Raising the Spectre

MORE and more ultrabook models are coming up our way, and soon the Envy 14 Spectre from Hewlett-Packard (HP) will join the fray.

Expected to arrive here in April, the device is bound to turn heads courtesy of its ­stunning looks that eschews a conventional design style sign — it features tough, scratch-resistant midnight black glass on the outside and stark contrast silver glass inside.

HP was also able to reduce the notebook’s bezel thickness, making it possible to fit a full 14in diagonal screen inside a 13.3in diagonal body for a better viewing experience.

Its keyboard has dedicated individual LED illumination on each keycap and works with an advanced proximity sensor to intelligently sense a user’s presence, lighting up when a user approaches and dimming down after he or she leaves.

Not banking on its exceptional design alone, the Envy 14 Spectre also promises uncompromising performance under its hood. Users have choice of the latest Intel Core i5 or i7 ULV processor, 8GB DDR3 RAM and a 256GB mSATA solid-state drive.

The Spectre also has Beats Audio technology for higher quality sound reproduction.

Complementing the audio technology are a matching audio-grade speaker mesh and an aluminium analogue volume dial that acts as a visual design cue and works seamlessly with Beats Audio Manager to precisely adjust audio levels.

Also available is a built-in HP Wireless Audio feature that allows users to stream uncompressed audio to up to four ­external devices or directly to any KleerNet-­compatible device.

The Envy 14 Spectre is also one of the first notebooks to feature HP Touch to Share, which is a near-field ­communications (NFC) technology that allows users to share data between select NFC-enabled smartphones and the notebook seamlessly.

Other premium features include the HP Radiance HD+ Infinity LED-backlit display, high-definition webcam, HP CoolSense ­technology to automatically adjust ­performance and internal fan settings for a noticeably cooler PC, as well as an HP ImagePad for multifinger touch navigation.

The Spectre has a rated 9.5 hours of battery life and comes with a full array of input and output options, including Gigabit Ethernet, USB3.0, HDMI and Mini DisplayPort.

Prices start from RM4,999.

++++ www.hp.com/apac/envy