While experimenting with some light editing work in Adobe Photoshop, DCI-P3 mode was the best option, providing crisp, color-accurate visuals. Measuring 12.8 x 9.03 x 0.41 inches and weighing 2.45 pounds, the Spectre makes systems that would normally be considered slim seem fat.

Its use limits the movement of the lid, so it doesn’t tilt back quite far enough when you’re working with the Spectre 13 on your lap in a cramped space. I listened to “Diamonds” by Sam Smith at max volume, and while the snappy, vocal-heavy tune sounded decent, I wish it got a bit louder. The Dell XPS 13 remains our favorite notebook overall because of its long battery life, nearly bezel-free screen and strong port selection. The Spectre also features an HD webcam flanked on each side by a mic, providing crisp audio for video calls and voice chat. More complex tasks like rendering and video encoding are more of an option here thanks to the expanded memory and new, more powerful processor. Size: 14.17 x 8.91 x 0.79 in The color gamut isn’t wide enough for creative professionals, but that’s true of most laptops not specifically intended for that kind of use. Visit our corporate site. Weight: 4.23 pounds, The HP Spectre x360 15 (starting at $1,599, reviewed at $1,849) must have approached Satan and said, “I want to have the most beautiful display in the world.” In response, the devil said, “I can do that for you, but in return, I want all of your battery life.” The Spectre x360 15 then shook Satan's hand and said, “You’ve got a deal!”, “Two hours and 51 minutes? The XPS 13 also boasts significantly better battery life than the Spectre, lasting 9:11 for the Core i7 version and a whopping 13:49 for a nontouch Core i5 model.

While 1.15mm of travel might sound a bit short, the keyboard's strong but not-too-stiff 65-gram actuation weight and crisp action were great. © Our review unit equips the quad-core i7-8565U, a great choice that I’ve always found meets my productivity needs. A number of options are available, with the option to custom-configure your own x360 on HP’s website. PublisherID: '585309391442756', Screen: 13.3-inch 4K (3,840 x 2,160) AMOLED When I put the thermal profile to Quiet, the fans never came on, although I never felt the need given that the laptop acted a lot like a fanless machine when set to HP Recommended.

Aside from the three USB-C connectors, the only other port is a 3.5mm headphone/mic jack. It retails for $1,200 for a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB PCIe SSD, $150 less than the Spectre x360’s retail price and $50 more than the Spectre x360’s current sale price. After all, it’s packing a power-consuming 4K, AMOLED, touchscreen display with a discrete graphics card and a powerful processor. Although I’m dragging this webcam to hell and back, HP does deserve some praise for its camera security features. The updated design eliminates almost all of the top and bottom bezels -- the forehead and chin -- allowing it to greatly reduce the overall footprint of something that was already pretty small to begin with. Streaming video and music were no problem either. It's spacious and has big, easy-to-read markings. Obviously, HP wants its laptop to stand out on store shelves, which it achieves, but I don’t think this translates well to the real world. It was only in the CPU-intensive Basemark web benchmark test that the Spectre x360 fell back in the pack. The Spectre x360 15 will appeal to stylish, professional content creators, but they’ll have to make some sacrifices, especially when it comes to battery life. There's also our $1,250 review configuration featuring a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.