HP Unveils Spectre: The World’s Thinnest Laptop

HP has announced its new Spectre laptop – the world’s thinnest 13.3” notebook. Despite its miniature size, the Spectre uses Intel’s Core i5/i7 microprocessor, a PCIe-based SSD, a full-size keyboard as well as an advanced audio system developed by Bang & Olufsen. To build its new notebook, HP had to use a number of innovative technologies, although to make the system so small and thin it had to sacrifice upgradeability and serviceability. On top of it all, the HP Spectre comes across as very price competitive.

The HP Spectre is just 10.4 mm thick and weighs 1.10 kilograms (2.45 lbs). To build it, HP had to use CNC-machined anodized aluminum and combine it with carbon fiber, a custom display panel with Gorilla Glass 4 as well as special recessed piston hinges. To maximize battery life (which is officially listed at 9 hours 30 minutes), HP had to use two types of batteries of different shapes inside its Spectre laptop, giving four cells in total. As part of a premium line, it comes in black and gold finish as well as with a different varient of HP’s logo, emphasizing the position of the system.

The HP Spectre laptop is based on the Core i5-6200U (two cores with Hyper-Threading, 3 MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 520) or the Core i7-6500U (two cores with Hyper-Threading, 4 MB L3 cache, Intel HD Graphics 520), but the manufacturer does not disclose exact clock-rates of the CPUs. HP notes that the microprocessors may not necessarily work at their default frequencies all the time, but indicates that the chips are still considerably faster than the Core M processors used inside the Apple MacBook. These could either be the full fat 15W parts, or the models could be in cTDP down mode.

To cool-down the CPUs, HP uses its so-called ‘hyperbaric cooling technology’, which features two ultra-thin fans, a heat-pipe as well as a special copper radiator. The fans intake cool air from the outside and create significant air pressure inside the chassis to blow away hot air. The company does not disclose how loud such cooling system is, but implies that noise levels created by the Spectre should be comfortable.

The Spectre is equipped with 8 GB of memory (we believe LPDDR3) that is soldered to the motherboard, which means that it cannot be upgraded. The notebook is also equipped with a standard 256 GB or 512 GB SSD, but HP does not release performance figures or which model this is. The company also says that since the design of its laptop is “sealed”, it is impossible to upgrade the storage drive at home, suggesting a soldered down version of an M.2 drive. Keeping in mind that it is impossible to add storage to the majority of tablets and 2-in-1 hybrid PCs, it is not surprising that HP chose to limit upgrade capabilities of its Spectre notebook. When creating Spectre, HP focused mostly on making an extremely thin design, but not to offer capabilities for further modernization.

Due to thin design and relatively limited battery capacity of the HP Spectre, the manufacturer did not have much choice when it comes to display panels. HP uses a 13.3” full-HD (1920×1080) IPS panel with 300 nits brightness, which covers 72% NTSC. According to HP, the panel provides the right balance between resolution, power consumption, the brightness, and the price. Nevertheless, the most important feature of the panel is its thinness. The whole display assembly is just 2 mm thick.

The HP Spectre also comes with three USB type-C ports, two of which support Thunderbolt 3. These will be powered by Intel’s Alpine Ridge controller, though HP has not disclosed how many are in use (either one controller for both ports, or two controllers for one each). The TB3-enabled ports can be used to connect external displays as well as Thunderbolt 3 peripherals. It is noteworthy that since HP does not talk about connecting things like external graphics adapters to its Spectre notebooks, this feature may not be enabled right now.

The notebook is also equipped with a keyboard that has 1.3 mm travel as well as a trackpad with full-travel etched glass. HP compares it Spectre to Apple’s MacBook and claims that the keyboard, as well as the touchpad of the MacBook, are less comfortable to use than those on the HP machine, something that needs to be verified by independent reviews.

Communication capabilities of the HP Spectre include a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module that supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks.  The module supports only one “slot” antenna, therefore, its performance may be lower when compared to other modern notebooks, another thing that HP may have had to sacrifice for portability. HP also does not specify if the Wi-Fi is 802.11ac or 802.11n only.

This month HP will begin to sell its Spectre laptop at hp.com as well as at Best Buy in the U.S. The Spectre based on the Intel Core i5-6200U and equipped with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB SSD will cost $1169.99, whereas the model featuring the Intel Core i7-6500U, 8 GB of memory and a 256 GB SSD will be priced at $1249.99. There is no word on the cost of the 512GB models as of yet, although we expect another $100-$150 on top of that. In May, the manufacturer plans to start selling its thinnest laptop in other countries, but it does not reveal the list of countries or recommended prices. In the US, HP will also offer limited edition systems co-developed with famous designers combining a golden finish and Swarovski crystals. In addition, the company will also sell accessories (a Bluetooth mouse, a carry bag and a leather sleeve) that match the design of the Spectre notebook.

Lenovo Upgrades 2-Way ThinkStation Workstations with Intel Xeon E5 v4 CPUs

Lenovo this week upgraded its range of 2-way workstations with Intel’s new Xeon E5 v4 microprocessors as well as recently announced NVIDIA’s Quadro M6000 24 GB graphics card. The new ThinkStation P910 and P710 machines rely on the chassis and design of their predecessors and have a lot of similarities with machines introduced in 2014. However, the new systems have a number of improvements in addition to more powerful CPUs and GPUs.

