Update: 5/29/13 HP will not help me get this broken laptop replaced in time for the business trip that I bought it for. Even though it was already sent in for repair (under warranty) and they were unable to repair it, they are telling me that they have to try to repair it two more times before they can give me a replacement. It's been a month without a laptop now and I need it for my trip, so I had no choice but to purchase ANOTHER laptop just 5 months after spending $1300 on this one. I purchased a Samsung Series 7 and couldn't be happier with it so far. Sharper screen (even though they are both 1080p), HOURS more battery life, USB 3.0 ports that actually work as USB 3.0 ports without having to search for strange drivers that I never actually found, much more accurate color out of the box, less fan noise, and an amazing trackpad that does not register my palm and move the cursor every time I type a sentence. Most of all, it's not broken as this HP Spectre STILL is. Go with a Samsung or Sony, or switch to Mac... HP is only pretending to sell high-end devices that they can't back up with the customer service a high-end consumer device deserves. Full story of my problems are below in my last update:
It's 5/24/13 and I've been trying to get this laptop fixed for weeks. My laptop is a total lemon.
4 months after purchasing this laptop for my work in photography and filmmaking, the screen began to go absolutely haywire. It flickers, flashes, then gets stuck on screens of random lines and colors. I'd barely used the laptop prior to this starting, as I own much more powerful PCs at home. This is basically my business trip machine and I've only had to use it on one trip. From my experience, it looks as if the graphics card is fried, however it works fine when attached to an external monitor, which leads me to believe that there is faulty wiring going to the display.
2 weeks ago I began the warranty process with HP, sent the laptop to them for repair. It came back with the note that all they did was reinstall Windows. Now, with a fresh Windows install it is still unusable... absolutely nothing has changed. Even before I installed a single program. This is, and always was, a problem with the hardware.
I called HP support again and they started a new warranty repair, but I am going on the exact business trip that I bought this laptop for next Sunday. I will not even get the label to ship it to them until Tuesday. They would get it Wednesday. Then they'd have to ship it back, fixed, Thursday for me to get the laptop back in time. Considering it took them 5 business days to reinstall Windows the last service call, I seriously doubt they will repair a hardware problem in one day.
I'm at a loss of what to do at this point. I was escalated to HP Corporate on the phone today and explained my situation. I've been entirely polite, as I find that to be the best way to get things resolved with customer service. I asked to ship the computer to them myself, today, without their label to make this go faster and they can't let me do that. I asked for a loaner laptop while it is getting fixed and they can't do that. I asked for an exchange for a refurbished unit and they can't do that. I feel I am being completely reasonable here for a $1300 laptop that hasn't even survived 4 months of light use. I bought this mostly for video editing on the road, but had not even done any video editing on it yet, so I am definitely not pushing the system yet. I'm not asking for a refund, I'm just asking for my SECOND repair in a row to come with a loaner that I can use on my business trip! I mean, it's been 19 days now without a laptop and we're just now starting the whole repair process over again.
Corporate told me that they could send me a loaner if I had purchased a business laptop. That basically they don't care that I need this laptop for business because it's a consumer laptop. The problem is, I did plenty of research before purchasing this laptop and, at the time, they did not offer business laptops with 1080p IPS monitors, something I absolutely need so that I can color calibrate the screen and work on 1080p video. This laptop has professional specs (that outclass their business machines) and a professional price (that is more expensive than most of their business machines) but needing it for business doesn't concern them.
I own two HP desktop machines, each one costing over $2,000... an absurd amount for Windows PCs, but I really do need this stuff for business. I am a designer, photographer, writer, and filmmaker. Search my name on Amazon and you will find some of my cookbooks. I have done the design and food photography for cookbooks with over 1 million copies in print. Last year, I co-authored, designed, and photographed Great Food Fast, the 5th bestselling cookbook of the year. I am also a filmmaker. On June 4th, an award-winning movie I shot called "The Battery" will be released nationally by the same distributor as Super Size Me and Exit Through the Gift Shop. The movie was entirely edited, sound mixed, and color corrected on HP computers. My HP computers did the work of an entire post-production studio. When it comes to design, photography, and filmmaking, I have to constantly defend my use of Windows PCs instead of the more industry accepted Macs, so I guess this is my lesson learned.
