With the Spectre13 X2, HP aggressively pursues its detachable tablet strategy by deploying a high-quality design based on Intel’s Haswell processor. The Spectre13 x2 comes with a keyboard dock that integrates an additional battery which can push the overall battery life to 10.5 or 11 hours, according to HP, although I have to point out that the company won’t be able to provide final numbers before the final version of Windows 8.1 is in.
HP went all-out on the aluminum build and the Spectre13 X2 fees extremely solid and rigid. It’s hard to tell on the photos, but the aluminum has a very subtle “champagne” tone to it and the back uses a “truffle brown” color that has the warmth of leather, at least from a color standpoint! I’m sure that there will be some debates about using this color (vs. Black or just metallic silver) since this is a bold design move. Let’s see what the market decides.
When I had the device on hand, it felt very good, but as you can expect with two batteries, it was above 4lbs which is noticeably heavier than its Spectre 13 non-detachable cousin. Interestingly, the additional weigh also provides stability to keep the tablet/keyboard combo from tilting over when the user applies about 20lbs of pressure while using the touch screen (I know, it’s probably more pressure than you would think).
The final design element that I found nice is the very low-key connector for the tablet section. There are no plastic support in the back that makes the overall device thicker than it needs to be. This is something that many detachable designs struggle with, and HP has found a solution that greatly reduces the impact of the detachable design on the overall profile of the device.
In terms of specifications, the HP Spectre X2 will come with a Haswell (4th Gen) processor, but HP has yet to communicate the final memory and storage options, although it’s not hard to imagine 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD in there. The display is a 1080p 13.3” IPS display and if you really want a bit more storage, there is a micro-SD slot that can provide receive an additional 64GB of data storage (it’s slower than the SSD, so don’t install apps there).