Is Thinner Always Better?? - HP Spectre 2016 Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,762 words · ~8 min read
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this is the HP Spectre the newest
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thinest not to be confused with the 2012
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HP Envy Spectre one and at a mere 10.4
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mm it is the thinnest Notebook on the
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planet not that we're saying it couldn't still be sexy if it wasn't because on
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that note then is thin the only Factor
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when it comes to sex appeal or could the Spectre have weaknesses that lurk
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beneath its unblemished glowing skin that overshadow its strengths let's find
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out tunnel bear is the simple VPN app
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tunnel bear for free check out the link in the video
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description so the newest Spectre Sports an aluminum and carbon fiber
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construction with a pleasing metallic
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Brown I mean I don't know there's probably a fancy lipstick word for this
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and a Shiny Gold ghetto booty accent at
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the back that gives it a look that won't go particularly well with my sense of
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style but that certainly hits the elegant and sophisticated Mark if that's
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what HP was aiming for Simplicity is the
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name of the game here and on top we find hp's redesigned logo I did poke fun at
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it on Instagram but I actually really like it and not a whole lot else on the
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bottom are the air intakes for the Hyperbaric cooling system that HP has
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borrowed from Intel and some non-slip feet on the right side we find nothing
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on the left side we find nothing on the front we find nothing but an indent for
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the one finger operated and very stealthy hinge and finally around back
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we're treated to an IO selection that looks a lot more Barren than it actually
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is so far right is a headphone microphone combo Jack far left is a
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type-c connector that handles USB 3 5 GB connectivity and power input for the
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included 45 wat adapter then in the middle is where things get very
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interesting these type c ports are both
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packing Thunderbolt 3 heat meaning that they can drive 4K DisplayPort monitors
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a daisy chain of up to six supported devices each USB 3 10 GB per second or
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they can actually Act as alternate power inputs if you had a bulky device to plug
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in and wanted to put it over in the edge one this is a lot better than the
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current generation MacBook and its wimpy single type-c USB 5 gbit connector that
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requires a hub or a dongle to plug in
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anything while charging but I criticized
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Apple for sacrificing functionality to the thin and light gods and while hp's
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sacrifice is not quite as extreme they're not going to get away completely
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unscathed here first though let's talk hardware specs inside the spectre's tiny
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frame HP has managed to cram an Intel Core i5 6200u so that's a hyperthreaded
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dual core at 2.3 to 2.8 GHz 8 gigs of
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lpddr3 memory 256 gigs of PCIe storage a
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2x2 AC Wireless solution a 38w hour
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lithium ion Hybrid battery and four bang and Olson approved speakers with core i7
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models with up to 512 gigs of storage also available and I have to give credit
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where credit is due here while the Spectre might lose a bit of the premium
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feel that normally comes with using high-end materials like aluminum and
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carbon fiber thanks to hp's Mission to keep weight and thickness down to a
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minimum it's obvious that tremendous care and attention went into the
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execution of this device the screen is
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Bright Beautiful and rocking a very uniform IPS panel that lacks touch but
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whose strong contrast performance makes it look better than the mere 1080p
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resolution would suggest and I still believe 1080p is enough at 13 in the
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speakers while not especially loud manage their full range without any
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noticeable Distortion and without causing unpleasant vibrations elsewhere
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in the chassis a frequent problem with thin and light notebooks and most
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surprisingly the keyboard is a joy to use with this satisfying stiffness at
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the top of the keystroke that makes the travel feel longer than it is this is
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right up there with my favorite notebook keyboards from both a speed and accuracy
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perspective as especially impressive considering the thickness of the device
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overall but not all the news is great
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the cooling solution works really well at room temperature keeping the fan off
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in idle and light load conditions and reasonably quiet even Under full load
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but in spite of the Hyperbaric cooler
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which by the way is just a fancy way of saying High static pressure intake fans
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versus the standard exhaust fan configuration sitting in the bedroom of
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my non-air conditioned house or going out into our warehouse on a 28° C Day
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yielded some pretty unpleasant surface temperatures even at idle in the default
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cool control fan profile with the high performance one forcing The Fairly whiny
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fans to work quite a bit harder even my
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blade 14 not known as a particularly cool running device was noticeably
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better in this regard to be clear this isn't a huge shot against it I mean the
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CPU is much faster than what you'd find in a Macbook and never thermal throttled
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in my testing but if you live somewhere hot it is something you should be aware
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of as is the inclusion of mcafe live safe on the kind of low power machine
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that manages to sit between 5 and 10% CPU usage while idling at the desktop
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other than that the bloatware installations were really not that bad
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the webcam is super mediocre something that I wish wasn't true of any device
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that's advertised as being for business use on a manufacturer's website and the
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click pad while gesture enabled frustrated me with its inability to
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register left clicks when you touch the very edge of the pad during two-handed
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operation though with that said it has boatloads of customization options and
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as long as your name isn't line of Sebastian you'll probably get it working
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just fine for you as long as you don't mind the below average size which I
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guess draws us perfectly then into the conclusion the last time I looked at a
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somethingest laptop in the world it was the gram and I praised LG for finding a
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unique identity for their product and seeing it through even if it meant some
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compromises that hurt usability but what was different about what LG did was that
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instead of beating out the competition by a hair in a way that's not really
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noticeable day today while hurting the everyday convenience of the device
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single type a port would have helped a lot here they crushed the competition I
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mean the gram is 10% lighter than even the Spectre whose screen is 2 in smaller
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diagonally in a way that stands out much more to me than another thin and light
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even though it's the thinnest one yet with that said hp's Target customer is
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not me that much was obvious from the moment that I wanted to plug in a mouse
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and a UB key for multiactor authentication and needed to search high
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and low for another adapter separate from the one that they helpfully by the
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way do include in the box but while it would be easy for me then to say well
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just buy the razor blade stealth that makes a lot more sense I mean if I'm
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carrying a laptop already what's another 2 mm for higher performance a
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touchscreen and a more premium feel the stealth also completely misses the style
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Mark for the young professional demographic that HP appears to be
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targeting with the Spectre and that's something that I think they nailed so if
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you're a yepy or a yucky or whatever it is that they call them these days and
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it's between this and a Macbook I'd say take the Spector for
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sure and you know what else I'd take for sure a look at massdrop.com they've got
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all kinds of great deals and the principle is pretty simple massdrop has
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this massive community of people who want to buy cool stuff but don't want to
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pay full price and they've got great connections with authorized Distributors
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and directly with manuf facturers who want to sell stuff to those people so
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they bring them together they go hey we got a bunch of people who want to buy it can you lower the price they go hey we
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got a lower price y'all want to buy it everybody freaking wins and they've even
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gone a step further beyond that very successful formula and collaborated with
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certain manufacturers to create massdrop Edition products and the one that we're
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highlighting today is the K7 XX Mass
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drop Edition headphones from AKG now if
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you're not familiar with with that particular headphone it's the same as
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the k7xx that I checked out in my video which you can look at up here but in a
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nutshell they were configured by massdrop and manufactured by AKG they're
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open-backed headphones with large cushy ear cups genuine leather on the
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headbands and memory foam ear pads with Valour covering they've got a 2-year
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warranty which is covered by mast drop and you can order from anywhere but a
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$25 fee will be assessed on International orders still a pretty darn
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good deal though check it out at the link in the video
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