HP Spectre x360 'Premium' Laptop Unveiled to Take on Apple's MacBook Air

It's a poorly kept secret that HP has been gunning for the Apple MacBook Air with its Spectre series. Continuing that trend, the American computer bigwig has launched the Spectre x360, calling the laptop its 'most premium' computer offering yet.

The device features a slim 15.9mm CNC aluminium chassis and weighs a mere 1.5kgs. The dull silver finish is polished metal achieved using a single machined cut. It also goes full-hybrid by flipping itself over; the screen turns a full 360-degrees to turn the device into a tablet when needed. While it won't exactly stand out on its own in the looks department, it does have impressive innards.

To start with, the 13.3-inch touch display is available in two resolution options: full-HD (1920x1080) and QHD (2560x1440). Processor options are either Intel 'Broadwell' Core i5 or Core i7, the RAM chip can be either 4GB or 8GB, while SSD storage options vary from 128GB to 512GB. Despite the impressive hardware, HP still claims that battery life will be in the range of 12 hours. Models with the 4K display will also feature Panel Self Refresh technology, which holds images on the screen to allow portions of the PC to power down when nothing on-screen is moving, which is one of the reasons why HP can claim such an impressive battery figure.

The full-HD version has gone on sale in the United States already, starting at $900 (roughly Rs. 55,700) for the full-HD, 4GB RAM, Core i5, 128GB SSD model, with pricing going up to $1,400 (roughly Rs. 86,600) for the top-end QHD, 8GB RAM, Core i7, 512GB SSD model that will become available in the US spring.