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*warm* HP Spectre x360 13.3" i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD $1250

  • Last Updated:
  • Oct 9th, 2015 4:13 am
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Deal Addict
Dec 26, 2006
2059 posts
3876 upvotes

[Best Buy] *warm* HP Spectre x360 13.3" i5, 8GB, 256GB SSD $1250

Doesn't appear to be a sale price, but it's $50 less than the previous regular price. Appears to be OOS online in Western Canada, so if interested try reserving in store. Warm deal if this is new regular price, but maybe trying to sell them off if new spec coming with Skylake procs. With exchange rate, not many electronics have lower regular price these days.
36 replies
Member
Jul 12, 2013
366 posts
331 upvotes
Cold for me. Thinkpad or mac is a better choice. I dont trust HP built......
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Mar 28, 2002
3543 posts
2128 upvotes
Before You Buy Video Review rates this as a DON'T BUY

Deal Addict
Dec 26, 2006
2059 posts
3876 upvotes
Redscott wrote: Before You Buy Video Review rates this as a DON'T BUY

HP must have had enough complaints about the backlight key..they released updated BIOS so the backlight key doesn't illuminate. As far as other complaints, to each their own. Pretty commodity item these days. Several reviews in favour of this too and up to personal preference.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Dec 3, 2012
563 posts
210 upvotes
Toronto, ON
I feel almost crazy for saying this but for $1250 you may as well spend $50 more and get a refurb early 2015 13" MBP. I'm pretty sure it'll knock this out of the park in every aspect besides the 360 hinge.
Member
Sep 8, 2008
337 posts
75 upvotes
York
Redscott wrote: Before You Buy Video Review rates this as a DON'T BUY

That was such a terrible review. Read the comments on that video, people are tearing the review apart, and many who have bought this laptop have posted their own opinions. Much more informative.

"future of computing"..LOL
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Oct 19, 2003
20241 posts
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Toronto (Bloor West …
I'm actually on my Spectre X360 right now. Any questions? Mine is the 8GB i7-5500 model. I love it, it's built really well, performance is definitely there. Battery life doesn't live up to the hype but it's not hard to get around 8 hours of general use out of it which is still good.

One thing is, it suffers from Realtek dropping the ball on Windows 10 (thus far, I have no doubt it will get fixed) for the particular sound system in this laptop in that it will suffer from distortion/crackling after a while particularly when using wifi - like streaming anything. It's an annoying problem, but it's not a hardware defect - they all seem to do it. Just something to keep in mind.

Other than that though, the keyboard is great I can type full speed on it pretty much which I could admittedly never quite manage on my Surface with the type cover 2. The keyboard is also backlit which is nice, though you can't dim it (just turn it off). The hinge system is one of the better ones in that it definitely keeps the screen in whatever position you leave it and doesn't bounce all over the place like some convertibles do. Oh yes, the Canadian models DO have multilingual keyboards but in this case it is a regular keyboard layout with full size keys where you expect them to be. The french symbols are just silkscreened in dark lettering on the keyboard and are not illuminated by the backlight even. So, you just totally forget that there is any sign of French corruption on it at all - totally a non issue here.

Anyway I'm very happy with it. So while I'm online AMA. :P
Chivancouver wrote: Cold for me. Thinkpad or mac is a better choice. I dont trust HP built......
This is slightly different, Microsoft engineers had as much to do with building this as HP did it was a collaboration. It definitely feels lightyears ahead of any other HP laptop I've had my hands on recently in terms of build quality and fit and finish.
Sr. Member
Apr 11, 2003
701 posts
181 upvotes
Edmonton
I have to agree with the poster above me. I'm on mine right now with the i7 as well.

* Battery is around 8 hours not 12. Oh well :)
* Same crackling on audio since Windows 10 - now I know why at least. I notice it from time to time, but it's hardly bothersome for me. I didn't buy this to replace a 17" entertainment workstation with subwoofer (which was a wonderful machine other than size)
* The keyboard is wonderful, especially when you don't have to get the Canadian Bilingual junk
* That backlight key is a problem? "When watching a movie in the dark you have this bright light...>" do they mean the screen? :) Cause that's a light too. Jezus. People will bitch about everything.

My two 'complaints' are pretty minor:
- the unit has very chiseled edges - which, if you're a touch typer and use it a lot, you feel over time. Not like it cuts into you, but could have been just a little rounded off.
- the finger catch to open it isn't quite as depressed as I might like, so you have to use two hands to pull it open. Oh wah :)

This is a GREAT laptop.

As for the guy saying "spend $50 more and get the refurb MacBook Pro..." http://www.apple.com/ca/shop/browse/hom ... ook_pro/13 is it the one with Retina but only 128GB HDD for $1309? Because that's still short on space. And touch screen. And not usable as a tablet. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice unit. But for ME I wanted > 128GB (which my Yoga Pro 2 had), touch screen, 2-in-1 convertible. That pretty much knocked Apple out of the running completely.
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Oct 19, 2003
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netwise wrote: * That backlight key is a problem? "When watching a movie in the dark you have this bright light...>" do they mean the screen? :) Cause that's a light too. Jezus. People will bitch about everything.
Since a bunch of BIOS updates ago they added an option to turn the F5 key backlight off due to customer feedback about it being strange. So, yeah really really not an issue.
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Nov 28, 2011
1446 posts
1665 upvotes
Toronto
This is a clearance item. The only reason they're clearing it out is because it comes with Windows 8.1, and now they're going to relaunch with Windows 10. I think everything should be the same.

