Is there a better alternative?

One 2-in-1 that competes with the Spectre x360 is the Surface Book 2. Microsoft did something very different with this 2-in-1, mating a very light 15-inch tablet with a keyboard base that offers some serious GPU performance. The Surface Book 2 also uses a 15-watt quad-core 8th-generation Core i7 and so it provides similar CPU performance, while its Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU is better at gaming and driving creativity apps. The Surface Book 2 is also much more expensive, at greater than $3,000 with a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

　　You’ll also likely consider the clamshell competitor Dell XPS 15, which uses the 45-watt six-core Intel Core i7-8750H and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q. It performs similarly to the “power” version of the Spectre x360 15 and so better than the AMOLED version. The XPS 15 is also more expensive, at $2,310 ($2,150 on sale) for the same 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and 4K display – which is very good but not as good as the HP’s AMOLED display. Note that Dell will be releasing an XPS 15 with the same display in July.

　　Finally, you also might want to take a look at Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which is a very durable clamshell that has the same CPU and GPU as the XPS 15. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme can be equipped with a 4K panel that provides similar performance to the XPS 15, and also supports HDR (see our comments in the display section, though). The ThinkPad X1 Extreme is also more expensive for the same configuration, at $3,000 ($2,700 on sale).

　　

How long will it last?

The HP Spectre x360 is well-built and evokes confidence in a long lifespan. Its components are up-to-date and connectivity supports all the latest Thunderbolt 3 peripherals (including external GPUs that can improve the laptop’s graphics performance). The industry-standard 1-year warranty is disappointing, as usual.

　　

Should you buy it?

Yes. The AMOLED display is truly a spectacular piece of tech to have in an already great laptop.