
HP’s new Spectre x360 is probably the best PC laptop around - Tomte
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/10/hps-new-spectre-x360-is-probably-the-best-pc-laptop-around/
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iainmerrick
_As in the old model, the Synaptics touchpad is very wide. It 's not terrible
by any means, and its glass surface allows your finger to glide effortlessly,
But I'm a little disappointed that, just as with the old version, it's not a
Precision Touchpad._

One of the best PC laptops you can buy has a trackpad that's "not terrible"?
This is why people buy Macs!

~~~
ewzimm
Definitely the worst part of most laptops. I often have to tap my touchpad 3
or 4 times to get it to register one click, and that's pretty normal from what
I've used. I'm surprised that nobody except Apple makes much of an effort to
improve the situation. Maybe it pushes people to replace their computers more
often because of how painful it is to use them. I'm sure there's some reason.
Probably just inertia and lack of direct influence on sales.

~~~
smacktoward
Lenovo has the TrackPoint pointer nub, which is a big part of why I love and
buy ThinkPads. I'm constantly amazed nobody else ever picked that idea up...

~~~
kobeya
You think Lenovo would let them?

~~~
helb
There are (were?) similar devices in other laptops, mostly the ones from
"professional" lines.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick#Naming_and_bran...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick#Naming_and_brands)

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lemmings19
I bought a higher end Lenovo in 2014 before carrying it around the world for a
year while backpacking. It has by far had the best real-world performance of
any laptop I've interacted with. (Model: T440s)

The keyboard is a dream, the touchpad is excellent, the hardware is
magnificent and a breeze to take apart and maintain. Every time I crack it
open (one panel bottom assembly for easy access), I discover some neat piece
of engineering I missed the last time. Like the pinhole in the bottom that
leads to a button to manually disconnect the internal battery.

And it's durable. It survived a year in my backpack, and I didn't go easy on
it. Water damage? What water damage? You can pour a glass of water on the
keyboard and it just goes out through to the bottom. Oh, and you can replace
that same keyboard in a matter of minutes thanks to a well designed locking
system and easy internal access.

I SLEPT on my backpack with this thing inside and it didn't notice. Banged it
up countless times. A bit of heavy condensation eventually made its was into
the edges of the screen from the sweat off my back in tropical summer weather,
and eventually there were a few tiny pin marks on the screen from considerable
external pressure (eg. third world buses and my pack getting thrown around and
dropped from the roof). I found them easy enough to overlook given what I've
put it through.

As for performance, I've been a PC nerd my whole life and the first thing I
did when I was a teenager and had a few dollars was build a PC. I'm the sort
who overclocks and notices those few extra MHz on my CPU, or that the RAM and
storage aren't bottlenecking anything. The laptop runs smooth as butter (I put
an SSD in and reinstalled Windows the moment I got it).

It's two years later, so I don't know how their laptops are currently doing,
but give the higher end Lenovos a look if you want quality (and performance).
Their cheap ones are crap though; you get what you pay for.

~~~
elcct
On the other hand I have Lenovo's Yoga 3 and that is a real piece of junk. I
wonder how it ever gone past qa. Touchpad is a bad joke and screen flickers
like a strobe light at a 90s illegal rave party. Not to mention Core M
calculator processing speed.

~~~
pritambaral
One is branded a ThinkPad, the other isn't.

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chaostheory
Isn't a Surface (laptop) from Microsoft a better laptop?

[https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-
book](https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-book)

~~~
Roritharr
It lacks Thunderbolt 3 Ports, but thats about it. I'm waiting for a refresh
with Thunderbolt 3 Ports. We're currently looking at furnishing our offices
with Thunderbolt 3 Dockingstations so people can more quickly move between
Workplaces, so that Port is must for all new Hardware.

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nradov
How can it be best with a low resolution display?

~~~
Klinky
1080p is about as high as one should go on 13" Windows display. Windows has
poor and blurry scaling for many apps. Higher and you're paying more and
wasting processor power. While Macs have better scaling, performance in high
dpi modes is worse than in low dpi modes.

~~~
savagej
That's a general blanket statement as fact. I went 1800p on 13" laptops 3
years ago. That is as low as I will ever go. I also have a Samsung Tab S2 8.0
for reading and a Nexus 6 phone. My next 13" Ultrabook will be a 4k OLED.
Nothing else contends.

