CES 2018 kicks off tomorrow, which means that today is the day that companies are announcing the products that they will be showing off. HP is among the first, announcing a new version of its 15-inch Spectre x360.
Back in October, HP actually refreshed the device that was announced last year at this time with Intel"s new eighth-generation "Kaby Lake R" U-series processors. These can offer up to a 30% performance advantage over the seventh-generation "Kaby Lake" chips.
But in the devices announced today, you"ll find Intel"s newly-announced eighth-generation H-series chips. These go under the codename of "Kaby Lake G", and while they"re also quad-core, they"re more powerful. Historically, H-series chips would only be found in gaming laptops and high-performance laptops like the Dell XPS 15, so this will be among the first convertibles to use one.
The new chips from Intel are also the first to include a dedicated GPU from AMD. Previously, with integrated graphics, memory had to be shared with system memory, so this will be great for those editing video or playing games on the machine.
Aside from that, you"ll still find that the display comes with 4K resolution, and it includes pen support, so you can use Windows Ink for marking up photos, drawing, taking notes, drawing routes in Maps, and so on. It also keeps the IR camera around for Windows Hello support, and adds a fingerprint reader.
With all of that power, HP is promising up to 13.5 hours of battery life, and it also includes HP"s Fast Charge technology. You should be able to get a 50% charge within 30 minutes.
The Spectre 15 x360 comes in HP"s Dark Ash Silver color, with Coppor Luxe accents, and it starts at $1,369.99. You"ll be able to pick it up on March 18 from Best Buy.
Neowin is at CES to bring you all the coverage from the show floor, click here for other articles.