HP Spectre 13 x360 refresh adds Whiskey Lake CPUs and a new design twist

The HP Spectre series is home to some of the best consumer laptops the manufacturer has to offer. Ever since its inception in 2015, HP has been refreshing the family year after year like clockwork with both exterior and interior upgrades. For the 2018 Holiday season, HP will be updating both its 13.3-inch Spectre 13 x360 and 15.6-inch Spectre 15 x360 with even more options than the 2017 model.

First, let's start with the Spectre 13 x360. HP is claiming it will have the longest battery life of any quad-core convertible at up to 22.5 hours. When compared to the 2017 model, the newer 2018 version will have an option for 4G LTE and dual eSIM for improved connectivity when on-the-go. Its display "chin" is thinner (31.8 mm vs. 34.17 mm), the side bezels are narrower (5.75 mm vs. 5.42 mm), and the awkward side Power button fingerprint reader has been dropped for a more traditional fingerprint reader on the right palm rest. A new dedicated camera on/off "kill switch" resides along the right edge as an added layer of privacy.

Perhaps the most visually striking feature of the 2018 Spectre 13 x360 is its angled USB-C connector and Power button. As shown by the images and slides below, the rear two corners have been "snipped off" to make room for a Power button on the back left corner and a USB-C connector on the back right corner. It's a unique take that should reduce cable clutter when compared to traditionally placed charging ports, at least according to HP.

Internally, HP will be moving on from Kaby Lake-R to Whiskey Lake with Core i5-8265U and i7-8565U options. Both FHD and 4K UHD panels are coming back with Sure View options for the FHD SKUs. It's interesting to see WAN and privacy options for the Spectre family as these features were previously limited to the business-oriented EliteBook and ProBook families.

The 2018 HP Spectre 13 x360 is launching this December for a starting price of $1150 USD across North America and most of Europe. A new Poseidon Blue color will join the existing Ash Silver color that we're already familiar with.

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