Requests & Questions for HP Spectre x360 (15inch)

[iechowulf]

Got my HP Spectre x360 today. Its the late 2018 model with the following specs and gem cut design : 

 

Processor: Intel I7 8750H hexa-core processor @2.20Ghz

Video Card: Geforce 1050Ti with Max-Q Design & Intel 630 via Optimus Technology

Memory: 16GB LPDDR3 (Dual Channel)

Storage: 256GB Toshiba M.2 NVMe SSD [Soon to be upgraded to 1TB Crucial P1 M.2 NVMe SSD]

Display: 4K WLED Display @60Hz

Battery: 6-cell, 84 Wh Lithium-ion Battery

Color: Poseidon Blue

Ports: 2x USB Type-C™ Thunderbolt™ 3 (supports HP Sleep & Charge, DP1.4, PD 3.0, Data Transfer); 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A (HP Sleep and Charge); 1 HDMI; 1 headphone/microphone combo

Additional Features: Fingerprint Reader, IR Camera w/ Windows Hello,  Intel® 802.11b/g/n/ac (2x2) Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® 5 Combo(MU-MIMO supported)
 

Basically, I am testing this laptop and so far I've had it for a few hours and it is AMAZING. Not a single complaint, but I know that this laptop comes in many models and no one has really done a solid 100% review of this laptop. I am not a content creator but I am more than willing to answer any questions at all or run tests and provide results for anything that anyone with questions about this laptop would like to request. Please let me know what you'd like to know/see and I will provide. 

 

So far this post is pretty spot on https://www.reddit.com/r/spectrex360/comments/9xzllv/gemcut_hp_spectre_x360_15_i7_8750h_gtx_1050ti_maxq/?sort=new

 

Below are some section specific corrections/additions to what is mentioned in the post above :

 

-[Thermals - 5/5]

So far, I have not done any extensive thermal testing so I will update this section once I have more information; However, within the few hours I've had it, I did a simple league game just to test and for the duration of a 32minute league game, this laptop did not exceed 75c. Will update soon, and anyone who would like specific thermal tests please let me know below

 

-[Wireless Connectivity - 5/5]

I did a wifi speed test on Xfinity 150mb/s internet ( not ISP equipment, but using Ubiquiti equipment ) from two rooms away and got a perfect 168mb/s down and 12mb/s upload. Went all over my house and even outside the front door and found absolutely no disconnections/slowdowns. So far so good, again if you've got any specific scenario or more extensive testing you'd like please let me know and it will be done otherwise I may not look further into this but will inform if I come across anything on everyday usage at home and elsewhere.

 

-[Keyboard - 5/5]

I may just be sucking off HP here, but this keyboard is AMAZING. Best laptop keyboard I have EVER used. Spectre line has always been praised for its keyboard but this one is honestly top of the charts. It feels really good, and while it may take some getting used to because of the island num pad causing the trackpad to be a bit off-center, if that isn't a turn-off for you or if you are willing to get used to it ( i did within a few hours tops ) then you will be 100% satisfied with this keyboard. Amazing, and I 100% agree with the reviewer it is awesome.

 

[Sound - 3/5]

Honestly, i am not the keenest person when it comes to audio quality so with that being said... I love these speakers. Sound solid, there isn't much bass but at least they are pretty loud without any distortion (fill up my room, which is larger than most I'd think since I work from home and have my "office" in one corner while I have a TV, couch, bed, walk-in closet, bathroom and still enough space to workout comfortably with a bench press on the side of the room).

 

-[Battery Life ?/5] 

Still needs to be tested, so far I charged it to 100% out of the box and have been using it for the past 6 hours straight, it is currently at 45% and I have completely set up windows, downloaded a few programs like chrome, discord, etc and I also ran crystal disk and played one 32min league of legends game. Brightness is at 60%. Again, any specific tests you'd like just let me know!

