HP Debuts a Handful of Ultrabooks and an AMD Sleekbook

Hewelett Packard today unveiled a slew of new laptops, including a new version of the super-slim Spectre, which we first saw at CES this past January. Dubbed the Envy Spectre XT, the 13.3-inch laptop boasts an HD display, 128GB SSD, and Intel's third generation Ivy Bridge CPUs. Of course, the specs are only one aspect of an ultrabook, with size and weight being almost as important. The Spectre XT boasts a weight of just three pounds and is just over half an inch thick (14.5mm). Set for launch on June 8, the notebook will set you back $1000 at launch. Most notably, HP's release specifically mentions an "all-metal design," which means this smaller version of the Spectre is going to miss out on the unique glass design its bigger brother is sporting. Then again, it's also roughly four hundred dollars cheaper. The original Envy 14 Spectre is 20mm at its thickest point and boasts Intel's Sandy Bridge, 4GB of RAM, WiDi, Beats audio, HP Wireless Audio, and a nine-hour battery to keep the whole show on the road.

HP also took the time today to unveil a few other laptops of the superslim variety. The Envy ultrabooks come in 14- and 15.6-inch flavors and boast Intel's latest Core series of CPUs, SSD storage and Intel Rapid Start. The Envy ultrabooks are joined by the Envy sleekbooks (really), which also come in two sizes. The 14-inch model is a regular Intel-powered offering while the 15.6-inch model is based on one of AMD's APUs.

The Envy Spectre XT is launching next month and starts at $1000. The Envy ultrabook systems are available in the United States today with starting prices of $749.99 (14-inch) and $799.99 (15.6-inch), respectively. As far as the sleekbooks are concerned, the Intel-powered 14-inch model is available starting today at $699.99, and the 15.6-inch AMD model is expected on June 20 with a price tag that reads $599.99.

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  • $599 for AMD sleekbook in late June and $699 for a sleekbook with Ivy today. Interesting... the actual ultrabooks go up to $1k (but have all the ultrabook parts like hybrid drives or SSD caches, thinner, lighter, thunderbolt??).
    Reply
  • chomlee
    Sorry, I had to do a doubletake. I thought they said SkeetBook.
    Reply
  • kylecates
    chomleeSorry, I had to do a doubletake. I thought they said SkeetBook.
    Yes, the successor to the FapTop.
    Reply
  • How is HP's record with Graphics drivers updates? Do they use OEM customizied graphics drivers that have to be downloaded from HP, or do they use the GPU manufacturer's genaric graphics drivers, which can be downloaded from the GPU manufacturer's website?
    Reply
  • JohnnyLucky
    I wonder which manufacturer is supplying the ssd.
    Reply
  • TheBigTroll
    beats audio isnt all that great
    Reply
  • Troll, is beats audio the same as Dre' Beats?
    Reply
  • tntom
    LikeToKnowHow is HP's record with Graphics drivers updates? Do they use OEM customizied graphics drivers that have to be downloaded from HP, or do they use the GPU manufacturer's genaric graphics drivers, which can be downloaded from the GPU manufacturer's website?
    I have always upgraded my gpu driver from Nvidia's website. My laptop has Nforce 300 with a Geforce 7200. And that is without reinstalling. And I just did a clean install with Win7 and did not need a single driver from HP for everything to work.
    Reply
  • cknobman
    NoviceFoolTroll, is beats audio the same as Dre' Beats? Yes it is, beats is the brand and it was developed in partnership with Dr. Dre.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    LikeToKnowHow is HP's record with Graphics drivers updates? Do they use OEM customizied graphics drivers that have to be downloaded from HP, or do they use the GPU manufacturer's genaric graphics drivers, which can be downloaded from the GPU manufacturer's website?HP does not make graphics drivers (and God help hemanity if they ever did). They provide a release driver when the product launches, but you can always replace it with the driver from the GPU manufacturer's website.
    Reply