Now, here I am, flying up to NY next week to promote the national release of my movie, and even after 19 days dealing with HP, I won't have a laptop to bring with me. I need to go up there to film and then edit commercials and promotional material requested by the press and my only option is to buy an entirely new laptop to do this... leaving myself with a $1300 paperweight that I'd be lucky to sell used for $800 if an when it ever got fixed. Quite honestly, I'd be afraid to sell it used, as I don't want to be responsible if and when it simply broke again for the next sad sack who purchases it from me.
Stay far, far away from this model... and I'd say to stay far away from HP if you expect a working device, or at least a warranty repair to take any less than a month. I'm still holding out hope that HP will read this and look up my case, under the name Christian Stella. But, seeing as I already have a caseworker (Diana) at the highest level of customer service, and she can't do anything to help me, I'm sure I'm simply screwed.
Quite honestly, I feel like filming myself taking a hammer to this piece of crap, since I won't even be able to use it for the first thing I actually need to use it for. I have no confidence in their repair technicians after the last repair resulted in them simply reinstalling Windows, something I could have done myself.
You can search YouTube for "Christian Stella Spectre Touchsmart" if you want to see how bad my issues with this laptop are.
HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook Review
Highlights: Stylish with a full HD 15.6" IPS touchscreen display, Core i7 ultra low voltage cpu, 8GB RAM, 500GB hard drive with 32GB SSD cache.
The HP Spectre XT TouchSmart is HP's top of the line Windows 8 ultrabook. Like all ultrabooks it has a dual-core ultra low voltage Core i-series cpu with HD4000 graphics; in this case HP has chosen to pair a Core i7 with 8gb RAM, which adds a 15-20% speed boost over the Core i5's with 4gb RAM often seen in ultrabooks. The screen is a 15.6" wide-angle IPS touchscreen. A 5400rpm disk with a 32GB SSD Intel Smart Response cache provides storage. The HP is powered on the go by a 4 cell 48wh battery.
The HP comes nicely presented in a black cardboard case. A soft beige cloth bag encloses the laptop, and a black nylon bag stores the power accessories.
On the outside the HP is a stylish and thin brushed aluminum wedge which calls to mind a largish MacBook Air. Weight is just under 5 lbs, about 1/2 lb heavier than the 15.4" MacBook Pro Retina. It feels very sturdy, if a bit unwieldy when held by the side with one hand due to the width, which is 14.87 inches. The bottom is a nice soft-touch material with a vent in the back for the fan, and vents on the sides for two speakers (two more speakers are under the screen behind the keyboard). Inside is a wide palm rest with a large trackpad. The trackpad is set in a depression, and is made of glass. The spacious keyboard eschews the common practice of adding a numeric keyboard to 15.6" laptops. The hinges are sturdy and a bit stiff the display can be opened without holding down the base of the laptop, until a certain point when the base starts to lift.
Connectivity is good. The HP is one of the few Windows laptops to have a Thunderbolt port. Unlike many other laptops, the two USB 3.0 ports on the left are not blue colored. The USB 2.0 port on the right can be used a charging port when the laptop is off. Rounding out the ports are an HDMI port, Ethernet RJ-45, a headphone/microphone combo jack, and an SD/MMC card slot. A Kensington MicroSaver lock slot is also included.
The 2x2 a/b/g/n WLAN is provided by Intel and supports wireless display (WiDi) for connecting the laptop to compatible TV's or adapters. Intel Smart Connect Technology can be configured to wake the laptop from sleep periodically and download email, etc. This could be useful if you need to just pick the laptop up and go with all your email already downloaded. Bluetooth 4 and an HD webcam are also included.
