HP Spectre x360 15t review – Core i7-8550U and Nvidia MX150 graphics

17 Comments

  1. Jeffrey Mann

    November 15, 2017 at 11:14 am

    Would it not be easy to replace the feet with an after-market version that would allow for more space under the laptop? Alternatively, one could use shallow plastic cups that cover the feet and serve as alternative feet. I use ones that I purchased from Home Depot and that lifts my laptop up about 0.5" off the desk and that allows for better ventilation under my Asus 305UA laptop.

    • Derek Sullivan

      November 15, 2017 at 5:38 pm

      Easy to replace, sure, but getting someone to make them the exact size would be challenging. The feet are held on by a very thin piece of double sided tape, so it wouldn't be too hard to get another foot to stick onto it. From my experience though, if you don't key the feet and size them correctly like the originals are, they'll come right off once they snag on something(Which would happen a lot when dragging your laptop on a table.

      • Zer0WaitState

        November 19, 2017 at 1:03 pm

        Derek, I have been through three of these HP Spectre x360 15 laptops in a month.

        First: Bright cloudiness in lower right hand corner during normal use.

        Second: Gritty unfinished feel on surface with hand prints and a tape mark in the finish. Scuffed HDMI port and way too much give in the mouse pad.

        Third: This one arrived the same day this review was posted, the front feet were so low the front of the laptop rubbed on any surface it was placed on. The ventilation intake was completely blocked causing the fans to constantly run. Also, Samsung SSD drive not present.. instead Toshiba SSD was used.

        Number 4 is on the way.. fingers crossed.

      • Derek Sullivan

        November 19, 2017 at 1:06 pm

        Brutal… I didn't see the first two issues you had but I definitely understand the third one. Hope the next one works out.

      • Zer0WaitState

        November 19, 2017 at 1:31 pm

        Thanks! I can definitely say the first and second had adequate clearance for ventilation. So yeah, either the front feet have changed (perhaps a defect in the current production run) or the rear and front feet were accidentally swapped. The rear feet are thicker, raising the palm rest. The change in SSD manufacturer was sudden and unexpected. I'll keep you posted.

      • Zer0WaitState

        November 25, 2017 at 8:19 pm

        Well #4 was a dud. The "new" machine arrived earlier in the week from HP with smudges, fingerprints, swipe marks and suffered the same issue of being way too low on a surface. Returned and refunded.

        I decided to give Best Buy a try. I found the laptop online with delivery for $400 off of their retail price (and cheaper than HP's price) for Black Friday. Number 5 arrived yesterday flat as pancake with no visible light to be seen underneath from the side. The sound of the scraping on my desk was very pronounced on that unit and the fans ran non-stop. I returned it today and one of their Geek Squad members took a look at it. They were stunned and they too could see no clearance whatsoever for air to flow and heard the scraping noise when they slid the unit on the counter. They exchanged it immediately this morning.

        So now, here I am on Number 6. This unit has way more clearance for airflow but there is an ever so slight bow in the base cover where the intake vent is, dead center, that lightly touches any surface I put it on. The fans aren't working as hard as before; good sign I guess. After a couple of hours of updates installing, the fans rarely come on full throttle unless I "push" the machine hard. One nice surprise… this unit has a Samsung PM961 in it! This machine seems to be more in line with my first unit from a month ago. The screen, finish and hinges are pristine out of the box on with this one. I hope no one else has to go through this. Come on HP! You can do better!

      • Osnat

        December 5, 2017 at 7:44 pm

        How did you find out what SSD model should be there? I was looking at specs across the web and there is always a generic description. what makes the Samsung better than the Toshiba?

      • Derek Sullivan

        December 5, 2017 at 9:04 pm

        If you look at my HWinfo screenshot, you can see the SSD model. In this case it's a LITEON drive. I'm not sure why people criticized a Toshiba drive. Perhaps it's a sata drive and not nvme? Some drives get really hot under load so that might be the case in. Either way, this drive was neither of those.

  2. R.G.

    November 20, 2017 at 9:40 am

    this model has HDMI 2.0 (as per HP manual)

    anybody tested adapter: Thunderbolt3 to HDMI 4k TV @60hz ? i believe PC monitor should be fine, but not sure if all features will work on TV

  3. Gestalt

    November 24, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    Do you have any idea if HP will offer this in a Ceramic White like the 13" version this year? I was really hoping for it…

    • Derek Sullivan

      November 24, 2017 at 7:40 pm

      I'm not sure. I don't think they models earlier this year came in that color.

  4. Osnat

    January 6, 2018 at 6:47 pm

    So, now that Intel chips are 'violated' — what does it mean for someone who wants to buy a new laptop? especially to the tune of $1500? the patches seem to address part of the security vulnerabilities and a new design is not anytime very soon. is it worth waiting for it?

  5. Marcel

    May 15, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    Do you know of any model in the 13" to 15" range that is equipped with an OLED display?

    Btw: Thanks for your excellent reviews with lots of information!

    • Derek Sullivan

      May 15, 2018 at 1:45 pm

      The old Skylake 13" model was supposed to have an OLED QHD panel option but I never saw them go up for sale in the US. I've only seen them for sale on eBay, which makes me wonder if only certain markets received them.

  6. HP Support

    October 10, 2018 at 8:19 am

    I am truly a fan as i love music and playing online games and this gadget comes with speakers to either side of the keyboard complete a very visually pleasing dec and it is running on seventh gen Core i7 (U series and have 16GB of Ram and 512GD SSD and also Nvidia 940 MX which makes it ideal for gaming.

  7. jtsu1

    November 4, 2019 at 9:30 pm

    Can somebody confirm if the GPU is mx150 ID10 or ID12? (eg report via techpowerup) Thx.

  8. Hotmail Helpdesk

    September 5, 2020 at 7:46 am

    Thank You for sharing information and suggestion.

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