HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review

HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review.. For an extended period, the HP Spectre x360 has consistently held the top position among the finest laptops in my opinion. However, after many years of minor CPU boosts, the design hasn’t really evolved. With the new Spectre x360 14, however, everything has changed.

This laptop debuted at CES 2024, and I had the opportunity to evaluate it early. With a redesigned haptic feedback touchpad, a smoother design, and a little bigger display, this device is all upgrades. Taking everything into account, it will be difficult to top HP’s Spectre x360 14 in 2024.

Specs and configurations

Although final pricing is still being determined, the Spectre x360 14 starts at $1,650 as of the time this article was written. That seems to be for the base model, which comes with a 512GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, and an Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU. A significantly enhanced computer with 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a Core Ultra 7 155H would cost $1,970, which is what my review setup comes with.

Although these costs might vary after the laptop is released, the Spectre x360 14 is definitely in the premium laptop category until they significantly decrease.

HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review: Design and ports

Afar, the Spectre x360 14 has a striking resemblance to its predecessor. However, things seem different up close. One of the display corners has a 3.5mm audio connector and the other a Thunderbolt 4 port, keeping the most recognizable and useful design characteristic of the Spectre.

However, the edges of the chassis have been rounded off and are now painted in either Sahara silver, Nightfall black, or Slate blue to match the rest of the chassis. Compared to the previous generation, I think the more minimalist design that these improvements have created to be even more appealing. Though it doesn’t look quite as beautiful as a MacBook Pro, you won’t mistake the Spectre x360 14 for one. When the display is open, the Spectre also looks fantastic. Its huge haptic touchpad, which occupies the area on the palm rest, and its roomy, off-color keyboard with strong text are flanked by tiny speaker grills.

The CNC-machined lid and chassis of the Spectre x360 14 exhibit no bending, flexing, or twisting, maintaining the line’s legendary build quality. Although Dell utilizes a dual-clutch hinge on its XPS laptops, Apple’s hinge is smoother. However, since the Spectre x360 14 is a convertible 2-in-1, a new mechanism is needed to accommodate the entire 360-degree rotation.

Speaking of which, the Spectre seems somewhat less contemporary because to the bigger bottom display bezel that allows for a 2-in-1’s versatility.

It’s interesting to note that the new model is hardly wider than the old one, while having a display that is half an inch bigger. It weighs just a few ounces extra and is exactly as thin and deep. This gives it much greater screen real estate while yet being just as portable. The MacBook Pro 14 is heavier and slimmer, although it has about the same depth and breadth. The MacBook Pro feels thicker in the hand as a result.

For a 14-inch laptop, connectivity is adequate, with two Thunderbolt 4 connections, one USB-A connector, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The new Spectre model does not include the microSD card reader found in the previous generation, while some 14-inch laptops, such as the MacBook Pro 14, also have an HDMI connector. That is disheartening. However, the laptop’s Meteor Lake processor, which offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 in addition to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, improves wireless connection.

HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review: Keyboard and touchpad

Large keycaps and enough key spacing characterize the Spectre x360 14’s keyboard, while its clicky, light switches are another feature. I wasn’t nearly as thrilled with them, however, since they don’t seem quite as quick as previous iterations. Though I would also put Dell’s XPS keyboard ahead of this one, Apple’s Magic Keyboard is still the greatest. Even if it’s not as fantastic as I recall, this keyboard is still excellent.

HP has finally integrated a haptic touchpad on the Spectre, a technique that’s only beginning to gain traction in the market. Not one of the haptic touchpads I’ve tested on other Windows laptops compares to Apple’s Force Touch model. Their fake clicks have been less sensitive, and some have had trouble holding onto clicks for too long, which results in an unnatural sensation and accidental screen interactions.

Nonetheless, the Spectre x360 14’s implementation is almost as excellent as Apple’s. It feels as natural and is surprisingly bigger than the MacBook Pro 14’s touchpad. The Spectre is the first laptop running Windows that can compete with Apple in this area. The one feature that HP’s touchpad lacks is Apple’s Force Click, which offers a practical way to swiftly access more functionality.

Since the Spectre x360 14 is a convertible 2-in-1, a touch display with active pen capability is also a feature. I miss that feature while using an Apple computer since it distinguishes it from any MacBook. Assuming you don’t mind holding onto a tablet that weights more than three pounds, HP’s pen support is superb, and the Spectre x360 14 is a wonderful platform if you want to sketch or take notes.

HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review: AI everywhere

In order to expedite different AI operations, the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) incorporated into Meteor Lake is being touted as one of the hot issues of 2024. Although the precise use of AI in our daily computing has not yet been completely elucidated, HP provides some indication in its press releases by emphasizing how AI has enhanced the performance of the Spectre in a number of important areas.

First off, HP has long produced some of the highest-resolution cameras; the Spectre x360 14 model now has a 9MP camera with hardware-enabled lowlight settings built right in. Furthermore, HP claims that using Windows Studio Effects for improved background blurring and automated framing results in AI-reduced power consumption. I couldn’t tell that this version of the camera and related software was superior than previous non-AI iterations, but it did function well.

The NPU powers the user presence-sensing feature of the Spectre x360 14. The Spectre’s infrared camera, which is also compatible with Windows 11 Hello face recognition, allows it to be locked and sleep when the user goes away and to be unlocked and woken up when they return. When the user averts their gaze from the screen, it may also darken.

AI is also used to improve the way that heat, fan noise, and performance are tuned according to open applications, the actual location of the Spectre, and the amount of battery life left. Even the automated switching of the display’s refresh rate from 48Hz to 120Hz is mentioned by HP.

Although it’s unclear how AI improves upon previous models’ capabilities, it’s likely that things are more responsive and seamless. But I couldn’t put it to the test.

HP also provides some other instances of how the NPU may be used, such as using the Adobe Premiere Pro beta for AI video editing and quicker generative AI performance in GIMP’s Stable Diffusion function.

The mention of “Superpower,” a personal AI assistant that runs on the NPU and is capable of handling meeting action items, summarizing subjects, composing emails, and other activities, was perhaps the most fascinating. Although I was unable to test that feature either, it is obvious that AI will have some unanticipated effects on computers.

HP Spectre x360 14 (2024) review: Performance

Apart from AI, Meteor Lake is also meant to provide improved efficiency and speedier performance thanks to a new design that involves technical aspects that are beyond the purview of this evaluation. I put the Spectre to the test using the Core Ultra 7 155H, a 28-watt CPU that has 22 threads operating at up to 4.8GHz and 16 cores—six Performance, eight Efficient, and two Low Power Efficient. Additionally, the laptop may be customized with the Core Ultra 5 125H, which has 18 threads operating at up to 4.5GHz and 14 cores (eight Efficient, eight Performance, and two LP Efficient).

Aside from specs and architectures, the CPU-intensive performance of my Spectre x360 14 review unit in performance mode is somewhere between the 28-watt, 12-core Core i7-1360P and the 45-watt, 14-core Core i7-13700H. Based on our database, the Spectre outperforms the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 with the Core i7-1360P, and the Asus Zenbook 14X OLED with the Core i7-13700H. In other words, it performed in multi-core work about as quickly as the Asus, but it was slower in single-core chores than both. Notably, the M3 CPU from Apple offers much higher single-core performance but somewhat less multi-core performance.

I also used the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark, which utilizes the GPU to accelerate a number of processes while running in a live version of Adobe Premiere Pro. Normally, I wouldn’t run that test on a laptop in this class, but I was curious to see how the Intel Arc graphics fared. With eight Intel Xe GPU cores, Arc is Intel’s newest integrated graphics on Meteor Lake, with better performance than Intel’s prior Iris Xe graphics.

Sadly, the Spectre didn’t do well, only scoring 258 on the test. PugetBench version 545 was achieved by the Acer Swift X 14 with a Core i7-13700H processor and the entry-level Nvidia RTX 4050 discrete GPU; however, we haven’t tested it on any laptops with Intel Iris graphics. Yes, the Spectre was just half as quick. Keeping in mind that the MacBook Pro 14 with M3 Max, which received a score of 889, is the quickest laptop we have tested.

Though it’s early, firmware upgrades might very well make things better. Meteor Lake isn’t exactly revolutionizing laptop performance just yet; the Spectre x360 14 is best suited for intensive productivity usage and should only be used for light creative work. Not a game-changer, but quick enough.