The HP comes pre-installed with Windows 8 64-bit. A recovery partition is included to reset the laptop to factory settings. Windows 8 makes this easy via the settings menu.
It is not easy to get inside this laptop. Fourteen Philips screws protect the underside. More await inside. However, once opened up the 6Gb/sec SATA hard drive and 6Gb/sec mSATA cache drive can be replaced, although the cache will need to be disabled first via the included Intel Rapid Storage Technology console. The single memory slot is populated with 4gb RAM, and another 4gb is wired on.
The warranty for the non-customizable model 15-4010nr is standard at 1 year. However, the customizable 15t-4000 (not always available on the HP web site) comes with a 2 year warranty. This model can be customized with Windows 8 Pro, a faster 7200rpm hard drive, or an SSD.
The black keyboard is wide and spacious. Unlike most 15.6" laptops, the HP does not have a numeric keypad which means the keyboard is centered, and combined with the spacious palm rest provides a decent typing experience; although it is no match for the Thinkpad keyboards of old. The arrow keys skimp on the size of the up and down arrows; it would be better if the 4 arrow keys extended below the rest of the keyboard slightly (as in some Lenovo's) to make them easier to find and allow for full size up and down keys. The Windows function keys are tied to brightness, loudness, screen, wireless on/off, etc, which means that you must press the "Fn" key to activate the regular Windows F1 F12 function keys. This is particularly annoying when having to refresh web pages with Fn-F5. In a nice touch, Alt-F4 works as usual to exit a program (Alt-Fn-F4 would be a bit much). In contrast, the Lenovo Yoga does this better by dedicating the F5 key to refresh and the F4 key to the exit function (particularly important with Windows 8 Metro style apps which often have no other way to force an exit). The caps lock and wireless on/off keys have a small LED to indicate when they are on. The keyboard backlight can be turned on and off by the F5 function key. This key always remains lit itself so it can be found in the dark.
The highly configurable Synaptics touchpad works well and the glass surface is smooth to the touch. It is set in a depression and there is no question when your finger gets to the edge of this trackpad a good thing. The touchpad can be turned off by tapping at the top left, which illuminates a small LED next to it. This functionality can thankfully be disabled in settings. The pressure required to click the touchpad is a bit too much and doesn't have very good feel; however it is rarely necessary to actually click it as a tap for left click and two-fingered tap for right click are usually sufficient. Selecting text is the main exception, where a click and drag is often required.
The display is a bright, glossy 15.6", full HD 1920x1080 IPS touchscreen panel. The IPS designation stands for "In Plane Switching" and indicates that the display has great viewing angles from the top, bottom, and sides. It is a bit on the heavy side, however overall the laptop is not unbalanced. The ability to interact using touch is surprisingly natural in Windows 8; scrolling around web pages and moving/resizing/closing windows works very well. In Metro apps, touch is even better and the familiar two-finger zoom function works great in Internet Explorer, although oddly not in apps such as the news app. The panorama photos in the travel app and the maps app are particularly fun to interact with via touch. If Windows 8 is a success, touch will be an important reason why.
Alas the days of 16:10 aspect ratio displays are gone and this display is no exception at 16:9. While this is great for viewing YouTube, Netflix, etc, it is not great for viewing photos and interacting with lots of on-screen windows, because the vertical space is limited. Landscape photos have large black side borders, and portrait photos are even worse. This is one of the main usability issues of this laptop. It's a shame that manufacturers don't address this, as Apple has done with the MacBook Pro 16:10 displays.
To partially mitigate the lack of vertical real estate, the task bar can be positioned on the right or left side of the display so it doesn't take up space at the bottom. This also makes the task bar easier to interact with via touch, especially when using the "fingers behind the display, thumb in front" technique.
Display brightness is excellent, and can comfortably be used 1 or 2 steps below maximum in most situations. On battery, the brightness can be adjusted through it's full range. Contrast is good, and images and video pop nicely. Color range (gamut) is decent, but does not cover sRGB. Calibration would be required for better accuracy.
