While perusing the Microsoft stand at this year’s Computex, we spotted and unmarked HP Spectre 360x 15-inch.

Our quick take

HP Spectre x360 (2017) p

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HP Spectre x360 (2017)

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This is an updated version of 2016’s model, and we suspected that there were going to be some worthwhile improvements. We decided to take a closer look: This is a seriously good-looking convertible device. It’s slim at 17.8 mm and weighs an acceptable 1.47kg. The gold trim is a nice touch. Sleek and well-thought out design details draw the eye, and it pulls off an overall air of sophistication.

The membrane keyboard is spaced very well, and the mouspad is trimmed with gold. We couldn’t really test them much, but the brief moments we had were fully satisfactory. The speakers to either side of the keyboard complete a very visually pleasing deck. The 15 inch-screen is 4K touchscreen and it is running on seventh gen Core i7 (U series). The unit on display had 16GB of Ram and 512GD SSD.

hp spectre x360 2017 preview image 11

It also had Nvidia 940 MX. Although it is a convertible, we were a bit limited in how much we could play around with the unit, as technically, it was there to showcase some Microsoft software. However, we noted the 360 degree hinges and the movement was fluid on opening and closing. The Spectre has 10-touch pen support, a full SDcard slot -- marking it out for creatives.

It also had two USB 3.1 Type-C (one is Thunderbolt enabled apparently), USB 3, and an HDMI port. There’s an audio jack too of course. Although we couldn’t play around with it too much, we did manage to get the floor staff to stop the demo quickly to try out the Bang and Ouflsen audio. The sound that emerged was extremely full and impressive even on a crowded showfloor.

All in all the Spectre 360x struck us a capable and attractive device.