Ahead of the launch, HP’s PC chief, Ron Coughlin, said the new laptop would make the company a trendsetter in the PC industry. Coughlin told the Wall Street Journal, “For years, Apple has been seen as the innovator and the driver of innovation, [but now] HP is really taking over that mantle.” This new laptop is extremely thin, as it’s just 0.4-inch (10.44 mm) thick, which is the exact size of an AAA battery. As a result, Spectre is not just the thinnest PC in HP’s portfolio but also the slimmest notebook on the entire market. HP has given its new portable computer a copper sheen to appeal to anyone who loves gold gadgets or devices that look like jewellery. Spectre comes with a 13.3-inch IPS display full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080) with Gorilla Glass protection. Despite its sleek profile, HP has managed to use Intel’s top-of-the-range Core i5 and Core i7 processors to power the Spectre. It also includes the heating system to dissipate the heat generated by the Core i processors. To do this, HP developed a “hyperbaric cooling” system that uses a pair of fans to create “positive pressure” to push warm air out of the rear of the laptop. Depending on the version you choose, the laptop comes with a maximum of 8GB of RAM and about 10 hours of battery life depending on your usage. And for music lovers, HP tapped Bang & Olufsen to give its laptop cred in the audio department. On the back of the laptop are three USB Type-C ports (two of them support Thunderbolt 3 speeds) and a 3.5mm headphone jack. All three of the USB-C ports can be used to charge the Spectre 13.3, output video and transfer data. The laptop features no touch-screen, no detachable keyboard or ultra-high definition resolution, so it’s just what it’s supposed to be: a laptop that lets you work with Windows 10 in the old-fashioned way. It’s clearly an attempt to take on the MacBook, but it also comes with no less than three USB-C ports, two of them offering Thunderbolt support to connect to monitors.
The 13.3-inch Spectre weighs just 2.45 pounds (1.11 kg), which makes it super easy to carry around. In addition to making it as light as possible, HP also focused on its looks, so the Spectre 13.3 comes with premium looks that can usually be found in the luxury market. For instance, it comes with “high gloss copper accents reflect a hand-polished, jewellery-like finish and an innovative hidden piston hinge creates the illusion of a hinge-less design to offer an unmatched premium look-and-feel,” as HP itself explains, adding that carbon fiber is being used on the bottom. HP, which is the biggest PC maker in the U.S. and second globally, is clearly looking to boost its credentials in the luxury end of the market, launching the new laptop at this week’s International Luxury Conference in Paris and showing off two special editions of the laptop created by top designers. Tord Boontje’s design is coated in midnight blue with floral swirls and Swarovski crystals on top that are accented in 18 karat gold while Jess Hannah’s design sees the entire laptop coated in 18 karat gold and the HP logo encrusted in diamonds. These limited edition notebooks will be auctioned, with the proceeds going to the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The sleek laptop doesn’t come cheap and will be available for pre-order on April 25th for $1,170 and up. It will be available in Best Buy stores on May 29 with configurations starting at $1,250.