The glossy display makes for strong reflections. At certain angles, even the silver palm rest and the keyboard backlighting can cause distracting reflections (luckily the keyboard backlight can be turned off with the F5 key). In direct comparison, the Retina MacBook Pro does a better job of reducing glare.
For some, the high resolution of 141 dpi may result in text that is too small, and a finicky touch experience when interacting with windows. The Windows control panel for display personalization allows boosting text, icon, and window border size by preset or custom percentages. A custom setting of 113% seems to result in windows and icons that are more touch-friendly, and text that is nicely sized. Oddly, this setting does not affect native W8 apps like the news reader, which has no zoom function either. Browser text size can be zoomed using two fingers on the touchpad or screen for Internet Explorer, and via the touchpad or "Ctrl +" and "Ctrl -" in Google Chrome.
Performance of the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart is very good for an ultrabook, probably due to the 8gb of 1600MHz DDR3 memory and Core i7-3517U cpu. This cpu nominally runs at 1.9 GHz with Turbo Boost to 3 GHz. The Windows Experience Index clocks in at:
Processor 7.1
Memory 7.9
Graphics 5.7
Gaming graphics (1664 MB) 6.4
Primary hard disk 5.9
That's an overall score of 5.7, quite good for not having a dedicated graphics card.
The HP handily beats the Core i5 Lenovo Yoga, benchmarking at 13,722 in Google Octane vs the Yoga's 11,853. In the Furmark OpenGL benchmark, the HP pleases with 367 "Furmarks" vs the Yoga's 245. The benchmark was run fullscreen at 1024x768, with no anti-aliasing.
The SSD disk cache works surprisingly well, and the disk rarely seems to be a performance bottleneck. With caching set to "Maximum" (the default) in the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Console, CrystalDiskMark reports 4K write speeds of over 30MB/sec! Set caching to "Enhanced" and this falls to 0.6 MB/sec. This is because the Maximum setting does write-back caching (writes written to disk in a lazy fashion) while Enhanced does write-through caching (all writes written immediately to disk).
Note, these benchmarks were done on an HP customized model (15t-4000) with a 7200 rpm hard drive, not the standard 5400 rpm model (15-4010nr). The 5400 rpm drive should still provide good performance due to the SSD cache.
8GB of the 32GB SSD cache drive is taken to support Intel Rapid Start, which is a kind of fast hibernate which kicks in after two hours of standby. The laptop wakes up and writes the contents of memory to an 8GB partition on the SSD, then shuts down. Pressing the power button brings the laptop back up in about 5 seconds. For some reason the Intel Rapid Start configuration utility is not included in the laptop build, however you can download it by searching for "intel rapid start download".
The Spectre XT TouchSmart is very quiet in casual use. The fan is often turned off. Even when the fan is on, it is usually not very loud, and is never obnoxious. HP Coolsense is included, which senses when the laptop is moving and runs the fan more often to keep your lap cool. In practice, the laptop doesn't get too warm, and Coolsense can be turned off to keep the fan from running as much. The one place that gets a bit warm is the well-placed fan vent on the underside at the rear.
The HP has four small speakers, two underneath on the sides and two behind the keyboard under the display. It can play quite loudly, and produces a bit of a thump on the underside. Audio enhancement is provided by Beats Audio, which boosts bass and treble, while performing all kinds of phase and other manipulations which make the audio sound "wider" and "more dynamic" (read: distorted). Thankfully there is a Beats control panel which can turn Beats off, and which also has a 9 band equalizer to customize the response curve. Dolby V4 on the Lenovo Yoga does a better job than Beats, although the HP still sounds better because it has better speakers. Once configured, the audio is pretty decent for a laptop.
Battery life is provided by a 48wh 4-cell non-removable battery. This is probably the biggest disappointment. Netflix streaming only lasts about 3 hours and 20 minutes with the brightness two steps below full. In contrast, the Lenovo Yoga can stream Netflix for about 5 1/4 hours at one step down from highest brightness (to match the HP). Casual web surfing might last 4 hours on the HP with the brightness lowered to 1/2 or less (which is still pretty readable indoors).