HP Retail Associate. Ask away =]

P.s. I just picked one up myself. Haven't opened it up yet, but I think I have the last one around the GTA.

The new SKU should be released soon. I just don't know when.
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Nov 28, 2011
1446 posts
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Toronto
globalize9 wrote: http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/le ... yoga-3-14/

IMO this is a much better deal. 14inch, i7, 256gb/8gb, 940M 2GB graphic card, oh and the original 360 hinge. and you can knock off $50 more if you know what to use =p I am just waiting for SP4 to come out before deciding which one to get for gf.
Yea, I'd argue that the lenovo is a better deal.

But there seems to be quite a bit of negative feedback...
Check the comment section on the cnet review:
http://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-yoga-3-14/
Member
Dec 16, 2012
387 posts
402 upvotes
Calgary
bluegang6 wrote: Yea, I'd argue that the lenovo is a better deal.

But there seems to be quite a bit of negative feedback...
Check the comment section on the cnet review:
http://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-yoga-3-14/
You have the option of glossy or anti-glare screen. In the i7 case, the screen is anti-glare. Thus, the problem with a so called "bad" screen is eliminated.
Deal Addict
Dec 26, 2006
2059 posts
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globalize9 wrote: http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/le ... yoga-3-14/

IMO this is a much better deal. 14inch, i7, 256gb/8gb, 940M 2GB graphic card, oh and the original 360 hinge. and you can knock off $50 more if you know what to use =p I am just waiting for SP4 to come out before deciding which one to get for gf.
Nice find...a couple of knocks for me. 1) their French/English KB is bad for me...hate the shorter left shift and enter key. Also don't think the battery is as good as the Spectre. But good price for this and nice to see it's 1080p and not the super hires which is a bit high for this smaller display.
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Dec 26, 2006
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bluegang6 wrote: This is a clearance item. The only reason they're clearing it out is because it comes with Windows 8.1, and now they're going to relaunch with Windows 10. I think everything should be the same.

HP Retail Associate. Ask away =]

P.s. I just picked one up myself. Haven't opened it up yet, but I think I have the last one around the GTA.

The new SKU should be released soon. I just don't know when.
Does the new SKU have skylake and faster SSD???? :) Nice to see a bit of a price break though.
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Nov 28, 2011
1446 posts
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Toronto
frugalcanuck wrote: Does the new SKU have skylake and faster SSD???? :) Nice to see a bit of a price break though.
AFAIK, the internals are going to be the same. I've seen a few HP laptops running Win 8.1 go clearance only to be replaced with units running Windows 10.

I think we're looking at Skylake for Feb/March onward.

The Microsoft Store has the new Spectre x360 with Windows 10 preinstalled with 5th generation processors.
I doubt they'd change the SSD. Truly wish it was faster though. If I decide to keep my Spectre, I might upgrade it!
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Oct 19, 2003
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frugalcanuck wrote: Does the new SKU have skylake and faster SSD???? :) Nice to see a bit of a price break though.
The SSD in the Spectre X360 is extremely easy to replace, you take 6 screws off the back panel, the panel opens right up and the M.2 drive is right there on top of everything. I wouldn't worry much at all about the SSD when buying one. When a nice PCIe M.2 drive deal comes along in the future just grab it you'll get more for your money buying it separately anyway.
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Dec 26, 2006
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BinaryJay wrote: The SSD in the Spectre X360 is extremely easy to replace, you take 6 screws off the back panel, the panel opens right up and the M.2 drive is right there on top of everything. I wouldn't worry much at all about the SSD when buying one. When a nice PCIe M.2 drive deal comes along in the future just grab it you'll get more for your money buying it separately anyway.
Many ultrabooks these days seem to be difficult to upgrade so good to hear at least storage is easily upgradable.

How do you find Win10 on the Spectre? Do you see any penalty to the battery run time? I've read in general that Win 10 adversely affects battery time and partly due to tasks allowed to run in the background. Those can be disabled, but seemingly Win10 still seems to use more battery than win 8.1 did.
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Oct 19, 2003
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frugalcanuck wrote: Many ultrabooks these days seem to be difficult to upgrade so good to hear at least storage is easily upgradable.

How do you find Win10 on the Spectre? Do you see any penalty to the battery run time? I've read in general that Win 10 adversely affects battery time and partly due to tasks allowed to run in the background. Those can be disabled, but seemingly Win10 still seems to use more battery than win 8.1 did.
Can't tell a difference if you ask me.

Back panel is not glued, just screws. The memory is soldered in (unfortunately), but the SSD is right on top of the battery and easily replaced and the wifi card is also easily replaced in the future if needed. Also bonus is the battery is easy to get to if that ever needs replacing as well. It's a well designed piece of hardware and should get a lot of bonus marks for being easily user upgradeable and repairable.

[IMG]http://hothardware.com/ContentImages/Ar ... rboard.jpg[/IMG]

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