HP is wasting no time taking advantage of the détente between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which have gotten together to package a processor and a graphics chip in a much smarter way in laptops.
The Palo Alto, California-based computer giant is unveiling the HP Spectre x360 convertible laptop, which has a 15.6-inch 4K (3840 x 2160) display with better battery life than past machines at 12 hours. HP is showing off the machine at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the big tech trade show in Las Vegas this week.
HP is using Intel’s 8th Gen Core processors in the laptop, together in a special package for the first time with an AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics chip. The two chips are connected on the same piece of silicon via an eight-lane PCI Express 3.0 bridge, Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB). It also uses High Bandwidth Memory 2 (HMB2), a more power-efficient stacked memory technology that AMD pioneered and has since been turned into an industry standard.
The innovative solution results in a savings of several square inches of board space in a computer, as well as better battery life and higher performance. HP was able to add more cooling options to the machine, allowing it to have better power efficiency.
The main processor is an 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8550U processor. It has 512 gigabytes of internal storage, 16GB of main memory, and it weighs 4.6 pounds. About three years ago, such a system would have weighed about 6 pounds.
It has a hinge that allows it to convert in different modes, such as a tablet mode or a presentation mode. It goes from zero to a 50 percent charge in just 45 minutes. The 4K IPS display has 8.2 million pixels with a 178-degree viewing angle. It also has Amazon Alexa voice service, a digital pen, and USB-C Thunderbolt connectivity.
HP also has another version of the Spectre x360 with an Nvidia graphics chip.