Read our review of the design of the Thinkstation P900 (E5 v3 version) here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9214/the-lenovo-thinkstation-p900-workstation-review-design-101 

The new Lenovo ThinkStation P710 and P910 workstations are based on the Intel C612 platform controller hub (PCH) and are compatible with various Intel Xeon processors in LGA2011-3 packaging, including the latest Xeon E5 v4 (also known as the Broadwell-EP). Both systems support up to two Xeon processors, which gives their owners up to 44 physical cores in total (or up to 88 threads with the HyperThreading enabled). The P910 machine can also house up to three NVIDIA Quadro or NVIDIA Tesla graphics or compute cards to handle professional graphics programs and simulation applications including three M6000s. The P710, by comparison, can support a single M6000 or up to three M2000 GPUs. To better cool-down hot components, Lenovo’s P-series workstations feature a special “tri-channel cooling” technology, which can quickly increase airflow in one of the “channels” to apply cool air to particular pieces of hardware, but not to all components in the chassis, thus, avoiding excessive noise.

The full-size Lenovo ThinkStation P910 features 16 DDR4 DIMM slots and can install up to 1 TB of RAM (thanks to the new Xeon CPUs, DDR4-2400 modules are now supported). The system can also be equipped with up to 14 internal storage devices (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 is supported), including four M.2 SSDs (which are installed into special Flex adapters, which are then plugged into PCIe x8 Flex connectors) and up to 10 2.5” and 3.5” HDDs in order to provide both speed and capacity. The ThinkStation P910 also has Flex Bay, which is designed to support an optical drive and a 9-in-1 media card reader, or the Flex module, which holds a 9.5 mm ODD, a 29-in-1 media card reader, eSATA and Firewire connectors. In order to support power-hungry processors, graphics cards, massive amount of RAM and storage as well as other devices, the P910 comes with a 1300 W PSU that should deliver the right amount of power even to the most demanding components and configurations.

The ThinkStation P910 should be very similar to the ThinkStation P900, but with a couple of important additions such as Thunderbolt 3 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac. While Intel’s Haswell-EP and Broadwell-EP processors feature the same packaging and Intel said that the new chips should be compatible with the LGA2011-3 sockets, Lenovo itself does not offer its ThinkStation P900 with new CPUs. The Xeon E5 v4 will be installed exclusively into the P910 and P710 and it is unclear whether the PC maker plans to release new BIOS revisions for its previous-gen workstations to enable upgrades.

The Lenovo ThinkStation P710 does not have the vast expansion capabilities of the P910 because it is generally more compact, nonetheless, it is still a very robust 2P workstation. The P710 sports 12 DDR4 DIMM memory slots and up to 384 GB of RAM, can be equipped with up to 12 storage devices (two M.2 SSDs [because the system has only one Flex connector], up to 10 2.5”/3.5” HDDs) and a Flex module. Since the P710 is positioned as a compact 2P machine, it can be equipped with a 490 W, 650 W or 850 W PSU in a bid to balance performance and noise levels.

Both new ThinkStations from Lenovo support all the features and technologies of their predecessors, such as tool-less upgrades (even the PSU can be replaced without tools), a USB diagnostics port and so on (these features are described in our P900 review). What is different is that the P710 and the P910 workstations can also be optionally equipped with an Intel 802.11ac card (2×2, 2.4 GHz/5GHz + Bluetooth 4.0) as well as Intel’s ‘Alpine Ridge’ Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1 controller (which will support one USB type-C port). The addition of TB3 and a wireless module suggests that we are dealing with updated motherboards inside the new workstations, but Lenovo yet has to confirm this.

Lenovo’s ThinkStation P710 and P910 workstations should hit the market in the coming weeks after the company finishes their certifications with key ISVs. Prices of the new systems will start at $1600 – $1800, but configurations with two CPUs, professional graphics cards, a lot of RAM and multiple storage devices will easily cost $15000 and higher.

Gallery: Lenovo Upgrades 2-Way ThinkStation Workstations with Intel Xeon E5 v4 CPUs

Clarification 4/5: Originally this news article stated the P710 could accommodate up to three M6000 GPUs. The article has been updated to clarify that due to size, the P710 can have up to three M2000s or a single M6000.

MSI Releases Vortex: A Mac Pro-Like SLI PC for Gamers and VR, from $2199

We originally laid eyes on the final design back at CES, but now MSI has begun to sell its Vortex gaming desktops in the US. The 6.5-liter systems resembles the design of Apple’s Mac Pro, using a singular fan and triangular core to pack a high-end CPU along with two GPUs and a lot of memory, offering impressive performance at a premium price.

