HP ENVY 14 Spectre Ultrabook Available for Order Discussion

The ENVY 14 Spectre is a new high-end Ultrabook. It includes a large 14.5-inch display, weighs a shade under four pounds and measures just 0.8 inches thin.

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• HP Folio 13 Review: A Lean, Mean 13-Inch Ultrabook

 

Personally I think they nailed the Ultra-high end look and I suppose feel. The fact that it can be had with a radiance display is another compelling reason to get this over other ultrabooks as well. Once you start adding up all the options though, this ultrabook gets pretty expensive. Although I would not mind getting one, I really think that the value factor is not there at all. Ultrabooks are intended to be thin, light, and <$1000... HP kinda missed the mark there. None-the-less, I am sure this is going to sell pretty well. I would personally have this over an ENVY 15.

 

I feel bad for the PC manufacturers fielding Ultrabooks right now. If they're not as refined or well-equipped as a $1300 MBA 13, they get flamed for offering an inferior product. If they offer a premium product at the corresponding price point, they get flamed for not being 25% cheaper than an MBA.

I think $1,399 is totally reasonable for what the Spectre offers. There's always the $900 Folio 13, but that's equipped like a $900 Ultrabook (720p screen and all).

 

How exactly is 14.5 inches all that compact? Oh, and isn't there still a non-ultrabook ENVY 14 with a super-dim base display? Too many ENVYs, and nothing much left to actually envy? Marketing confusion seems to be the main message.

I'm not sure that there's much left of Voodoo this long after the HP take-over. I don't buy into the ENVY brand as being a separate premium line as much as an extension of the Pavilion line. Just another HP product.

The problem is that Apple has been plugging away since 2008 on its Macbook Air, while the "ultrabook" marketing push looks like a hurried and panicked effort.

I think the real message is that PC manufacturers simply can't build an acceptable Macbook Air alternative at a price point consumers will accept. Either they cut costs, giving consumers something with a cheap plastic case, floppy hinges, a slow SSD, or some other blatant cost cutting move, or they offer a product at an unacceptable price. In this market, Apple has the economies of scale, not the Windows PC OEMs.

So, Apple can continue to dominate this market, while remaining cost competitive, leading the industry in both volumes and profit margins for "ultrabooks," even though the Macbook Air technically isn't one.

I wouldn't find HP's customer service to be amusing at this price point.

 

I believe that the Envy 14 with the dedicated GPU and the paisley-print case is in the process of being phased out, just as the Envy 17 with the paisley-print case was phased out when the Envy 17 hit the market.

The new Envy lineup is three models:

Envy 14 Spectre (premium ultrabook)
Envy 15 (thin mid-size desktop replacement)
Envy 17 (thin full-size desktop replacement)

 

not sure if you need to work on your reading comprehension or your eyesight.

the chassis is 12.88" wide approximately. That is approximately 0.08" wider than the macbook pro 13"

 

The problem with ultrabooks is that they have to compete with ultraportables. The MacBook Air has zero competition, its the only ultraportable that can run OS X without breaking the EULA. Ultrabooks have to compete with traditional ultraportables such as the Thinkpad X220 or Toshiba R830. And they most often lose against these traditional ultraportables. The MacBook Air also loses against these traditional ultraportables, but whether the X220 is better than the Air doesn't matter because the Air runs OS X.

 

I'm confused on the timing. Why release a premium Sandy Bridge Ultrabook when Ivy Bridge is right around the corner? It seems like this will nose-dive in value faster than usual (which is already quite fast for any laptop).

 

not everyone cares about upgrading to each and every model in a product line?

 

$1400 for HD 3000 graphics, no thanks.
Dont get me wrong the design looks great but it doesnt stand out from the crowd to justify the price.

 

I can agree that resale values for Windows 7, Sandy Bridge ultrabooks will be very poor. The HP brand name also doesn't do much for resale values.

Ivy Bridge is running late, Windows 8 is running late, and Intel probably wanted to rush to market because AMD is probably coming out with cheaper ULV APUs with superior graphics. Then you've got the rumors of Apple wanting to go ARM with the Macbook Air and the near certainty Windows 8 ARM notebooks.

The bottom line is that people who think they'll buy a first generation ultrabook and have a decent resale value are going to be sadly mistaken. If anyone is concerned about resale value, they should just buy a Macbook Air.

 

A very nice laptop, exactly what I am looking for... I would buy it right now but not with Sandy Bridge architecture. Ivy Bridge's graphic performance is around 70% better!!!

Graphic Comparison

Any news if there will be an Ivy Bridge update!?

 

Maybe you'll have to wait until June. That's an Intel issue, not specific to any one brand. It's been discussed in the XPS 13 thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...ook-arrives-ces-discussion-8.html#post8327526

I agree that it's wise to wait until Ivy Bridge, for any number of reasons, but especially if you're anticipating improvements in Intel's integrated graphics. They've made great strides with every i-Core generation.

 

I've read similar comparisons of the HD4000 vs HD3000 (SB), so if you are the kind of gamer that will benefit from this change, I guess it makes sense to wait, particularly because the IB components won't cost any more than SB - except...
There is a glut of SB components in the market both in Intel's inventory and that of most laptop makers. Laptop sales have been down 15%-20% for the last 6 months or so. That's the reason Intel is delaying introducing IBs on laptops until "late summer" supposedly to coincide with Win8, which is not likely to be out in commercial OEM version until "Fall 2012." So, the smart money will be looking for deals on SB equipped close outs over the next few months. Bear in mind, though much better than the HD3000 the HD4000 IGP in IB cpus will be equivalent to a low end discrete gpu from 2010 - eg, the nVidia GT 325, which tests at around 4,000 3DMarks. Since the HD3000 is more than enough for HD video encoding, and the HD4000 is only able to do entry level direct 11x, the closeout SB notebooks may be the best deal for some time. Also, depends how long you can wait; I don't think you'll see IBs on mainstream laptops until at least mid-late summer from what I am reading.

Oh, and, IMO, the Envy Spectre, which is supposed to have the original "Radiance" display, should be a knockout, far better than the IPS in the E15 except for viewing angles. Beyond that, the Spectre is the classiest, most elegant looking laptop (keep the cloth handy!) that I've seen in, well, ever! If you are not a power user, wait until the price comes down to $1,100 or so with 8GB RAM and enjoy! My fear is that at the high prices HP won't sell enough to keep it in the line, but they are usually pretty quick to drop prices (can someone say "30% off coupon?) and I don't see them selling many at $1,500. Fingers crossed.