The power brick is not too large, yet the AC cord is ungainly quite thick with a large three-pronged plug. The power plug that connects to the laptop seems a bit thin and weak, although it inserts far enough into the laptop to have good support. It sticks out over an inch from the side though which gets in the way.
In summary, the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart is one of the top Windows 8 ultrabooks available as of this writing. HP made almost all the right choices to make this a very nice package. Although pricey compared to other laptops with similar specs, the HP stands out for its responsiveness, stylish looks, and big bright touch-enabled wide-angle HD display. The SSD cache works very well; an SSD main drive is not necessary, although nice to have as a factory option or via the ability of the end user to replace it.
Improvements would be to reduce weight by 1/2 pound, replace Beats Audio with Dolby V4, increase battery life by 50%, reduce the bulkiness of the power cord, and (Holy Grail time) move to a 16:10 1920x1200 display with low reflectivity.
Buy HP SPECTRE XT TouchSmart 15-4010nr 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Silver) Now
I didn't order this exact one off of Amazon, but rather ordered directly from HP. Generally speaking, I really enjoy the laptop. Everything seems to work great and it has all the bells and whistles you would expect from a unit at this price point. Screen resolution is bright and sharp, the keyboard has a really nice feel to it, all the peripheral connections are really nice. Loaded it with Win8 Pro and it's running great.
My only concern is the build quality. As I was swiping to change screens (from the left edge of the screen) I noticed that the screen was actually sticking out and above the case creating a little lip. It's not really consistent with the rest of the edges, so I'm pretty sure it's not a design 'feature.' When you press on it in the lower left corner, it seems to stick down into place, but come on... for a $1300+ laptop, you shouldn't have to squeeze the display back together because it isn't assembled properly. I'm a little surprised that this made it through QA/QC. Now to decide if all the positives outweigh the shoddy workmanship.
Edit 12/28 So I went ahead and got a RMA for the system I ordered directly from HP. In the meantime, I went ahead and ordered one directly from Amazon just to see if it was a consistent manufacturing defect, or if I had just gotten a bad unit. Well, in traditional Amazon fashion, the system arrived in 1 day and it doesn't have the same problem at all! Very excited to have received a good unit.
Read Best Reviews of HP SPECTRE XT TouchSmart 15-4010nr 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Silver) Here
UPDATE 03/23 Upgrading the mSATA to 256 GB SSD
---------------------
This laptop's SATA 3 on the mSATA connector, but only SATA2 for the regular HDD. No worries I have upgraded my mSATA SSD drive to 256 GB, but it wasn't easy here's what I did. Hopefully it will save you some trouble.
Installing the mSATA SSD
-------------------------------
1. Was able to get the screws out back plate off without much trouble.
2. Remove the existing mSATA and put in the new one.
3. I chose not to have the existing HDD, so I removed it. (256 GB is plenty of space for me and I chose to have longer battery life than space. Just having an SSD has added 30 45 mins easy to existing battery life).
4. Even if you choose to leave the HDD in there, it is recommended that you disconnect the HDD so that it doesn't interfere with the new install of OS. You can reconnect it later.
Installing the OS and making the mSATA bootable
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. I chose to install Windows 8 via a bootable USB.
2. This laptop comes with a UEFI enabled motherboard, so you need to format the USB as FAT 32. UEFI will not recognize NTFS format for booting. Need a USB of more than 4GB
3. Mount the Win 8 ISO and copy all the contents to USB.
4. You will need another USB, also FAT 32 and copy the Intel RST drivers from here %208*&DownloadType=Drivers. Get the f6flpy-x64.zip file and unzip the contents to the USB. Win 8 will ask for these drivers during install.
5. Change the BIOS to boot from USB.
6. Insert the Win 8 USB only and reboot the machine.
7. You will get Win 8 prompt to install proceed and choose advanced options. You will not see any drives listed.
8. Insert the USB with Intel RST drivers and click load drivers installer will detect the drivers and install will proceed.
