HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

HP’s new Spectre x360 13: Shrunk down and supercharged with Ice Lake

More refined than last year’s full-on overhaul, the recent HP Spectre x360 shaves off almost an inch of depth, creeps into its super-slim screen bezel, a small IR camera, and offers amazing battery life. Special mention about this machine is its on board Ice Lake chip set

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

Specifications:

  • Core i5-1035G1 or Core i7-1065G7
  • Intel UHD G1 (Core i5) or Integrated Iris Plus (Core i7)
  • Up to 16GB of RAM (LPDDR4)
  • Up to 1TB SSD Storage Drive with 32GB of Intel Optane memory
  • 13.3-inch 1W FHD (400 nits), FHD with Sure View privacy toggle (1,000 nits, available January 2022), UHD AMOLED (400 nits)
  • Wi-Fi 6 (optional Gigabit LTE with 4×4 antennas)
  • one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports, combo audio jack
  • 15.5 x 7.66 x 0.67 in size
  • Weights 2.88 pounds

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HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

The brand new HP Spectre x360 13 is set to launch in October, offering the same elegant gem-cut design as its ancestor, although a ruler will allow you to measure that it’s almost an inch (or 23 mm, to be precise) less deep. That’s a great trick provided what is inside: Intel’s 10th generation Ice Lake CPU, along with your selection of either quad-core i5 ($1,100) or i7 ($1,300 and up) settings, full with Iris Plus Advanced Core i7 models graphics.

Making the contract better is up to 22 hours battery life depending on the panel you select. Above all, let’s talk about Ice Lake. Here we have two quad-core choices: The Core i5-1035G1 with Intel UHD G1 graphics, or the Core i7-1065G7 with Iris Plus graphics supplied.

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

 

In a fundamental Ice Lake performance preview, it was observed that 10th-gen Ice Lake CPUs had amazing results in terms of multi-core encryption and encoding responsibilities, while the Iris Plus graphics output was integrated, it rivals entry-level graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce MX150.

It is being said, Ice Lake’s efficiency enhancements will be far less dramatic for daily single-core activities such as browsing the internet and Office, while the Core i5’s integrated Intel UHD G1 key is more in line with prior Whisky Lake processors. In this latest HP Spectre x360 13, we’re going to be curious to see how the i7 and i5 Ice Lake chips perform.

Cooling and Thermals

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

So, how did HP manage a narrower shell with an additional challenging Ice Lake CPU? Then first, let’s note that the brand new HP Spectre x360 13 is definitely probably about one inch deeper than its predecessor, it is 2 mm thicker in addition with 10 grams of extra weight.

In any other case, HP says it has massively boosted the air outlet height of the laptop from 2.5 mm to 2.8 mm, adding an inlet hole to the back vent and increasing the amount of heat pipes from 1 to 3. Under the keyboard there are also more inlet holes, plus a bottom graphite sheet for additional heat disbursement.

Display and Bezels

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

Next, let’s try to jump to the display or rather, the ultra-slim top and bottom bezels of the screen, with the top bezel now 5.85 mm (previously 17.35 mm or a decrease of 66.3%), while the lower bezel is only 11.09 mm (compared to 25.82 mm in 2018), the general screen-to-body ratio is 90 percent. On paper, that looks great, and the almost bezel-less screen looks a lot better in individuals.

HP developed a 2.2 mm IR webcam to hold the net / IR cam of the HP Spectre x360 within the tiny new prime bezel, which HP claims to be the smallest on earth to assist with Windows Hello authentication. HP claims their latest IR digital camera has a lower circumference than a rice grain, mostly relying on the plexiglass-encased pattern I’ve noticed, which sounds good.

As far as the display is concerned, there are three options to choose from: a one-watt, 400-nit full-HD display, a 400-nit UHD AMOLED display, and (available in January 2022) a 1,000-nit FHD display with HP’s Sure View privacy toggle, designed to foil prying eyes by substantially reducing the viewing angles of the screen. You will also have the option of an anti-reflection and anti-smudge floor for each display.

Battery and Design

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

HP offers up to 22 hours of battery life from the 60Wr battery of the HP Spectre x360 13, but that’s only with the 1-watt FHD 400-nit panel. If you go with the Sure View toggle for the 4K OLED or the 1,000-nit FHD, your battery life expectations will have to be moderated accordingly. (HP did not offer us OLED or Sure View panel battery estimates).

The latest HP Spectre x360 features entirely the same gem-cut design and extruded CNC aluminum shell as its predecessor, even though its footprint may be smaller, and it also carries some of our favorite design decisions. For example, the installation button nevertheless sits on one of many rear angled corners, helpful to protect it from unintentional pushes, whereas on the opposite angled nook sits one of many two Thunderbolt 3 ports.

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

A side switch that disables the IR webcam electrically, while a fresh devoted microphone mute button on the keyboard will not only mute the built-in microphone of the HP Spectre x360, but microphones on headsets or other linked devices as well. An integrated LED indicator lets you know the activation of the microphone mute.

Memory options will embody 8 GB or 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, which should enable multitasking headroom loads, while storage choices vary from a 256 GB healthy state drive to a spacious 1 TB Intel SSD with Optane 32 GB reminiscence.

At the networking door, the HP Spectre x360 could have Wi-Fi 6 and optionally available gigabit LTE, with 4×4 transmitters for concurrent Wi-Fi and LTE streaming and downloading.

 

HP’s Spectre x360 13 - An Inch Slim - Review & Guides
HP’s Spectre x360 13 – An Inch Slim – Review & Guides

Overall, this latest version of the HP Spectre x360 13 looks even more enticing than the last one, and I can’t wait to see how it operates with Ice Lake under the hood. We plan to place it on our check bench all the time when it goes on sale next month, so stay tuned.

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