Note that I did not test the Spectre x360 14’s gaming capabilities. In his review of Meteor Lake in the Acer Swift Go 14, my editor Luke Larsen spoke about gaming. However, I did test the Intel Arc graphics with 3DMark Time Spy, and they performed better than the Intel Iris Xe graphics, but not as well as the RTX 4050 graphics.

Because of that outcome and Luke’s experience, you won’t noticeably be able to game any better on the Spectre than you would have on the prior model. You will be able to run older games on the laptop, but if you want to play any newer games, you will have to completely disable the graphics.

It’s also important to note that HP does not provide a separate graphics solution. The Spectre line of laptops has always been weak points, and this one is no exception. The Spectre x360’s absence of an option for an RTX 4050 is more noticeable now that it falls into the 14-inch bracket. Take a look at the just released Dell XPS 14.

The battery life of Meteor Lake is the next crucial question. Since the architecture’s declared objective is efficiency, I anticipated the Spectre x360 14 to have a longer lifespan. The Spectre x360 14 has a power-hungry 2.8K OLED display and a battery life of 68 watt hours, which is about typical for 14-inch laptops. Thus, there are other aspects to take into account than the CPU alone.

I’m not sure whether the Core Ultra 7 155H is a very efficient CPU in light of everything. In our online surfing test, the Spectre ran for eight hours, and in our movie looping test, it ran for 12.5 hours. While the latter is somewhat over normal, the former is around average. With an OLED panel and a 15-watt Intel Core i7-1255U, the previous generation Spectre x360 13.5 achieved 10 hours of online surfing time and 14 hours of movie looping. But the machine wasn’t quite as quick. Next, we must take into account Apple’s MacBook Pro 14, which has a mini-LED display and a very quick CPU, lasting closer to eighteen hours in both tests.

More testing of Meteor Lake laptops will be necessary before we can make any significant judgments. For the time being, all that has to be said is that, depending on how you use it, the Spectre x360 14 may last you one whole workday. I’m not sure, however.

An excellent OLED display and much-improved audio

The 2.8K OLED display of the Spectre x360 14 has been discussed extensively in the past, so there isn’t much new to say about it. It seems amazing straight out of the box, with vivid, lively colors and deep blacks. High dynamic range (HDR) video is a pleasure to see, and Disney+ material that makes use of the IMAX technology included into the Spectre makes the experience even more delightful. It offers distinct aspect ratios and improved audio quality, and it functions well.

My colorimeter confirmed this. At 391 nits, which is much over our 300-nit criterion, the OLED display is sufficiently bright to operate in light indoor environments. The blacks were unquestionably black and had a striking contrast that beyond comprehension. At 100% of sRGB, 97% of AdobeRGB, and 100% of DCI-P3, colors were broad and accurately represented, with a Delta-E of 0.68 (a human eye cannot discriminate between anything less than 1.0).

To put it simply, the display has excellent picture quality and is sufficiently crisp. It is appropriate for all types of users, whether they use it for media consumption, creativity, or work.
In addition, the Spectre x360 14 has quad speakers with Poly audio tuning, which consist of two front-firing woofers and two upward-firing tweeters. Apple’s MacBook Pros have always set the bar for excellent audio quality. With six speakers and force-cancelling subwoofers, they generate powerful, dramatic, and rich sound that no other laptop can match.

With lots of distortion-free loudness, crisp mids and highs, and more bass than any other 14-inch Windows laptop I’ve tested, I’m happy to report that the Spectre shockingly closes the gap. Even if its sound quality isn’t nearly as fantastic as that of the MacBook Pro, the Spectre nevertheless produces amazing sound that will make you forget you’re using headphones.

Meaningful improvements add up to a superior 2-in-1

The Spectre x360 14 is not a bad performer, despite doubts about the effectiveness and performance of the Meteor Lake processor. It has excellent to excellent battery life and is quick enough for all but the most demanding developers. Its new design is both stylish and practical, and its display and audio quality are superb.

I’m giving the Spectre x360 14 a near-perfect rating as the finest convertible 2-in-1 I’ve used since there are a lot of positive aspects about it. Maybe HP will fine-tune the Meteor Lake chipset to increase efficiency and performance. Furthermore, I doubt that all of the AI covered in the marketing brochures is really valuable. As it is, however, I can heartily endorse the Spectre.

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