THIS gorgeous piece of kit we’ve been playing with since late-March made its debut, it would seem, at the Cannes Film Festival in May last year. An odd choice of venue, offhand one might think, for the big reveal of an amazing piece of technology, however prestigious the annual film festival might be.
Then again, last year wasn’t the Cannes debut of HP Inc., the technology behemoth behind the aforementioned kit: the Spectre X2. According to information released by the company at the time, it was HP’s “14th year at the Cannes Film Festival, [and] the company is not resting on its 75-year legacy of filmmaking innovation, debuting devices that reinvent the way people design, collaborate and create. From the company creating award-winning workstations and displays powering the film industry, HP’s new premium portfolio [that includes the] Spectre x2 delivers the performance, design and innovation that empower today’s generation of digital creators to inspire the world like never before.”
In the same news release, Ron Coughlin, president of Personal Systems for HP Inc., said, “[The] Cannes Film Festival brings the world’s greatest filmmakers and artists together to showcase a unique form of storytelling. Our stylish new premium products [including the Spectre X2] were designed to unleash creativity in all of us. [They] inspire the imagination and enable people everywhere to reinvent and create.”
No doubt fitting for a kit that made its debut in Cannes, on March 22 HP Philippines took over an entire ballroom of the swank Okada Manila to mark the debut around these parts of what the company touts as its “new premium detachable” which will “reinvent the way people design, collaborate and create.”
“HP Philippines understands the ever-changing lifestyle trends that influence how Filipinos consume and create different media,” said Kris Seville, HP Philippines business unit manager for PC, during the event. “With the latest innovation in the Spectre series, we are giving the digital creator the next-level companion for work and play. The Spectre X2 helps our users push their creative boundaries and tell their story—wherever they may be.”
With the term “premium detachable,” you may have already guessed the HP Spectre X2 is a hybrid that straddles the realm between a laptop and a tablet. We wouldn’t be altogether surprised if Apple fanboys snort at it as a copycat of the iPad Pro, but they’d be very wrong. For one, the Spectre X2 is neither a glorified tablet nor a hobbled laptop. It’s a powerhouse that gets real work done, whether that’s creating or editing documents or spreadsheets, working on your blog, retouching images with precision (no small thanks to the pen/stylus that comes with the package), and then some. Its real twin/competition is the Microsoft Surface Pro—but it costs substantially less and is in much better duds.
Priced at P79,990 (for the base Core i5 2.2GHz with 8GB RAM and 256 SSD; there’s a pricier variant packing a Core i7 2.4GHz with 16GB RAM and 512 SSD), the HP Spectre X2 is bolder in design than the Microsoft Surface Pro. The CNC-machined aluminum chassis of the detachable is given a dark ash silver coloring, while the front is an all-glass affair to protect the dazzling 12.3-inch diagonal display with a 3000 x 2000 resolution packing 6 million pixels. The viewing angles are excellent, and the brilliant display easily brings HD entertainment to supremely satisfying levels, while providing a wider range of ambient light options that should please photographers or graphic artists.
The back of the Spectre X2 is kept bare, save for the deep copper HP logo embossed at its center and the 13-megapixel camera embedded flush at the top (there’s also front-facing 5-megapixel camera for video conferencing). The copper color also gleams at the bottom of the device, which is that of the solid and sturdy kickstand. The stand can be pulled out to the maximum 165 degrees—choose your preferred viewing angle.
At the front, the detachable’s display is bookmarked by a pair of Bang & Olfusen speakers that give your media consumption that extra oomph. The power button/display switch can be found on the top spine, while on the right are the volume buttons and a USB 3.1 Type-C connector that can work an external display or your charging needs. Another similarly capable Type-C connection is found on the left spine, which also plays host to a microSD slot and the headphone jack.
A major improvement over the Surface Pro optional keyboard-cum-cover is the Spectre X2’s, which is part of the package along with the pen. Don’t be fooled by the compact size of the keyboard, which is connected to the detachable via very strong magnets. The keyboard has not only a good amount
of travel, but also features a layer of aluminum that gives it a sturdiness and none of the mushy keys. Backlight is thrown in for good measure for those occasions when you have to work in a cafe or some shared office where the lighting isn’t optimal. The trackpad, meanwhile, offers precision and none of the hair-tearing fiddliness typical of not a few of the laptops we’ve used. By the way, there is a loop attached to the side of the Spectre X2 keyboard for pen storage. We never got to really test the pen all that much, save for a few scribbles and doodles on occasion, but graphic artists and content creators should be pleased enough.
The HP Spectre X2 runs on Microsoft Windows 10, and whatever the latest updates there are for the OS and the hardware, these are downloaded and installed automatically when you power on the device for the first time. The OS remains the most widely deployed, but we do want to give the exceptional Ubuntu (or its gorgeous variant, Elementary OS) a spin on this gorgeous and powerful hybrid sometime in the near future.
That said, it’s a remarkable kit as it is. For more information, visit bit.ly/2InrNoz.