HP Envy Spectre XT ultrabook hands-on photos

Confetti at the ready -- HP's showing off something new, something borrowed and something... silver. That's right, it's the recently unveiled Envy Spectre XT -- a fresh look for the Spectre ultrabook range, which borrows heavily from rival wedge-shaped laptops. I've been hands-on, so click through the images above to ogle this angular new machine.

Angle management

Although at first glance the 13.3-inch Spectre XT's design looks to be nicked wholesale from Apple's MacBook Air or the Asus Zenbook, this slender PC does have some fresh ideas of its own.

The aluminium design looks rather boxy, with chrome edging surrounding the chassis and lid. 'Hewlett Packard' is etched into the rear of the laptop which, if you imagine hard enough, you can convince yourself is the name of your fancy Madison Avenue advertising agency.

That's not the only logo on show here -- thanks to audio provided by hip-hoppin' company Beats, the Spectre XT sports four speakers and the signature lowercase 'b' on the speaker grille.

Glass cuttings

Gone is the slab of glass that adorned the earlier HP Envy 14 Spectre, but I won't be shedding any tears. The aluminium look may not do much to stand out from the crowd, but it helps address our complaints that the 14 Spectre was fatter and heavier than rival ultrabooks. 

The Spectre XT weighs an impressive 1.39kg -- much more palatable than its 1.83kg predecessor -- and is 14.5mm thick, down from the 14 Spectre's 20mm.

Cutting-edge Intel processors are on board, and there's a 128GB SSD drive as standard. Oh, and a backlit keyboard to boot.

The bad news is that all this tech will cost you. The Spectre XT will be priced at £899 when it comes out in the UK at the end of June. With Apple rumoured to be cooking up a cheaper MacBook Air this year, that could make the Spectre XT just a bit too pricey for many shoppers.

Do you like the new design? Would you buy this instead of a MacBook Air? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.