HP Spectre x360 13 (2019) review: an excellent high-end laptop with nice port selection, good performance, and great battery life, but its trackpad is narrow
Valentina Palladino / Ars Technica :
Context & Ripple Effects
The Spectre x360 line has been HP's premium 2-in-1 franchise for five years: the original launched at a reasonable $900 in 2015, the 2016 refresh was called the best premium Windows laptop of that year, and last summer's larger Spectre x360 15 AMOLED paired a standout 4K screen with an abysmal trackpad. The 2019 13-inch model reviewed here keeps the franchise's signature strengths — battery life, port selection — while repeating the same input-device weakness in milder form.
That makes this review less a verdict on one SKU than a data point on HP's consistency problem: across three generations and two screen sizes, reviewers keep praising the displays and endurance while dinging the pointing device, a flaw rival Lenovo managed to avoid on the Yoga 910 even while skipping Thunderbolt 3.
First-order effects
- Shoppers deciding between the two current Spectre sizes now face a cleaner trade-off: the 13-inch wins on battery life and trackpad usability, while the 15-inch AMOLED offers the better screen at the cost of an abysmal trackpad and average endurance.
- HP's premium positioning survives intact — the review calls the laptop excellent overall — but the narrow trackpad hands Lenovo's Yoga line a concrete talking point at the high end.
Second-order effects
- If HP fixes the trackpad on the next revision, the Spectre line loses its most-cited criticism and puts pressure on rivals like Lenovo to differentiate beyond display specs, where the Yoga 910 already conceded ground by lacking Thunderbolt 3.
- Trackpad quality becomes a swing factor in premium Windows comparisons against devices like Huawei's Matebook X, whose own laggy trackpad shows this is an industry-wide weak spot rather than an HP-only one.
Third-order effects
- The pattern across these reviews suggests premium Windows ultrabooks have converged on battery life, ports, and performance, leaving input-device feel as one of the few remaining axes where brands can genuinely differentiate — and where repeated stumbles compound into a brand-level reputation.
- If HP treats the trackpad as a per-generation fix rather than a design priority, the Spectre franchise risks becoming known for a recurring caveat, the kind of pattern reviewers carry forward into every future comparison.
The trend: Premium Windows 2-in-1s are converging on comparable screens, performance, and battery life, pushing differentiation toward input-device quality — the exact area where HP's Spectre line keeps drawing criticism generation after generation.