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sponsoring this video. So if we open up the second box, which I've gotta say is
actually really nicely done, we have the laptop itself! I'm actually curious,
is this real aluminum? It looks like it. Oh yeah, that's real metal.
I actually like the brushed
metal finish on the side here. The entire laptop feels very sturdy considering how thin it is. Also included in the box
is the HP Active Stylus. The idea here is that not only do you have the sort of flexibility that you get with being able to flip the screen around, but also it does have
what hopefully should be a pretty decent stylus
that comes in the box.
I really do like the
way this computer looks. Having an aluminum chassis
and pretty much aluminum everywhere you look and touch feels nice. Also having something like
a glass trackpad really does make it feel like a much
more premium product. In addition to the pair
of Thunderbolt 3 ports, you also have a fingerprint
sensor on the side.
You've got the volume rocker, and on the flip side, not only do we have a standard full-size USB port, but you also get the headphone jack, power button, as well
as a microSD card slot. This really is thin! Something that keeps
jumping out to me is that the thickest part of the chassis
is only barely thick enough to actually support a full-size USB port. The new Spectre x360 starts at $1150, but the model I have here is $1250 and comes with a Core i7-8550U, eight gigabytes of RAM, and a 256 gig SSD. Because this guy's running
the new 8th-gen processors, it really does transform it
from being a normal Ultrabook to something that feels a lot faster.
One of my big issues with
previous thin and light laptops was that while they
had great battery life, the performance was just decent. However, with these new 8th-gen processors that have a quad-core chip inside, it actually makes a huge difference to how fast these things feel, especially when you're doing
stuff like heavy multitasking, it absolutely can keep up with a desktop. But you're still
getting the great battery life that you would expect out of an Ultrabook. You can absolutely see
that in the benchmarks.
In Geekbench, not only does
this completely destroy last generation Core i5s and i7s, but really it's just not that far off from higher-end gaming
laptops as well as desktops. If you need even more, this guy's available
with up to 16 gigs of RAM. And a one terabyte SSD. And if you opt for the 15-inch
version of the x360, it also has dedicated
NVIDIA MX150 graphics.
This version of the
Spectre x360 comes with a 13.3-Inch 1080p IPS display
covered in Gorilla Glass, but there is also a 4K option. Now I'm sure the 4K looks great, but I've actually gotta say
the 1080p is not bad either. Personally, especially
on a 13-inch laptop, I kind of prefer 1080p
as a nice sweet spot between screen resolution
as well as battery life. As far as the battery goes, the x360 has a 60-watt hour battery which combined with the 8th-gen
processor and 1080p display, means that getting
through a full day of use without the charger
shouldn't be too difficult.
So HP claims that you can get up to 16 hours of battery on a charge. That combined with the
fast-charging power adapter means the battery life really
isn't a problem with this guy. When it comes to a Windows 10 laptop, a touchscreen really is the way to go. A lot of the time I use
the keyboard and trackpad, but so often, it's just
helpful to be able to reach up and touch the screen.
Now because this is the
x360 version of the Spectre, we also have a fully adjustable display. So we can flip it around
to use it in display mode, you also can flip it upside
down and use it in tent mode, and because this is such
a thin and light laptop, you can use it in tablet mode. Most of the time when it
comes to a 13-inch laptop, a tablet mode isn't too useful, but because this guy is so thin and light, it actually works pretty well here. That is especially helpful
when you use the HP Pen.
I am by no means an artist, but I've gotta say that
doodling with the pen is actually pretty fun. Of course, you can use
it for more serious stuff than coloring... I mean sketching. Stuff like notes would
be really helpful here.
It's definitely a nice thing
to have included with a laptop. The rest of the input
is pretty good as well. The keyboard has great travel, it has good spacing. I like the back-lighting.
The only thing that
slightly tripped me up was the Home, Page Up, and Page Down keys on the right side of the keyboard, but once I got used to
that, it's no problem. Now the trackpad is decent. So hardware-wise, it
does have a glass surface and the tracking is pretty smooth, however the problem is it doesn't have Windows Precision drivers. Something that really jumps
out to me is the audio.
Now this has a set of
Bang and Olufsen speakers. A lot of the time branding doesn't make a huge difference on a laptop, but this guy is rocking a
full-force speaker setup. ("Native Son Prequel" by Gramatik
featuring Orlando Napier) Dude! That is really good! So not only is there a fair bit of bass, but there's just a ton of volume, and it really doesn't distort either. The Spectre also has a 1080p webcam.
Now you guys can judge the
quality for yourselves. I think it's fine for a video call, but you probably won't want to start a new YouTube channel with it. The Spectre has support for Windows Hello with both a fingerprint sensor as well as an IR camera
for facial recognition. I actually really do like
the fingerprint sensor, and while it is a little
bit odd to have it on the side of the device, it's much preferable to not having a fingerprint sensor at all, you know, like a certain
$1000 phone or something.
With Windows 10 on board, there's also Cortana support. (Cortana powering up) What is the meaning of life? (Cortana powering up) - [Cortana] I've heard
from a reliable source that the answer is 42. - I've liked portable
laptops like the Spectre x360 for a long time, but now that you can get quad-core power while still
keeping the battery life, it makes them so, so much more attractive. Again, big shout-out to HP for
making this video possible.
If you guys want to check
out this Spectre X360, the link will be in the description. You should also check out
the Holidays Unboxed channel over at youtube.Com/unboxed
where you can find some of the latest and greatest
unboxings this holiday season. Anyway, guys, thank you
so much for watching and I will catch you on the next one!.