New HP Specter Notebooks Include Options With Intel Arc, Less Noise

HP has updated its Specter x360 line of convertible laptops with beveled edges, adding a supposedly quieter sound profile, a new Intel Arc graphics card, and improved webcams.

HP today released versions of the Specter x360 for 12th Gen Intel in 13.5″and 16″sizes.

If the 13.5-inch screen sounds new to you, it’s because HP hasn’t released a “Specter x360 13.5″since 2020. Last year, his 13.5-inch Specter was called “Specter x360 14”. But don’t get confused; this thin and light laptop still has a 13.5-inch diagonal screen and uses a 3:2 aspect ratio for up to 3000×2000 resolution if you opt for OLED.

If you prefer a brighter (OLED claims up to 400 nits with SDR and 500 nits with HDR), less power-hungry option, you can get the 13.5-inch Specter x360 with a 1920×1280 LED-backlit IPS display and up to 1000 nits of brightness. brightness.

HP claims the 13.5-inch Specter will be quieter than its predecessor. New fan design reduces noise by 8% and improves airflow by 10%. The new fans have 122 blades, 46% more than before, and these blades are 25% thinner. Considering the 13.5″Specter is 0.67″thick, heat management will be critical to keeping performance high and making sure this thing doesn’t burn your knees.

In the Specter line, HP has moved from a 0.9MP webcam to a 5MP webcam. It includes fancy extras like auto-framing (keeps you in line of sight even as you walk), brightness adjustment (depending on ambient light), and HP GlamCam, which is claimed to enhance your appearance by smoothing the outside. view. your skin and bags under your eyes, for example.

You can also get a 13.5-inch Specter with a built-in privacy screen that will make it difficult for others to view the display from an angle after pressing a key combination. Meanwhile, the 16-inch Specter can use AI software and an IR camera to automatically blur the screen if it senses someone is sneaking up on you from behind, which just feels like a different, more virtual kind of sneaking up on you.

A smaller addition, the 3.5-inch Specter x360 also has an HP Palette, which HP describes as a “digital workspace”for managing creatives’ photos. It includes a photo search function, a place to draw with a stylus, and wireless file sharing.

In terms of components, the 13-inch Specters are complemented by an Intel Core i7-1255U (two Performance cores clocked at 1.7-4.7GHz, eight efficient cores clocked at 1.2-3.5GHz, and 12 threads). Smaller laptops can also have up to 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD and 32GB LPDDR4x-4266 memory, as well as integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics. The 13.5-inch display claims a 16-hour mixed-use battery life based on MobileMark18, but you’ll probably get lower numbers if you opt for OLED and/or maximum brightness.

Intel Arc or Nvidia, discrete graphics

The 16-inch Specter x360 is slightly more powerful than the smaller Specter. It supports up to i7-12700H (six P-cores 2.3-4.7GHz, eight E-cores 1.7-3.5GHz and 20 threads), 32GB DDR-4-3200 RAM, 2 TB of memory and an Intel processor. Discrete graphics card Arc A370M.

Intel plans to expand its mobile (and desktop) GPU lineup, but only the A370M laptops have been announced so far. The GPU has 4GB of GDDR6 memory and can run at clock speeds up to 1550MHz. By comparison, the Nvidia RTX 3060 laptop GPU has 6GB of GDDR6 memory and boosted clock speeds to 1283-1703MHz. The Specter x360 16 joins the upcoming 2-in-1 Asus Zenbook Flip and Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro laptops in the early phase of Arc adoption.

The 16-inch Specter x360 starts at $1,650.

Cheaper Envy Laptops

HP also released updates to its cheaper Envy laptops today, adding 12th-gen Intel chips, discrete graphics, and the aforementioned 5MP webcam features. HP has released updates to the 17.3-inch and 16-inch Envy clamshells, as well as a 15.6-inch convertible that will be sold with AMD Ryzen 7 processors in addition to Team Blue options, and a 13.3-inch convertible.

However, those with graphics-intensive workloads will be attracted to the 16-inch version, which can be configured with an Arc A370M or RTX 3060 GPU and up to the i9-12900H (six P cores @ 2.5-5GHz, eight cores E-cores at a frequency of 1.8-3.8 GHz and 20 threads). The laptop costs from 1400 dollars.