HP Spectre XT Touchsmart 15-4010nr Review

Design and Features
There have been several really nice-looking Windows 8 laptops samsung np350v5c battery in the first six months of the Windows 8 era, including the Acer Aspire S7 , the Lenovo Yoga , and the Asus Taichi . But most of these have been 13- and 14-inch laptops, or inventive hybrids. Bigger-screened laptops have been less common, and most of those, from the Dell Inspiron 15z to the Acer V5 , have been more functional than flattering.
The Spectre XT is a design-first laptop, and builds on the visual language of Hewlett-Packard's last few years of higher-end systems. Envy used to be the highest-end HP line, but now that's been overshadowed by the Spectre, although the two names are sometimes used together, as in the case of the Envy Spectre. dell venue 8 pro charger There's also the XT modifier used on some HP laptops, to indicate "extra thin," I suppose. In any case, this system has two of the three names HP uses to identify high-end systems (no "Envy" this time), so it's not surprising that buyers are being asked to cross that all-important $1,000 mark.
The Spectre XT has an all-metal body, with a brushed design on the lid and keyboard tray, and what feels like a powder-coated bottom panel. It carries the official Intel ultrabook label, which means it meets certain guidelines for CPU, thickness, and internal storage -- but many new Windows 8 laptops are either ultrabooks or very close (we call those near-misses fauxtrabooks). The practical effect is that consumers have a much wider range of thin, light laptops to choose from than ever before, both in the $700-to-$800 range and higher-priced systems like the $1,299 HP Spectre.
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The keyboard is of the standard island-style variety, with the same HP-specific touches found on nearly every current VGP-AC10V10 adapter HP laptop, including rounded keys at each of the four outer corners of the keyboard, and a separate row on the far right side of Page Up, Page Down, and other navigation keys. Helpfully backlit, the keyboard's ease of use is further helped by large Shift, Tab, and Backspace keys, and the Function keys are "reversed," meaning their more useful alternate commands, such as volume and brightness control, become the primary functions.
The touch pad is of the buttonless clickpad variety, but HP's most recent laptops have had a unique look with the rectangular touch surface set in the middle of a larger depression in the wrist rest. The matte surface offers enough resistance without being sticky, and two-finger scrolling is smooth, Lenovo X220 battery something that often trips up Windows laptops.
The 15.6-inch display has a full 1,920x,1080-pixel resolution, which is as high as current consumer laptops get, and exactly what one should expect in this price range. The $900 Dell Inspiron 15z I mentioned as a less expensive alternative has only a 1,366x768 resolution, which would automatically rule it out for a lot of people, especially those interested in Photoshop work or viewing full-HD video. The IPS screen is covered by edge-to-edge touch-sensitive glass, and looks great even from extreme side angles, although it's very glossy and reflects a lot of light.
The Beats-branded speakers are another HP mainstay. With four internal speakers, the system gets reasonably loud and deep, although with such a thin chassis there's only so much air you can move, so don't expect significant amounts of bass.

Performance
HP Spectre XT Touchsmart 15-4010nr The 15-4010nr comes with an Intel Core i7-3517u processor (the faster-clocked brother of the i5-3317u found in many ultrabooks), 8GB of DDR3 memory, and Intel HD Graphics 4000. These components plus the hard drive+SSD combo gives the system a bit of oomph when you need it. The 15-4010nr is one of the better performers at the PCMark 7 test (4,720 points), coming as one of the fastest systems we've seen with a hard drive. To get faster, you'd need to be using a SSD-equipped system like the Vizio CT14-A2 (4,819) or the Acer Aspire S7-391-9886 (5,090). The 15-4010nr was also fast at the multimedia tests like Handbrake (1:33) and Photoshop CS6 (4:51). samsung galaxy s5 car charger Both scores put the 15-4010nr near the top of the ultrabook category.
The 15-4010nr comes in at the top of the heap on the 3DMark 11 test, and is at the top for our two gaming tests, Aliens vs. Predator and Heaven, but like on the comparable ultrabooks with integrated graphics, the 15-4010nr really can't produce playable frame rates at the games. Translated, this means that the system can play older games, but you'll have to forgo playing the toughest games with advanced features.
Another stumble is the 15-4010nr's battery life. The system only managed 4 hours 3 minutes at our battery rundown test. This is two hours less than the EC-winning Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BHI5T (6:34). The 15-4010nr will get you most of the way across the country on a flight, but not all the way.asus usb t100ta ac adaptor
The HP Spectre XT TouchSmart 15-4010nr is a good choice if you need multimedia creation power with a relatively large screen. The packed-in video software boosts the system's overall score, since the hobbyist won't have to worry about photo or video editing software. The two-year subscription to Internet Security is also a huge plus. Unfortunately, the extra hours of battery life and performance boost from its SSD give the Asus Zenbook Prime Touch UX31A-BHI5T the extra points to let it hold on to its crown as out high-end ultrabook Editors' Choice.

