HP Spectre x360 13 OLED battery life is significantly shorter than the IPS option by several hours

OLED is typically viewed as the superior option over IPS especially since the laptops that carry them often cost much more at retail. The HP Spectre x360 13 OLED, for example, retails for $1100 to $1300 USD compared to just $970 for the IPS version with the same Core i5-1135G7 CPU, 8 GB RAM, and 512 GB NVMe SSD. Is OLED really worth ponying up hundreds of dollars more for?

When compared to IPS, the benefits are obvious: users will get a higher native resolution (4K 2160p vs. 1080p) with deeper colors (DCI-P3 vs. sRGB), essentially perfect black levels, and significantly faster black-white and gray-gray response times for almost no ghosting. The differences are noticeable enough that even those unfamiliar with display technologies can distinguish between OLED and IPS when side-by-side.

Unfortunately, the disadvantages of OLED are not as obvious at first glance. Battery life in particular is generally shorter than their IPS counterparts especially when displaying bright white colors. An IPS panel displaying all white or all white demands about the same power while an OLED panel displaying all white will consume several watts more than all black. When browsing the internet at 150 nit display brightness and on the Balanced power profile, our Spectre x360 13 OLED would clock in just 6 hours and 6 minutes before automatic shutdown compared to 9 hours and 54 minutes on the Spectre x360 13 IPS. If longer battery life is a major factor for you, then the less expensive IPS configuration can still be an appealing option.

See our review on the 11th gen Intel Spectre x360 13 OLED here to learn more about the 13.3-inch HP convertible.