9. Once the OS is installed, pls go to the Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\System Settings and turn off "Fast Startup" this was the biggest sticking point for me. I went through the entire setup twice before this, but everytime when the system went into the hybrid sleep mode and woke up, the system would not detect a bootable drive and I did not find anyway to recover from this than to go through the entire process again.
10. I also disabled Hybrid Sleep. You won't need all these features, your system is so fast while booting from SSD, that you won't miss them.
11. Install all the drivers for the machine I stayed away from Intel Rapid Start and Intel Smart Connect drivers, just to be safe.
I have the SSD running since 2 days and its working great so far. Keeping my fingers crossed. Let me know how your install goes, or if you have any other tips.
BTW, I did some hard drive speed tests and I am getting the advertised speeds (450+ read and 250+ write). I also upgraded the SSD firmware from Crucial website.
MY ORIGINAL REVIEW
-----------------------
Let me start of by saying that I would have given it 4.5 stars if I could. I was looking for an ultrabook to replace my trusty old Dell Vostro 1520 (Core 2 duo). This was my criteria:
1. 13 15 inches.
2. Core I5 or Core I7
3. More than 4 GB or RAM
4. Touchscreen.
5. 1080p display.
6. Ability to upgrade
I was willing to compromise on the processor and ram and not anything else. After several weeks of doing some research online I narrowed it down to the HP Spectre XT touchsmart and ASUS zenbook ux32a touchscreen. I was completely blown away by the Asus Zenbook, it has to be the most beautiful windows machine out there. But there were several things working against it. It came with a Core i5 and 4GB of ram and the worst part its not upgradeable. Although there is a higher priced version available with an i7 and 8GB of ram, but its nowhere to be found.
Why I chose the HP Spectre XT
---------------------------------------------
I found that the HP Spectre XT touchsmart matched all of my criteria better than the Zenbook, so I started paying more attention to it. I am actually glad that I purchased this machine over the Zenbook because of the 15.5 inch vs 13 inch screen. I am a programmer and the bigger screen definetely helps while looking at code.The 1080p IPS screen is awesome and I absolutely love it! I do like the fact that this machine comes with an i7 and 8GB of RAM. The integrated SSD is great and resumes the machine in a matter of seconds. I love the keyboard and the touchpad and had absolutely no issues with them. The aluminum body definitely gives it that premium look. The speakers are quite good and I am more than happy for my use. The touchscreen works flawlessly and compliments the Windows 8 UI very well. Its not the lightest ultrabook around, but you have to remember that this is a 15 inch ultrabook.
The best part about this ultrabook is that its completely upgradable. You can even find a repair manual on the HP website which shows you how to replace each and every component. You can replace everything including the RAM, hard drive, battery which is really cool.
My biggest gripe is the battery you will be lucky to get 4 hours out of it. But I don't travel a whole lot and I can compromise with that. I would have give this laptop 5 stars if the battery life was a bit better. I am planning on upgrading to 256 GB SSD and that should help with the battery life and performance. The power adapter could have been designed better for a $1200+ ultrabook. Its just an old style brick and nothing fancy about it.
Inspite of the battery life, I highly recommend this ultrabook. You are no going to find a better ultrabook at this price point with comparable specs.
Want HP SPECTRE XT TouchSmart 15-4010nr 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Silver) Discount?
Have been working with this computer for the last month. It is working perfectly, has a great screen , the touch is fast and responsive and the keyboard is great.
My only problem is the short battery life tops 4 hours.
Save 11% Off
The first thing to mention is that these units are disappearing rapidly as inventory lowers and Dell stopped production as of May 1, 2011. There were specials on for over a month as Dell popped them out at a ridiculously low $350 US, presumably using the existing tooling until a new model went into production. Like a fool, all my instincts told me I should have bought a few and after receiving mine on May 6th, I realized that I should have bought a dozen at that price.
