Over the past few years, PC manufacturers have been showing a slow but steady pace in terms of making advancements in foldable laptops. We have a couple of good options in the market, which include the Lenovo foldable ThinkPad and Asus foldable Zenbook. But the most interesting release has to be the HP Spectre Fold.
Wondering why? Most of the 17-inch foldable laptops are over three pounds. HP took care of that by making the Spectre Fold weigh under this mark, which is pretty impressive for a 17-inch device. Moreover, HP’s offering boasts the title of the world’s thinnest and smallest 17-inch foldable PC, which is a big standout feature.
Now, while the Spectre Fold had limited availability during the initial launch, HP has just expanded it to the global market. It became official for the international market with the HP Imagine 2023 event that took place recently.
Core Specs of HP Spectre Fold PC
At the core, the HP Spectre Fold is a 3-in-1 notebook. The 3-in-1 nature of the laptop means that you can use the device as a desktop, tablet, or laptop. When it’s laid flat, it becomes a full-fledged 17-inch tablet. Get the built-in kickstand and connect it to a keyboard, and it becomes a 17-inch laptop/PC. Alternatively, you can use it by folding it at 90 degrees. That would make it a 12.3-inch clamshell laptop.
It has a tall 17-inch foldable OLED panel with a 2.5K resolution. This touchscreen features HDR, 500 nits of HDR brightness, up to 400 nits of SDR brightness, and 99.5% DCI-P3 color gamut.
Inside, the HP Spectre Fold PC comes with an Intel Core-7 1250U processor. It’s paired up with 16GB Of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of NVMe PCIe Gen SSD. To power these internals, the foldable PC boasts a 6-cell 94.3Wh battery pack, which charges via the included 100W USB-C power adapter.
HP promises a battery life of up to 12.5 hours in the foldable mode and up to 11.75 hours of battery life in the detachable mode. Besides, the HP Spectre Fold PC comes with a 5MP IR camera with a privacy switch. And for audio, the foldable PC features Bang & Olufsen quad speakers with DTS:X Ultra and HP Audio Boost.
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Additionally, the Spectre Fold PC comes with a Bluetooth keyboard, which is detachable. You will also find a rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen stylus,
The other highlights of the foldable PC include Thunderbolt 4, 5 PIN ports, and Windows 11 Home. And as mentioned earlier, the Spectre Fold PC is extremely light for its kind. It weighs just 1.35 kilograms without the keyboard, which is around 2.97 pounds.
Pricing and Availability
Both the Zenbook Fold from Asus and the ThinkPad X1 Fold from Lenovo were impressive devices. But they didn’t have what it took to be a worthy purchase at a luxury price point. For example, the X1 Fold features a terrible battery, and its keyboard is very small for typing comfortably.
On the other hand, the Asus Zenbook Fold has a good overall design with a spectacular 17-inch screen. However, it suffers from various software glitches. HP has addressed these issues with the Spectre Fold. But that still doesn’t make it offer a high value.
After all, foldable laptops are still in their early stage. And the pricing would only go down when more and more manufacturers start to offer them.
Nonetheless, the HP Spectre Fold is currently available for pre-orders in the US with a price tag of 4,999 USD. It was initially launched in the UK alongside the US in September. With the HP Imagine 2023 event, the foldable PC is making its way to Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
