HP Spectre x360 14 Convertible Review: An Instant Favorite

If you've handled a Spectre x360 13 or 15 in the past, then you'll know exactly what to expect from the Spectre x360 14. HP has translated the existing luxurious Spectre design and metal materials to the new 3:2 form factor without any surprises. Both the base and lid exhibit little flexing and no creaking when attempting to twist their corners or depress their surfaces. Chassis rigidity doesn't feel any better or worse than the Asus ZenBook S or XPS 13, but its gold trims are arguably classier.

One thing we would improve is the rigidity of the hinges at certain angles. The lid falls over too easily once it reaches past 120 degrees which can be annoying when typing or transporting the laptop. This also doesn't give a good sense of longevity as the hinges will inevitably become weaker over time.

Port options are identical to the Spectre x360 13 but with a couple of minor changes. Firstly, both the power button and camera kill switch are now directly on the keyboard instead of the rear corner or right edge of the chassis, respectively. Secondly, both USB-C ports now support Thunderbolt 4 in addition to Thunderbolt 3 for users who can take advantage of the extra bandwidth.

The corner USB-C port can feel a little weird at first. We would've preferred a USB-C port on both the left-hand and right-hand edges so users can charge the laptop on either side much like on the Razer Book 13.

The retail packaging include a carrying sleeve and the HP MPP2.0 active pen free of charge. The standard one-year limited warranty applies with plenty of extension options if ordered directly from HP.com.

Keyboard

HP has some of the best laptop keyboards for its Spectre and EliteBook families. Feedback feels crisper and deeper for a more satisfying typing experience when compared to the oftentimes shallower and spongier keyboards on most other Ultrabooks. keys on the XPS 13 keyboard, for example, are shallower and with lighter input pressure. It all comes down to user preference, of course. We recommend testing out the keyboards on the Spectre x360 13 or 15 to get a good sense of what the Spectre x360 14 keyboard feels like.

Key layout is a mixed bag. The fingerprint reader in particular replaces the Ctrl key meaning users who have been relying on this key on other laptops will find the change annoying. Meanwhile, the power button takes slightly more force to depress than the surrounding keys to avoid accidental presses, but we would have preferred a fingerprint-enabled power button instead.

Much like on the Dell XPS 13 9310 with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU, processor performance can be unsteady when running high loads for long periods as clock rates will cycle to keep core temperatures in check. However, the amplitude and range at which clock rates cycle on the HP is tighter than on the Dell for a more predictable level of performance. Our CineBench R15 xT loop test below illustrates this as our Spectre 14 would generally score between 770 and 820 points compared to 620 and 750 points on the XPS 13. The HP system is seemingly better at sustaining both tighter and faster clock rates than the Dell as a result.

Raw multi-thread performance is about 20 to 40 percent faster than the Core i7-1065G7 in the Spectre x360 13. Some laptops with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU are able to run even faster like the Razer Book 13.