Slashdot Mirror
HP's Spectre X2 Is a Solid Core M Powered Surface Pro Alternative For Less (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: Now that we're a few years removed from the introduction of the original Surface and Surface Pro, it's clear that Microsoft's vision had merit, and virtually all of the company's major OEM partners are producing at least a few machines that were influenced by Microsoft's design. HP's new Spectre X2 hybrid is as similar a machine to the Surface Pro 4 that we have seen to date. Its form factor, detachable keyboard design, kickstand and overall look at feel of the machine are very "Surface-like". But HP has made some well thought-out changes and packed the machine with different hardware. The end result is rather interesting, somewhat better experience in some respects, for a lower price point. The model tested here features a Core m7-6Y75 dual-core / quad-thread processor with a base frequency of 1.2Hz and a max Turbo frequency of 3.1 GHz. Its on-processor HD 515 graphics can Turbo up to 1GHz and feature all of Intel's latest graphics tech, like Quick Sync, InTru 3D, etc. Other specs include 8GB of LPDDR3 memory, a 256GB Lite-On SSD, a 12" WUXGA screen, 802.11ac WiFi / Bluetooth and Verizon LTE support, a various IO including a built-in card reader and USB type C. The machine's detachable keyboard is held in place by magnets, similar to Microsoft's method. However, the Spectre X2's keyboard is quite similar to a full laptop keyboard. It's arguably superior to Microsoft's Type Cover, both aesthetically and functionally. Power users looking for a high-performance mobile device for heavy-duty workloads would probably be better served by something powered by a Core i5 or i7-series processor, but for the majority of users out there, the Core m at the heart of this machine should pack more than enough punch.
Getting one of the last advertisements in the shitdot 2015 budget?
Slashdot is a vehicle for advertisements, without care of what drives us, the readers. It's clear that the readers like vision, but Slashdot has made some terrible missteps as of late. Power users looking for intelligent discussion have mostly left and would probably be better served by some other website, even though Reddit packs more than enough paunch. ;)
Don't steal. The government hates competition.
Windows 10 is a deal breaker.
Besides the obvious slashvertisement for HP, an "alternative for less" implies a large difference in price yet the summary doesn't declare any prices for either camp. There is a small ad on the page that lists it at about $800 which for an iPad Pro or Surface Pro replacement (respectively $800 and $700 for the base models) is not any cheaper.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
What the fuck happened to the cow guy? Did the NSA get him or something?
Maybe something like: Moo say the cows, you detachable cows.
The sheer lack of decent trolling is killing the entertainment value of this site.
Didn't Slashdot promise to make advertisements a different color?
Guess they don't care about anything anymore. Fuck you Dice. Good luck offloading Slashdot now that it is worth nothing.
Why don't we just have articles that claim "Android Nation claims Apple Army is a bunch of shitballs"?
Slashdot is a shithole anymore.
This also-ran from HP catch your eye?
Looking for a Windows Surface knockoff?
Does it run Linux?
Surface pro 1,2,3,4 all use shit marvell chipsets that people are STILL having issues with. here is hoping that HP understands this and is using intel.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I don't want to be stuck with last century's operating system.
The battery must last for years before it needs to be recharged. I imagine they use turbo mode for the benchmarks.
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
Base frequency of 1.2 Hz? I have a calculator from 1983 that can run circles around that.
Imagine.. a beowulf cluster of...
No it runs Windows 10 home/pro which means its the one that logs all your keystrokes, and browser history and sends it to Microsoft, even in 'privacy' mode.
Oh and it also uploads your disk encryption keys to Microsoft cloud ready for the FBI.
http://mashable.com/2013/09/11/fbi-microsoft-bitlocker-backdoor/#TzEu17t4t8qP
Dat iz y dere liking iz
HP's crappy middleware preloaded!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Any alternatives to Verizon ?
I don't think a tablet with attachable kb is MS's invention.
I don't mind evil electronics, but I'd rather not lose to 007!
The important differentiator for me is the built-in 4G LTE. The Surface Pro 4 doesn't have a 4G model and one hasn't been announced (yet).
One of the really big features of the Surface Pro is the Pen. It's kind of a key feature, so this HP device, though looking quite good, simply isn't in the same category where it could just replace an SP4 for somebody. Looks very slick though. Would love to try it out for a while.
...::----::...
I am in no way affiliated with this sig.
It send your pen strokes to Microsoft for handwriting analysis..... , along with your contacts, calender, works you speak, what you type.
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/5337/windows-10-tip-understand-and-configure-privacy-settings
"Privacy, Speech, ink and typing. Cortana—which you must explicitly opt into and then later explicitly opt into voice control—will learn your writing (via keyboard or pen) and voice over time so that she can more accurately respond to your questions. Likewise, Cortana—which, remember, is a digital personal assistant—must have access to your calendar and contacts, and collection information about you in her notebook, in order to work at all. If you don’t like that, turn it all off. And don’t use Cortana."
And contrary to Thurrotts belief, it STILL SENDS THEM, *even* when you opt out of using Cortana.
