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HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 Laptop review- Work, Flip, Play

There was a time in the relatively recent past when work devices were mainly for work, and fun devices were mainly for fun. Nowadays, your work laptop can game a bit, and your gaming laptop can launch a business. HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop (14-eu0002na) is a mobile creative and business hub first and foremost, but, thanks to a few more personal considerations, the device also a great companion when the work is done.

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HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop (14-eu0002na) balances portability and stamina with power and performance. As such, the device can run a marathon or a sprint, and can play as hard as it works.

Meaning Business

While productivity-oriented devices tend to lean on simpler and more elegant visual designs than other types of machine, HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop looks very cool while maintaining that clean minimalism of office or commercial tech.

HP Spectre x360 2 in 1 14-eu0002na keyboard

The lightly frosted aluminium housing in its dark grey is muted, but allow the more aesthetic details to stand out.

The solitary stylised HP logo and the bevel-cut rear corners do much of the visual heavy lifting, but they carry it beautifully. These two details add just the right amount of edge to the package. They draw the eye rather than turn the head.

Moonlighting

That little edge wrought by those stunning details also hint at more than a business machine. HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop features a gorgeous OLED display that, at 500nits, has the brightness to create dazzling contrast on your TV and movies.

HP Spectre x360 2 in 1 14-eu0002na OLED panel nits HDR

The quad speaker system offers surprisingly rich musical output, while DTS:X compatibility lends an unexpected immersion to appropriate media.

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When combined with an efficient chipset that offers double-digit hour runtimes, HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 offers is quite the companion for entrepreneurs or businesspeople perpetually on the move.

Divine Display

The 14-inch OLED panel of HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop is nothing short of spectacular. Deep, inky blacks contrast wonderfully with juicy and vibrant colours.

Word docs laptop HDR fonts processing

With 500nits to play with in HDR mode, you get detail across a wide dynamic range. In the office, HP Spectre x360 2-in-1’s display will make your presentation pop and your illustrations illuminate.

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The display also features an anti-reflective, anti-glare finish that allows for clarity no matter the lighting. Another great inclusion is an ultra-wide viewing angle, which makes it easy to share your screen with a group of people. And, of course, when the work is done, that same OLED panel will make your Netflix binge look a bit more special than usual, or bring you deeper and deeper into your game.

HP Spectre x360 2 in 1 14-eu0002na ports usb audio

The display of HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop features a 0.2ms response time for detailed motion and low blur during pans or object movement. And on top of all that, HP Spectre x360 2-in-1’s OLED panel gives you less than 1ms of input lag. So, you’ll have no excuse for your poor Counter Strike performance.

Compact Commerce

HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop is a waif at around 17mm thick. The metal housing and tightly machined chassis also encourage mobility, something that frequent travellers feel more than any other professional laptop user.

HP Spectre x360 2 in 1 14-eu0002na dimensions weight tablet mode

The robust feel also offers peace of mind for those who’ll be taking their HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop out of, and placing it back into, their briefcase or messenger bag many times a day.

Flip FLOPS

The marquee feature of the x360 range is, of course, its convertibility. The device allows the 14-inch OLED panel to swivel 360 degrees so you can use it as a powerful Windows 11 tablet.

HP Spectre x360 2 in 1 14-eu0002na tab PC windows

HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 also includes a HP Tilt Pen. Tilt Pen is a fine-touch stylus, which offers pen-point accuracy, with 4096 gradient under just nine grams pressure. For quick sketches or more involved drawings, Tilt Pen is perfect. It’s always ready to whip into action since the battery can last up to a month of use on one charge.

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At 1.44kgs, it’s a bit heavier than tablets of similar display sizes, however, HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 is still light enough to work or exhibit from your forearm for long periods. You are also getting a heck of a lot more FLOPS in the powerful innards of the HP Spectre than you would would in your average tablet. Some people need a literal PC on their arm, and this is it.

Ins and Outs

HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 features two USB-C ports, both have up to 40Gbps throughput and are Thunderbolt enabled. One of the two also acts as the device’s DisplayPort 2.1 I/O.

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The 2-in-1 laptop also features a full-sized USB-A port and a combo 3.5mm headphones and mic port. The device is so slim that the full-sized USB needs to opened while inserting a cable or device – there’s a little knack to it, but you will pick it up handily enough after a few goes.

The audio combo socket and one of the USB-C ports are each placed in the bevel cut corners at the rear of the device. These placements also seems to be done out of necessity due to the extreme thinness of the device, but in a tight space they can be a little awkward.

