Depending on who you asked, the original HP Spectre 13 is an object of beauty. Featuring sleek design that is combined with thin and light physique as well as decent hardware made it a highly stylish and premium productivity machine. Based on that foundation, here comes the second-generation HP Spectre 13.
In fact, HP has retained many of the characteristics from the original Spectre 13 for its successor. For example, the second-generation model is still really thin and light at 10.4mm and 1.1kg respectively. Just like the original model, the chassis is also still made from aluminum and carbon fibre.
The company has also retained the same “hidden hinges” design as well as the raised section at the rear area of the laptop. Despite these similarities though, the second-generation Spectre 13 looked not only slightly different to me but also better than the original model.
This is due to several changes that HP has implemented on the new model including thinner bezels on its display and narrower body. These changes could likely be the reasons why the laptop’s Bang & Olufsen speakers are now located on top of the keyboard instead on its sides as per the original model.
While they might not be much and could be subtle to some but the impact of these changes is enough to provide an updated look to the new iteration of Spectre 13. At the same time, the new ceramic white colorway looked absolutely gorgeous as well although the laptop will still be made available with the dark ash silver paintjob that was previously offered with the first-generation Spectre 13.
Similar to the original model, the keyboard on second-generation Spectre 13 is quite comfortable to use as far as my initial experience with it is concerned. The keys feel very responsive and the tactile feedback on them are quite good given the laptop’s slim physique. At the same time, it seems that HP might have enlarge the laptop’s touch pad but I not able to confirm it myself since the company didn’t provide the touch pad’s actual dimensions.
Among the concern that we’ve raised in our review of the original Spectre 13 is its I/O ports which consisted of only three USB Type-C ports. Unfortunately, this remain the same case as per its successor which is understandable since the industry is transitioning to the new standard. Nevertheless, this still means that the potential owners of the new model might have to live the dongle life for the time being.
How about the internal hardware on the second-generation Spectre 13? At this moment, HP has yet to reveal the exact options that will be made available in Malaysia although the generic specifications for the laptop that have been announced by the company include up to 8th Gen Intel Core i7 U-series quad-core processor, 16GB LPDDR3 memory, and 1TB PCIe-based solid state drive.
HP has made touch display panel which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass NBT as a standard on second-generation Spectre 13. Resolution-wise, the 13.3-inch display on the laptop can be obtained with either FHD or 4K although as mentioned earlier, HP has not yet reveal such details for Malaysia.
With that help of the new processor, HP claims that the new model has a longer battery life at up to 11 hours and 30 minutes. It also comes with HP Fast Charge feature which enables its battery to go from empty to 50% in just 30 minutes.
In terms of price, HP Malaysia is still keeping it a secret but I certainly expect it to be quite premium given that the first generation Spectre 13 itself was already priced from RM 5,999 to RM 6,899 at launch. Consumers can expect to see the new second-generation Spectre 13 in Malaysia this coming December – just in time for the Christmas.
