HP Spectre 13 Ultrabook re-examine

Single of the chief complaints users declare just about Windows 8 is with the aim of its gesture controls aren't intuitive a sufficient amount in support of first-time users. HP addresses with the aim of protest head-on with the recent Spectre 13t-3000 Ultrabook. Great areas on either segment of the notebook's Control Zone touchpad become it easier to activate Windows 8's gesture-based Charms and fresh Apps menus. That's not all this $1,019 ultraportable has to offer, though. With the hottest Intel nucleus i5 workstation, a solid-state drive, beautiful 13-inch 1080p soupзon screen and a insensitive sexy design, the Spectre 13t is single of the superlative Ultrabooks money can bad buy.

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Design
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookLike many of HP's Ultrabooks, the Spectre 13t-3000 skin texture a gorgeous, all-aluminum bodywork. In support of the Spectre 13t, however, HP has added a little panache, throwing featuring in a truffle-brown-colored, brushed lid and foot with the aim of are offset nicely by the notebook's champagne, brushed-aluminum the ivories deck. Featuring in the base of the lid, a deep figurine HP logo adds a soupзon of grade.

Initiate up the notebook, and the at the outset incident to catch your eye command live the Spectre 13t's oversized Control Zone Touchpad. Residential to become it easier than forever to make use of Windows 8 gestures, exclusive of having to extent up to the soupзon screen, Control Zone skin texture a standard touchpad flanked on its gone and permission sides by areas specifically designed in support of interacting with Windows 8's fresh Apps and Charms menus. (More on this soon.)

Measuring 12.8 x 8.7 x 0.59 inches and weighing a little 3.3 pounds, the HP Spectre 13t is a coat thinner, though a smidgen heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air (12.8 x 8.9 x 0.11 - 0.68 inches and 3 pounds). By the side of 12.6 x 8.8 x 0.54 inches, Samsung's ATIV reserve 9 Plus is a little lesser than both the Spectre 13t and Macbook Air, and weighs 3.2 pounds. Acer's Aspire S7 measures perfectly 12.7 x 8.8 x 0.51 inches and weighs 3 pounds.



Put on view
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookThe Spectre 13t sports a beautiful 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1080-resolution HP Infinity soupзon screen put on view that's far sharper than the $1,099 MacBook Air's 1440 x 900 panel. The Acer Aspire S7 offers a 1920 x 1080, 13.3-inch put on view, while the $1,399 Samsung ATIV reserve 9 Plus comes with a Retina-like 3200 x 1800 QHD+ screen. If you poverty to shell unfashionable an even more $70, however, you can equip your Spectre 13t with an HP Vivid QHD Infinity put on view (2560 x 1440 pixels).

A promo in support of "X-Men: Days of opportunity Past" looked considerably better whilst viewed on the Spectre 13t's 1080p put on view than it did on the MacBook Air. Fine outline featuring in characters' faces were sharper on the HP, and ensign appeared warmer. Skin tones in addition looked supplementary natural, and blacks looked endlessly deep on the Spectre 13t. The MacBook Air's put on view looked washed unfashionable by comparison. Similarly, a high-definition image of a deluxe mountain landscape looked far greener and sharper on the HP.

With a put on view brightness of 254 lux, the HP Spectre 13t's screen barely outshined the ultraportable laptop kind be more or less of 249 lux, and was turtle neck and turtle neck with the Samsung ATIV reserve 9 Plus (251 lux). The MacBook Air's put on view topped unfashionable by the side of 263 lux, while the Acer Aspire S7 smash into an impressive 329 lux.

The Spectre 13t's soupзon screen proved accurate and receptive through our schedule with the notebook.



Audio
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookAs with many of HP's more-premium notebooks, the Spectre 13t-3000 comes loaded with the impressive Beats Audio software. Jay-Z and Kanye West's bass-heavy "No cathedral featuring in the Wild" sounded admirable having the status of it thumped through the Spectre's bottom-mounted speakers. We famous a like experience while listening to Coheed and Cambria's "Mothers of Men," having the status of guitar squeals and symbol crashes packed our consultation space.

Switch inedible Beats, however, and audio sounds muddled. Featuring in statement, by the side of single end, it sounded like we were listening to a smartphone to a certain extent than a laptop. So perfectly keep Beats on. On the LAPTOP Audio Test, the Spectre 13 pumped unfashionable a steady 84 dB by the side of a distance of 23 inches. That's perfectly beyond the kind be more or less of 83 dB.

The ivories
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookThe HP Spectre 13t's the ivories provided consistently solid criticism all through our taxing. We qualified a sound amount of travel and unimportant to rebuff warm up. We're in addition fans of the keyboard's beautiful ashen backlighting, which evenly illuminated both important.

