HP Spectre Foldable PC First Impressions

The HP Spectre Foldable PC seeks to raise the bar and it does seem to solve some problems with previous folding and dual-screen designs. But its stratospheric $5,000 price tag will turn off all but the most well-heeled PC enthusiasts.

But that’s sort of the point, I think: The Spectre Foldable PC (SFPC from now on) is deliberately on the cutting edge of what’s possible in the PC space today and it addresses the needs of the hybrid workforce that HP believes to be the new normal. And that workforce is, by nature, mobile in the sense that they will change locations frequently and need a PC that comes with them and transforms appropriately to whatever conditions.

Put another way, tablet-based convertible PCs to date have essentially offered two modes of operation, or what Microsoft calls “postures,” tablet and notebook. But with the SFPC, HP is doing what it and other PC makers did at the dawn of the Tablet PC era two decades ago and expanding what’s possible using different form factors. And so this PC is, in effect, a “3-in-1” because it can essentially transform between three postures: Tablet, notebook, and desktop.

If you think back to my review of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, which offers dual screens and not a single folding display, you may recall that my key criticism was that it failed to address the most common use case. That is, it was pretty terrible as a laptop. But HP tells me that the SFPC was designed from the get-go to offer a terrific laptop experience, and that the keyboard was key to making that happen.

I will need to spend some time with the SFPC to know whether HP achieved its goals for a great laptop experience. But I already know that this product does not suffer from some of the issues that made the Yoga less than desirable. For example, its keyboard includes a touchpad, something I desperately missed on the Yoga. And when you place the keyboard over the bottom half (or even the bottom third, as it supports two modes) of the display, the display correctly adapts to the new size and resolution whereas the Yoga simply hid the still-available screen under its keyboard. On the Yoga, it’s possible to “lose” apps and other windows under there. That can’t happen with the HP.

And as is always the case with any dual screen/folding screen debate, I very much prefer the single display on the latter type of device and by a wide margin. I know that some prefer dual displays, of course. But when you open up the SFPC’s expansive 17-inch panel it’s like a magic trick given how relatively compact the device is in clamshell mode or when closed. It’s gorgeous.

In laptop mode, the SFPC provides a 12.3-inch display with the keyboard covering the bottom half of the full screen. That’s the smallest panel size that can accommodate a full-sized keyboard, HP noted, but you can also expand it to a sort of 14-inch display by sliding the keyboard partially off of the bottom half of the screen, which makes more of that panel available to Windows and its apps.

There are many smart touches here. The SFPC comes bundled with that keyboard and a smartpen, and both charge automatically when magnetically attached to the PC, including when it’s off. So when you carry around the SFPC, those peripherals are charging automatically. And given their respective battery lives—over 360 hours for the keyboard and 73 hours for the pen—its unlikely you’ll ever need to charge either. But if you do, they can quick charge to 10 hours and 6 hours of life in just 10 minutes, respectively.

And God love ‘em, HP even bundles a little (and sadly proprietary) USB-C cable for the keyboard if the need arises. (I needed it to set up the SFPC.)

The integrated kickstand is genius. And while we really should credit Microsoft for teaching the world how necessary this feature is to any tablet, HP has in many ways improved on the concept by making its kickstand simpler technically and in operation. (But it’s too bad there wasn’t a way for it to work in portrait mode.)

As we’ve seen elsewhere—like in that Yoga—HP has also done some work on the software side to help users take best advantage of this unique PC. This includes an extension to the Windows Snap feature that supports the various modes you can contort the SFPC into and several enhancements across the myHP and HP Command Center apps aimed at hybrid work functionality. Sadly, HP didn’t get the memo on the need for very expensive PCs like this to not be drowning in crapware. There’s a bunch of it in Start, waiting for an exorcism.

And as unique as the hardware is, the SFPC’s innards also warrant some attention. There’s only one configuration, with literally no hardware configuration choices. And that configuration is quite interesting, as it’s based on what will seem at first to be an out-of-date processor, a 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1250U (plus 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of SSD storage). But HP has an answer for the obvious question: This 9-watt part is unique in the Intel processor space and offers exactly the balance of power and battery life that HP felt this product needed. And there is no 9-watt 13th Gen part.

HP is also working its automatic power management trickery here to help this PC deliver the expected levels of performance without taxing the battery, and to do so it is ignoring the Windows power management settings entirely and offering its own interface for customizing how it works, should that ever be necessary. It was quite successful doing this with the Dragonfly Pro I love so much, so I’m hopeful this implementation is as successful.

There is so much more to say about this intriguing PC, but I’m bringing it with me to Mexico for three weeks starting next Friday and so I will have time to thoroughly test it and publish a review before we get home in early November. This one should be interesting.