15.6-inch variant is not a convertible and as such its base price is $1149.99, although that is with a Full HD 1080p screen. HP has been generous with the pricing if you want the bump to 4K, with the added configuration costing just $60. If you want the full package of hardware upgrades, the Spectre x360 15.6-inch will cost you $1619.99.
Unless you do drawing or inking a lot I don’t think this is a worthwhile purchase. I owned one for a few weeks and sent it back. I would recommend the Dell Inspriron with the same form factor, nearly identical components for about $450 less than the HP Spectre, dollar for dollar its a much better buy.