A featherweight with a mighty punch

A SLEEK, elegant and powerful notebook with a super thin chassis, the HP Spectre 13 might well be the most portable computer on the market, weighing in at a mere 1.163 kgs.

The model I tested, the 13-V005TU, is powered by a powerful Intel Core i7-6500U running at 2.5 GHz and equipped with plenty of working memory – 8 gigabytes of RAM. It has a 512 GB fast PCIe SSD drive and it runs on Windows 10 Pro 64-bit edition.

The chassis is crafted with durable aluminium and carbon fibre in a two-tone design – the dark grey body in nice contrast with the high-gloss gold back edge that houses two hinges and three USB Type-C ports, one of which is used for recharging the notebook, and a headphone jack.

The notebook uses a hidden piston hinge to create the illusion of a hinge-less design for a premium look and feel. Its backlit keyboard and glass trackpad add an even sexier twist. 

Billed as the thinnest notebook ever to be released, the display and keyboard are just 10.4mm thick, which has been achieved by removing all the ports. The HDMI output, full-size USB and LAN ports are instead provided in USB-C adapters. The adapters must be connected to the USB Type-C ports at the back.

The Spectre 13 comes with a sharp and bright Full HD IPS edge-to-edge display that is protected by Corning Gorilla glass. The display is very good for editing photos, showing presentations and watching Full HD movies. Its graphics horsepower comes from Intel HD Graphics 520.

Although the Spectre 13 is powered by a fast processor and despite its thin design, the cooling system is good. It uses a breakthrough hyperbaric cooling technology from Intel that actively draws cool air in and directs it over the processor to keep it running at peak performance.

The Spectre 13 showed off its impressive performance during the test, starting up and shutting down instantly and running business applications like Microsoft Word and Excel fast and smoothly. Full HD video clips also played smoothly.

The notebook has good sound too as it uses HP Audio Boost and Bang & Olufsen Audio technologies. HP Audio Boost raises the volume and makes its crystal clear. The Bang & Olufsen four-speaker set-up and its Smart Amp function and software reproduces good quality sound so that you enjoy both movies and music. 

The Spectre 13 has fast wireless connection, using Intel dual band AC8260 Wi-Fi 802.11 ac adapter. I connected it to my Linksys WRT1200AC wireless router and was pleased at the speed of the Internet connection, which allowed me to easily stream music and video files from other computers on my home network fast and smoothly. The adapter supports Intel WiDi and is compatible with Miracast-certified devices, such as new smart TVs.

The Spectre 13 has up to nine hours of battery life. It uses a hybrid battery that is split into thinner pieces but delivers the same wattage as a single battery. 

The package also comes with 13.3-inch leather sleeve.

HP Spectre 13-V005TU has a suggested retail price of Bt69,990.

 

Key Specs

- OS: Windows 10 Pro 64

- CPU: Intel Core i7-6500U 2.5GHz

- Memory: 8 GB LPDD3-1866 |on-board RAM

- Hard drive: 512 GB PCIe SSD

- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 520

- Display: 13.3-inch FHD BrightView (1920x1080) 2.0mm panel

- Wireless connectivity: Intel Dual band wireless-AC 8260 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi + BT 4.2 Combo Adaptor

- Audio: BANG & OLUFSEN, Quad Speakers, Support Smart Amp functionality

- Webcam: HP TrueVision HD: |HD camera - indicator LED, USB2.0, BSI sensor, f2.4, 720p

- Ports: 3.5 Headphone / Microphone Combo Jack; 1 USB Type-C; 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 with Thunderbolt Gen 3 technology

- Battery: 4 cell Polymer |battery - 38Whr (4.95AH)

- Dimensions: 325 x 229.4 x10.4 mm

- Weight: 1.163 kg