HP Specter 13 - Laptops 2024

Physical characteristics

	HP Specter 13 ultrabook i7
Screen	(33.8-cm) 13.3-in display, WLED, full-high definition (FHD) (1920x1080), BrightView, 2.85-mm, UWVA (eDP 1.2) at 72% Color Gamut
Weight	1.51 Kg.
Processor	Intel Dual Core i7-4500U 1.80-GHz processor (turbo up to 3.00-GHz;1600-MHz FSB, 4.0-MB cache, dual core, 15 W)
RAM	8GB DDR3L-1600-MHz
Disk	SSD256GB
O.S.Version	Windows 8.1
Connectivity	802.11b/g/n WLAN. Miracast supported.
Cameras	HP TrueVision Full HD: Full HD camera - Fixed (no tilt) + activity LED, 1PC, USB 2.0, M-JPEG, 1920x1080 at 30 frames per second
Ports	- Audio jack (stereo), Mini Display Port 2560x1600 max. 3200x2000 @ 60 Hz. USB 3.0 ports (2). HDMI v1.4b supporting: up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz. NGFF slot (2280) for SSD
Official price	999$1,399 €

First impression from abroad

The first notice that we are in a high-end item of the HP family is the box in which the laptop comes.In a finish that gives the appearance of metal, with the family logo in a beautiful typography, it is the first call to attention of what we are going to find. In fact, everyone I showed it (the box) to was immediately curious about the equipment inside.

Removing the top half of the case reveals the Specter, which lives up to the excellent design of the package's presentation, with the HP logo in silver on a metal-colored background polished.

The Specter is a 13” ultrabook with a particularly elegant and beautiful design, which hides an i7, 8GB inside of Ram and a 256GB ssd; that is, we have more than enough power and the fluidity of Windows 8.1 is absolute with any application.

Its lightness is surprising, for a complete laptop with its keyboard and huge pad, and how thin it is. Obviously, this makes it very comfortable to carry it in the palm of your hand, and it is greatly appreciated when I carry it in my backpack along with all the rest of the material.

Here you can see the attention to detail in the reduced power supply, which also contributes to reducing the weight of the assembly, but which nevertheless does not have any unusual connector, but the standard three-prong used by most computers.

Connectivity is excellent, with standard ports without having to use proprietary connections, which is very welcome. For example, USB connectors or HDMI connector or SD card port, can be used directly.

On the underside I have the cooling outlet on the back, and the two speakers (beats audio technology) in front and on the sides.

And to finish the exterior review, I think it's a nice detail that the power button has a small led included to know everything moment in which state the equipment is.

High Performance Ultrabook

When I open the laptop, the metal remains the finish including the keyboard and the huge integrated pad.

About the keyboard I can say that the keys have a pleasant touch on the fingertips. At the beginning of the pulsation it is a bit soft and at the end a bit hard, which means that typing at high speed becomes a bit annoying at the tips of the fingers.

The typing sound is good, transmitting clearly when I'm tapping, but allowing me to “thump” with some force without becoming loud ; which is much appreciated when I'm in a videoconference or in the middle of a meeting.

And here I find another detail of the quality of the device, the keyboard can be illuminated on demand by means of a function key, allowing typing in the dark or with very little light; and turning it off when conditions allow.

The pad is huge, especially big compared to anything else I've tried. The sensitivity is very good, and it allows me any of the gestures that I can perform on the touch screen, but with the precision of a mouse.

The screen, with a capacity of 10 simultaneous touch points, is also of high quality; with black, black, great precision – within what is expected of a tactile interaction – and sensitivity.

Size of 13 and a half inches, with a FullHD resolution and a high pixel density, it joins an Intel graphics card – not especially good for gaming – that covers long needs to play multimedia material at maximum resolution.

To take an i7 as a processor, the equipment is quite silent But when I squeeze it the cooling fan comes out on scene, although it continues being quite discreet.To give an idea, the noise of the air conditioning in the hotel room hides the decibels of the refrigeration.

What does sound powerful and quality is the speaker system, which does not carry the Beats Audio sticker just for marketing. You certainly get good sound, even in the low end, even taking into account the tiny soundboard that such a thin body can offer.

About the autonomy I can only assure you that I have had it working intensively for more than five hours and I still had a charge left. According to the manufacturer it is capable of exceeding 9 hours with autonomous power supply, with a particularly light and small battery.

Looking for tickles

But no review would be complete without sharing the less good parts I've come across.

So the first inconvenience is that the screen opens only a little more than 90º with respect to the keyboard, and that is rarely done in these times and compared to the competition.For example, lying on a sofa, I have to lift the device a bit by its edge to lower the screen enough to be comfortable, and I can't use it as a pure tablet since the keyboard is annoying.

The keys have too much travel, being excessively soft in the first keystroke and too hard in the final zone. It is true that I value it from the point of view of a writing professional, but the result is that after a while the fingertips hurt a little.

The worst thing is that the pad is so big that when I rest my hand to write, I touch it with the muffin of my thumb and the cursor jumps where it wantsIt can really get very inconvenient and frustrating when I'm writing without looking at the screen and when I look I find that I'm entering the text in the wrong place.

One last small drawback is that the graphics card is not an Nvidia or Ati, and it falls short to play, which would have made it the perfect team.

HP Specter 13 ultrabook, conclusions

If I didn't have more equipment than I need, I would buy it A very good ultrabook, with an elegant, functional and very beautiful design; that transmits quality, seriousness and prestige to whoever wears it. It has plenty of power in every pore and can be, without problems, the main machine of a professional or any user (with the exception of a gamer). Undoubtedly a very good HP device, especially considering that the official HP store is selling it for less than $1,000 €1,400