On the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor test, we typed by the side of a rate of 79 lexis apiece infinitesimal with a 1 percent mistake rate, just about equal to our individual be more or less. Our single protest with the the ivories is the minor size of its directional keys, which made navigating a smidgen of a chore.

Control Zone Touchpad
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookUsing Windows 8 gestures via a notebook's touchpad can live a soreness. The pad's minor size limits plot in support of swiping featuring in from the gone or else permission, making accessing the Charms and fresh Apps menus frustrating. To take in hand this rise, HP and Synaptics equipped the Spectre 13t with a Control Zone touchpad. Despite its specify, it's in essence a regular touchpad with two visually and tactilely distinctive wings on either segment. It's designed to become using Windows 8 gestures supplementary intuitive.

Performing gestures on the Control Zone is rebuff something else than it would live on a standard notebook. Users swing at featuring in from the permission to initiate the Charms menu, while a swing at featuring in from the gone opens the fresh Apps menu. Featuring in taxing, however, HP thought it found with the aim of the wings helped users supplementary without problems recognize how to make use of Windows 8 gestures. From a realism standpoint, it makes supplementary intellect to sincere users to the touchpad, to a certain extent than forcing them to make use of the soupзon screen exclusively or else expecting them to know, exclusive of prompting, with the aim of they can make use of the touchpad in support of the same gestures.

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HP Spectre 13 UltrabookControl Zone offers supplementary than not perfectly improved usability. Whilst you initiate the Charms menu, in support of instance, you can at this point simply slide your finger up or else down the permission control zone to privileged the icon you poverty to initiate. Exclusive of this story, you'd declare to initiate the Charms menu, next move your indicator to the icon you poverty. It's a minor, but long-awaited recovery.

Toting up the Control Zones to the touchpad dramatically increased its size, to a whopping 5.5 x 2.6 inches. With such a great plot involving the user and the ivories, we figured we'd accidentally move the indicator supplementary often. To prevent this, HP and Synaptic wisely chose to disable the indicator featuring in the Control Zones. Having the status of a product, we noticed unimportant to rebuff issues with palm rejection through our schedule with the notebook.

Overall, we liked the bigger touchpad and its enhanced functionality. Even Windows 8 veterans command value how much easier it is to make use of gestures with the Control Zone compared to a standard touchpad.

Ports and Webcam
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookAs with many Ultrabooks, the Spectre 13t-3000 keeps ports to a least. On the permission segment, you understand a single USB 3.0 docks, full-size HDMI docks, mini DisplayPort and power jack. On the gone segment is a succeeding USB 3.0 docks, combination microphone/ earphone jack, 2-in-1 SD tag slot and lock slot. Don't expect Ethernet or else VGA.

The Spectre 13t's 720p webcam provided acceptable stills and capture on tape. Ensign were accurate, and while we noticed a little blurring, the outline featuring in our shirt were still comfortable to become unfashionable.

Leg
The Spectre 13t proved itself to live a cool customer through our LAPTOP leg Test (streaming a full-screen Hulu capture on tape in support of 15 minutes) feat perfectly 84 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad. The plot involving the G and H keys smash into 94 degrees, falling perfectly beneath our comfort threshold of 95 degrees. The substructure of the notebook, however, reached a somewhat toasty 99 degrees.

Performance
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookWith a 1.6-GHz dual-core Intel nucleus i5-4200U workstation, 4GB of RAM and 128GB solid-state drive, the Spectre 13t is a unimportant hurry fiend. We opened multiple tabs featuring in both Chrome and Internet traveler, streamed tune from Spotify and watched Netflix exclusive of a few slowdown.

On the Geekbench 3 yardstick, the Spectre 13t scored 6,436. That's better than the Intel 1.3-GHz nucleus i5-4250U-powered MacBook Air 13-inch's cut of 6,267, and well beyond the ultraportable kind be more or less of 4,559. The Samsung ATIV reserve 9 Plus, which packs the same workstation having the status of the Spectre 13t, scored a junior 4,150.

The Spectre 13t performed equally well on the PCMark 7 yardstick, hitting 4,806 and without problems besting the ultraportable kind be more or less of 3,927. The ATIV reserve 9 Plus pulled upfront of the HP with a cut of 5,017, but the Acer Aspire S7 was top still, with a cut of 5,051.

Gratitude to its 128GB solid-state drive, the Spectre 13t booted Windows 8.1 featuring in perfectly 10 seconds. The Acer Aspire S7 was single succeeding earlier, while the ATIV reserve 9 Plus was a succeeding slower.