Off the Clock

While a dedicated GPU will obviously give you superior gaming performance, the Intel Arc of our HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 review model does an admirable job flinging polys and pixels. The setup has the standard Arc 128MB of dedicated VRAM, and can borrow 16GB of the machine’s main pool of 32GB RAM while gaming.

Forza Motorsport 8 on low end PC game pass Xbox

Cutting-edge racing sim Forza Motorsport runs at a near-stable 30 frames per second, albeit at 720p render resolution, and with plenty of graphical compromises.

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War Thunder manages 40-45 frames per second at medium settings during Ground Battles. For those willing to go to minimum settings (non-old GPU mode), the device can do well above 60fps at a canter. And, aerial battles fare even better, with a minimum of around 70fps.

Dazzling 2D side-scroller Sonic Mania runs flawlessly at 60 frames per second, and looks absolutely incredible on the OLED display.

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The beautiful 80s-inspired eye candy of Horizon Turbo Chase is laden with deep blacks and neon-tinged colours offering wonderful contrast that just pops from the OLED display. The folded paper designs of the retro-inspired cars look especially sharp in the device’s 3K resolution (2880 x 1800 pixels).

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion runs with maximum everything (in 16:9 rather than 16:10) and at well over 60 frames per second. Auto HDR looks incredible (and takes off the default bloom) as we amble the rolling hills and dales of Cyrodiil.

Betty’s even finickier Fallout: New Vegas works with minimal patches, and that’s good enough. It also runs somewhat reliably at 30-ish frames per second with all settings maxed out.

It must be noted that all Windows 11 machines need a widely available patch to run Auto HDR on TES IV: Oblivion and Fallout: New Vegas, mind, but this takes, literally, seconds to do yourself.

Timing Out

HP advertises that HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop (14-eu0002na) can last up to thirteen hours on a single charge. While I could never quite get to the thirteen-hour mark, you will sail past ten or eleven hours when doing lighter tasks and paying a little attention to your power drain.

HP Spectre x360 2 in 1 14-eu0002na review

A full work day under moderate load was normal for the duration of our review, and that’s an excellent figure for such a portable device that’s capable of such power when required.

The device is charged via a 68W USB-C power unit. This charger, included in the box, will fill the device from 0-50% in around 45 minutes using its Quick Charge mode.

14-eu0002na specs price

It’s worth noting that the Quick Charge mode only works when the device is switched off completely, and Quick Charge disengages once the battery reaches 50%. Even with these limitations, Quick Charge will be godsend for many a user.

Specifications – HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 Laptop (14-eu0002na)

CPU:Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (up to 4.8 GHz boost, 24 MB L3 cache, 16 cores, 22 threads)
GPU:Intel Arc Graphics integrated solution
– 128MB dedicated memory
– Up to 16GB shared with main RAM pool
RAM:32GB LPDDR5x (7467 MT/s)
Display:35.6 cm (14″) diagonal, 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED
– Multitouch-enabled,
– 48-120 Hz refresh rate
– 0.2 ms response time
-Ultra-Wide Viewing Angle (UWVA)
– Anti-reflection
-Corning Gorilla Glass NBT,
– Working brightness max. SDR 400 nits, HDR 500 nits
Webcam:HP Wide Vision 9MP IR camera with camera shutter
– Temporal noise reduction
– Integrated dual array digital microphones
Audio:DTS:X Ultra
– Quad speakers
Storage:2 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe TLC M.2 SSD
Ports, I/O:– USB-C x2 (USB-C x 2 with Thunderbolt 4, 1x DisplayPort 2.1 enbabled)
– 2.0 x 1, USB Type-A 10Gbps
– 3.5 mm headset and microphone 2-in-1 jack x 1
Connectivity:Wi-Fi
– IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
– 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
– 2 x 2 MIMO
– WPA/WPA2/WPA3

Bluetooth 5.1
Battery:4-cell, 68 Wh Li-ion polymer
Charging:From 0-50% in around 45 minutes with included charger via included 65W Smart AC power adapter
Dimensions:313.7 x 220.4 x 16.9 mm
Weight:1.44kg 
Colour:Black

HP Spectre x360 2-in-1 laptop (14-eu0002na) is available now in Ireland, our review model with 32GB of RAM and Intel Core Ultra 7 EVO edition is available from HP and from leading PC and electronics stores.

Vinny Fanneran
Harassed Adam Kelly into founding this site. Wrote about tech and games for the Irish Sun for many years, now dayjobbing with Reach Ireland at Galway Beo. Also spent some time as a freelance technology industry copywriter. Former editorial lead for Independent News & Media's PlayersXpo, former gaming editor of EliteGamer.
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