[In-Depth Comparison] Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 vs HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000) – it comes down to the little things

Today we have two premium ultrabook convertibles, which are great in their own right. You’d probably be just fine with either of them, but if you’re meticulous like us and want to make a thorough decision before investing an arm and a leg into one of these, this comparison is just for you.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 presents one of the best-built notebooks on the market, being part of the X1 sub-brand which focuses on exploring new materials and creating uniquely built devices featuring exotic composites such as carbon fiber, titanium, and leather.

Going against it is the HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000), which sports an OLED panel, along with a very unique approach to the design, which we will talk about more below. Thankfully, since the two laptops offer the same hardware selection, we will be able to compare their performance and cooling appropriately.

Today we are giving you an in-depth comparison between the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 and the HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000).

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6: Full Specs / In-depth Review

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000): Full Specs / In-depth Review

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 configurations:

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000) configurations:

Contents


Unboxing experience

First of all, since these are premium laptops, we have to mention the unboxing experience. The Lenovo laptop comes packed inside a slim package with a Red + Black box, which signifies the ThinkPad branding, along with the charger itself, which uses a Type-C connector.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6

The Spectre does a much better job, coming inside a grey box with the word Spectre boldly embossed on the cover. Inside you get a braided Type-C charger, a Stylus Pen, and a leather sleeve.

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)


Design and construction

In terms of design, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga uses aluminum for its lid and chassis, which gives it a very rigid structure. Despite that, the weight and thickness are kept to a minimum, even for a 14-inch laptop, stopping the scales at 1.40 kg with a profile of 15 mm. The design itself features sharp edges, rounded corners, and limited branding with small Lenovo and ThinkPad X1 logos on the opposite corners of the lid. Speaking of the lid, it opens easily with one hand, with the hinges being firm and smooth, which is essential for a convertible, which will be folded more than the average clamshell laptop.

The Spectre has a more unique approach to the design, with chamfered edges, and cut corners on the back. The cut corners also house some parts of the I/O. The device also has a very slim profile but isn’t thinner than the ThinkPad, measuring at 16.9 mm, while being 150 grams lighter. The lid opens easily with one hand, but the hinges stiffen up after 80°, which lifts up the front of the base. The bezels on the display are thin, with the top one housing a small HD Webcam and an optional IR scanner.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Keyboard and touchpad

Both laptops feature great keyboards with long key travel, clicky feedback, and a backlight, which offers a great typing experience. The ThinkPad also offers a red TrackPoint along with physical buttons. The touchpads are also great, with a large surface area, smooth covers, and accurate tracking.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Ports

The Lenovo notebook has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two  USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, an HDMI 2.0 connector, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and a NanoSIM slot.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6

The Spectre has a single USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MicroSD card reader, and a 3.5 mm audio jack.

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)


Spec sheet


Disassembly, upgrade options

In terms of RAM upgradeability, we have no upgradeability. At least the provided soldered packages work in quad-channel mode and are plenty fast. In terms of storage, both laptops have an M.2 PCIe x4 slot for future SSD expansion.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Display quality

The X1 Yoga uses two 14-inch IPS displays with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The base configuration has an FHD+ display, which is the one that we actually tested, with there also being an option for a 4K UHD+ panel. Back to the FHD+ display, it has a pixel density of 162 PPI, a pitch of 0.16 x 0.16 mm, and a Retina distance of 53cm.

The Spectre uses smaller 13.5-inch displays, also with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The base model features an FHD+ display, but we tested the second option, which comes in the form of an OLED panel with a 3000x2000p resolution. It has a higher pixel density of 267 PPI, a pitch of 0.095 x 0.095 mm, and a Retina distance of 33 cm.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Both displays have comfortable viewing angles. We offer images at 45° to evaluate image quality.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

The Lenovo laptop has a pretty good brightness uniformity and high enough peak brightness with 360 nits in the middle of the screen and 338 nits average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 12%. It also has a very good contrast ratio of 1800:1.

The Spectre laptop has a lower deviation of 5% and a slightly higher peak brightness of 384 nits in the middle of the screen (HDR off), and 378 nits average for the surface of the screen. Due to the nature of OLED panels, their contrast ratio is mathematically infinite, which contributes to deep and vibrant colors.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Color coverage

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows the color coverage of both the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 and the HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000).

The Lenovo device covers 98% of the sRGB color gamut, while Spectre x360 fully covers both the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Color accuracy

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can check the results from the test of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6, with both the factory settings (left) and with our “Design and Gaming” profile applied (right).

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6

With the Spectre, you have several presets. On the left side, we have the stock settings with the Photos and Videos” display mode, while on the right side are the results with the Web” display mode.

