Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsWarning: HP is shipping many units with defective batteries
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2015
Warning: many batches of the HP Spectre x360 are being shipped with defective batteries. This is a known problem at HP. If you search their forums, you'll find hordes of people who are getting <6 hours of battery life out of the box, even with very conservative power management and usage. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people.
Personally, I max out at 4-5 hours even with minimum brightness and light web usage. Some users in HP's online forums report as low as 2-3 hours with bare bones usage. I contacted HP's warranty service and was escalated to case management. Here are the excuses they provided me, as well as other customers:
1) "4-5 hours is normal for this computer; the 12.5 hour estimate is for idle/standby time (i.e. lid shut with screen off)."
False. Many users can and do report getting close to 12.5 hours with very conservative usage. CNET's video playback drain test ran 12 hours (near minimum brightness). PCMag's battery drain test ran 8 hr 45 min on 50% brightness. It seems that some units are defective (like mine), while others are not.
2) "Your battery only has 3 cells; the users getting 12.5 hours have more battery cells than you do."
This is an outright lie. Every single HP Spectre x360 model for sale on HP's site has exactly 3 battery cells.
3) "You must be using your computer differently than other users."
Yes, actually. I have dimmed my screen to the minimum, disabled startup programs and bloatware programs, and minimized the number of apps running simultaneously. I have factory reset the laptop and ensured the BIOS is updated. And still, I get half the battery life others get with moderate usage.
My advice: buy at your own risk. I deeply regret my purchase and am now outside the return period because I initially believed it was my fault as HP claimed. If you feel like taking a gamble on battery life, the HP Spectre x360 is otherwise an excellent machine for the reasons mentioned by the other reviewers. It has a beautiful design, responsive touch screen, firm aluminum construction, pleasant keyboard, and a sturdy convertible hinge.
But none of those features do you much good when the battery is dead.