HP's latest Spectre x360 has a new angular design and 22.5 hours of battery life

HP is updating its popular Spectre x360 convertible laptops today. Both the 13- and 15-inch versions are getting a new “gem cut” design with a more angular look and feel. The new design also includes a USB-C port that’s angled on the edge of the Spectre x360 to improve cable management. As you’d expect, HP is including Intel’s latest 8th Gen quad-core processors inside the 13-inch Spectre x360, and six-core options for the larger 15-inch model.

The big promise of the new 13-inch Spectre x360 is the “world’s longest battery life in a quad-core convertible.” That’s quite the claim, and HP is promising up to 22.5 hours of battery life. We’ll need to test that fully, but even if it manages half of that it will be solid battery life. Elsewhere inside there’s up to 16GB of RAM, up to 512GB of SSD storage (NVMe M.2), and even optional LTE support with Intel’s eSIM design.

While the 13.3-inch display looks similar to last year’s model, the bezels have been shrunk in all directions slightly. There’s still a rather big chin and top bezel, though. You’ll be able to pick from both a FHD panel or 4K display, and the choice will really depend on whether you value the claimed 22.5 hours of battery life with a 1080p display over a 4K screen and less battery life. HP has also built a webcam kill switch into the side of its latest Spectre x360 models. It electrically turns off the webcam if you want to disable it for privacy reasons when it’s not in use. Like previous models, the displays flip over into a tablet more or into a media mode to view video content.

The 15-inch model is really designed for photographers, developers, illustrators, and other people who need better CPU and GPU performance. HP has switched out AMD’s Vega M discrete graphics for Nvidia here, which means there are decisions to be made if you’re interested in the 15-inch model. You can pick between Intel’s latest 8th Gen quad-core processors with an Nvidia GeForce MX 150, or Intel’s 8th Gen six-core processors with a GTX 1050Ti (Max Q). The GTX 1050Ti will be far more capable for gaming or video processing, and HP has added in bigger dual fans and radiators to help improve performance and cooling. Inside the 15-inch model there’s also up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB SSD storage.

Both the HP Spectre x360 13 and 15 will be available in November. The 13-inch model will start at $1,149, and the 15-inch version will be priced from $1,389. Both devices will be available from HP online or Best Buy stores in the US.