‪#‎HP‬ Takes Aim At ‪#‎Apple‬, ‪#‎Lenovo‬ With Spectre x360 Multimode ‪#‎Ultrabook‬

Make no mistake, HP's latest ultrabook, the HP Spectre x360, is a direct attempt to compete with Apple's MacBook Pro line, as well as Lenovo's attractive Yoga Pro series of multimode laptops.

An HP representative basically said as much when he briefed us on the new device, and he spent the majority of our time extolling the virtues of the Spectre x360's precise, determined, and high-end design and build quality (take that, MacBook) as well as its expertly-engineered and -crafted hinge (how do you like them apples, Lenovo).

High-End Design -

The 13.3-inch Spectre x360 has a CNC-machined aluminum chassis that HP said both enhances rigidity and allowed it to precisely cut the metal such that a 56 WHr battery would fit inside with precision. The outside edge has a polished cut. The touch panel is optically bonded to the display, which HP claimed increases brightness by "pulling each pixel up to the surface of the display."

HP wanted this device to be as thin and light as possible, and the resulting product weighs as little as 3.17 lbs (anything under 3.5 lbs seemed "light" to customers, according to HP’s research) and measures 0.63 inches at it thickest point.

The keyboard and touchpad got plenty of attention from the HP team. HP said that it felt strongly about delivering a full-size (well, tenkeyless) keyboard with nice key travel (this one offers 1.5 mm of travel), "good response on the bottom of key event," and satisfying feedback on the "dish" of the keyboard. The touchpad is an extra-wide Control Zone, which HP has used on its ultrabooks and purports to offer high palm rejection.

The WiFi performance alleges to be superb. HP said that the CNC-machined chassis allowed it to place the antenna near the top of the display (with no cover to blemish the unibody look), and the company claims that its performance, at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, is specially tuned to work better than the competition in "noisy" networks and a variety of access points, with less signal degradation over distance.

The Hinge -

Although the 2-in-1 form factor is attractive in some ways, HP did not want the Spectre x360 to be one. The team didn’t want a keyboard that would slide off when it was bumping around inside your bag, nor an attachable, click-on keyboard that could be clunky. That’s why the Spectre x360 is instead a multimode notebook. Of course with a multimode device, so much, er, hinges on the hinge.

This hinge is designed to be as thin in laptop mode as it is in clamshell mode, and it will be “out of the way” in tablet mode. It’s a geared mechanism with a dual-cam hinge; it syncs the gears together so that the inner hinge folds onto itself.

Thus, the Spectre x360 should retain a sleek look whether you’re using it as a laptop, as a tablet, in tent mode, or with the screen propped up and the keyboard folded under.

Availability begins today from HP, and you can find Spectre x360s at Best Buy stores starting tomorrow.