Sourish’s Spectre
The HP Spectre x360 was, until very recently, part of HP’s flagship lineup. This was why Sourish pounced on a deal to purchase one with an Ultra 7 155H and 16GB of RAM for around £1200 10 weeks ago.
Those who value build quality will be very pleased with the Spectre. The branding is minimal and elegant, and despite a wonky sticker, the laptop is overall pleasant to look at. The angled USB-C ports also give the Spectre a distinctive look. The chassis is built solidly, with minimal flex, necessary due to the 2-in-1 design. Unfortunately though, thanks to the stiff hinge necessary in tablet mode, and the lack of a cutout, it is irritatingly hard to open, which somewhat detracts from the premium experience.
With the release of Intel’s Lunar Lake series processors, AMD’s AI HX370, and Apple’s M4 series of processors, the Meteor Lake Ultra 7 155H now seems rather ordinary. Despite this, battery life is still satisfactory, with good standby performance and crucially, consistent 65W charging.
The 2.8K 120Hz OLED screen proves to be top-notch, with the only criticism being the size of the bezels, but even that is understandable given the 2-in-1 nature. Similarly, the trackpad, which has both haptics and physical buttons, is outstanding.
Perhaps a more controversial design decision was the keyboard. Whilst most people will be able to readily adapt to it, coders are one demographic who might not. For example, the backslash key, which is required regularly in programming, is on the right, while convention would usually put it on the left. Similarly, the octothorpe key is just above the enter key, which itself is a single row. Other complaints include the delete key being offset by the power button, such that it is no longer the top-right of the keyboard. Despite this, the typing experience itself of the keyboard is perfectly fine if you can get used to the layout.
Being a 2-in-1, the Spectre has stylus support. The pen functions perfectly, though one drawback is the necessity to charge it frequently via wire. This is inconvenient and a second class design compared to the magnets used in the apple pencil, which allows for easy charging, or a more long-lasting battery used in microsoft’s surface styluses.
Overall, the Spectre is an excellent device, but crucially with all laptop purchases, the price you pay matters. Compared to the competition, it offers an excellent build quality, but depending on various deals it may be a lesser value proposition.
Google Fined Two Undecillion Roubles
Google has been fined 2 undecillion roubles by the Russian Government, which in other words is a lot of money. This is in fact greater than the total money supply on this planet, and this fine doubles every week.
The fine originated because the Kremlin wasn’t happy that Google banned their state media on YouTube. We should note that Russia has very limited press freedom. Of course, Google also refuses to pay this sum of money, or any sum for that matter, and therefore this seems to be in limbo.
Western investors meanwhile seem unaffected, with seemingly little movement of their stock due to this issue. With the backdrop of increasing segregation between the western internet and the Russian internet, this is perhaps unsurprising as western businesses ditch any thoughts of doing business in Russia.
Meanwhile, whilst in western media, this could perhaps make the Russian government look weak due to their inability to levy a fine, the Russian Propaganda department could easily spin it as a win for the state at curtailing western capitalism.
More interestingly though, this raises a question on the ability for multi-trillion dollar tech companies to deal with seemingly any fine or punishment that governments throw at them. So often can big tech companies be seen paying millions in fines as part of a procedural answer to some ruling. Yet these are obviously slaps on the wrists. Apple, who recently was ordered to pay $14 billion in taxes to Ireland, also clearly has the ability to do that with no issue. Western governments therefore, should rethink the magnitude of the fines they levy if they are expected to have any impact.
Nothing Glows in the Dark
Nothing has announced their community edition of the Nothing Phone 2A Plus. There are 1000 units available for purchase at the same price as the original. This was a project with heavy community involvement through 4 stages: phone design, wallpaper, packaging, and marketing, with a winner each stage being granted the ability to influence said stage.
Glow in the dark was chosen as the phone’s design language. Whilst unique, and seemingly a decent implementation of it, it certainly won’t be for everyone. That said, it is refreshing to see Nothing try something new and original.
The wallpaper was heavily inspired by pipes, connections, and paths, symbolising the community’s involvement in the project. Surprisingly, packaging was one of the stages with community involvement, but it seems to be rather ordinary. The marketing though, is certainly rather cringy, with parallels being drawn to fireflies.
This project has been proven to be popular with the Nothing community. However, the number of Nothing enthusiasts is probably quite low in the grand scheme of things. Despite this, it is interesting to see Carl Pei build Nothing around community, similar to early OnePlus days. Though it should be pointed out that OnePlus’ main selling feature is value for money, which is something everyone can get behind - less so with design.
Apple’s Top-Notch New Mac Lineup
Finally, over 3 days this past week, Apple has announced a series of new macs, including a refreshed iMac with more saturated colours, a smaller mac mini, and new laptops with M4 and M4 Pro/Max chips.
The biggest talking point though is Apple’s generous inclusion of 16GB of RAM on all mac models. This includes the $/£599 mac mini, which represents an excellent value proposition. Perhaps this also is apple’s response towards the increasingly competitive laptop market, driven by new chip launches from both AMD and Intel.
Tune in to our podcast available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts for our full discussion on these topics, and talk to us on X at @the_wafflebyte.