Hardware
Before we get into the specs of the notebook, lets first talk bout the notebook itself. The TouchSmart looks really nice, albeit a bit similar to the HP Envy Spectre XT, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. HP has the TouchSmart decked out in an aluminum and brushed silver finish. The lid of the notebook has a shiny silver Asus G550JK Battery HP logo and there is also the "Hewlett Packard' branding on the side. While the outside is pretty muted in terms of brands and logos, the inside has a little bit more going on. That is not to say HP went overboard, but there are two Beats Audio logos and two HP logos on the inside.
Otherwise, the notebook has what you want and need and it has all the items in places that seem to make sense. You have the standards such as the keyboard and trackpad, however the speakers, power button, air vents and all ports are nicely placed. And in the case of the ports, they are nicely laid out for easy access. Take for example, we found it a plus to have USB ports on both sides of the notebook.
The keyboard itself was nicely spaced and to be honest, rather comfortable to type on. The keyboard is also backlit. The same can be said about the trackpad (which happens to be glass) as it just worked nicely. The trackpad performed well for everything from scrolling to Windows 8 gestures and it even has an integrated left and right click option. Of course, while the trackpad can be used for gestures and scrolling -- this particular notebook does ship with a touchscreen display.

Software
Shifting over to the software and we start with a 64-bit edition of Windows 8. That of course is to say that you will see the now familiar array of tiles. In this respect there isn't much in terms of surprise, the notebook has the usual array of shortcuts such as Games, Music, Video and Camera as well as Internet Explorer, Mail, Messaging, Calendar, SkyDrive and the Store. Plus, you will find some third party goodies including Netflix, Kindle, eBay and a few othersmedion akoya p7624 akku.
Perhaps the nicer part here is the additional software that has been installed. HP ships the Spectre XT TouchSmart with the full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements. Users will also be able to find help in the form of the HP Support Assistant app, which is a default tile.

User rating

          • Granted, as far as “premium” notebooks go, $1,400 isn’t that high a price. The fancy-schmancy Toshiba Kirabook that we reviewed last month was two grand. And like that one, the Spectre XT comes with Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, two years of Norton AV, and dedicated support service.
          • Aside from the t440s charger HP Spectre XT TouchSmart’s battery life, the overall experience was rather pleasant and comfortable. Not only did the notebook perform well, but it did so looking really nice ― both in terms of the exterior casing and the quality of the display. While we wouldn’t hesitate to offer a recommendation, we could see the price being an issue for some. That is not to say the Spectre XT TouchSmart isn’t worth what HP is asking, but just that there are plenty of less expensive options to choose from.
          • HP is clearly marketing the toshiba l750 chargerHP Spectre XT TouchSmart to the Ultrabook-cool crowd, but it doesn’t quite fit. It looks great when it’s sitting here on my desk―hooked up to external speakers and a power block―but it’s hardly something I’d want to tote around with me on a regular basis. And it would definitely need to have better battery life, speaker quality, and weight before it could really be called an Ultrabook.
          • Fitting the words "15.6-inch screen" and "ultrabook" into the same sentence takes some doing. A month ago, we saw Asus manage the feat with the Zenbook UX51VZ-DH71$1,999.00 at Sears. HP delivers a 15-inch, high-resolution, touch-screen ultrabook―well, if you allow 5 pounds to qualify as an ultrabook―with Core i7 power at a reasonable price. There's even a Thunderbolt port. What's not to like?