 

Okay. So, hit me with those questions and requests! I will be actively checking this post (at least for the next few weeks) so feel free, I will be guaranteed to reply within a maximum of 24 hours ( honestly might reply within minutes if I'm sitting at my desktop or on the laptop )

 

I would also like to request Linus review this laptop at some point... I honestly believe that you guys would be blown away and give a 8 or 9 out of 10 recommendation for the lowest... Maybe if this gets enough attention they might consider it, but either way, I love you guys

 

 

[PineyCreek]

Seems good from the specs.  I'd rather cut my fingers off than deal with HP's customer support though.

[PineyCreek]

Also, Linus did a review.  Not sure if it's this year's model though.

 

 

[iechowulf]

5 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

Also, Linus did a review.  Not sure if it's this year's model though.

 

 

I know linus did a review on it, but that was the early 2017 model... this one is the early 2019 model... two years of improvement and hardware jumps. This laptop honestly is amazing, I owned the dell XPS 15 with pretty much the same specs but a lesser processor... cant remember exactly which but it wasnt the 8750H... and the thermals, keyboard and battery life just turned me off so bad but this one is just worlds apart from that in my mind. I also tried the Vega model of the HP Spectre (non-gem cut late 2017 model) and its trash compared to this one lol... Not sure how HP did it but the thermals on this thing is so good! So far atleast, i havent given it 15/20min long stress tests but even then not like i ever will do anything beyond that 30min + leauge game so

[PineyCreek]

6 minutes ago, iechowulf said:

I know linus did a review on it, but that was the early 2017 model... this one is the early 2019 model... two years of improvement and hardware jumps. This laptop honestly is amazing, I owned the dell XPS 15 with pretty much the same specs but a lesser processor... cant remember exactly which but it wasnt the 8750H... and the thermals, keyboard and battery life just turned me off so bad but this one is just worlds apart from that in my mind. I also tried the Vega model of the HP Spectre (non-gem cut late 2017 model) and its trash compared to this one lol... Not sure how HP did it but the thermals on this thing is so good! So far atleast, i havent given it 15/20min long stress tests but even then not like i ever will do anything beyond that 30min + leauge game so

I'm confused.  In your original post you said you had the late-2018 model. I'm not well versed in what HP does with each new version of their laptop models though.  It's possible if LMG wants to bother they could get the newer model and do a comparison with their earlier review.

 

All that aside, I'm happy you're happy.  Not having buyer's remorse for an expensive purchase is always a good thing.

[iechowulf]

2 minutes ago, PineyCreek said:

I'm confused.  In your original post you said you had the late-2018 model. I'm not well versed in what HP does with each new version of their laptop models though.  It's possible if LMG wants to bother they could get the newer model and do a comparison with their earlier review.

 

All that aside, I'm happy you're happy.  Not having buyer's remorse for an expensive purchase is always a good thing.

My bad, it's a bit of a mystery as to what exactly the proper term is for it but its the Late 2018/Early 2019 model... announced i believe in november and available for purchase in like LATE December like the 20th onward or something like that (Someone correct me if im wrong about the exact announcement/purchase dates)... at that point its kinda whichever you'd prefer to call it but basically its the newest model to date haha

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, iechowulf said:

this laptop did not exceed 75c

Thermal testing is not only just temps, look at clock speeds too

[iechowulf]

7 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Thermal testing is not only just temps, look at clock speeds too

My bad, i did look at clocks and they were consistent throughout. I think the 8750H is rated at 2.2Ghz and 4.1Ghz boost? Mine went up to a max of 3.9Ghz and consistently stayed anywhere between 3.2 ad 3.5... not sure how i should interpret that because it was during the game of leauge, which isnt very taxing for this CPU and it wasnt 100% utilization so i will have to do synthetic test i guess? Any recommendations besides Cinebench? 

[genexis_x]

3 hours ago, iechowulf said:

consistently stayed anywhere between 3.2 ad 3.5

Have you undervolt it?

3 hours ago, iechowulf said:

Any recommendations besides Cinebench? 

Cinebench R15 is one of the most accurate CPU benchmark, I only use that

[iechowulf]

9 minutes ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Have you undervolt it?

