GTrusted

The HP Spectre Laptop (13.3") is a new laptop that has a striking design, rivaling Apple MacBooks in slimness. One of the features I enjoyed most about the laptop was that it had three USB Type-C ports, two of which support Thunderbolt 3.  They all support the USB Power Delivery standard but HP has implemented this in a very non-standard way making it difficult for other chargers to work with this laptop.

We tested charging the non-Thundebolt 3 USB Type-C port with the Anker PowerPort+ 5 USB-C with USB Power Delivery to further explore the odd USB Power Delivery and charging behavior.

The first observation we found is that the Spectre shows different USB Power Delivery communication behavior when the laptop is turned on versus in powered off or sleep state. The following screenshots using USB Power Delivery analysis software from Granite River Labs show the power delivery negotiations between the hub and the Spectre when turned on.

The Anker initially offers three PDO's (Power Data Objects): 5 volts, 9 volts, and 15 volts @ 3 amps.  The Spectre then requests the third PDO from the charger.

The Anker later offers an additional PDO of 20 volts @ 2.25 amps.

Despite this fourth PDO being available the Spectre still requests the third POD (15 volts @ 3 amps).

Interestingly later on the Spectre requests the first PDO but with no response by the Anker charger.

Here is the state that that the power charging settles at, with the Spectre pulling 15 volts @ roughly .2 amps which is not enough to charge the laptop.

A slightly different story arises when the Spectre is powered off or in a sleep state.

Similar to above, the Anker charger offers the same three PDO's, and then introduces the same fourth PDO.

The difference lies in that after requesting the third PDO, the Spectre does not go back to requesting the first PDO of 45 watts.

Here we see that the Spectre is again pulling only 15 volts @ roughly .2 amps.

Unfortunately the Anker PowerPort+ 5 USB-C with USB Power Delivery can't be used to charge the HP Spectre Laptop (13.3").

Update Oct 2016: Click here to see how new updates from HP that addresses charging compatibility issue