Attendees at major developer conferences pay quite a hefty sum for their tickets to these events, but they can usually look forward to some rather nice freebies to take home with them, partially offsetting the significant cost of attending.
At Microsoft"s Build 2014 conference, attendees got a free Xbox One and a $500 gift card, and in earlier years, giveaways have included a Surface Pro and Acer Iconia W3 tablet, and in 2012, a Surface RT and Lumia 920.
Those who managed to get tickets to Build 2015, being held this week in San Francisco, will be going home with a HP Spectre x360 convertible Windows notebook.
The high-end device features aluminum bodywork, and in its top configuration, it includes a 13-inch Quad HD display, Intel Core i7 (Broadwell) processor, 8GB RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive, with a price tag of up to $1399.99. It"s not yet clear precisely which configuration attendees will get, but even the more affordable Core i5 model with a Full HD display and 256GB is worth getting excited about.
Perhaps the most appealing feature of the Spectre x360 is its Lenovo Yoga-style body, with a display that can fold all the way over, so it can be used as a (very large) tablet. Microsoft"s Terry Myerson boasted to the audience that the device is thinner than a MacBook Pro, with even better battery life, and a touchscreen.