HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000) review – for media consumers and media creators

Convertible laptops usually have one big flaw. At the expense of the good that comes with the touchscreen capability and the 360° of the hinge, which allows you to use it as a tablet, there is a limitation. That of the improper cooling.

And when we took our first look at the Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000) we thought – there is no way it will be able to deal with the hardware it was given. It has a very slim chassis (or one that appears slimmer than it is).

HP, on the other hand, appears to be really confident to give you the option of an Intel Core i7-12700H – one of the most powerful laptop CPUs that are currently available.

In addition to that, you get a 3K+ IPS display with it. And this is the “base” option because the more premium one features a 4K OLED unit with full DCI-P3 coverage.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however. First, it would be a good idea to check out the externals, which we were telling you about.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-spectre-x360-16-16-f1000-2022/

Contents


Specs Sheet

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) - Specs

  • AUO AUO60A3
  • Color accuracy  4.5  1.5
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 4000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 16GB
  • OS
  • Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
  • Battery
  • 83Wh, 6-cell
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 357.86 x 245.36 x 19.81 mm (14.09" x 9.66" x 0.78")
  • Weight
  • 2.01 kg (4.4 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 1x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Sleep and Charge
  • 2x USB Type-C
  • 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort, Sleep and Charge
  • HDMI
  • 2.1
  • Card reader
  • MicroSD
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HP True Vision 5MP IR
  • Backlit keyboard
  • Microphone
  • Dual Array Digital Microphones
  • Speakers
  • Quad Stereo Speakers, Bang & Olufsen
  • Optical drive

All HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find some paperwork, a 90W (or 135W) power adapter, and a stylish leather sleeve.


Design and construction

Interestingly, the laptop has a profile of 19.9mm. However, its curved edges make it appear a lot thinner. The aluminum body offers a cool-to-the-touch feeling and has a lot of support.

Weight-wise, the 16-inch form factor provides an unwanted implication. The Spectre x360 16 stops the scales at 2.01 kg. Don’t get us wrong, this is a good weight for a 16-incher. However, a convertible becomes a bit uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

Here, the lid can be opened with a single hand, which is impressive. Its Gorilla Glass NBT cover makes it super resistant to flex, and yet protects the display in a fashionable manner. In addition, the bezels around the display are really thin. The top one, of course, houses the 5MP Web camera, which is complemented by an IR face recognition scanner.

Moving to the base, we see a keyboard, which has long key travel and clicky feedback. It is one of the most comfortable units we have ever typed on a laptop. Not only that but there is a fingerprint reader right in the mix of it, which is fresh. It works fast, too!

On either side of the fantastic keyboard, you will find a speaker grill. And below it – a touchpad. One of a decent size, smooth texture, and accurate tracking.

Turn the laptop upside down, to see the ventilation grills. They give us some insight into the cooling capacity. Hot air is being exhausted through a vent on the back of the base. Furthermore, the bottom panel houses two speaker grills for a total of four.

Ports

On the left side, there is an Audio jack, an HDMI 2.1 connector, and a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 2) port with a jaw-style cover. And on the right, there is the power plug, two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, and a MicroSD card slot.


Disassembly, upgrade options, and maintenance

Getting inside this notebook is extremely easy. Just undo 4 Torx-head screws from the bottom panel, and pry it with a plastic tool.

Inside, we find an 83Wh battery pack. It lasts for nearly 13 hours of Web browsing, or 10 hours of video playback on a single charge. To take it out, unplug the connector from the motherboard, and undo all 8 Phillips-head screws that keep it in place.

Here, the memory is soldered to the motherboard. It comes equipped with either 16 or 32GB of DDR4 RAM. Storage-wise, you get one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, which can fit Gen 4 SSDs.

The cooling of this device comprises two heat pipes, a long heat sink, and two big fans. Thankfully, the VRMs are also being cooled.


Display quality

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000) in the configuration we tested has a 60Hz IPS panel – AUO AUO60A3. Its diagonal is 16 inches (40.6 cm), and the resolution is 3K+ (3072 x 1920) pixels. The screen ratio is 16:10, and we are looking at a pixel density of – 189 ppi, and a pitch of 0.13 х 0.13 mm. The screen turns into Retina when viewed at distance equal to or greater than 46cm (18″) (from this distance one’s eye stops differentiating the separate pixels, and it is normal for looking at a laptop).

The viewing angles are excellent. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

In the illustration below you can see how the main display performs from a uniformity perspective. In other words, the leakage of light from the light source.

Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is good – 1420:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000)’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 98% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results in factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of the HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000) with the default settings – left, and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile – right.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 34 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000)’s display doesn’t use PWM to adjust its brightness at any point. This means it is comfortable for long gaming sessions without harming your eyes in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Gloss level measurement

Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 59.9 GU).


Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000) configurations with 16″ 3K+ IPS AUO AUO60A3.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000)’s speakers produce a sound of very good quality courtesy of “Bang & Olufsen”. In addition, the low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations.


Drivers

All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-spectre-x360-16-inch-2-in-1-laptop-pc-16-f1000/2101006126/model/2101006144

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The 83Wh battery lasts for 12 hours and 47 minutes of Web browsing, or 9 hours and 53 minutes of video playback.


CPU options

You can pick a configuration with either the Core i7-1260P or Core i7-12700H.

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.


GPU options

Graphics-wise, you either get the integrated solution or Intel’s discrete Arc A370M with 4GB of GDDR6 VRAM.

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000, f2000 2022, 2023) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark: Wild Life (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS127 fps118 fps61 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS131 fps86 fps49 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power

Intel Core i7-12700H (45W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000)2.62 GHz @ 2.28 GHz @ 61°C @ 61W2.68 GHz @ 2.28 GHz @ 71°C @ 61W2.10 GHz @ 1.79 GHz @ 59°C @ 40W
Dell G15 55203.62 GHz @ 2.78 GHz @ 90°C @ 111W3.41 GHz @ 2.68 GHz @ 91°C @ 98W3.18 GHz @ 2.49 GHz @ 83°C @ 87W
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Pro X (14″)2.26 GHz @ 2.05 GHz @ 68°C @ 60W0.97 GHz @ 1.29 GHz @ 60°C @ 21W1.48 GHz @ 1.33 GHz @ 66°C @ 34W
HP Victus 16 (16-d1000)3.72 GHz @ 2.85 GHz @ 76°C @ 115W3.33 GHz @ 2.58 GHz @ 78°C @ 96W2.37 GHz @ 1.89 GHz @ 65°C @ 45W
Dell Vostro 16 76202.83 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 64°C @ 71W2.73 GHz @ 2.24 GHz @ 70°C @ 66W2.42 GHz @ 1.80 GHz @ 72°C @ 52W
Dell XPS 15 95203.18 GHz @ 2.56 GHz @ 95°C @ 87W2.52 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 92°C @ 57W2.11 GHz @ 1.70 GHz @ 81°C @ 45W
Dell Precision 17 57703.34 GHz @ 2.69 GHz @ 78°C @ 95W3.30 GHz @ 2.66 GHz @ 87°C @ 92W2.54 GHz @ 2.10 GHz @ 75°C @ 55W
MSI Pulse GL76 (12Ux)3.29 GHz @ 2.76 GHz @ 77°C @ 97W3.27 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 83°C @ 95W3.14 GHz @ 2.68 GHz @ 86°C @ 85W
MSI Crosshair 15 (B12Ux)3.27 GHz @ 2.67 GHz @ 84°C @ 97W3.19 GHz @ 2.65 GHz @ 91°C @ 94W3.05 GHz @ 2.47 GHz @ 88°C @ 80W
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-56)3.39 GHz @ 2.84 GHz @ 64°C @ 103W3.53 GHz @ 2.76 GHz @ 71°C @ 100W2.66 GHz @ 2.86 GHz @ 87°C @ 102W
MSI Stealth GS66 (12Ux)3.84 GHz @ 2.82 GHz @ 83°C @ 124W3.55 GHz @ 2.67 GHz @ 85°C @ 107W3.19 GHz @ 2.42 GHz @ 83°C @ 85W
MSI Vector GP66 (12Ux)3.81 GHz @ 2.91 GHz @ 81°C @ 116W3.54 GHz @ 2.72 GHz @ 83°C @ 98W3.30 GHz @ 2.57 GHz @ 79°C @ 86W
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE (PT516-52s)3.25 GHz @ 2.52 GHz @ 89°C @ 80W3.10 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 90°C @ 73W2.93 GHz @ 2.38 GHz @ 91°C @ 66W

