- Which is the best 13-inch ultrabook?
The Dell XPS 13 or the HP Spectre x360?
We're gonna find out,
stay tuned.
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The first thing you should probably ask yourself
is what kinda device do you want?
Do you want a two-in-one laptop like the HP Spectre
which can turn into a tablet?
Or do you want a straight up laptop
like the Dell XPS 13?
Which also has an additional touchscreen.
So if you do not use touch,
you don't wanna use any kind of,
you know, tablet form.
Then go with the Dell XPS 13,
it's very traditional in that sense,
and it does it well.
HP on the other hand of course is a full on tablet,
you can basically rotate this around
and turn it into a tablet and go to tablet mode.
And it's pretty fantastic.
At 2.85 pounds,
it's actually light enough where I don't mind using it
in this form and it actually feels really nice.
Of course you could also use it in tent mode,
and you just get a lot more options here
with the HP Spectre.
And that's actually kind of a big deal.
More importantly,
if you don't ever use this,
it's just a fantastic laptop,
it doesn't feel like a transforming device,
it feels like a normal laptop that happens
to be able to transform into a tablet.
Because of that value,
you get more with the HP.
It does not have a digitizer,
you cannot use a pen with the HP.
Neither one of these you can really use a pen with,
so do not expect that.
Alright, let's talk a little bit here about design.
Both of these devices have a lot of similarities
but some important differences.
First of all when it comes to the Spectre,
you're talking a completely metal device, in and out.
So, below and on top here,
and it feels really good.
It's also cool to the touch though
and in the winter time you do feel that coldness.
It's not a huge deal but something worth pointing out.
Meanwhile the Dell XPS 13 is gonna be metal on the outside
but has a soft touch paint on the inside,
which is definitely more inviting,
it feels nicer when you first put your hands down.
Downside with the Dell of course,
it's a grease magnet.
So this does pick up oils very easily,
you're going to wipe it down on occasion.
Same thing with the keys and the trackpad.
Now for some people that bothers them,
others it does not.
It actually does bother me
but at the same time this feels really, really nice.
When it comes to the HP Spectre on the other hand,
being all metal,
you're not going to notice grease on it
and that's a really big deal.
I think this stays cleaner and nicer looking
for a longer period of time.
When it comes down to weight,
they're both pretty similar as well,
you're talking about 2.9 pounds and 2.85 pounds,
in other words, basically the same.
In terms of thickness and size and all that stuff.
It's a little bit different.
The Spectre's gonna be thinner
than the Dell XPS 13.
However, the Spectre has a wider base because of that.
So basically they spread this out over a wider area,
where the Dell is more compact.
The Dell is like so small though,
it definitely feels almost weird
when you put in your lap,
that you can't believe it's a 13-inch laptop
just 'cause it's so compact.
Which one is better is once again personal preference,
they're basically both about the same
when it comes to volume
and that's really what's important.
When it comes to speakers,
of course you have with the HP Spectre,
you only get four speakers.
You get two up here and two on the bottom.
Which can be used of course in tablet mode.
The Dell only has two speakers on the side,
having said that,
differences are important.
The HP can get very loud,
where the Dell XPS 13 I would say
sounds a little bit more bassy
and you can feel the vibration in the body itself.
It feels a little bit nicer to me,
I actually prefer the Dell XPS sound.
But I can't deny this thing gets really loud
and can crank a lot,
so that's really nice.
When it comes down to the displays,
there's gonna be a lot of personal preference here
but both of these devices have excellent choices.
The XPS 13 has two options,
there is a full HD matte version,
which is really good if you want extended battery life
and you work a long time like typing
in that kind of work.
That's gonna be your best bet.
This option right here of course is a QHD touch version
which is the more expensive one.
And it is easily probably the best
display you're going to get on a 13-inch display.
Between that and the bezel-less design,
it just looks absolutely phenomenal.
It's very bright, it's very crisp,
one of the best monitors I've ever seen.
When it comes to HP on the other hand,
you're stuck with a full HD version that's glossy,
and that's your only choice.
They may introduce an AMOLED QHD version at some point
like they did for the last generation.
But they haven't announced that yet.
Now having said that,
it's a very good display.
I really don't have much complaints with it.