Cinebench R15 is one of the most accurate CPU benchmark, I only use that

Yes, with those results it was undervolted - Prior to undervolting i did the same but only checked thermals and didnt check clocks lol soooo max of 75-77c pre undervolting but that got lowered to like around 69c max after undervolting and the clocks were about what i posted above... i got cinebench now but i am completely obvious as to its use sooo gonna get familiar and do some testing i guess

[genexis_x]

12 hours ago, iechowulf said:

around 69c max after undervolting and the clocks were about what i posted above

Try settings Speedshift to 1 via Throttlestop. And set to best performance mode (balanced mode, not to be confused with high performance mode)

[iechowulf]

10 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Try settings Speedshift to 1 via Throttlestop. And set to best performance mode (balanced mode, not to be confused with high performance mode)

 

So, this is what I got! I did it on battery power ( I can do it again with the charger plugged in ) but basically the clocks stayed in the 3.1Ghz neighborhood consistently throughout. 

 

Edit: I was using the pc prior to this and then I changed the settings/power mode then ran Cinebench 3 times, back to back before taking the screenshot so this isn't temps from like a cold boot. The fans kicked on during the 2nd run but weren't full power. it was very low. They didn't even turn on prior to running cinebench. In the FIVR settings in throttlestop, I have the turbo ratios set to 41 across all 6 cores

 

 

[Origami Cactus]

4 minutes ago, iechowulf said:

 

So, this is what I got! I did it on battery power ( I can do it again with the charger plugged in ) but basically the clocks stayed in the 3.1Ghz neighborhood consistently throughout. 

Wow that is pretty huge, especially considering that the laptop is on battery power.

[iechowulf]

6 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Wow that is pretty huge, especially considering that the laptop is on battery power.

I know right! Honestly, i feel like HP worked some black magic on this laptop. The only comment i have on it honestly is that when it get saturated with heat, the chassis feels a bit warm to the touch but it is NOWHERE near uncomfortable. Its like this satisfying warmth that dissipates REALLY quickly. I placed it on my desk for a bit while i went downstairs and i came back 10-15mins later and the thing was basically cold metal again while the fans were off. I was like wtf?

[Origami Cactus]

1 minute ago, iechowulf said:

I know right! Honestly, i feel like HP worked some black magic on this laptop. The only comment i have on it honestly is that when it get saturated with heat, the chassis feels a bit warm to the touch but it is NOWHERE near uncomfortable. Its like this satisfying warmth that dissipates REALLY quickly. I placed it on my desk for a bit while i went downstairs and i came back 10-15mins later and the thing was basically cold metal again while the fans were off. I was like wtf?

It is pretty much my dream laptop, but as it costs 2000+ € acquiring it is impossible. But in the future i will keep my eyes peeled for it.

[genexis_x]

35 minutes ago, iechowulf said:

I can do it again with the charger plugged in

Please do it with AC power, want to see its full potential

[iechowulf]

This is way more interesting! 
Okay, so i did it again and the pics attached shows the final (5th) run of cinebench with the charger plugged in! I took one during the test as it was finishing up and i took one like 10 seconds after it finished. 

 

I ran cinebench 5 times, immediately one after the other. This is with the charger plugged in (battery at 89% and charging) and the power mode set to best performance. cinebench scores are as follows :

 

1st - 1228
2nd -1168
3rd -1236 (only time fan came on)
4th - 1222
5th - 1225

 

The Clocks stayed at a solid 3.9 but never really went above 3.9 from me just standing there staring at it lol

 

Note : The fans ONLY turned on during the 3rd test, it never turned on before then. While it was off, the temps got to the max which as showned in the screenshot is 95c but during the 3rd,4th and 5th tests with the fans on the temps never exceeded 90c! 

 

[9 year old]

Excellent Review on the Laptop! Can you do tests on the battery life? I am really eager to find out.

[iechowulf]

3 minutes ago, 9 year old said:

Excellent Review on the Laptop! Can you do tests on the battery life? I am really eager to find out.

