NOW AVAILABLE - ENVY 14 Spectre

This. The name Spectre kinda screams "gaming laptop" anyway, hopefully with Hp getting back into gaming( with their phoenix desktop), they won't dissapoint us.

 

According to the latest teaser, the Spectre has beats audio as well.

 

That doesn't really mean much. The Beats Audio brand can be found on both HP's Envy line as well as their performance line. There also doesn't seem to be any sort of consistency between all the laptops that have Beats Audio. It's just another marketing term the HP created themselves in order to highlight a feature on their products. The best that can be said is that the Envy 14 Spectre laptop will not have completely crap speakers.

 

I don't think there's any doubt the Spectre is a 14" version of the Envy 15 now.

See HP Spectre Teaser: Part 2 - YouTube

Now the real questions are around the specs. 14" IPS anyone?

 

I think there is a bit confusion over the phrase "14 inch version of the Envy 15" - or, at least, I was confused over what people meant. I thought people meant that the Spectre would be a Envy 15 (spec and feature-wise) in a 14 inch laptop chassis. Considering how thin the teaser makes the notebook look (the body looks just as thick as the lid), I think its safe to assume that the Spectre is HP's Ultrabook for the premium market with the design aesthetics of the Envy 15/17. Though I wonder how they are going to price this thing. Ultrabooks still hover around the $1000 USD price point. Would the market pay more for an Ultrabook with more bells and whistles?

 

The Envy 15, again, might provide us some clues. I was shocked to find a 30% promotion coupon so early in the launch and life of the Envy 15. $1335 for a quad, ips high end consumer notebook? I ordered it right away.

That decision was too compulsive. I was really just mad at Lenovo for shipping me a DOA ThinkPad W520.

What I really want and need is a smaller version of that. It doesn't need to be a quad. A dual core would be fine with me. But I would like a decent GPU, a top tier screen, and conversation starter looks for the chassis. If they manage to keep the weight between 3-4 pounds and the thickness anywhere close to some of the other ultrabooks, it should be a winner.

But the industry defining example is the MacBook Air. Can HP deliver a solid competitor? We'll see. So far the challengers have been meh.

 

Dang, I was really hoping against hope for Voodoo Envy style looks with a name like Spectre. They went through all the trouble to give it a different name, just to make it a smaller version of a laptop they just released. How dissapointing.

 

Are there any Ultrabooks with a discrete GPU? I thought all of them run off of integrated graphics.

 

I recall one might be running around with a HD 6470M.

 

Engadget got a pic from CES of the laptop. It's got a glossy lid and looks pretty thin.

HP Spectre spotted on CES show floor -- Engadget



EDIT

The Verge got a shot of the right side panel. It doesn't look all that thin anymore.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/8/2692057/hp-spectre-pictures-ces-2012

Can't seem to copy the picture so you're going to have to click the link to see.