And I actually think full HD is totally fine
for most people.
It's also a full touchscreen because of course
this turns into a tablet.
I should point out though,
it's not as bright as the Dell
when it comes down to nits.
So if you work outside a lot,
you're gonna probably prefer the Dell version
over this one.
Both are very good displays,
both have edge-to-edge bezels.
On the other hand,
HP though has bezel on top and on the bottom.
Over here you have a full HD web camera
and it's on top where most people are used to it.
It's also a full Windows Hello option,
which means it can log in just using your face.
Turn to Dell on the other hand,
you have a 720p camera
and it's located down here in the corner,
which is always weird.
That's because obviously they have no room up here
on top of the bezel.
Of course, how much Dell's camera placement bothers you
just depends on how often you use it.
If you are using a web camera a lot,
you know, with Skype for conference calls,
go with HP, it's a better quality camera,
the placement is better,
and it just, you get the Windows Hello feature,
it's just overall a better choice.
Let's head to port and buttons,
always very important.
As you can see here on the HP Spectre,
we do have the power button on the side.
I actually hate this,
this totally bothers me
but there's a very good reason why they did it.
This device of course turns into a tablet.
And when you're in tablet mode,
you do not want the power button
basically where the keyboard is.
Because it's gonna be kind of an awkward position.
I understand that,
I still don't care for it,
it's very flush, it's kinda hard to feel for,
but so be it.
You also have the grill here for exhaust port,
some people don't like this,
I actually think it looks fantastic.
But once again, personal opinion.
Headphone jack and of course you have a USB-A on here
which is really nice for legacy,
for Mac people I feel bad for you.
You could basically use any USB device here.
Coming round to the other side,
this is a little bit more future and forward looking device.
You do have two USB type C ports here.
You can use them both for charging really nice,
you get the fast charge on there as well.
So that definitely helps.
A little bit like I said, more forward thinking,
that's because you do not have an SD card slot here.
You do have of course a volume rocker on the side too.
Once again, a little bit weird placement
but that's because this turns into a tablet
and that's kinda where it's placed.
So let's take a look now at Dell.
So everything is kinda similar
but there's some differences.
You do have the speaker here of course on the side,
which is really good placement by the way.
You do have this button here which when you press
gives you your battery life of the device.
And that's kinda cool,
saves you from having to open it,
gives you just a nice little meter.
You do have the headphone jack of course,
a USB type A plug there.
You do have a USB type C
which can also charge and recharge devices,
acts as also a Thunderbolt 3 output there for display,
which is really nice.
You do have a proprietary Dell charger of course,
the traditional barrel one.
I prefer USB type C but there you go,
barrel it is.
Coming around to the other side,
Dell of course keeps the SD card slot here.
They're becoming one of the few manufacturers in ultrabooks
that are keeping the SD slot.
I don't know how much longer that's gonna happen but
if that is important to you,
go with the Dell, that's kind of a big difference.
And you have another USB type A port here,
as well as a Kensington lock.
Let's talk a little bit about the keyboard,
probably one of the most important features of any laptop.
Both of these are very good,
I really don't have too many complaints.
If I had to choose one as my favorite,
just from personal preference,
it's going to be the HP.
It has 1.3 millimeters of travel
versus 1.2 millimeters on the Dell.
Now that's not a huge difference
but I do like the size and just the way that these
keys sort of spring back,
it just feels better.
I kinda like how they're also metal
and don't show fingerprints as much.
When it comes to backlight though,
obviously Dell has a better contrast,
you're gonna have white letters on black keys
versus the silver keys on the HP.
So, the lighting is not as good on the HP one
but it's also not that big of a deal,
and they have improved it over the last generation
and I find it totally workable at night.
Let's talk a little bit about the trackpads.
Both of these are really good trackpads,
I really don't have too many complaints.
Well, let's talk about their differences.
HP is a little bit wider.
And for some people that's kind of a big deal
and it's actually a nice feature to have.
However, Dell goes with Precision software,
so that's the Microsoft labelled one.
And basically it means it works a little bit better
with Windows 10 in my opinion.
I really like Precision, it just feels more natural,
it's basically tuned by Microsoft
and it works really well here on the Dell.