~~~
fudgy73
Which laptop are you using now?

~~~
savagej
[http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/NP940X3G-K0...](http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/NP940X3G-K04US)

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Grazester
I wonder how linux support would be for this.

edit:// Just googled and found out

~~~
jchannon
And what you found is.....?

~~~
fgandiya
Not GP, but it's seems okay except for the sound which needs a bit of work
[http://askubuntu.com/questions/600528/is-ubuntu-
compatible-w...](http://askubuntu.com/questions/600528/is-ubuntu-compatible-
with-the-hp-spectre-x360)

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zwieback
As an HP engineer this makes me very happy.

~~~
reitanqild
Good! (You should be, esp. if you are the hardware side! I had two unbreakable
ones that didn't drive me crazy like my Macbook pro. My comments below are
supposed to be read with that in mind. :-)

A little feedback if you want:

Speaking of hardware my two last have been remarkably good (lasting 5+ years).
Fan was loud though.

Software has partially been a mess. Esp. the power management driver on my
2012 elite book who could block the entire system for up to a 100ms meaning
once every 30 seconds. (Yes, disabled service by service until I found the
culprit, then checked and double checked and then made some colleagues happy
by uninstalling for them as well.)

(My current laptop is a lenovo and it also has weird lag.)

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Theodores
PC laptops are a thing of the past for me, I prefer the UX of the Chromebook,
particularly the stripped down keyboard. I do run Ubuntu and the lack of a
delete key (delete != Backspace) has not been a problem. The lack of disk
space hasn't been a problem either.

Delighted as I am with my Chromebook Pixel, would I swap for the new HP? Nope.
Like an Apple user only interested in computers that run OSX I only want a top
end Chromebook next time around. The latest and greatest PC is of no
consequence. Maybe the automotive analogy is with Tesla, a Tesla owner is not
going to be interested in anything out of Detroit unless it is electric.

~~~
jimmies
Agreed. Since I switched to my Dell Chromebook 13, I haven't found anything
that is remotely as good at that price point.

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yread
See here for a bit more nuanced review:

[http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Spectre-x360-13-w023dx-
Conve...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Spectre-x360-13-w023dx-Convertible-
Review.180538.0.html)

------
Seep
Seeing it's an HP makes me immediately skeptical. The only thing that you can
rely on with that brand is that it will be built with low quality plastic, and
it lives up to it's initials: HP- Heating Problems.

With all of that 360 action, I wouldn't be surprised that many users will find
the hinges are just going to break because of the plastic.

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zumu
Is the ram or SSD soldered or upgradable? This is increasingly one of my main
concerns when looking at new laptops.

~~~
elcct
Motherboards are getting close to the size of ram modules. Swapping a
motherboard is not too big deal. But sometimes it is hard to find one with
desired amount of ram. Price wise there is not much difference.

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latch
I am more bothered than any person should be by that intel inside sticker.
Paying to watch advertising.

~~~
yabatopia
It takes less time to remove that sticker than writing this sentence. On the
other site, even literally, do you cover the Apple logo on the back of the
screen? Paying to force people watch advertising, very bothering.

~~~
iainmerrick
Are you sure? I've seen PCs where it took some serious wrestling to get the
stickers off cleanly. :)

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omonra
Is it normal for these new laptops to not have an SD card slot? That would be
a major drawback for me as that's the easiest way to import photos and I don't
want to lug around a card reader.

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micheljones
I don't see how is it better than Yoga 910?

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whamlastxmas
Silver keyboard with baby blue back lighting on an all-silver laptop looks
like dog shit and shows wear/stains very quickly, reminds me of Toshibas from
2004. Huge bezel. Only 1080p. Ships with McAfee malware. Price is nothing
special for the specs (Yoga Pro has had same specs for less money for years).
Other than glass touchpad and USB C ports, nothing the Yoga Pro hasn't had for
years, and it doesn't have the Yoga's 4k screen.

~~~
yabatopia
Your positivism gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.

~~~
whamlastxmas
Yeah, take my positivism. I'm pozzing you so hard right now.

I did edit it to be more clear in my criticism of it looking like dog shit.

~~~
jboles
You might want to look up what 'pozzing' actually means. ;-)

