Living With the Spectre x360 13.5 (2022)

pcmag.com:

Convertible or 2-in-1 laptops aimed at the high-end consumer have become better and better, with HP’s Spectre X360 13.5 for 2022 being an outstanding example. While I’ve seen several great looking 2-in-1s lately, the Spectre x360 13.5 shows just how far the category has come, with the Spectre bringing in a couple of improvements—including those to the display and the camera—that make it stand out.

The most obvious of these is the display. The unit I tested came with a simply gorgeous OLED touch display with 3,000 by 2,000 pixels. The resolution is great and the 3:2 screen ratio gives you more vertical screen real estate—it's only a 6% increase vertically but it's still appreciated. Other display options include a more standard 1920-by-1280 IPS touch display or a 1920-by-1280 IPS display with HP’s SureView Reflect privacy screen.

It's a very solid laptop with an aluminum case, and a screen that folds over so you can use it as a traditional laptop, tablet, or propped up like a tent for presentations. The unit I had was a silver aluminum color, though there are also "Nightfall Black" and "Nocturne Blue" options. The unit itself measures 0.67 by 11.7 by 8.7 inches and weighs 2.97 pounds by itself and 3.63 pounds with the included 65-watt USB-C charger and pen.

From my perspective, the Spectre x360 13.5 has the bare minimum of ports. There’s a headphone/mic jack on the back right corner, a single USB-A port that drops down a bit on the right side, two USB-C ports, on the left side, and another on the back left corner. Putting ports on the corners is actually pretty convenient, particularly on a convertible machine, though USB-C ports on both sides would be more convenient. I missed having a traditional HDMI port, though HP