HP Spectre x360 13-ap0102TU 13.3-inch UHD Laptop (8th Gen Intel Core i7-8565U/16GB/1TB SSD/Win 10/MS Office 620) & Spectre Leather Sleeve

Review Unit: Intel Core i7-8565U (whiskey lake),16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 1W UHD (1080p) touchscreen with HP SureView, Dark Ash Silver with Copper accentsNote: Review submitted after 46 days of using laptop as daily driverThe HP Spectre ×360 is by far one of the most sleep Ultrabooks on the market. It's only competitor is perhaps the Dell XPS 13.In this review, I will be drawing many comparisons with the aforementioned Dell XPS of similar specifications.-----Design (5/5): The very first sight of my new Ultrabook was enough to make me fall in love with it. This is by far the most visually appealing laptop there has ever been (unless you're into big fat laptops from the early 2000s, in which case, this is definitely not for you). The color of the unit, the 'gem cut' design, the faceted corners, and pretty much everything about this laptop (including the luxurious, and thoughtful, packaging) screams premium.The Dell XPS has a rather elegant simplicity, but like most others, I would buy the HP Spectre just for its design. The side bezels are tiny, whereas the chin and upper bezels are relatively fat, which may give some a slightly aged impression. However, the extra bezel allows for a camera above the display (no nose cam like the 2017 XPS), one with Windows Hello IR facial recognition (which the its Dell counterpart doesn't have). Also, the same extra size on the keyboard deck allows for an extra speaker, which sounds beautiful (more on that later).Durability- The chassis is carved out of a single piece of aluminium, which makes for a very sturdy build. However, I did notice a good deal of flex on the screen, and on the keyboard deck. And after 45 days of usage, I realized that the right side of the keyboard deck was ever so slightly elevated, enough to wobble the screen when repeatedly pressed down.HP generally doesn't compare very well to Dell when it comes to build quality, but this laptop, being their most premium 13 incher, does fairly well in that domain.-----Port Selection (4/5): The ports on this device include 2 USB C Thunderbolt 3 ports, either of which can be used for charging (and one of which is placed on the right hand side chamfered corner), 1 USB A, a 3.5mm headphones jack, and a MicroSD card reader. As one can expect from a thin and light Ultrabook, there is no Optical reader on this device (nor is there an Ethernet cable port). This is great for legacy support, and at the same time, you can hook the laptop up to 2 4k monitors.-----Display (4/5): The display draws just 1W of power, which boosts its battery life by a good deal, as opposed to the general 2W displays. The shiny screen does accumulate a lot of fingerprints, as does the all metal body of the laptop, and can also be the source of some annoying glare. This problem is further compounded by a relatively low maximum brightness (again, owing to the low powered display), which may not be suitable for outdoor use (for dark, low contrast content like 'the Battle of Winterfell'.This unit also comes with the HP SureView feature, which on activation by a simple function key, washes out the screen, drastically reducing the viewing angles. I didn't find myself using this feature very often, but the small lot of people using this laptop for business purposes may benefit from it in public areas. Also, the washed out screen resembles the feeling you get when you have migraines (thankfully, on a much more tolerable level), but it's still very much usable.The colors on the screen are vibrant, and even the closest details can be observed rather easily without even having to upgrade to the 4K screen (which is the 2W non sure view version, and also costs a little more). The blacks are deep enough to mistake for an OLED screen, which came as a relief to me, as I'm obsessed with those.-----Sound (5/5): For buyers looking for a portable personal daily driver suitable for content consumption, if the display and design didn't do the trick, the sound will mesmerize you into buying it. Tuned by Bang & Olufsen, these speakers get it just right when it comes to higher notes. The lows are very good, but as one can expect from such a thin laptop, they don't produce the deepest bass. But again, none of the laptops in this segment do.The Spectre's design fits in 4 speakers, such that no matter what orientation the 2-in-1 device is positioned in, a speaker is always firing towards the user, which provides for an always crisp audio output. This was one reason as to why I was actually disappointed when HP refreshed the design with smaller bezels, which resulted in the omission of the speakers above the keyboard.-----Battery (5/5): As HP advertises, this battery is a monster. Of course, claims of 22-23 hours of battery are nowhere near the actual time I get on one charge, but I do get about 10+ hours on medium to heavy usage including an IDE, heavy web surfing, and intermittent videos being played. This is thanks to the low powered display I mentioned earlier.