When Apple introduced its current-generation Mac Pro a little more than two years ago, the company clearly demonstrated that it was possible to build a small form-factor workstation with two professional GPUs and a multi-core Intel Xeon E5 processor with only one fan. Since then, a number of PC makers have released high-end small form factor desktops in the mini-ITX form-factor, but all of them were equipped with multiple fans and were still larger than Apple’s Mac Pro, or traditionally looked like PCs such as ASUS’ GR20. Last year MSI decided to take a leaf out of Apple’s book and develop a gaming PC that would borrow Mac Pro’s triangle arrangement of CPU and GPUs as well as round design with one blower fan. The company first demonstrated its Vortex desktop last fall and has been refining its system since then. MSI showcased near final version at CES with a heavy bent on virtual reality support, but were still tinkering with the final specifications. Now MSI is finally ready to ship the Vortex.

MXM Modules in play, showing Samsung GDDR5

MSI’s Vortex G65 platform is based on Intel’s Core i7-6700K processor as well as the Z170 chipset. With this combination, MSI will offer systems in two variants, with either two GeForce GTX 980 GPUs in SLI (the SLI-001) or GeForce GTX 960 GPUs in SLI (SLI-011). The MSI Vortex G65 systems are equipped with 32 or 16 GB of DDR4-2133 memory respectively, two 128 GB SSDs in RAID (M.2 form-factor with PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, no word on the exact models) and 1 TB HDD at 7200 RPM. The gaming machines also feature two Rivet Networks Killer Gigabit Ethernet E2400 controllers and one Killer Wireless-AC 1535 Wi-Fi controller (802.11ac) to support DoubleShot-X3 Pro as well as two Thunderbolt 3 ports (we’re unsure if this is one controller or two at this point). As for external ports, the PCs have two TB 3, two DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 1.4 and four USB 3.0 connectors. No word on the audio codec, as the rear of the chassis only has headphone/microphone jacks. There’s no word if the TB3 ports also support USB 3.1, but given that it hasn’t been advertised at this time we assume not.  We can confirm that the TB3 ports do support USB 3.1.

The Vortex G65 systems from MSI heavily use custom-built hardware, such as the motherboard, cooling system, power supply and so forth. Nonetheless, they still use standard Intel’s LGA1151 processors, MXM graphics modules for the GPUs, PCIe SSDs, SO-DIMM modules for memory and so on, which sounds as if they can be easily upgraded at MSI select partners and retailers (in fact, select MSI’s partners can even upgrade MXM modules). Still, owners should keep in mind that the PCs are equipped with 450W PSUs, perhaps indicating that the parts on offer are specially binned for the low power/voltage characteristics needed for the Vortex. The Vortex G65 platform should fully support overclocking, but given thermal and power consumption constraints, it is hard to expect the Vortex G65 to be a good overclocker, but that is a natural trade-off between performance, style and size.

It is worth noting that there are two really interesting things here with the GPUs on offer. Firstly, the GTX 980 in 8 GB form, as far as we can tell, has not been formally announced or released by NVIDIA. So either MSI is creating its own MXM module for this as an AIB partner, or they’ve pre-empted an NVIDIA announcement, or the part is a GTX 980 (notebook) with 8 GB of memory, which is currently listed at OriginPC. We had feared this was the 980M, which has 25% fewer CUDA cores, but is more common in 8GB form. Using the GTX 980 (notebook) variant makes sense, with a given TDP of 145 W per card, rather than 165 W per card on the desktop variant.

Next, on the GTX 960 side: MSI puts the total VRAM at 6 GB for the SLI system, meaning 3 GB per card, which would imply a 192-bit bus. No GTX 960 variant has a 192-bit bus, nor does the GTX 960M, which means this is either a new unreleased version of the GTX 960 with an unbalanced memory allocation (which has happened before) or something more akin to a GTX 970M which does have a 192-bit bus, but they’re calling it a GTX 960. It’s an interesting mix of information here. We’ve asked for clarification.

Update from MSI: For the GTX980 SLI, this is the MXM version (not the GTX980M but the GTX980).  We are using the same graphics card as in our GT80 TITAN SLI. For the GTX960 SLI we are also using is the MXM version.  Same MXM card we are using on the GTX970M. Since this is a “desktop” product, Nvidia new naming rule will not have the “M” in there and kick down the number to 960 [and so it has the same specifications as the GTX970M as far as CUDA cores/ROPs – ed].

Exploded view

The MSI Vortex G65 system also comes with Dragon Center dashboard application, which allows to customize lighting of the PC case, monitor system performance, launch utilities and apps, fine-tune the system with personalized profiles and so on. Nahimic audio is also bundled in the package.

MSI positions its Vortex G65 machines as SFF PCs capable of handling virtual reality games. The two graphics adapters can drive up to four monitors (and with Thunderbolt can connect to up to six displays), hence the system can be used not only for entertainment but also for work. At present MSI does not position its Vortex for professional applications, but it should not be a problem to build a workstation-class system of similar dimensions for the company and we would imagine some top-tier customers are already inquiring.

MSI charges $2199 for the Vortex G65 SLI-011 system with two GeForce GTX 960 graphics adapters. The top-of-the-range Vortex G65 SLI-002 with GTX 980 in SLI costs $3999, which is in line with the price of an advanced Apple Mac Pro.

Gallery: MSI Begins to Sell Its Vortex Desktops: Mac Pro-Like PC for Gamers Hits the Market