Best products from r/spectrex360

1. Pricing at the moment is consistent to what was released in press kits back in January, thought they could change on release, but the 512 Gb Vega model is slated to be at $1,699. You can see the prices here.
   
   
2. While I'm not too concerned about the 8 gb of RAM since you're not using too heavy of an application, 256 Gb to 512 Gb of storage will make a world of a difference. Fortnite and Lol together can take up to 40Gb of space. Also, both mx150 models come with a pen already. According to Lisa from MobileTechReviews here, the HP pen does come with tilt support. But of course that can change of course if HP decides to cheap out.
   
   
3. You have a variety of options here:
   

• The free option is to use the pass throughs, unless you're a hyper competitive CSGO player, I doubt you'll notice the difference.
  
• You can get a USB Hub, these cost like $10 on Amazon here.
  
• Or if you're Mr. Moneybags, you can get an $26 Dell TB15 Thunderbolt dock here. But you'll need to also get a 130W or more Dell power adapter if you don't have one laying around. (my company has a few that I have burrowed thankfully). This is awesome, you can connect monitors, headphones, USBs, ethernet ports on this dock. Very very useful.
  
  And finally, you seem pretty well suited for the MX150, it's still a decent discrete GPU that will handle both Fortnite and LoL with ease (at 1080p resolution).

This is the one I have: HP Spectre x360,15t Touch,4K UHD,i7-8705G,Radeon 4GB RX Vega M,Num-PAD,HP Stylus,1TB SSD,16GB RAM,Win 10 PRO PRE-Installed by H, 3 Years McAfee Internet Security,B&O Quad speakers, HP Premium Warranty https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0747JZXZZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_9ENxCb9T3GAWR
It’s handling my classes like a champ, and I have several programs downloaded on it, including Origin for some game play. I haven’t put a photoshop package on mine yet, but it’s coming in the next week or so for a video project. My husband has sketchbook pro on his, which has been going smoothly itself.
I haven’t had mine long enough to speak on long term factors though. I did a lot of digging and research before I picked one.
My graphics card is the Radeon RX Vega M, and I have seen quite a few people say the NVIDIA GEForce is better on this computer as the Vega tends to crash. I haven’t had an issue yet though.
My HP desktop is going on 4 years old, and it still works like new. My past HP laptops and desktops have lasted forever, so I felt comfortable with this brand compared to the many others I have had that have died within 6-18 months after I have gotten them. I still hold them praying to get things off of hard drives when I get a break from school. 😂
I hope you find what will fit you best! Good luck on your hunt and with your thesis!!

It must be a hardware issue. I just bought a refurbished one from an Amazon Renewed seller and it's completely quiet. When the laptop starts to get hot, the fans turn on, but even then, the noise is not so noticeable. So it seems someone somewhere, has determined this is a hardware/build issue and found a way to fix it, because I did a fresh install of Windows and I'm happy as can be with my refurbished 15ch011dx

Well, I have some pen issues that are already known, I just haven't gotten around to following the steps to fix them yet, and there's one tiny light under the f6 key that seems to be out, which is making it look different than all the other keys on the top row and bothering me a little, but otherwise, I am so happy that I don't have this fan issue that everyone seems to have. And I think it's because physical fixes were made during the refurb process (although the thing looks brand new, just not an original box).

Maybe you can contact the seller I got mine from and ask them what they did (although I've seen a few alternate ways to fix the fan issues without opening the thing up, posted here on reddit)This is the item page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F963B49/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1And this is the seller page: https://www.amazon.com/sp?_encoding=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=1&isCBA=&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&orderID=114-9624088-7035422&seller=A25GKYFKYYL0J9&tab=&vasStoreID=

My fan has not turned on in hours (both on battery power and AC), because the laptop has not been hot, as things should be.

There is that option but I didn't choose it for the reason that I wanted to fully upgrade it and it wouldn't be that cost effective to buy higher and replace the ssd and ram later on.

Also I'd blame the extra £500+ cost on the hp spectre price because of SquareTrades theft/damage insurance. It still works out cheaper than the xps 15 9575 though because I didn't include the £100 cost of buying their active pen and the fact they don't cover theft with premium support plus which is disappointing.

Also I looked at the price of a 32gb ram version on amazon for £3000 and my way seems like a much better deal tbh:

https://www.amazon.com/Spectre-x360-i7-8550U-Thunderbolt-Notebook/dp/B07664WWC8

• RAM: HyperX Kingston Impact 2x16GB 2400MHz DDR4 CL14 260-Pin SODIMM Laptop HX424S14IBK2/32 (Actually a good choice tbh)
  
• SSD: Likely default 1TB SSD (Chance of the inferior Toshiba XG5 SSD? Not bad, not particularly good)
  
• Only 30 days support so it would cost an extra £500+ to get warranty that covers damage and theft without the default care pack for 3 years hp is offering on their website.
  
  I intentionally chose to compare the price of cheapest model with an i7 8705G and RX Vega M to be upgraded to the max so its much more cost effective, its interesting what you can get for a similar price since the ram isn't soldered like the xps 15 and is supposedly more future proof as a result. Got the choice of ram I'd want if I choose a spectre and the SSD if I buy them separately instead of the default ssd with lower speeds on read & write.
  
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>Is the direct DC power connector weak? It looks a little weak compared to a Thinkpad connector but maybe its fine.

It's not weak feeling to me at all. I came from a MacBook Pro with MagSafe which was exceptionally hard to break, so by nature it does seem weaker than that, but not bad

>Will this 98Wh USB-C battery charge it?

It might, but not quickly. They Vega models ship with 150w PSUs

>Is the official Spectre USB-C battery too expensive for what it is?

