HP Spectre Folio review: the unique hinge design and the leather finish are nice but the 16:9 screen feels cramped and the trackpad is horrible
The Folio is one of the most unique laptops in years, but it isn't perfect — There's nothing really quite like HP's new Spectre Folio.
Context & Ripple Effects
HP's Spectre line has spent years chasing thinness and novel form factors — the 0.41-inch Spectre already drew the trade-off critique of sacrificing too much for thinness, and the x360 convertibles refined the hinge formula across generations. The Folio pushes further into materials, wrapping a convertible in leather with an unusual pull-forward hinge.
What makes this review matter is the repetition: across the Spectre family, reviewers keep landing on the same flaw. The x360 15 AMOLED was dinged for an abysmal trackpad, the x360 13 (2019) for a narrow one, and now the Folio for a horrible one — while the display side of the line moved toward taller, denser panels that this 16:9 screen lags.
First-order effects
- Premium Windows laptop buyers weighing the Folio against HP's own x360 models get a clear split verdict: unmatched design distinctiveness, but a compromised screen ratio and a trackpad that undercuts daily usability.
- For HP, the review validates the Spectre brand's differentiation strategy while confirming that its input devices remain the weakest link across the entire premium line.
Second-order effects
- HP's subsequent Spectre releases read as responses to exactly these critiques — the x360 15 AMOLED pushed display quality upmarket, and the Spectre Fold continued the form-factor experimentation with slim bezels and a large OLED — yet the trackpad complaints persist across each generation.
- Rivals competing for the premium convertible buyer can position against the Folio on fundamentals alone, since HP's most distinctive device concedes the two attributes reviewers weigh most heavily after performance.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, premium laptop competition splits into two tracks: spec-and-display refinement versus material and form-factor experimentation, with HP betting the Spectre brand on the latter.
- The recurring trackpad criticism suggests a structural quality gap in HP's premium line that no amount of industrial-design novelty has closed — the kind of persistent flaw that shapes which devices become reference recommendations over time.
The trend: HP's Spectre line keeps trading conventional usability for material and form-factor novelty, with trackpad quality as the recurring casualty across every generation.