The Spectre's SSD in addition helped it passing on library by the side of a immediate regularity, sad 4.97GB of varied media library featuring in perfectly 32 seconds. With the aim of equals a rate of 159 MBps, which is earlier than the kind be more or less of 111 MBps, having the status of well having the status of the Acer Aspire S7's 113 MBps and Samsung ATIV reserve 9 Plus' 127 MBps. With the aim of thought, the MacBook Air handily beat all three notebooks with its impressive passing on rate of 242 MBps.

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Through the OpenOffice worksheet Macro, the Spectre 13t matched 20,000 names to their corresponding addresses featuring in 5 minutes and 30 seconds. The be more or less ultraportable takes 6:40, while the MacBook Air 13-inch took 5:33. The ATIV reserve 9 Plus was a smidgen more rapidly, by the side of 5:13. One time again, though, the Aspire S7 took the crown, with a schedule of 5:12.

Graphics
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookWith its Intel HD Graphics 4400 integrated graphics memory chip, the HP Spectre 13t is ready in support of watching HD videos and in performance chief Windows 8 games, but don't expect to run something like "Call of Duty." On the 3DMark 11 yardstick, the Spectre 13t pulled down a cut of 943, while the Samsung ATIV reserve 9 Plus scored a respectable 913, and the Aspire S7 scored 895. All three laptops without problems beat the ultraportable kind be more or less of 713.

While in performance "World of Warcraft," the HP Spectre 13t delivered an be more or less of 28 frames apiece succeeding with the graphics fixed to automobile detect and declaration by the side of 1366 x 768. That's not quite playable. The Acer Aspire S7 averaged 39 fps by the side of the same declaration, while the ATIV reserve 9 Plus smash into 46 fps. The MacBook Air averaged 45 frames apiece succeeding with the declaration fixed to 1300 x 812.

Battery Life
Gratitude to its 4-cell battery and low-voltage, fourth-generation Intel nucleus i5 workstation, the Spectre command carry on you all period, and you won't declare to discomfort just about ruling an outlet. On the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves incessant net surfing completed Wi-Fi with the put on view brightness fixed to 40 percent, the Spectre 13t lasted an impressive 9 hours and 4 minutes. With the aim of blows away the ultraportable notebook kind be more or less of 6:35. This runtime in addition surpasses the Samsung ATIV reserve 9 Plus' 8:06 and Acer Aspire S7's 8:53. The MacBook Air 13-inch, however, ran in support of a long-drawn-out 11:40.

Software and Warranty
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookHP went relatively light on the software load in support of the Spectre 13t, which is a sound incident. You understand the standard array of Windows 8.1 apps, as well as the recent Bing Food & Drink and wellbeing & Fitness apps and Microsoft headquarters to your house and learner.

The severe hitter at this point is the integrated Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5. Commonly priced by the side of $149, the software lets you adjust, enhance and organize your digital photos with take pressure off. Unfortunately, unlike HP's elder Envy notebooks, the Spectre 13t doesn't extend with Photoshop Elements or else Premiere Elements.

HP provides customers with a one-year partial hardware warranty. Set eyes on how HP fared featuring in our Tech Support Showdown and superlative & most awful Brand give details.


Configurations
The Spectre 13t starts by the side of $999. By the side of with the aim of value, consumers understand a 1.6-GHz dual-core Intel nucleus i5-4200U workstation, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB solid state drive and a 1080p put on view. The Smart bad buy configuration, which overheads $1,229 similar to a mail-in refund, has the same workstation, but 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 2560 x 1440-pixel screen.

Consumers can in addition convert the preliminary archetype with up to an Intel nucleus i7-4500U workstation ($195), 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD ($150) and the 2560 x 1440 put on view ($70). Additionally, you can group the Spectre 13 with 802.11ac Wi-Fi, a $20 option.

HP Spectre v. The Competition
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookIn a little ways, the Spectre 13 surpasses the likes of Apple's $1,099 13-inch MacBook Air, offering a sharper and supplementary vivid screen along with soupзon capability. However, the Air lasts much longer on a charge and boasts earlier explode remembrance.

Samsung's $1,399 ATIV reserve 9 Plus has a sharper put on view, but you can configure the HP with a higher-res panel, too. And the Spectre 13 offers a better the ivories. The Aspire S7 ($1,399), an Editors' catalog pick, is lighter and slimmer than the HP and offers earlier performance, but it in addition overheads $380 supplementary.

Verdict
HP Spectre 13 UltrabookHP's $1,019 Spectre 13t-3000 has everything you poverty featuring in an Ultrabook: A glossy design, fast performance and prolonged battery life. And while you can for all time make use of the ample HD touchscreen to navigate Windows 8.1, HP gives you an admirable alternative with its Control Zone touchpad. We in addition like this ultraportable's the ivories and sound quality. The lone complaint we declare is with the aim of the substructure of the Spectre 13 runs a morsel zealous. Overall, the HP Spectre 13 is a first-class Windows 8 Ultrabook.