HP's Spectre x360 breaks new ground with a 15-inch AMOLED display
It should deliver a beautiful image, for a price.
HP has announced that its latest Spectre x360 will be the first 15-inch laptop with an AMOLED display. It's actually been hard to find OLED of any kind on a PC, other than on a handful of models like HP's 13-inch Spectre x360 and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga. AMOLED has been even rarer, appearing only on a couple of laptops including the Alienware OLED 13 and Samsung's own 12-inch Galaxy TabPro S. This lack of organic displays has been a shame, because the few models we've tested have impressed us a lot, offering much improved image quality.
With support for HDR, the Spectre x360 15 delivers 33 percent more colors than sRGB and has a stellar 100,000:1 contrast ratio. All that will come in a new Spectre x360 body unveiled recently by HP with a dual-chamfered design for easier opening, a privacy kill switch on the webcam and very narrow bezels. As before, it can flip around a full 360 degrees, letting you use it as a (heavy) tablet or in a tent formation to watch movies in bed.
The lack of AMOLED laptops probably comes down to price, but there are a few other drawbacks like screen burn-in and a shorter lifespan than LCD. An AMOLED display should also deliver better battery life, but we'll have to wait and see if it can hold up to the incredible 17.5-hour longevity of the current 15-inch Spectre x360 model.
You can also expect a latest-generation Intel Core i7 CPU and option for NVIDIA or AMD graphics. HP has yet to deliver full specs or the price (expect to pay a premium for AMOLED), and hasn't even told us the screen's resolution. However, it'll arrive in March, 2019, so we should know more details soon.
Along with the x360, HP unveiled an updated version of its Spectre Folio, a leather Surface-like device with a detachable keyboard. It's much like the version we reviewed (and liked a lot) in November 2018, with specs like an Intel Core i5-8200Y dual-core CPU, 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD and Windows Ink-certified pen. The updated model, however, will bring a new 4K touchscreen option and "Bordeaux Burgundy" color. It's available starting today for $1,309.