After seeing performance of the expensive Apple Macbook with a Core M CPU. I am just not sold on this processor. Granted it ties in Intel's family of processors giving the Core M a good mix of performance vs power savings. But as most test show. Its no powerhouse for anything other then basic tasks and maybe better suited for cheaper notebooks. The Apple Macbook and even the Spectre 2 are still considered higher end notebooks. Granted the Spectre 2 only starts at $800 vs the macbook at $1200. But still, you can probably find a mobile core i3 performing much better in a ultra book for less then $800. Unless thin and light is all you care about. The Spectre 2 is far over priced for what you get in performance.
In the past few years, I've spent a few hundred thousand dollars on HP equipment and can safely say beyond a shadow of a doubt that there isn't any other vendor on the planet which offers such incredibly piss poor quality products as HP.
DesignJet printers : Latest patch... after a year or so... fix that the printer randomly disconnects itself from the network... randomly means after every time the screen saver on the printer kicked in... requiring a reboot
C7000 Chassis, G6, G7 anf G8 blades and ILO controller : A blade server chassis that requires an extra license to get remote KVM... so I'm supposed to sit in a hot aisle or cold aisle with a dongle to install operating systems on machines. It also requires Java to manage... no not that Java... the Java you can't download from anywhere anymore. It also requires just the right version of IE or Firefox to get messages about how it's incompatible with everything. Screens take 30+ seconds to navigate to. There's no proper management system for firmware and CMOS configuration. You honestly have to sit and wait for memory checks on 256 gigs of RAM to finish before you can press F8, F10, ESC, etc... in just the right prompt to get to just the right BIOS configuration. Network adapters in HP blades you can choose from a 3 shitty vendors. Emulex, HP or Q-Logic. There's no proper integration of any of these adapters into the management system. Booting from SAN pretty much requires FibreChannel which is absolute crap... and I'm willing to back that up with a hundred pages of why SCSI must die. If you have to suffer through FC, FCoE for booting is probably better but works sporadically on HP blades. HP honestly wants you to spend an extra $100k on FC adapters and SANs just to boot their shitty ass blades. Back to ILO, setting accounts and passwords on the ILO controller in the chassis DOES NOT configure permissions on the ILO on the blade being controlled by it. Let's talk certificates, none of the ILO stuff from HP provides any common management means of configuring certificates and therefore you're pretty much damned to self-signed on the blades... yippie!
DL160, DL180, DL380 rack servers... the second a new generation comes out, there's bound to be absolutely no support what-so-ever for the model you just bought a week before the new generational announcement. Drivers and management etc are all hidden behind contract managed "pay-walls" and they have reused names of tools and utilities so many times that even Google can't find what you're looking for. Hot-swapping on disks works sporadically and again these ARE SERVERS!!!! and apparently you're supposed to have a separate license to remote manage them.
Switches... If you're a networking idiot and all you know how to do is plug cables in and make a broadcast domain with 10,000 adapters in it, it's as shitty as every other vendor. If you're using Procurve series switches, you're doomed to a Cisco IOS like command line which works "mostly" and actually allows you to configure multiple untagged VLANs on an interface. It's actually insanely easy to make a typo on the command line which will require a car drive or plane ride to power cycle the switch because doing things like accidentally setting an ip default gateway on a layer-3 switch is allowed, but can not be undone while the switch is configured as layer-3. So, you need to disable ip routing to remove that feature. If you're using 3Com (IE Huewai) switches from HP, they have a command line interface which almost randomly places configuration options. The only good documentation for Comware is on the Huewai website and it's mostly google translated from Chinese these days. There are so many short-coming in Comware that when you get something that almost works, you should just leave it and never touch it again. Buy a Cisco or Juniper next time. HP is hellbent on proving they can sell networking equipment based entirely on price and not giving a damn about quality. Want help? Try a message board... people will join you bitching about how nothing works an
! "Core m should pack more than enough punch"
I was interested until I noticed that they chinced out on the mouse buttons. For $800 they can't give you a real button?
Is there an Android ROM for it?
iPad is mainly used for reading and movies... but with that screen it's like stepping back into 2005.
It's an HP, so no, thanks.
Seriously. But on the other hand the turbo boost from 1.2Hz up to 3.1 GHz is pretty damn impressive.
That fast! Wow!
I have an HP printer, using with an Windows 98 system.
Yeah...I probably should have passed out the smelling salts before writing that.
Short excuse: it's a system I use for word processing and a business software program and that's it. It works. To replace the software and hardware would cost about 50% of one years profits. Ain't worth it to me.
Based on the experience alone in ink expense I will forever avoid HP. They used to offer a higher capacity black ink cartridge, but they killed that years ago.
Can anyone recommend a printer that will run on Windows 98?
Actually, for a few old printers I've tried Cartridge World, 4 stars out of 5, Chinese ones on eBay, cheaper, but 3 stars out of 10, and Ecoink brand on eBay, 5 stars out of 10.
"Actually, for a few old printers I've tried Cartridge World, 4 stars out of 5, Chinese ones on eBay, cheaper, but 3 stars out of 10, and Ecoink brand on eBay, 5 stars out of 10."
Should all be a 5 star scale 3 out o 5 and 5 out of 5 for the last two.
(Where's my piracetim?)
If you look at the HP page for the Spectre X2, it does say it's ready for use with "active pens with Wacom technology". So, you can implement something similar with a separately-purchased stylus. Not ideal, but doable.
Bite my shiny metal ass!