The new Specter x360 has a battery life of 22 hours

You can never get too much battery life from your laptop. Even if you rarely take your computer out of the house, it is important to be able to work from the couch or dining room table, without having to hang a wire at the nearest socket. So when HP says that its next Specter x 360 13 inches can last 22.5 hours with a charge, it's an exciting new (in theory, anyway).

Announced today and due to be released in November for a starting price of US $ 1,149, the latest version of the 13-inch Specter x360 features a new attractive design, a webcam standby switch, and sure, the latest Intel Whiskey Lake processors. But the headline here is the company's claim that its 2-in-1 will have the longest battery life among the quad market convertibles. (The 15-inch model is also updated, see below).

Can you trust the number?

How credible is HP's claim? Until we get the x360 in our lab and compare it, we can not say how close it is to the 22 ½ hour claim under different test conditions. However, we can provide context.

HP claims to be able to reach this battery life, 6 hours more than what it had announced for last year's model, mainly due to increased energy efficiency. The battery itself increases from just 1 to 60 watts, from 60 Wh to 61 Wh, which is barely enough to replace it.

As far as we know, no other 2-in-1 processor with a quad-core chip claims battery life longer than 22.5 hours. But there are certainly non-two-in-one who make this claim and two-in-one with claims that are in this range.

Lenovo claims that its ThinkPad T580, a 15-inch professional system, can take 26.8 hours with its optional long battery. Admittedly, this laptop weighs well over 4 pounds and it actually lasted only 11 hours and 56 minutes during our battery test, which involves a continuous web browsing on the Wi-Fi network at 150 nits .

HP itself claims that its Envy X2 2-in-1 lasts up to 22 hours, but that this claim relates only to video looping (it lasted 14 hours and 22 minutes during our test). The company claims that its Specter x360 has reached its 22.5-hour figure by running MobileMark 14, an industry reference intended to be run offline (connected to a router, but not on the Internet).

Because it does not download data, one of the main tasks of users, MobileMark 14 always returns higher numbers than our web browsing tests or all tests involving a more realistic workload . HP claims that the 2017 version of the 13-inch Specter x360 can last up to 16 hours with a charge and that it only lasts 8 hours according to our benchmark. At this level, we hope that the new model will last 10 to 12 hours during our test, which would be a few hours higher than the average of high-end laptops.

New design, Webcam Kill Switch

The battery life is not the only selling point of the new Specter x360. It also has a new, attractive design that comes in two colors: dark silver with luxurious copper accents and Poseidon blue with pale brass accents. Accented colors dominate the sides, which have chamfered edges, while the main color is visible on the lid and deck. Offering a shade of blue is a bold move that should allow this system to stand out from the crowd.

HP has also taken shortcuts on its new 13-inch Spectrum x360, but not what you would think. The rear edges are tapered, with the Type C USB power receptacle on the right side. This unique location makes it easy to use your charging cable behind the laptop without having to reach the back to connect it.

The glasses of the new model are narrower, but the frame itself weighs 22 grams and weighs 0.9 millimeters. Overall, the Specter x360 weighs 1.3 kg and measures 14.5 mm.

There is now a webcam cutoff switch on the side, which makes the camera disappear from the Windows Device Manager, but does not physically cover the lens as does the Lenovo ThinkShutter. Other key features of the new 13-inch Spectrum x 360 include a choice of Whiskey Lake Core i5 / Core i7 processors, 8 or 16 GB of RAM, a 256 or 512 GB NVMe SSD, and a 1080p or 4K display.

HP Specter x360 15 inches

In addition to the 13-inch x360, HP announced an upgrade to its 15-inch x360. This big brother does not get the new chamfered edges or the exciting colors, but it promises much better performance than its predecessor, thanks to its Core i7-8565U processor and optional Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti discrete graphics.

The 15-inch Spectrum x360 weighs 4.8 kg and offers a battery life of 17 hours. HP is also based on the results of Mobile Mark 14. It is available with your choice of 1080p or 4K displays, up to a 512GB SSD, up to 16GB of RAM and graphics Nvidia MX150 or GTX 1050 Ti.

The 15-inch Specter x360 will be launched in November at a starting price of $ 1,389.