HP Spectre X360 Ultrabook Review: Sleek, Sexy, Convertible

Name: HP Spectre X360 Ultrabook: Sleek, Sexy, Convertible
Brand: HP

by Marco Chiappetta — Sunday, March 01, 2015, 02:00 PM EDT

The software installation on the HP Spectre X360 is relatively clean, with minimal bloat.

The first part of the Start screen is loaded with the standard Windows 8.1 apps you’d see when doing a clean OS installation, plus a McAfee Central tile, and HP Connected Drive and Connected Music tiles. All of the rest of the tiles visible here are included with Windows 8.1 by default.

Swipe over to the right and some of pre-installed application are visible. There’s HP Connected Photo, Microsoft Office Trial, a games called Hearts Deluxe, the Netflix app, Intel WiDi controls, the Weather Channel, Bing Translator, and a getting started with Windows 8 tutorial.

The default desktop on the Spectre X360 is completely clean. And most importantly, there was only ONE pre-installed app that actually launched with the system—McAffee LiveSafe. We have to give props to HP for keeping the software installation on the Spectre X360 so clean. We should also mention that there are tangible benefits for setting the machine up this way as well. The Spectre X360 cold boots in under 8 seconds, and resumes from standby faster than you can fully open the lid.

Tags: Notebook, Mobile, HP, laptop, Hewlett-Packard, x360, Ultrabook, Broadwell, spectre

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com