Audio is a mixed bag. At moderate volume, HP's Beats Audio equalization system enables music and movie content that sounds richer than on most laptop speakers, but if you crank the volume past about 60 percent, you can hear noticeable speaker distortion. If you want louder audio, you'll need to use headphones. The Spectre offers a convenient analog-style volume dial on the right side.

Like most Ultrabooks, the Envy 14 Spectre uses Intel's HD 3000 graphics technology, so it's suitable for only light-duty PC gaming at lower resolutions and detail levels.

The keyboard offers an excellent feel, although the spacebar is slightly recessed, which results in mashed-together words when you miss pressing the spacebar all the way down. The touchpad is one of the best we've seen on a Windows laptop, coming close to the feel and usability of the larger trackpads built into Apple's MacBook Air. Full support for multitouch gestures, proper button sensitivity, and tapping anywhere to make a right mouse click are welcome.

You'll need to weigh a few trade-offs with the Spectre: It has a bit more heft and slightly reduced performance compared with most Ultrabooks, but it also offers a much better display, a good keyboard, and an excellent pointing device. It's also not inexpensive, with the base unit costing about $1299 (as of March 29, 2012), so you should factor that in as well. In the end, HP's Envy 14 Spectre falls just short of being a classic--but it doesn't disappoint, either.