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)


Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” methods from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

The HP Spectre x360 14’s response time was one of the fastest that we have seen with a Fall + Rise time of just 2.8 ms.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Health Impact / PWM (Blue light)

PWM – Screen flickering

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

The Lenovo laptop doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels. On the other hand, the Spectre uses PWM across all brightness levels, but the pulsations become smaller after 90 nits. This is still fixable, using our Health-Guard profile.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 14.0″ AUO B140UAN02.1 (LEN403A) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS – Buy our profiles

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)13.5″ Samsung SDC4148 (3000 x 2000p) OLED – Buy our profiles

Sound

Both laptops have a quad-stereo setup with two speakers on the front, and two on the bottom. This makes for an amazing sound with a great signature. The ThinkPad is a bit louder and supports Dolby Atmos. With both setups, you have no deviations across the entire frequency range.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Battery

The ThinkPad offers a 57Wh battery unit, while the Spectre has a bigger 66Wh unit. Despite carrying the smaller battery pack, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga has a lead of 7 hours and 45 minutes in Web browsing and 4 hours and 22 minutes. The way we test the notebooks is with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing with.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.


Performance

Both laptops rely on the Tiger Lake U-series of CPUs, along with their respective integrated graphics.

CPU benchmarks

Here we tested the Core i5-1135G7 and the Core i7-1195G7. The CPUs are very evenly matched in 3D Rendering, but the Core i7 is still slightly on top with a lead of 1.2%. The Core i7 is much faster in Photoshop, however, finishing the task with a two-second lead.


GPU benchmarks

Here we tested the Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU) and the Xe Graphics G7 (96EU). The unit with the more execution units does score 12% higher in 3DMark Fire Strike and 19.6% higher in Unigine Superposition.


Gaming tests

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 – Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU)168 fps115 fps72 fps
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000) – Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU)176 fps (+5%)129 fps (+12%)75 fps (+4%)

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 – Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU)137 fps81 fps60 fps
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000) – Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU)145 fps (+6%)95 fps (+17%)62 fps (+3%)

Temperatures and comfort

The Lenovo laptop uses a single copper heat pipe, which is quite big. It connects to a heat sink, where a pair of fans blow the heat away. There are also several metal plates for the VRMs.

The Spectre has three heat pipes and two fans on the left and right sides. Two pipes are for the CPU, while the third one is dedicated to the VRMs. There are also two separate heat sinks connected to the fans.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i5-1135G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 63.51 GHz (B+46%) @ 97°C @ 45W3.10 GHz (B+29%) @ 97°C @ 34W2.61 GHz (B+9%) @ 90°C @ 25W

The CPU gets hot quite quickly, which leads to a drop in the clock speed in the later stages of the test.

Intel Core i7-1195G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)3.13 GHz (B+8%) @ 97°C2.88 GHz @ 97°C2.76 GHz @ 90°C

The Spectre is pretty much the same story, with high speeds and temperatures at the start, which go down later.

Gaming comfort

Both laptops are relatively cool on the outside, with a 1°C difference between the two.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6
HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)

Verdict

It’s really difficult to pick between the two, simply because the laptops are incredibly similar, in terms of the purpose that they serve and how they go about that. Both of them use small form factor bodies that are well built and are plenty durable. The Spectre gives you a bit more swag in the package, with a Pen that is more comfortable for drawing and resembles a real pen.

On the other hand, the I/O on the Lenovo is more populated, with a NanoSIM slot, but does lack an SD card reader of any kind. Both laptops present a lack of upgradeability. The OLED panel of the Spectre does cover both the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts while reaching a good dE value for accuracy. The panel is also much, much faster. On the flip side, it uses PWM across all brightness levels, which can be helped by our Health-Guard profile.

The ThinkPad gets a smaller battery that lasts for much longer. Its Core i5 CPU also manages to reach a level of performance that is very close to the Core i7 inside the Spectre. GPU performance goes in favor of the Spectre as well, with the 96EU version of the Xe Graphics G7 outperforming the 80EU version.

Lastly, in terms of cooling, both laptops act in the same manner, increasing their speed and temperature at the start, while throttling in the later stages and running at close to base speeds. All in all, you’ll have to look at what you’re willing to sacrifice by choosing one of these.


Why choose the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6?

  • + Longer Battery life
  • + Doesn’t use PWM
  • + More populated I/O


Why choose the HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000)?

  • + Its dedicated HP Pen feels better to use than the Lenovo’s
  • + OLED panel with 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage
  • + Has a MicroSD card reader

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6: Full Specs / In-depth Review

HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000): Full Specs / In-depth Review

All Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 configurations:


All HP Spectre x360 14 (14-ea1000) configurations:

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments