For those digging the convertible notebook concept, solid choices abound. HP’s Spectre x360[1] has been at the top of the heap for a while, neck and neck with the Microsoft Surface Book[2]. As it goes with these things, HP has updated the x360 to keep with the times and the competition. While it hasn’t reinvented the converti-wheel with this 2018 release, it has re-solidified its position at the top of the pack.
If you’re familiar with recent vintages of the x360, this version will look awfully familiar. It carries the same 360-degree convertible hinge to allow for use as a laptop, a slate tablet, and everything in between, plus a similar, all-business color scheme of slate gray and coppery metallics. (That’s "dark ash silver" for those in the know; two other colors are also available.) While the design has been lightly tweaked here and there, it’s a very close sibling to the 2017 model[3].
While specs have been updated for 2018 components, my review unit was on the lower end of HP's configuration spectrum. That means a relatively slow 1.6GHz Core i5 processor. Also onboard were 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and screen with the resolution capped at 1920 x 1080 pixels. Those are largely entry-level specs today, but the new Spectre x360 still performed roughly on par with the beefed-up 2017 model on most of my benchmark tests—and bested it by a healthy margin on a few of the more up-to-the-moment graphics tests. Connectivity includes two USB-C/Thunderbolt ports (one is used for charging), a full size USB 3.1 port, and a microSD card reader. A tiny fingerprint scanner is built into the right side panel as well.
The HP Pen (included with this model,...