HP Spectre 13 — A Perfection of Design

The World’s Thinnest Laptop doesn’t dissapoint in beauty.

In a world where smartphones, televisions, and displays are getting thinner, why dont we randomly add laptops into the picture?. In this article, I’ll cover the essence of design about the world’s thinnest laptop (as of now): the HP Spectre 13.

Let me break this down into some simple words: Clean as fudge (oh you know what I mean).

Spectre’s design is absoulety incredible. It features work put into a device like no other. “Artisan materials and striking craftsmanship create an experience unlike anything else” (HP), in an edit from their page about Spectre, HP exemplifies the work it put in with the design of this device. ‘Artisan’ is defined as, “a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand” (Google), and this laptop does in fact look like a true Artisan’s work gone way beyond professional. Design is one thing, but a design with the right materials is another.

The materials in which this device is made out of are materials that every piece of technology should adopt. The combination of metal and carbon fiber make Spectre a sturdy and professional device. The notion of build quality affects the understanding of a piece of technology. It’s like comparing a fangirl tweet and an essay. A piece of technology made out of plastic won’t be taken seriously, compared to a piece of technology made out of metal. The device has metal spreaded around, but the most of the material is carbon fiber.

Metal delivers a premium look and feel, while carbon fiber delivers maximum strength. According to a GIF from Gizmodo, “steel shaft gave out at around 1376 newton meters while the carbon fiber shaft held until 4728 newton meters” (Casey Chan, “Here’s how much stronger carbon fiber is compared to steel in one GIF”). Now I don’t know about the everyday person, but when I hear ‘newton meters’ I think HUGE. The fact that carbon fiber is MUCH more stronger than steel just absolutely blows my mind. This material should not let consumers down when they worry about durablity. A metal build for professionalism/class and a carbon fiber build for the durability for the body, but what about the display?

Do you really want to carry this beauty in a case for protection? I don’t think so and HP doesn’t either. HP Spectre is, “finished with a durable and scratch resistant edge-to-edge Corning® Gorilla® Glass display” (HP), which makes it one of the toughest glass displays out there for a laptop. That being said, trying to break this product could turn into a bloody mess for a fist. Now that being said, two pairs of hands wouldn’t be able to snap it in half due to the carbon fiber build, although it’s made to look like it’s snappable.

HP doesn’t play when they describe Spectre as the world’s thinnest laptop, but does its weight differentiate thickness? Spectre is revealed to have a 10.4mm thin design and that’s when it’s closed. To me, that is mindblowing. HP describe’s this part of it’s elegant piece as, “This featherweight 13-inch diagonal laptop weighs just 2.45 pounds” (HP). 2.45 pounds is extremely light for a 13-inch laptop. Weight and thickness play a huge part in a device’s role. The device can be thick, but be quite light, or it could be the other way around. In my experience with an iPhone 6s Plus, the device was thin, but had quite a good weight to it. This proves that any other device can have the same sense of simplicity while having the notion of easy portability. Thin is the new J’s, but some consumers maybe thinking how the device open and closes which such a thin design.

HP innovates it’s 13-inch Spectre with items in which I find in my own home. As seen in the photo above, HP has implemented a ‘piston hinge’ design for opening and closing the laptop, “Drawing inspiration from high-end furniture details, the stunning simplicity of the artfully-crafted piston hinge folds flush for a clean, nearly hingless look” (HP). What this exerpt says is the functionality. HP describes it as ‘artfully-crafted’, which is absolutely true because it’s made out of metal and looks clean af (as fudge ;)).

In conclusion, HP Spectre has to be one of the best designed products of 2016, if not the best. Smartphones, tablets, other laptops, and even kitchen material should learn from what HP has created. Spectre 13 is elegant, and extremely durable. If there were a way to provide those to adjectives to other physical technological subjects, without eliminating any important type of specification, then innovation here we come!