Surprisingly (or not), the HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000) shows low clock speeds throughout the test. What is more interesting, is that the temperatures are low too, even though we used the “Performance” preset of the HP Command Center. This should have prioritized, well… performance. Instead, it leaves a lot of unexplored potential. Part of the blame should also be taken on the 90W charger.

Comfort during full load

On the bright side, this leads to very little fan noise and super cool external temperatures.


Verdict

As expected, the Core i7-12700H can’t reach peak performance. Despite the use of the “Performance” profile within HP’s command center app, we see scores that are closer to last year’s Core i7-11800H. Nevertheless, this doesn’t make the laptop slow by any means.

Instead, it is still exceptionally powerful. The dedicated Intel Arc A370M will surely bring even more graphics performance to the table, but you should be wary of its unrefined drivers. An RTX 3050 would have been a better suit for this device.

Our configuration didn’t feature a dedicated GPU, which is one of the reasons for the fantastic battery life. With 13 hours of Web browsing or 10 hours of video playback, you should be able to get through an entire day worth of use on a single charge.

Keep in mind that heavier workflow, including photo or video editing, will definitely diminish the battery faster, so make sure you keep the charger close to you.

HP Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000)’s touchscreen IPS panel has a 3K+ resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. Its 98% sRGB color coverage provides a punchy image, while the lack of PWM ensures comfort during long working periods.

Unfortunately, this photographer-friendly notebook has its memory soldered to the motherboard. On the bright side, the two available options include 16 or 32GB of DDR4 RAM, which is plenty by today’s standards.

Also, you get an M.2 PCIe x4 slot able to work with Gen 4 SSDs. And on the outside, you get a MicroSD card slot, two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 2) port, executed by simple, but clever engineering. Lastly, you get an HDMI 2.1 connector for an optional fourth display.

This machine excels with its fantastic quad-speaker setup tuned by Bang & Olufsen. The keyboard is great too, while the fingerprint reader and the IR face recognition scanner give you double privacy protection.

You see, there aren’t many convertibles that offer you such good hardware in a chassis that looks this good. Generally, you won’t go wrong in buying the Spectre x360 16 (16-f1000), but the high price might be offputting for many people.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/hp-spectre-x360-16-16-f1000-2022/

Pros

  • Excellent build quality
  • Up to 4 display support
  • High resolution and 98% sRGB coverage (AUO AUO60A3)
  • No PWM (AUO AUO60A3)
  • Great keyboard
  • IR face recognition and fingerprint sensors
  • Overperforming in image-editing applications
  • Decent battery life
  • 2x Thunderbolt 4 + MicroSD card slot


Cons

  • Soldered memory
  • Not full performance by the H-series chip

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Paul Martinez
Paul Martinez
1 year ago

Very thorough and great review of this product.
Thank you guys for taking the time and making the information public.

Craig
Craig
1 year ago

Thank you for this excellent review. I have purchased your profiles for my two HP Spectre x360 14 oled laptops (ef00 and ea00 series), and they were terrific, but I have a question about the HP Spectre x360 16″ diagonal, 3K+ (3072 x 1920), multitouch-enabled, IPS, anti-reflection, Low Blue Light, 400 nits, i7-12700H, 16-f1013dx, which I believe is model you used for this review. Your review (and profiles) reference the AUO AUO60A3 panel, but my system information identifies my panel as BOE BOE09B5. I assume HP sources their display panels from different manufacturers. Will your profiles work for my panel?