What does the word “premium” constitute? It used to be not long ago, in the realm of PCs, that power was the sole factor on determining a laptop’s “premium” status. Today, that’s no longer the case. We’ve come to such a point where “power” is accessible on almost all levels.
That’s why other features have come to be of greater importance. This is the review of the HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx, a relatively affordably priced machine that takes care of all of these extra features and, ironically, also has all the power you’ll ever need.
Pros: powerful Core i7 processor, QHD display, attractive design, 12 hour battery life.
Cons: screen is not IPS, no dedicated graphics
Review HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx N5S04UAR
Golden presentation
Just now we talked about “other features” that set a laptop as a premium one, and one of those is definitely the design. The HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx (model N5S04UAR) is a leading laptop in this aspect, presenting an attractive, slim, black body with golden accents on the hinge and borders.
Design is not all that catches our eyes, however, as the Spectre X360 13-4193dx N5S04UAR is also a convertible machine, that means the screen hinge bends all the way so that you can put it in all sorts of positions, from a standing screen to a big tablet. All of this possible thanks to Windows 10’s touch friendly interface.
That screen, by the way, is one of the best things about this machine. That’s thanks to its 2560x1440 resolution, which coupled with the 13.3 inch form factor will offer an incredible pixel density. Basically, that means crisp images and more space to work.
Power is not what matters the most... but it doesn’t hurt
The HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx N5S04UAR is a powerful convertible, and there’s no way around that statement. It comes with an Intel Core i7-6500U Processor with two cores clocked at 2.5 GHz (up to 3.0 GHz).
This is one of the highest chips from Intel’s low voltage line, so we can say with confidence in this review of the HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx N5S04UAR that you’ll be able to do everything with this machine, from web browsing to complex tasks that only certain people use to do.
That is especially true thanks to the 8 GB of DDR3 RAM (1600 MHz), the modern standard that will help you to run several tabs and programs at the same time without having to worry too much about loading.
Light gaming thanks to Core i7
As it’s usually the case with machines such a this (slim, convertible), there are no dedicated graphics present here. The integrated unit (HD Graphics 520), however, is perfectly capable of handling some modern hits on low settings. The good part are the less intensive games (think The Sims 4, Stardew Valley), coupled with classics, that will run without a hitch.
The high standard for battery life
The HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx N5S04UAR’s battery life is, supposedly, one of the best things about this laptop. HP claims up to 12.5 hours and, while it’s always healthy to expect a bit less, that’s still an incredibly high standard that will surely please a lot of people. In short, you can expect this to last you quite a bit and even if you manage expectations for a 10 hour battery life that's still pretty solid when you compare this notebook to its competitors.
A potentially fast multimedia center
Connectivity is pleasantly better than what we would've expected. That’s thanks to the inclusion of a Mini Display Port that, coupled with an HDMI one, will offer a wide variety of external display options that can potentially turn this into a powerful multimedia center. That’s without mentioning the three USB 3.0 ports available, which is one 3.0 port more than usual.
What about storage? HP made the best decision by including a 256GB solid state drive instead of a slow mechanical hard drive that would've crippled performance speed on tasks such as booting the system and accessing software. This is the perfect balance between raw storage and performance, as the SSD will offer much better reading speeds.
Closing arguments...
There’s very little reason not to like this machine. After the review of the HP Spectre X360 13-4193dx N5S04UAR, we can safely say this a very attractive convertible that hopefully sets up new, higher standards for HP, who has been doing a pretty good job lately.
You just can’t beat the raw power of the Core i7, the high resolution display and the tasteful design HP has combined into a single product. And remember, it’ll be a hile before you have to plug it on to charge.