Design

Looks are important, especially when you’re splashing this kind of cash

If we were going to sit on the fence during this test, we’d say that all three of these notebooks are excellently designed. But while that statement is definitely true, it doesn’t make your decision any easier. Plus, there’s one clear winner and that’s the HP Spectre x360. Quite how a convertible is packed into the diminutive shell beggars belief; it’s just as impressive as the design skills that go into any smartphone, and the keyboard, speakers and hinges all flawlessly blend into one cohesive whole. The original Spectre 13 looked super, this 2-in-1 redraws the design, adding ‘360-degree’ hinges with no extra bulk.

Our favourite part of the design is the copper edging and the integration of the USB-C ports into the side. While other laptops still make ports seem so ugly, HP has mastered the art of seamless integration. The Surface Laptop looks a little chunktastic in comparison and while it has some interesting design idiosyncrasies of its own (a fabric keyboard surround, no less), the HP clearly bats it into second place. We think the Surface Laptop might be a little more desirable in one of the other colours available – Burgundy, Cobalt Blue and Graphite Gold (this one is Platinum). As for the MacBook, the design is two years old even if the innards are brand new, yet it still looks rather svelte, the clean lines helped by the lack of ports (maybe not very practical, but great for design). This is the Space Grey model, and it’s also available in Gold, Rose Gold and Silver. Like the decade-old MacBook Air, the 2015 and later MacBook redefined thin and light. While it’s worth bearing in mind that the screen size is smaller than our other two notebooks here, the fact remains that the MacBook is 300g lighter than anything else that we’ve put on test. That’s quite a feat considering how light the screen part of these laptops is, but it doesn’t sway us from our view that the HP is the top dog here overall.