The Envy Spectre XT was revealed in Shanghai this year, along with several other Sleekbooks (a HP-coined term for AMD-powered ultraportable laptops). Prior to the introduction of the Spectre XT, HP experimented with the Folio 13 and the iconic Envy Spectre. The Folio 13 was a business laptop with a strict utilitarian design, while the Spectre was much flashier, with a shiny Gorilla Glass lid and palmrest.
Put the two together and you get the Spectre XT, which also falls under the Envy sub-brand, like the original Spectre. Its flashy looks come from the original spectre, and no-nonsense connectivity options from the Folio 13. At first glance, you’d think that the tapered body Spectre XT is wrapped in aluminum, like some of the more premium Ultrabooks, but it’s not. Only the parts that users look at (or show off) are made of aluminum. The rest of the machine (hinges and bottom cover) is made of plastic with a metallic finish.
That’s not to say the spectre XT isn’t robust, as the plastic components are nice and chunky, contributing to the overall solid build of the notebook. It’s obviously not as solid as an all-aluminum body, but that’s a decision HP went with to keep prices down.
Another victim of such cost compromise is screen resolution, with HP going with a 1366x768 pixel display. It doesn’t help that the display quality was merely average, and obviously quite a few steps behind the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A, for instance.
The Spectre XT still has a few other things going for it though. With a HDMI port, you can push video to an external monitor (hopefully one of much better quality). Furthermore, the Spectre XT features a total of four speakers powered by Beats Audio technology. What can you do with four of them in a machine this small? For one, it makes the Spectre XT the loudest of the bunch.
That also gives us an inkling of the Spectre XT’S target audience: fun and flashy folk who love their music, and want something really portable and fast. Strangely enough, the Spectre XT is one of the more expensive Ultrabooks compared this month at $2,148, even when you consider that it comes with an Intel Core i7 processor and a 256GB SSD, or even four speakers and a subwoofer. If anything, the mediocre screen could be a dealbreaker.
SPECS
DISPLAY 13.3-inch HD LED (1366 x 768 pixels)
PROCESSOR Intel Core i7.3517U (1.9GHz)
WEIGHT 1.39kg
MEMORY 4GB
Put the two together and you get the Spectre XT, which also falls under the Envy sub-brand, like the original Spectre. Its flashy looks come from the original spectre, and no-nonsense connectivity options from the Folio 13. At first glance, you’d think that the tapered body Spectre XT is wrapped in aluminum, like some of the more premium Ultrabooks, but it’s not. Only the parts that users look at (or show off) are made of aluminum. The rest of the machine (hinges and bottom cover) is made of plastic with a metallic finish.
That’s not to say the spectre XT isn’t robust, as the plastic components are nice and chunky, contributing to the overall solid build of the notebook. It’s obviously not as solid as an all-aluminum body, but that’s a decision HP went with to keep prices down.
Another victim of such cost compromise is screen resolution, with HP going with a 1366x768 pixel display. It doesn’t help that the display quality was merely average, and obviously quite a few steps behind the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A, for instance.
The Spectre XT still has a few other things going for it though. With a HDMI port, you can push video to an external monitor (hopefully one of much better quality). Furthermore, the Spectre XT features a total of four speakers powered by Beats Audio technology. What can you do with four of them in a machine this small? For one, it makes the Spectre XT the loudest of the bunch.
That also gives us an inkling of the Spectre XT’S target audience: fun and flashy folk who love their music, and want something really portable and fast. Strangely enough, the Spectre XT is one of the more expensive Ultrabooks compared this month at $2,148, even when you consider that it comes with an Intel Core i7 processor and a 256GB SSD, or even four speakers and a subwoofer. If anything, the mediocre screen could be a dealbreaker.
SPECS
DISPLAY 13.3-inch HD LED (1366 x 768 pixels)
PROCESSOR Intel Core i7.3517U (1.9GHz)
WEIGHT 1.39kg
MEMORY 4GB