HP Spectre x360 15 (2017) Review

This 15-inch Affordable, Thin-and-Light, Convertible Laptop Packs in Premium Features

Not everyone needs a quad-core processor and a dedicated graphics chip in a 15-inch laptop, much less a thin-and-light one. At least, that’s the wager HP made last year with its Spectre x360 15. The company packaged a dual-core CPU with integrated graphics and full-HD screen in an aluminum body, kept the weight at four pounds, and charged just $1,150.

The resulting 2-in-1 laptop offered the right mix of portability, performance, and value. If you only needed to check email, watch YouTube videos, color-correct the odd photo here and there, and edit documents—and you prefer not to lug around a tank—you had an affordable option. It looked great, too.

For 2017, HP has upped its ante and gone all-in on the value front: A Core i7 processor, 4K UHD touchscreen, discrete graphics, Windows 10 and larger 79 watt-hour battery are now standard features in the Spectre x360 15. And while the price has gone up, it’s not by as much as you might think.

Shiny New Parts

The Spectre x360 15 now starts at $1,280 for a 3840x2160 touchscreen, Core i7-7500U processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB M.2 PCIe-NVMe SSD, Nvidia GeForce 940MX graphics, and 79.2 watt-hour battery. In the US you can custom configure it on HP's site for as much as $1,770. However, the only important options you can select are the version of Windows 10 (Home or Pro), the amount of memory (8GB, 12GB or 16GB), storage (256GB, 512GB or 1TB PCIe SSD) and some warranty related options. For comparison’s sake, the 2016 Spectre x360 15’s base model featured a 1920x1080 touchscreen, Core i5-6200U processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, 256 M.2 SSD, and 63 watt-hour battery for $1,150. Laptop reviewed here is the $1,500 mid-tier version, which comes with a 512GB M.2 PCIe-NVMe SSD and 16GB DDR4 RAM.

The most dazzling piece of new hardware is the 15.6-inch IPS 4K UHD touchscreen with slimmer side bezels for a narrower profile. Colors look rich and bright, and details are beautifully crisp. The latter is most apparent when sifting through digital photos—it’s a welcome touch of luxury when editing a snapshot.

Paired with the display is a larger battery, which compensates nicely for the more power-hungry screen. In fact, battery life isn’t negatively affected at all by the higher-resolution panel—it’s actually slightly better this year.

The Core i7 processor and the discrete graphics are more modest upgrades, but they do afford some small performance boosts. As you’ll see, it’s not enough to shock anyone, but it’s certainly nice to have at the ready.

The Actual Cost

Not all of HP’s makeover is as delightful as the hardware upgrades. The facelift on the chassis is a mixed bag: While its footprint has shrunk, this laptop has also fattened up.

On paper, it sounds minimal. Last year’s Spectre was at 16.3 millimeters (0.64 inches) at the back edge, which then tapers down to 14.8 millimeters at the front edge. This year’s Spectre, on the other hand, starts at 18.0 millimeters (0.71 inches) at the back edge and finishes at 17mm at the front edge. The change in dimensions makes sense, of course—HP shrank the length of the Spectre x360 15 but still squeezed in a larger battery. So in the hand, however, the new Spectre feels a lot chunkier than its predecessor. That’s especially so because it’s heavier now, too.

It’s a real shame, too, because in this regard, the Spectre has ceded some of its advantage over its heavier quad-core rivals. For example, Dell’s Kaby Lake XPS 15 configured with a bigger 97 watt-hour battery weighs just an ounce more than this.

You also lose a couple of ports with the downsizing. Last year’s model came with three USB 3.0 Type-A ports; one USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-C port; full-size HDMI; Mini DisplayPort; and a headset jack. This year you get just one USB 3.0 Type-A port; a Thunderbolt 3 port that supports charging; a USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-C port that supports display output, data transfer, and charging; full-size HDMI; and a headset jack.

Fortunately, the types of ports included comprise a very functional assortment, so even though there’s no longer a dedicated Mini DisplayPort or more than one USB 3.0 Type-A port, you should be equipped for a variety of environments. HP generously includes a handful of dongles in the box, too: USB-C to USB-A, USB-C to VGA, and USB-C to ethernet.

Keyboard, Touchpad, and Stylus

Some of the changes to the body are superb—like the updated keyboard and touchpad. Key presses are crisper, making for more pleasant tactile feedback without inducing fatigue. It's also backlit, which is really great since I sit in the dark. For its part, the glass touchpad is big, has a smoother finish, feels comfy on your fingers and more importantly, better palm rejection.

Also excellent are the newly added pen support and the included stylus, in terms of both value (Microsoft’s Surface Pen used to be an optional $60 accessory) and accuracy. Just another way that HP crams more extras into this new Spectre x360 15 than we expected.

Performance

Overall, the Spectre x360 15 edged out last year’s slate of dual-core Skylake machines, including its predecessor. With its i7-7500U processor, 8GB of DDR4/2133 RAM, and PCIe-NVMe SSD, it has the benefit of a higher-clocked CPU with more threads and Kaby Lake’s improvements, as well as faster memory and fast storage.

Final Thoughts

HP’s revamp of the Spectre x360 15 went a different route than expected, but still impressive. This convertible will save most people cash by including the premium features they’ll use and leaving out the ones they won’t.

That said, the Spectre x360 15 has a lot more competition this year. Dell in particular has greatly expanded its XPS 15 configurations with the move to Kaby Lake. While you don’t get all of the same perks, the competition means you have a greater ability to pick the features you really want and ignore the ones you don’t. For example, if cost rules all, you can skip the 4K screen, PCIe-NVMe drive, and discrete graphics in the Spectre x360 15 and instead choose the $1,000 XPS 15 with a 1080p non-touch screen, 35-watt Core i3 processor, 500GB hard-disk drive, and no discrete graphics.

Opting for one of those Dell XPS 15 configs won’t get you everything though, and it certainly won’t get you a near-perfect balance of looks, performance, and value. For now, HP still has a lock on that sweet spot.