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00:00Okay, so in front of me are two fairly popular laptops.
00:08This is the XPS 13 2-in-1.
00:10This is the Spectre x360 from HP.
00:14And this product in particular was sent to me two months ago, and a lot of people were
00:18asking for a review on this thing, and I held off because I knew that this was coming out.
00:24I knew that the Spectre x360 was going to be updated, and I wanted to make sure that
00:28any review I did of the XPS 13 2-in-1 included this in the conversation, because these guys
00:34are direct competitors, and they are the best 2-in-1 convertible laptops on the market.
00:41So if you're interested in something like this, then this is what this video is for.
00:45Now, if you don't know what these are, what makes a laptop a convertible laptop is the
00:48fact that when you open it up, you can flip it all the way around, so you can use it as
00:53a tablet if you so choose, or you can just use it as a regular clamshell laptop if that's
00:59your jam.
01:00But it gives you that versatility, and I think this stuff is very popular among students
01:04because they just want that all-in-one device.
01:07That's what we have here.
01:08So, I am very glad that I held off on this review first, because I'll just be straight
01:12up, the Spectre is better by quite a bit, and you'll understand why.
01:16Okay, the first thing I want to talk about is performance.
01:19Now between the two, I don't care what Intel's marketing team is pushing on the internet,
01:24these are not high-performance laptops at all.
01:28These are not good for video editing, they're not good for gaming.
01:30What they are really good at, however, is being really light, and very portable, and
01:35being very good for just regular computer use.
01:37So if that's what you're looking for, go for them.
01:40But don't buy this stuff for video editing or gaming, because it's just, that's just
01:44a lie.
01:45Alright, between the two, they are very similar in performance.
01:49I would say that the Dell is ever so slightly better, but both of them have good, and I
01:54guess somewhat expected, performance for a thin and light premium laptop like this.
01:59You're gonna get good boost clock, but you can't sustain that boost clock for an extended
02:03period of time.
02:04Now in terms of ports, they both have USB-C ports that support Dunlop 3, but the HP has
02:11this really cool USB-A port.
02:14I've never seen something like this.
02:15It has this flap that opens up like you see on some ethernet ports on laptops, but it
02:19allows you to have a USB-A connection on a relatively thin device like this, which is
02:24kinda cool.
02:25The USB-C ports are on the other side of the laptop, one of them being on this beveled
02:29area to the device.
02:30It's not annoying or anything, it's just in a different spot than most other laptops out
02:34there, so you should be aware of it.
02:35And as well, there's a kill switch to the webcam, so if you want to, you can flick it,
02:39and it'll disable the webcam on the inside completely, which is nice in today's era of
02:44privacy issues and such.
02:46Now if you're wondering, like why would you consider a 2-in-1 device over like a regular
02:50clamshell laptop, the biggest thing is just versatility.
02:53So for a lot of people, if they want, they can just run your device in different like
02:58clamshell mode, in a tablet mode, whatever, but one of the greatest features is the ability
03:03to use your device as a tablet with pen support, and it's a lot more comfortable and natural
03:09to write on a screen in this position than it is for a regular clamshell laptop and try
03:14to write on a vertical screen.
03:16So that's one of the biggest advantages of these types of devices.
03:20Now to get inside these laptops, they're relatively easy, just a few screws for both of them.
03:24They both have RAM that's soldered on, kind of becoming a standard in 2019, but the drive
03:31on the XPS 13 2-in-1 is also soldered on.
03:34You can't repair it, you can't replace it, you can't do anything with it because it's
03:38baked right onto the motherboard.
03:40The drive on the HP is removable, so it's replaceable, upgradable, repairable, whatever
03:45you need to do, you can do.
03:47Now I understand that the reason why they bake drives onto motherboards is to keep the
03:51device thinner, and the XPS 13 2-in-1 is thinner than the Spectre, but I don't know if it's
03:56worth it.
03:57I feel like I would way rather have a removable drive any day of the week.
04:01Okay, another thing I don't like, the Dell configurations, they have a 4GB configuration
04:08at the base model, so 4GB of RAM, and I feel like in 2019, a device like this should not
04:13have a configuration with 4GB of RAM.
04:16That should be 8GB at the very minimum, like even Apple, a company that's just notorious
04:20for having expensive products, even their worst laptops have 8GB of RAM.
04:24So this 4GB of RAM business has to stop, like it really does.
04:28It's disrespectful to the consumer to sell a 2019 premium laptop with 4GB of RAM.
04:36No more.
04:38The battery sizes, just real quickly, they both have great battery life, the XPS 13 gets
04:43around 10 hours of battery life, but the Spectre x360 gets closer to 11.
04:47So it's a, they're both good, it's just that the Spectre has a bigger and better battery
04:52life.
04:53Okay, that wraps up the internals, oh, speakers, they're both in the same position, they're
04:57on the bottom, neither of them sound great, but they're passable.
05:00They're both what you'd expect in a bottom-firing ultrabook speaker.
05:04Alright, let's talk about keyboards for a minute.
05:07The XPS 13 2-in-1 uses a maglev keyboard, so instead of a traditional switch and dome,
05:12it uses these magnets underneath each key, and the typing experience does take some time
05:17to get used to.
05:18I've used these a lot in the XPS 15 2-in-1, so I got used to it.
05:22It's still a decent keyboard, but I don't love it.
05:24The HP Spectre x360 has a more traditional keyboard.
05:28This is really easy to get used to, and I think most people on first try will prefer
05:32the Spectre keyboard over the maglev keyboard.
05:35The trackpad on the Spectre, however, is a little bit small.
05:38It's definitely smaller than the XPS 13 2-in-1, but it's just small compared to most ultrabooks.
05:44They've also switched this to Windows Precision Drivers, which is way better than what they
05:48had last year.
05:49They had the Synaptic Drivers still last year, which were trash, but I would say that the
05:53XPS 13 2-in-1 has a better trackpad experience overall, mostly because of its size.
05:58Now, if you're on the market for a 2-in-1 device like this, you've probably looked at
06:02either one of these, maybe both, and the truth is, I think the Spectre's a better device
06:07all around.
06:08It's got better battery life, a better keyboard, better port selection.
06:12It's just a better product.
06:14The one advantage I would say that the Dell has is its screen.
06:18I haven't talked about either of their screens.
06:20They're both good, but the Dell's screen is just better.
06:24It's got a better aspect ratio, it's brighter, and it's just a really good screen.
06:28It's actually considered to be one of the best screens I've seen on a 13-inch device,
06:32but it's not enough of a kind of advantage over what the Spectre offers for me to say
06:36that this is a better product overall.
06:38There's also one other advantage.
06:40Dell gives you an option for 32 gigs of RAM if you're someone that needs that kind of
06:45memory for, I'm not sure who would, like if you're someone that works in an industry that
06:49does require that kind of RAM in a device with this kind of processing, but that's really
06:53where the advantages of the XPS 13 2-in-1 end.
06:57The Spectre takes everything else.
06:59It really is the better product of the two, so it's my recommendation if you're interested
07:04in a 2-in-1.
07:05Okay.
07:06Hope you guys enjoyed this video.
07:07Thumbs if you liked it, subs if you loved it.
07:08See you guys next time.