Finally, battery life: HP really wants us to be impressed with the Envy 4's battery life, which is "up to 9 hours," the company says. But in our lab tests, we could get only a measly 5 hours, 45 minutes out of the Envy 4. True, we never get the amount of battery life that vendors say we should out of their machines, but a 3.25-hour difference is a pretty big one.

As noted at the beginning, the Envy 4's chassis looks thicker and heavier than those of other Ultrabooks we've seen, but it isn't. The Envy 4 is 0.78 inches thick, or 19.8 millimeters. This means it qualifies for Ultrabook status under Intel's somewhat lax guidelines--notebooks with screens of 14 inches (like the Envy 4) or greater must be less than 21 millimeters thick. The Envy 4 weighs a little less than 4 pounds, not including accessories.

Despite being thicker- and heavier-looking than other laptops in the Ultrabook category, the Envy 4's chassis is very attractive. It has a flat, black brushed aluminum cover with rounded edges and a small silver HP logo in the lower left corner. The cover is simple but solid, and the brushed aluminum really makes the laptop look high-quality. The bottom is made of a soft, slightly rubberized material, and is crimson in color. The red is a nice way of incorporating color--it makes the Ultrabook look like a shoe: high-end and subtly sexy.

The Envy 4's inside also looks good. Its keyboard deck has the same black, brushed aluminum finish as the cover, and the glossy screen is surrounded by a thin, shiny black plastic bezel. Aside from a power button, keyboard, and trackpad, the keyboard deck is bare. The speakers are located above the keyboard, and sport a small red Beats Audio logo.