This was probably not supposed to happen, at least not so soon after HP’s multiple CES product announcements, that timid EliteBook Revolve refresh, and last week’s business-oriented introductions.
But someone in the PC manufacturer’s camp messed up, and the unreleased Spectre 13 x360 was prematurely detailed on the interwebs. There’s even a promotional video up on YouTube, and so the convertible laptop holds very few secrets.
Smaller and yet superior in every other conceivable way to the 15.6-inch Envy x360, this bad boy couldn’t miss the opportunity to latch onto the increasingly popular Broadwell bandwagon. Unlike most machines powered by fifth-generation Intel CPUs though, the Spectre x360 looks to offer only Core i5 and i7 configurations.
No Core i3 means no chance for a “reasonable” price point, and no reason for HP to hold back the screen resolution, RAM or storage. Ergo, you should expect the 360-degree-bending beast to take on the best of the best in multipurpose laptops and ultrabooks.
It’s perhaps not an ideal gaming system, since it features integrated Intel HD5500 graphics, but otherwise, it’s the cream of the crop, with an impressive 2,560 x 1,440 pixel count, eight gigs of RAM, and up to a colossal 512GB in solid state storage.
A backlit keyboard is included and the 56 watt-hour battery is said to be good for up to 10 hours of continuous life. And then you have everything you might need on the connectivity side, including three USB 3.0 ports, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a miniDP connector, and an SD card slot.
As the name suggests, and the clip embedded above highlights, the Spectre x360 is “ultimately flexible”, with a touchscreen that “bends over backwards” to please. Ergo, while the keyboard isn’t detachable, the 13.3-incher can be easily used as a not-very-bulky Windows 8.1 tablet measuring 0.6 inches in depth, and tipping the scales at 3.2 pounds.
Retail costs remain the biggest question mark at the moment, though it feels safe to assume you won’t be able to come near the Core i5-packing HP Spectre 13 x360 with a penny under $1,000. And that’s being optimistic.
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