HP's $5,000 Spectre Foldable PC Has a Lot To Prove (arstechnica.com) 23
HP is the latest company to announce a foldable-screen PC. From a report: The 17-inch Spectre Foldable PC has a keyboard that can be used wirelessly with the device propped up on its kickstand. Or you could magnetically attach the keyboard to the screen's bottom half or even slide the keyboard toward you for a 1.5-screen-like experience. The OLED device addresses concerns around battery life and portability by including two battery packs instead of one. But the bendy, Intel 12th-gen computer will have to do quite a lot to even begin rationalizing its staggering $5,000 price. The Spectre Fold works as a 17-inch, 0.33-inch (8.5 mm) thick OLED tablet. Uniquely, it has an integrated kickstand for propping the PC up at a 120-degree angle. This is key because HP cites the kickstand as one of the reasons the computer is so costly, but this also means you don't have to deal with separate origami stands/sleeves.
With the PC propped up, it should be easy to work with the included wireless keyboard or stylus, which both charge wirelessly on the device. The Bluetooth keyboard can attach to the bottom half of the PC's screen for a 12.3-inch laptop view. If you slide the keyboard down toward you, revealing more of the OLED, the PC will automatically display windows north of the keyboard. This scenario is like working on a 14-inch laptop. HP says it worked with Microsoft to customize Windows 11's Snap feature so it's easy to bring a window or two to the space above the docked keyboard. Lenovo's Yoga Book 9i, a clamshell laptop with a second OLED screen where you'd expect the keyboard and touchpad to be, also lets you place windows on top of a docked keyboard. But when I tested that laptop, I typically found looking down physically uncomfortable.
With the PC propped up, it should be easy to work with the included wireless keyboard or stylus, which both charge wirelessly on the device. The Bluetooth keyboard can attach to the bottom half of the PC's screen for a 12.3-inch laptop view. If you slide the keyboard down toward you, revealing more of the OLED, the PC will automatically display windows north of the keyboard. This scenario is like working on a 14-inch laptop. HP says it worked with Microsoft to customize Windows 11's Snap feature so it's easy to bring a window or two to the space above the docked keyboard. Lenovo's Yoga Book 9i, a clamshell laptop with a second OLED screen where you'd expect the keyboard and touchpad to be, also lets you place windows on top of a docked keyboard. But when I tested that laptop, I typically found looking down physically uncomfortable.
$5,000 for a kickstand? (Score:2)
Uniquely, it has an integrated kickstand for propping the PC up at a 120-degree angle. This is key because HP cites the kickstand as one of the reasons the computer is so costly,
I expect the carrying handle option must be at least $3,000
Re: (Score:3)
What? Does HP think they're apple for chrissakes?
Re: (Score:2)
You don't understand. It's advanced quantum based manufacturing. Among other things, it's 120 degrees as measured from the plane on your side or the other side. That means they have to destroy half the final output.
I hate wireless keyboards (Score:2)
They seem like such a glaring security flaw.
Re: (Score:2)
They are. Not only can an attacker listen to everything, they can inject stuff. Also unreliable. Needs power. Expensive to replace. Overall a pretty bad idea.
Re: (Score:3)
For anyone interested German company did a pretty good analysis of the Bluetooth stack for this type of attack back in 2018
CASE STUDY: SECURITY OF MODERN BLUETOOTH KEYBOARDS [www.syss.de] (PDF)
Conclusions seems they are generally safe but as always if someone gets ahold of it all bets are off:
Although all tested Bluetooth keyboards behave a bit different, SySS GmbH was not able to identify vulnerabilities which allow a remote attacker to decrypt the communication of paired devices. Also, no keystroke injection attack wa
Re: (Score:2)
Although all tested Bluetooth keyboards behave a bit different, SySS GmbH was not able to identify vulnerabilities which allow a remote attacker to decrypt the communication of paired devices. Also, no keystroke injection attack was possible as long as the cryptographic key material remained secret. However, once an attacker has physical access to one of the keyboards (even just for a couple of minutes), the cryptographic key material (Link Key or Long Term Key) can be stolen. The cryptographic key can be used to conduct further attacks against the paired host system.
Does it even matter if keystrokes are encrypted? There are open source projects on github that convert sound of keystrokes into keys pressed. Timing side channels have also been used to recover keys pressed.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.038... [arxiv.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting, hopefully this can be dealt with in a future Bluetooth revision if from what i can surmise by a quick glance through is they are looking at perturbations in even the encrypted data to extract the keys from the pulses in the wireless data?
If it's based purely on sounds then that would compromise all keyboards and well, if one is that worried about things it's time to just give up on technology altogether.
I wonder how many attacks have actually been performed with this, a lot of Surfaces
So... (Score:3)
Sorry HP (Score:2)
Years ago when your printers were the best I would have seriously taken a look at your other products. Today, nope. You've turned into a sleazy company I now avoid at all costs. Also, are you kidding me with a $5000 gimmicky computer? Double nope.
Re: (Score:2)
I am used to buying products that last for years and years. After this experience, and my sister's, why the hell would I ever buy anything HP again?
Re: (Score:2)
I don't know if any are really built better anymore, in the way Thinkpads once were. Now I just shop warranty, and get them at Costco for the added year.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's practically a meme at this point but refurbished Thinkpad and Latitude laptops are so cheap I can never recommend anyone buy a new budget ($500) laptop.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, that bitch sucked the life out of HP.
The next bullshit (Score:2)
A pretty unremarkable PC at a high price. With hype used to try to justify the price. That will go well. And "foldable"? That just means it is not very robust.
Re: (Score:2)
This was my first thought. "Oh great, a mediocre-at-best performance laptop with a screen that has a limited lifetime based on how often you actually close and move the thing, for only five grand! Sign me up!!"
Nope. If I need extra display size when I'm on the move, I'll just use my iPad Pro as a second display. Or, I actually have a 15" portable 4K display that I got off Amazon for $200 which can be powered by USB-PD.
Hey look, I just saved $5000 to get the better performance of having a notebook that i
Re: (Score:2)
Or even a Full-HD Lenovo with an AMD integrated GPU for $900 or so that is enough to run current games with reduced settings.
This $5000 HP thing makes no sense.
But what must it prove? (Score:1)
Looks like an ergonomic nightmare (Score:2)
Why buy one of these? (Score:2)
HP has proved through its ink/toner grift that it is not a company to be trusted. I wouldn't spend one penny on any HP product. You might as well invest your hard-earned cash in the Bernie Madoff Memorial Trust Fund, or something similar.
Another Thing I DON'T Need (Score:2)