Let’s face it: the PC world of laptops is downright ugly. Lenovo has taken many strides in crafting beautiful, pleasant laptops that you won’t embarrass yourself with carrying around, but no one has really reached the calibre of Apple when it comes to ultra portable laptops. HP won’t have any more of this, it seems, and if the Spectre is any indication, Windows-based ultrabooks have a bright future ahead.
The Spectre is a marvel of a laptop, if only for the fact that it’s thinner than the MacBook. And it doesn’t look ugly. By Windows-based laptops’s standard, this alone is phenomenal. The Spectre is made of carbon fibre and aluminium, with an eye-catching gold finish to the back and the hinges. The speakers have an ornate, lovely pattern that seems laser cut, and the overall quality and finish of the Spectre sets it apart from the crowd. The only downside to the design is that it’s a magnet to fingerprints, so keep that wiping cloth nearby at all times.
Despite the stylish look and feel, the Spectre doesn’t try to do something extraordinary. In fact, this is probably its strongest point. The screen doesn’t bend all the way to 180 degrees, like the Lenovo Yoga. It doesn’t try to be a tablet, either, so you cannot detach the screen, nor is the screen touch-enabled to begin with. The HP Spectre is, first and foremost, a productivity laptop, and HP has instead put the focus on beefing up the specs while making it appealing enough stylistically and portable enough to find its place back in the ultra portable market.
The 13.3 inch screen is crisp, despite it having a max resolution of 1080p. For its purposes, and size, it’s fantastic, and Windows 10 looks beautiful on it. You also won’t run into the problem of programs that haven’t been yet optimised for higher resolutions, so in terms of productivity, the screen does its job. It’s quite bright as well. The limitation of the screen doesn’t come from the resolution, but rather hinges; they don’t pull backwards enough for my own taste. This isn’t a major issue per se; it’s a matter of preference. The MacBook screen, by comparison, would tilt backward even more, without having to venture into Lenovo Yoga territory.
Given that there is no touch screen, your only method of input is the keyboard. Thankfully, the Spectre’s full keyboard is responsive and comfortable. I never faced any issue while using it, even with speedy typing. The trackpad is fine, but I am spoiled by my MacBook Pro’s trackpad, so for all other laptops I generally plug in a mouse.
Speaking of plugging in things, probably the biggest advantage that the Spectre has over the MacBook is that it comes with three USB-C ports. This allows for significantly greater versatility, because let’s face it, you really do need those ports if you’re working in a serious manner.
The Spectre comes in i5 and i7 configurations, and they’re both quite capable of handling everything you dish out at them. Despite it being the thinnest laptop on the planet (as of this writing), the Spectre does have fans, and you would hear a little hum if you’re taxing the laptop too much. Nothing abnormal, though, and this is in literally every laptop out there. With 8GB of RAM, you can do quite a lot.
With all this praise, though, the battery is not that great. HP’s site claims nine hours of battery life, but with my uses, it’s usually around six. It’s not that bad, but don’t expect to be away from the charger for too long.
HP has outdone themselves with the Spectre. It’s a gorgeous laptop that is different from everything you have seen before; it is stylish, has great specs, and ultra light. It isn’t aimed at gamers for sure, but to those looking for a productivity laptop that hasn’t been stuck in the 90s in terms of design. It’s a laptop you’d enjoy using and carrying around, provided you’re willing to pay the premium asking price of AED 5499. On a side note, it does come with a lovely leather sleeve, saving you some cash in keeping it nice and protected.