-----Performance (4.5/5): This is probably the only category in which the Dell XPS may surpass the Spectre, which is not to say that the HP Spectre isn't powerful enough, though. The Spectre's fast quad core processor blew right past anything I threw at it. However, the fans did kick in pretty soon. Although they don't produce too much of a noise, and are slightly customizable in the HP Command Center, I guess that's one of the not so perks of having an all metal design. The top of the keyboard deck did get a little hot, being metallic, but it was nothing beyond the expected levels.As far as graphic processing is concerned, the Spectre ships with Intel's integrated UHD 620 graphics, which is adequate for content consumption, and maybe even some light video editing and gaming. But don't expect the Spectre to be put to studio use without getting very hot, very quickly.Toshiba's NVME SSD (the fastest kind) proved to be blazing quick, producing amazingly high read and write speeds. Intel's Gigabit WiFi (WiFi 6) card also proved to be very, very quick, which I could see when YouTube automatically chose HD video quality at points in the house where I'd never before even been able to connect to the router, with older devices.-----Tablet Mode (4/5): As the name of the computer suggests, the hinge can rotate all of 360 degrees, enabling 4 different positions for you to use it in - Laptop mode, tablet mode, and the intermediary Tent and presentation modes. While the tablet and modes was really pleasant for content consumption, I found the presentation mode practically unusable, owing the the large amounts of screen wobble. This would probably be best suited for a long presentation or a large movie, where the laptop would just go untouched for a long time. The screen wobble was also too much to enjoy using the included HP Pen comfortably on laptop mode. I was also annoyed when Chrome didn't automatically open the on screen keyboard when I pressed the address bar (unless I used the pen). As with most other pens that come with convertible laptops, the HP Pen, although very smooth and useful (with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity) felt rather heavy to use. I look forward to them getting lighter, before using this to take hand written notes, which I wouldn't do anyway, on a laptop.-----Keyboard (5/5): HP, as always, impressed me with their wonderful keyboard. I took little time to adjust to this beauty, which had great feedback with its ample 1.4mm of key travel, and we'll spaced Chiclet style keys, with 3 different levels of back lighting, which was also very uniform with no bleeding.-----Trackpad (4.5/5): The glass trackpad is very wide, and tall enough for my liking. Many complain about the lack of Precision drivers for the trackpad, but I don't understand the furore. There is obviously a difference between the existing Synaptics drivers and the Windows native Precision drivers, but the great hardware reduces the difference into almost unnoticeable. The trackpad was adequately responsive, and all of Windows' multi finger gestures were supported, with the occasional, but never frustrating, hitch.----- Other Security Features: The Spectre also comes with a fingerprint reader connected right at THE BIOS level, which provides for a very secure method to log in to the device. However, the same results in the fingerprint reader being rather slow, painfully so at times. However, the facial recognition was really fast, and made up for it.In addition to the SureView display, HP also included a physical Webcam kill switch right below the USB C port on the right side, which when enabled, physically cuts power to the camera, and removes it at the BIOS level. This should provide some solace to you privacy freaks out there.----------The Verdict: 4.5/5The HP Spectre has long been my favorite laptop, but as with anything else under the sky, isn't perfect. I'd recommend it to anyone who needs a fast laptop at home, or for general productivity tasks. The high speed SSD and the quick processor got me through everything without ever complaining about speed, other then when YouTube switched from full screen to normal, and vice versa, which took about a second, enough to not go unnoticed.While I would have really appreciated an OLED screen (which will be a part of the refreshed version as recently announced by HP), this got me through everything just as well.Value for Money: 4.5/5While I wouldn't say that the price tag (at the time of buying) isn't hefty, it sure is justified by the sheet quality and speed of the hardware and software components on the device. Add to that the convertible nature of the laptop, and you've got yourself a bang for your buck.

It is one of the best laptop aesthetician available in the market and regarding functionality I believe any established brand will not compromise with its reputation and so with H.P. Further, it is working good till now.Hope H.P will keep the value of its machine and I will not loose trust over it.And also like to add "thanks" to Amazon for bringing SHOPPING to my doorstep.

Though it comes with rich features, it has serious motherboard issues. Google it and you'll know. Screen turns black, gets stuck in tablet mode etc,. In my case, my half of screen turned blank permanently within 4 days of purchase.

Worth every pennyA detailed review by another person above is vry true. Good perfomance. Good dat transfer speeds. Good design and body. Excellent battery life. Performance packed monster it is.

Working fine till now. But quiet expensive, Light product and quiet fast.

Awsum...Metal protected lapi.... I am willing to purchase another one next year for my sister....Nice speed..Thanks hpAnd also speed delivery from flipi

Great with this price

Good product .....Looking nice and very weight less fully made up of metal ...... Speed of process is hasum .