HP Envy 14 Spectre

The Spectre is a premium machine, and it's not just that HP needed something high-end to take the place of the last-gen Envy 14. This also happens to be the company's first consumer-grade Ultrabook, and it arrives at a time when there are many to choose from. Enter HP's marketing department: the outfit's touting this thing as a "premium Ultrabook" -- the kind of machine you'd choose if you wanted a 1600 x 900 IPS-quality display or an unorthodox design. For that kind of beauty, though, you're looking at $1,400 and up -- a princely cost of entry when you consider lots of similarly specced models go for $1,100 or less.

Spectre has a 14" screen but HP claims the chassis size to be more common in 13.3" laptops, which matches up if you compare it to e.g. 13" MacBook Pro (12.78" x 8.94" x 0.95"). The use of a bigger screen allows HP to use a higher resolution panel, as 1600x900 is more commonly found in 14" and 15" laptops (although there are 13.3" laptops like Sony Vaio SA and ASUS Zenbook with 1600x900). The stock configuration comes with Core i5-2467M but HP offers configurations with Core i7 ULVs as well (HP didn't list any SKUs, though).
At 3.79lb, Spectre is definitely heavier than most Ultrabooks we have seen. If you're wondering how is this still an Ultrabook, Intel requires +14" laptops to be thinner than 21mm, which translates to 0.83" - there is no weight limit. For sub-14" laptops, the height limit is 18mm (0.71"). $1399 also makes Spectre fairly expensive, or premium as HP says. The bundled software is worth over $200, but it's always a risky move to include shareware software as the end-user may not use it at all but still pays for it.

Screen     14.0" LED backlit
Resolution     1600x900
Processor     Core i5-2467M (2/4, 1.6GHz/2.3GHz, 3MB)
Graphics     Intel HD 3000 (350MHz/1150MHz)
Memory     4GB DDR3 (Up to 8GB)
Storage     128GB mSATA SSD (Up to 256GB)
Ports     1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, audio in/out
Battery     Up to 9 hours
Software     Full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, 2 years of Norton Internet Security 2012
Dimensions (WxDxH)     12.88" x 8.7" x 0.79"
Weight     3.79lb
Price     $1399