A Perfect Convertible Ultraportable Notebook

HP Spectre x360 13

- Kenny Yeo

AT A GLANCE

PROCESSOR Intel Core i7-1065G7

MEMORY 16GB

STORAGE 512GB SSD

PRICE $2,688

The latest version of HP’s flagship convertible notebook boasts numerous improvements over its predecessor.

The overall design hasn’t changed. It still features sharply chiseled edges and has a highly angular profile with bold accents, but it’s much more compact thanks to smaller bezels.

The thickness of the bezels has been more than halved. 11.5mm have been shaved from the top bezel, bringing it down from 17.35mm to just 5.85mm. Fortunately, this hasn’t come at the expense of the web camera, which remains above the display and still supports Windows Hello. The bottom bezel sees an equally big reduction – from 25.82mm to 11.09mm. The net effect of all this bezel shrinking means the new Spectre x360 13 has an 11% smaller footprint than its predecessor. And if you are obsessed about screen-to-body ratios, the new Spectre x360 13’s 90% count totally trumps its predecessor’s 78%.

There are big changes on the inside too. The newest Spectre x360 13 is powered by Intel’s 10th generation Ice Lake processors. As usual, there will be several configurations to choose from, with options up to Core i7 processors, 16GB of memory, and 2TB of speedy PCIe M.2 SSD storage. The unit we tested has a Core i071065G7, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

The cooling system has been improved too. Larger air intakes and vents improve air circulation, while a beefier internal cooling system consisting of two fans and three heat pipes draw heat more efficiently away from the processor to improve performance.