Will do! Expect it to be done either later tonight or anytime between tonight and tuesday night for the latest. [Mainly cus idk how exactly to do a proper test so i will find out and do so then post results, any info or specifics u'd like is appreciated to!]

[genexis_x]

12 hours ago, iechowulf said:

snip

 

Looks like a solid result. 3.9GHz all core in CB15 multi core with i7-8750H is pretty good even with 90+C

[iechowulf]

On 1/27/2019 at 6:12 PM, 9 year old said:

Excellent Review on the Laptop! Can you do tests on the battery life? I am really eager to find out.

I have not done any formal battery test - But i can give my thoughts on it so far. I charged up to 100% and left my charger at home today. Went through an entire day of back to back classes, nonstop from 8:30am till 2:30pm, 1 and a half hours per class, where i took notes, followed along with powerpoint slides, wrote and modified a sample program and did an online quiz, then got some food and sat in this like... i guess coffee shop place, and watched an entire episode of black clover while eating then proceeded to go to the gym and used the laptop again on the bus home. I arrived home with 43% battery life. I used it on best performance mode with the sound off (during class, but like 50% when i was watching cus bluetooth headphones were in use at that time) and brightness at around 35% (75% during the anime since i was more in an outside window shop setting) since I was indoors looking at white background slides and stuff pretty much all the time. Of course, throttle stop was on, and i was switching between tablet mode and laptop mode throughout the day using the pen to take notes and such. I am so impressed its just utterly amazing how this laptop performs for me. I pulled it out of the leather sleeve and it was reallly cold to the touch and it never got noticeably warm. It was cold today. 35F lows, 47F highs.I plugged in the laptop to charge while i ate, which took about 30minutes since i watched an episode of family guy to the end halfway through, and the laptop is now at 67% from 43% and it was in sleep mode while charging with my phone connected to it in charge & sleep mode ( used this for literally like 5minutes in the middle of the day but that was just to see if it works lol so no impact/consideration there to battery i guess). Oh i also had the laptop go into sleep mode in between classes, only turned it completely off when i went to the gym and back on while commuting home. So, hope this helps? Again will try a more formal test sometime but no idea how to conduct one properly so just trying to give my real world experience with it!

[genexis_x]

Side note: Make 2 profiles in Throttlestop - one for full performance and another for battery saving / light loads

[iechowulf]

On 1/27/2019 at 6:12 PM, 9 year old said:

Excellent Review on the Laptop! Can you do tests on the battery life? I am really eager to find out.

So, I did a battery life test today. Results as follows:

 

The test started at 8:20 am 

Battery charged to 100%

Bluetooth On but nothing connected

Brightness set to 100%

Sound set to 70%

Best Performance Mode

4k display (I normally put it to 1080 just to squeeze some more life out of it since u cant really tell the difference anyway)

Keyboard backlight on(turned off automatically after a while)

 

The test was literally me watching back to back WAN Show episodes with the above-mentioned settings in full-screen mode. Google Chrome, and of course wifi was on.
The test ended at 2:25 pm for a total of 6 Hours and 5 minutes of battery time doing the above-mentioned task. I stopped when the laptop got to 10% and gave me the "Battery life low" warning. I could have squeezed another few minutes tops but I ended it at 10, shut down and set it to charge. I had HWMonitor running in the background and throttle stop was on as well so.... yeah.

 

[iechowulf]

12 hours ago, GeneXiS_X said:

Side note: Make 2 profiles in Throttlestop - one for full performance and another for battery saving / light loads

Huh? Do i just make them and switch between them in the top left corner of throttle stop? What would be a performance vs battery saving profile? (Im a newb, but i learn quick so thanks in advance haha)

[chihaya0225]

Yeah I don't understand why Linus never did a single spectre x360 review after the 2017 one. I thought LTT didn't have a good relationship with hp or something, but they did one for the spectre Folio couple weeks ago.

 

I love the gem-cut design for the new spectre and am planning to get a 13 inch model. Thanks for the review.