HP on the other hand does not do that,
instead they use a synaptic software.
Now some people like that,
it actually gives you more options.
However, I had to spend a little bit more time
to get it the way I like it.
And if they'd just gone with Precision,
I would of been happy with it.
Now if you do go with the XPS 13,
I do warn you that
sometimes they do have issues with loose trackpads.
So if you get this device, check it,
it should not rattle when you tap it.
If you do experience that,
definitely get a return right away.
But that's only a small percentage of devices
that I have heard about so far.
Let's talk about raw processing information here.
Both of these run the seventh generation
Intel Kaby Lake processor.
Of course, both of these are running the core i7.
Now Dell allows you to get a core i3,
core i5 option as well.
And that allows Dell to hit the 799 price mark
as a starter device.
HP on the other hand
starts at a core i5 and goes up to core i7.
That means this device starts at $1,000.
That's kind of an important difference but then again
there's some other changes there as well.
Both of these have eight gigabyte
and 16 gigabyte RAM options,
which is pretty important, so good there.
But Dell once again goes down to four gigabytes,
which again is probably that 799 model.
I don't necessarily recommend four gigabytes
but it is doable.
And for 799, it's still a pretty fancy laptop.
When it comes to storage,
both of these have very good SSDs,
we're talking basically top performers.
You can get them up to one terabyte on some devices,
and 512 and 256.
Same thing with the GPUs,
they're both using the Intel built-in GPU,
so nothing advanced there,
there's no Iris graphics, not yet at least.
When it comes down to heat and fan noise,
there are some important distinctions.
Now both of these devices run pretty much
at the same temperature.
So say you're gaming,
you're gonna be hitting probably at max
about 115 degrees fahrenheit on the bottom.
That's borderline uncomfortable,
it's not too bad though.
I will say the Dell XPS 13 is much quieter though,
you can barely hear the fan.
Now you can of course get it to kick on
if you're doing under heavy load.
But for the most part
under regular usage you really will not hear it.
I do hear the fan a lot more frequently with HP.
It's not a big deal
but you do hear it come on,
and that's sort of like an important distinction
between the two.
I'll also say because of the all metal design,
the HP tends to pick up more heat throughout the body.
So you really kind of feel it more,
whereas you don't feel it as much with the Dell version.
So, in a way you can kinda give Dell
a little bit more credit here for better thermals.
But they're overall pretty similar.
Let's talk about battery now,
both of these are very good for battery,
partly that's because of the Kaby Lake processor
which helps a lot.
Now, if you really want the most battery,
I say go with the Dell XPS 13,
it edges out the Spectre just slightly,
probably by an hour or two.
That's not insignificant.
And that's running the QHD display with touch,
that's actually very impressive
that you're gonna get all that power
plus this phenomenal display,
you still can get around 10 hours of usage.
Don't forget if you want even more battery,
go with the non-touch full HD version.
I could imagine that pushing easily 13 hours
of real-world usage.
So that is pretty impressive.
On the other hand when it comes to Spectre,
you're talking at least eight hours I would say
of real-world usage.
And that's not trivial,
that's actually a lot.
And there is this critical point
where you get past eight hours
where it doesn't really matter.
Don't forget, the HP can of course fast charge
and it charges by USB type C.
Basically plug this in for 90 minutes
and get 90% battery back.
When it comes down to pricing here,
it's very important.
HP Spectre I think is definitely the better value.
You can get a core i7 with 16 gigs of RAM
and 512 gigabytes of storage for 1299.
That same device from Dell
is gonna run you around $1,800.
Now granted Dell gives you a QHD display
which is phenomenal.
Perhaps my biggest criticism with the Dell XPS 13
is simply that the HP Spectre has exceeded it
in terms of features and pricing.
The XPS 13 is still a fantastic device,
it's just that Dell's resting their laurels a bit here.
We needed to see Windows Hello and some additional features
to keep up with the competition.
So that's my pick for the best 13-inch ultrabook,
the HP Spectre x360.
But let's be honest here,
if you get either one of these devices
you're gonna be very happy,
they're both fantastic devices.
You can head to Windows Central
to read our full reviews or watch our YouTube videos
for more information.
Thanks for watching, take care everybody.
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