The HP Specter x360 16 is a continuation of HP’s commitment to the convertible laptop market. It features a stunning 16-inch touch enabled OLED display and it even comes with a stylus in the box.
One of the things the Specter line of laptops has always exuded is style and the latest iteration is no exception. If you’re looking for a laptop with killer looks the Specter has you covered with its cutting-edge design that’s also practical. Even the included faux leather sleeve that comes in the box with your purchase is stylish.
Not only does HP include a stylus, but they’ve also designed a place to keep it safe and accessible on the right side of the laptop. The MPP 2.0 tilt pen doesn’t charge as the Apple Pencil does on an iPad Pro, but is rechargeable via the USB-C charging port concealed behind a clever slide-open cover that protects it when it’s not being charged. There’s even a bright LED on the pen to indicate that it’s charging and when the battery is fully charged.
You also get a tidy 135w AC power adapter that’s capable of charging the 6-cell, 83Wh battery from 0 to 50% in just under 30 minutes. HP claims a fully charged battery is good for up to 15 hours of continuous use.
The entire laptop is metal with a thin, but rigid top lid that has little flexing. This is important for a touch screen that has been designed to be used with a stylus for creative applications.
The matte black finish on my review unit is gorgeous and sports silver accents around the edges, the HP logo on the lid and the touchpad.
The bezels around the screen are relatively thin although the top and bottom are larger. The top bezel houses the ambient light sensor, 5MP webcam and IR Windows Hello camera. The top is connected to the base via two large hinges that feature a 360-degree mechanism to allow the laptop to convert into tablet mode. You can’t detach the display so tablet mode is bulkier than a typical tablet.
I love the front-facing speakers which are located on either side of the keyboard and tuned by Bang & Olufsen. They sound good but lack the oomph and stereo separation you’ll find on something like the MacBook Pro.
On the left edge is a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, a SuperSpeed USB Type-A port with a flap that springs up to protect it when not in use and in the corner, which is cut at a 45-degree angle, is a 3.5mm headphone/mic jack. In the right corner is a USB-C port and there’s another on the right edge. Both ports are Thunderbolt 4, which offers greater compatibility and transfer speeds over standard USB-C. Also on the right is the circular power port and a micro-SD card slot. Why the latter is not a full-size SD card slot is odd.
The keys on the keyboard feel nice with a comfortable amount of travel and are relatively quiet. There is also a fingerprint scanner that sits between the ‘alt gr’ and the left arrow keys which works fast and reliably.
My review unit arrived with 1TB of M.2 SSD storage, 16GB of DDR4 SDRAM and the Intel Core i7 1260P, so lots of power for those who need it. The graphics are handled by the Intel Arc A370M with 4GB of memory.
The Specter x360 performed well in synthetic benchmarks with a single-core score of 1699 and a multi-core score of 7673 in Geekbench 5.0. It scored 4932 in PCMark 10 which is more of a real-world benchmark and takes around 30-minutes to complete.
While you can game on the Specter x360 16, don’t expect to be playing any of the latest AAA titles. This isn’t a gaming-focused device, so look elsewhere if that’s your main interest.
The fans are audible and there’s a good amount of heat being ported out the back of this thin laptop but they never get annoyingly loud nor did I feel the bottom of the laptop get hot.
The 16-inch OLED display has a resolution of 3840 by 2400px and a refresh rate of 60Hz. As you’d expect from an OLED display, the infinite contrast and vibrant colors all look great but the peak brightness tops out at 400nits which is perfect when used indoors.
In terms of color accuracy using my SpyderX Elite colorimeter, I measure 100% sRGB, 97% AdobeRGB and 100% of the P3 color gamuts. These are impressive results and make this screen an excellent choice for those involved in color-critical work like video editing, photography/print and web design.
With the addition of the pen, creative professionals or enthusiasts can enjoy the flexibility and freedom of using the Specter x360 in either tablet or tent modes. I use many of the apps from the Adobe Create Cloud suite including Lightroom, PhotoShop and Illustrator. The pen makes these apps a joy to use. I didn’t get enough time to play with apps like ClipStudio for drawing but even in PhotoShop, I could see lots of potential. However, this is a big device and not something you’ll be holding in your hand like you would an iPad Pro so keep that in mind. The pen supports tile which is great but there’s a lot of lag.
The HP Specter x360 is a stylish laptop that converts into a tablet when required. This allows for a greater level of flexibility than a traditional laptop can offer for those who need it. My review unit came with a high-resolution display with pro-grade color accuracy and a pen in the box, which some of its competitors offer as an optional extra.
HP Specter x360 16 HP
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