Yes. It looks like a 60w capable pack so a third party could match it but 60w won't charge it very quickly

>How is Linux working with the latest 4.18 or 4.19rc kernels and latest Mesa stacks?
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>Has anyone had success with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed?
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>Has anyone had success with Qubes (the normal non-Vega seems to work by report)

I have no idea, don't use linux

>Has anyone had good results with undervolting and what are their numbers?

I was able to run a 100mV undervolt that was fairly stable. CPU temps didn't get about 80c. Just up to the silicon lottery

>What kind of battery life could I expect with Linux using mostly Visual Studio Code, Firefox and mostly light-to-medium PHP in an Ubuntu VM? Maybe with 15-20 minutes of non-GPU assisted youtube.

I have no idea, in Windows I get about 5-6 hrs of Visual Studio Community

>Has anyone tried the Toast wooden skin? It seems pretty cool if I could get it for less. I'd prefer probably just a more fitting carbon skin but this does have charm. Does it interfere with thermals? Is it a stupid idea or is it cool?

I haven't

>Are the refurbished units more likely to be due to coil whine or a faulty case or just someone not liking the unit? Are the refurbished units of normal quality. I ask because they can be a hell of a price but I don't want to get a subpar unit that just got kicked right through the system without fixing it.

I personally didn't want to gamble since HP is not known for it's customer support. I imagine a lot are returns that are cleaned and repackaged, some are probably units that shipped with something defective and were rebuilt.

That's how I bought my Spectre, as a refurb for about 1k (~500 off) and it was the best choice I could've made, amazing laptop handles everything I throw at it between cad and Adobe stuff and it came with no blemishes and no visible issues. the refurb was perfect. I'd say go for it

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Charger-Delivery-Smartphones/dp/B01MS9CTB7/ref=aw_pd_cart_vw_crc_1_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01MS9CTB7&pd_rd_r=Z6QPY59T2NMQ8KAS21PK&pd_rd_w=KXHA6&pd_rd_wg=1KQhT&pf_rd_p=07e3c3d9-94c9-405b-8d35-f3de6d5ea62c&pf_rd_r=Z6QPY59T2NMQ8KAS21PK&psc=1&refRID=Z6QPY59T2NMQ8KAS21PK

I'd recommend this charger, works past the DRM and allows multiple plugs

I got this one and it works well. It even gets hot like the original one hahaha

Like other's said, they all work. But I'm using this one by UNI because it matches the colour of my laptop and has the added bonus of being HDMI 2.0, useful if you're connecting 4K displays.

Might be worth getting a laptop stand if you want to put it back where it was. I bought this one, which works well, but you can probably get a cheaper one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077B5L6RC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Works great using it on my lap, too.

I just hope for it to function correctly since it has better presicion as stated here.

But anyway I should get it in 2 days so I'll try it out. Ty

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I would recommend this Anker AC Powerbank for $109. Not perfect, but it is the best I have seen.

Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box, Thunderbolt 3-to eGPU PCIe Card Expansion System (GPU-350W-TB3Z) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072L9QTZT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_jlOwkJGJ5uN1j

GTX 1050 2g OC by MSJ
Works like a charm don't need to restart or anything just plug n play

I don't mean to be obvious, but if the laptop comes with a 65W charger then that it what it needs to charge at full speed. 30W is NOT enough. There are several chargers with 60 or 65W power delivery that come with a USB a charging port as well on Amazon. This one took me 2 minutes to find: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Charger-Delivery-Smartphones/dp/B01MS9CTB7/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1525366852&sr=8-6&keywords=usb+c+charger+65w. I have no idea if it is any good.

This works great.

https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-P3Q-00001-Wireless-Display-Adapter/dp/B01AZC3J3M

Not too sure about which speeds will work but I'd stick with 2400 just to be on the safe side, it's plenty fast. As for 16gb + 4gb ram, I don't see why not. HP offeres 12gb which is in a 4+8 configuration.

As far as manufacturer I used Samsung. They make everything.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PC4-19200-2400MHz-SODIMM-M471A2K43CB1-CRC/dp/B074PNTC8L/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1542904950&sr=8-8&keywords=samsung+2400+mhz+ram

My company makes a 45W PD enabled backup battery that works well with Spectre x360 13. We specifically tuned our battery for Spectre. Our battery offers the following voltage/amperage profiles:
5V/3A, 9V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/2A.

Disclaimer: I am definitely biased, as I'm associated with the company. Please see for yourself:
https://www.amazon.com/ZMI-Pixelbook-Nintendo-External-Portable/dp/B072BD98CM?ref=ast_p_ei

It should, but I haven't gotten another charger yet to test it. There's a charging dock on Amazon I'm thinking of getting so I can charge the laptop and my phone.

Just make sure you look at how many watts the charger is putting out. If you're getting a little guy meant for phones it'll take forever to charge, if it manages to charge at all. This is what I'm considering, but I'm waiting until Black Friday. https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Charger-Nekteck-Delivery-Station/dp/B0712252ZQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1542039254&sr=8-7&keywords=usb+c+charger+macbook

Happened to me too, just buy replace rubber feet:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XPCLN23/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_U3mWCbSBNQBW2

These worked so nicely for me and continue to be amazing

I bought the following: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MS9CTB7/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It works great, rapid charges my phone and charges my computer quickly (but not as fast as the original charger).

Contains three extra USB2.0 ports so you just need to carry one other cable to charge other devices.

If you travel or commute with your shiny new laptop, how about a second power supply like this one. Also there are a million port replicators, HDMI dongles, etc. so I ended up buying this one, which has just what I need. And you can't go wrong picking up one or two of these.