HP Debuts Hybrids range with 15-inch Spectre x360 at CES 2017 to rival Macbook

According to CNet.com, there's been no shortage of praise for HP's line of Spectre x360 hybrid laptops. Both an early-2016 model and a late-2016 update received high marks in our reviews, thanks to a slim aluminum body, excellent keyboard and a good selection of ports (even if the late-2016 version retained only one full-size USB port).

The lead update for CES 2017 is a new 15-inch version of the Spectre x360, and it looks and feels different from its predecessor, but not always in the way you'd expect. This new x360 has a slimmer screen bezel, which is a trendy new feature to add right now, down to just 4.65mm on the left and right sides of the 15.6-inch display. The overall footprint is also smaller, while the glass trackpad has gotten wider, although not nearly as big as the massive trackpad in the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

But there's a trade-off involved. This new version is actually a little thicker and heavier than the one it replaces, moving up to 4.4 pounds and 17.9mm thick. That's because there's an Nvidia GeForce 940MX discrete graphics option, as well as a battery that HP says is 23 percent larger than before.

The new 15-inch Spectre x360 will be available around the end of February, starting at $1,249 in the US (£1,017 or AU$1,737). The smaller 13-inch Spectre x360 is also getting a 4K screen option, plus optional Intel Iris graphics (slightly better than the default Intel graphics in most laptops), and the same cool-looking ash silver color as the 15-inch model.

HP is doing a good job of focusing on growth and emerging areas while still supporting legacy markets for the volume it provides. By investing a lot into innovation and taking risks and it’s really starting to show with their latest products like the HP Spectre, HP ENVY Curved AIO, Folio G1, the Elite X3 smartphone, HP has amped up their premium notebook game over the course of the past few years more than any company tracked. Those new products are paying off financially or, if nothing else, from an ‘innovator’ brand metric giving HP some technology leadership points with customers and channels. Many of these improvements have been driven by HP’s own ‘insights engine’ where the company listens and reacts to consumer input. HP wants these improvements to translate into net promoter score which HP watches like a hawk.  This brings us to CES where HP updated a bevy of products as well as releasing some brand new ones.

HP is leading CES off with a series of new products that build on the creative products that HP has been working on over the past few years and boosting their premium profile. The HP EliteBook x360 is one of those products, made for the  enterprise bringing durability, manageability and security along with it. HP says that their north stars are design, security, and collaboration to address a future workforce and workplace where millennials and their co-workers are more mobile and working together is both easier and more challenging in some ways more than ever before. I believe the better the tools that IT provides and the more consumer-looking and acting they are, the less likely their employees will bring their own devices and create more security challenges.

HP says the EliteBook x360 is the thinnest business convertible in the world at 14.9mm, which should come as a relief for a lot of business users looking for a convertible.