We had plenty of nice things to say about the HP Envy Spectre XT when we reviewed it last year, but we were already looking ahead to the HP Envy Spectre XT TouchSmart, which steps up to a 1080p touchscreen. Well, here it is, and with 10-point touch and the same all-metal design as its predecessor, this 15-incher looks mighty promising. But is it worth $1,350 -- or more, if you want an SSD? Head past the break to find out.
HP Envy Spectre XT TouchSmart review
LOOK AND FEEL
The TouchSmart will look quite familiar to those who have seen the Envy Spectre XT. It sports the same elegant, all-metal chassis and brushed-silver finish, along with a reflective HP logo on the lid. The only real difference -- apart from the TouchSmart's significantly larger footprint -- is that the Beats Audio and Spectre XT TouchSmart branding sit on the top of the display, as opposed to below the screen on the 13-inch XT. All in all, it's an attractive package, though it's also one that draws constant comparisons to Cupertino's baby.
At 4.96 pounds and 0.87 inch thick, this machine is hardly the wispiest incarnation of an Ultrabook, but it's far from bulky for a 15-inch machine. Still, you will notice its weight when toting it in your backpack or briefcase; we're not sure you'd want to carry it to work every day. Like its non-touch sibling, this notebook feels very comfortable in the hand thanks to grippable, rounded corners and a lovely soft-touch finish on the bottom. The design feels very sturdy as well; it never creaked or bent under pressure throughout our hands-on time.
Everything is in its logical place on the TouchSmart, with the speaker grille and power button sitting at the top of the keyboard deck, and the HP TrueVision HD Webcam centered above the display. The laptop's bottom is completely clean save for an air vent; there's no removable battery here. Along the sides, you'll find a generous selection of ports. An SD card slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, USB 2.0 port, charging connector and a Kensington lock slot sit on the right side, while an Ethernet jack, full-size HDMI port, Thunderbolt and two USB 3.0 connections line the left edge. Incidentally, this is the first HP system to include a Thunderbolt port.
KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD
We were big fans of the Envy Spectre XT's keyboard, and the 15-inch TouchSmart's backlit layout is equally comfortable. It took a bit of time for this reviewer's smallish hands to adjust to the spacious setup, but the keys themselves offer a satisfying amount of travel. You should have no trouble getting up to your usual words-per-minute pace.
The large keyboard deck provides ample space for resting your palms and wrists, and it also accommodates a sizable Synaptics touchpad. The clicker executes Windows 8 gestures flawlessly, and it offers just enough resistance for scrolling to be fluid but not overzealous. The integrated left- and right-click buttons are responsive and quite good at distinguishing accidental input from intentional taps. As we've seen on previous HP systems, this machine offers a trackpad-disabling feature, which is activated with a double tap on the clicker's upper-left corner.
DISPLAY AND SOUND
With a 1080p resolution and IPS technology, the TouchSmart's 15.6-inch Radiance display provides bright, crisp visuals. It's one of the best panels we've seen on an Ultrabook lately -- on par with Acer's and ASUS' latest offerings -- and it's one of the advantages this system has over the non-touch Envy Spectre XT, which sports a 1,366 x 768 screen. HP wouldn't confirm whether this is the same 1080p panel that had color calibration issues on the Envy 15, but a spokeswoman said TouchSmart users shouldn't experience that problem. (We didn't during our hands-on time.)
This is one of the best panels we've seen on an Ultrabook lately.
Colors look rich and accurate, and content is visible from even extreme off-angles. The touchscreen is very responsive to all the Windows 8 gestures you'll be throwing at it. Scrolling, swiping to bring up the Charms bar and pinching to zoom all work without a hitch. Even though we're fans of this laptop's touchpad, we often preferred navigating via the touch display -- its large screen almost begs to be touched.
Unsurprisingly, the TouchSmart packs Beats Audio, and sound pumped through the machine's tilted speaker grille is plenty loud, if not particularly rich. As is usual with Beats, we didn't detect as much tinniness as we have on other laptops, but bass is still limited. Listening to music and watching movies with headphones is definitely a more immersive, sonically pleasing experience, but it's good to know you have enough volume should you want to blast some tunes in the open air.
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