13-Inch HP Spectre vs. Apple MacBook Air
Apple's MacBook Air has a new competition in the form of the recently released HP Spectre 13. Dubbed as the thinnest laptop in the world today, the new HP laptop rivals Apple's laptop in both design and features. Here's how the two compare.
Design
Apple's laptops have been considered as the benchmark against which all other ultra-thin, ultra-light laptops are compared with. However, HP's latest laptop entry isn't very far when it comes to design.
The Apple MacBook Air and the 13-inch HP Spectre both sport premium design elements. The MacBook Air uses a unibody aluminum chassis while the HP Spectre 13 combines its aluminum body with a carbon fiber bottom and copper hinge as accent. The laptop is reminiscent of luxurious jewelry, which is what HP was after. On the inside, the new laptop sports a chiclet-style keyboard flanked by speakers with lace-like or repeating triangle design.
Specs and Features
The HP Spectre 13 is only 0.41 inches thick and weighs 2.45 lbs. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air is 0.68 inches thick and weighs 2.96 lbs. The former boasts a full HD (1,800p) IPS edge-to-edge display, while the latter uses LED-backlit display at 1,440 x 900, Intel HD Graphics 6000, and 720p FaceTime HD camera. There's no information yet on the HP Spectre 13's web cam, but the device boasts stereo speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen.
Under the hood, HP placed a sixth-generation Intel Core i5 or i7 chips with 512 GB PCIe SSD, while Apple went with a 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with either 128 GB or 256 GB PCIe-based flash storage. HP Spectre 13 comes with up to 8 GB memory and the MacBook Air with 4 GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory which can be configured to 8 GB.
HP uses a thin hybrid battery that supposedly lasts for up to 9.50 hours, which is shorter than the MacBook Air's 12 hours of battery life from its lithium-polymer unit. The new laptop, however, uses HP's hyberbaric cooling system to keep it cool.
Three USB Type-C ports, two of which support Thunderbolt, can be found on the HP Spectre 13. All three can be used to output video, transfer data, and charge the laptop. The MacBook Air, on the other hand, has two USB 3 ports, a Thunderbolt 2 port, a MagSafe 2 power port, and a SDXC card slot. HP placed a next-generation 802.11 ac 2x2 Wi-Fi antenna on its new laptop, while Apple features 802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless networking, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatibility, and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology.
Price
Apple sells its MacBook Air at $999 for the 128 GB model and $1,199 for the 256 GB model. Meanwhile, the HP Spectre 13 will be available on April 25 for pre-order starting at $1,169.99. It will hit Best Buy stores on May 22 with a starting price of $1,249.99.
Which laptop a buyer chooses will depend on what trade offs they're willing to make, but both should offer consumers powerful specs and premium design.
