
HP Spectre 15 x360 2019 review: Carving a niche in a crowded space - feross
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1474677
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martronthrow
The 15 suffers similar issues as the 13 inch 2019 spectre and other whiskey
lake hp laptops - many USB-C devices, including perfectly compliant chargers,
cause it to hard lock (firmware/bios bug, not blue screen). In my case,
compliant devices (such as phones), EGPU docks, caused the hard lock.

You can test this by bringing an official apple charger and cable to Best Buy.
When I bought mine, I was sure it was a hardware issue until I demonstrated it
on every floor model laptop by plugging in an official apple charger and my
pixel 3, crashing each one instantly.

HP said that they would release a firmware update that fixed this but I don't
know if it's out yet. I returned my spectre and bought a razer - this kind of
bug is 100% inexcusable.

TLDR: If you purchase one of these, make sure to do it from a place that
doesn't do restocking fees, apply the most recent BIOS update, and then test
the laptop with multiple USB-C devices (and cables). A shame - I really liked
the hardware.

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jgunsch
I experienced the same, but have had little luck finding more data about it.
Got any details on where they've indicated that firmware update is coming?

In my case, I set up dual-boot on my 13" Spectre. The Macbook USB-C charger
has never once locked up the machine when I'm running Linux, but 100% when I'm
in Windows, which makes me suspect a Windows driver issue.

~~~
NotSammyHagar
I have a google pixelbook which only has usb-c for everything, including
power. I have used many different usb-c chargers, including an apple usb-c
that I'm charging right now. My android essential also seems to charge on any
usb-c charger.

Do you think this problem is found on other laptops outside these hp laptops?

~~~
martronthrow
I tested the Dell XPS13 9380, the new thinkpad x390, and the razer stealth 13
- all based on almost identical chipsets.

None of them had the same issue, although Dell did ship a bad TB3 driver which
needed to be manually fixed.

I have other USB-C devices, including phone, that charge just fine on any
charger.

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phreenet
Is there anyone else that cannot stand the numpad being put onto a laptop
keyboard? The laptop looks good enough but the keyboard layout means I would
never get one.

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tepidandroid
Definitely. It ruins the aesthetics and is completely unnecessary . If I
really, really need one, i'd rather just use an externally dongle'd numpad.

~~~
NullPrefix
A choice between aesthetics and usability.

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erik
I find an off-centre keyboard to be a bigger usability problem than not having
a numpad.

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pedrocr
The specs look great except for a maximum of 16GB of RAM. Unfortunately
higher-RAM options have been going away, particularly as manufacturers have
moved to soldered RAM. The same has been happening with Thinkpads. I have a
T460s with 20GB of RAM (4 soldered and 16 added). I could easily get a 32GB
DIMM and have 36GB (it's been confirmed to work) and maybe 68GB in the future
if 64GB DIMMS show up and work. And yet a few generations later the higher end
X1 Carbon is limited to 16GB. I've seen the argument that soldered RAM can be
lower-power so maybe that's where the market went. It's a pity because now
that CPUs aren't getting faster at a high pace a RAM and SSD upgrade is a
great way to keep older laptops working great.

~~~
snaky
Soldered RAM is default option on lightweight laptops, but there are 'mobile
workstations' like Thinkpad P72 (up to 128 GB non-ECC or 64 GB ECC RAM, 4
sockets 2400MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM).

~~~
pedrocr
Unfortunately that has happened, but it's not for space or weight really. The
T4x0s line has a very similar form factor to the X1 Carbon and used to have
only half the RAM soldered. My ideal laptop would use that same form factor
and have 2 RAM slots and 3 or even 4 SSD slots. There's plenty of room.

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krupan
I have the 2018 15" Spectre as my work laptop. It's running linux really well.
No 10-key number pad, which I'm happy with. I don't understand this article's
complaint about the "small" touchpad. It's fine. You also have the entire
touch screen if you like. It's really too big to use in tablet mode, but
occasionally I try it just for fun. Overall 15" feels bigger than I'd like to
lug around, but it's pretty thin so it's not too bad.

My biggest complaint is that the power button is right next to the USB and
headphone jack on the left side, opposite the USB-C ports on the right side.
More than once I've pushed the power button on the left while stabilizing the
laptop as I push in a USB-C cable on the right side, and then linux does
something I don't want it to do in response to that power button push (I know,
I should be able to fix that). Putting it on that corner spot for this 2019
model will help with that, but I'd still prefer it near the keyboard like most
other laptops I've used.

~~~
ChuckNorris89
Just opened the article and saw the display is as reflective as a mirror[1].
Holy cow, how can you even work like that?!

[1] [https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/HP-x3...](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-
content/uploads/2019/04/HP-x360-Spectre-15-open-1440x1036.jpeg)

~~~
martronthrow
Having used the 13 in with the same display - it's really bright. Like, way
brighter at the same power consumption than any other laptop I've used. It's
actually pretty incredible.

But then, I don't make a habit of computing outdoors. Also, I mostly work with
a large, external monitor. So I guess it's not as big of a deal for me.

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panpanna
How common are 15" laptops at your workplace?

I had to fight IT to get one. For some reason they really really wanted me to
have something smaller.

~~~
rbanffy
In my past few companies, 15" Macbooks were standard for engineers. 13" for
the rest of the staff.

~~~
jdhawk
I think this was more to do w/ the internals than the screen real estate.

I'd prefer a hot 13" something over a 15

~~~
rbanffy
I used to, but I got addicted to the extra screen real estate. The usually
beefier configurations (the new 6-core, 32 gig machine is _very_ comfortable).

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ndrwlfntn
I still have an older (2016) x360 I've used as a dev machine running linux
(various flavors) since I bought it. Initially there were wi-fi issues on
Ubuntu distros, but those have since been sorted out. I've had absurdly good
luck with HP laptops lasting much longer than they should.

For reference, have the smaller intel Core i3 model with 6GB of RAM. It is
capable of running Dota 2 at 50-60 fps (using vulkan). I use a drop-down
terminal with nvim, peppering in vs-code, to develop software in all sorts of
languages. You will notice the resource limits with heavier IDEs and bigger
compiles though. Good affordable option for people.

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smittywerben
I ordered a Spectre x360 in 2018 and the screen had dead lines on it. I RMA’d
it and the second unit had screen blotches and dead pixels.

I assune this was because I got the 1080p instead of 4k screen. I wanted 50%
more battery life, less fan noise, and not deal with linux HDPI issues. The
graphics card was integrated. It was spec’d for 12-16hr battery life. It was a
linux laptop of the gods, but I couldn’t risk being stuck with 3rd bad unit.

I’m back on my early-2013 macbook for the time being.

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alexott
But why only 16Gb RAM max?

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ackbar03
And I guess it comes with the specter vulnerability?

