HP goes for bling with new super-thin, copper-accented Spectre notebook

While taking up minimal space, it promises to deliver on battery life and power.

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[Belisarius]

Wow, talk about a total lack of taste. Looks like the Donald Trump Edition™

 

[orangpelupa]

Sooo expensive

But at least they also have cheap stream family.

 

[sverrisson]

I don´t like that hunchback for the plugs. I would rather want it to be thicker and thus have longer battery life.

 

[obarthelemy]

No Rose Gold ? What's this, Walmart ?

 

[obarthelemy]

sverrisson[/url]":1jbrxxze]I don´t like that hunchback for the plugs. I would rather want it to be thicker and thus have longer battery life.

It helps in cramped spaces (plane) by giving a bit more room to tilt back the screen.

 

[Bicentennial Douche]

HP also teamed up with designers Tord Boontje and Jess Hannah to make two super-fancy, limited edition versions of the Spectre. Boontje's design is coated in midnight blue with floral swirls and Swarovski crystals on top that are accented in 18k gold.

"Swarovski crystals: When you need to make anything just a bit more tacky and gaudy." (tm)

 

[arcite]

The bling adds an extra hour of battery life.

 

[iamaelephant]

I like the non bling version, I'd like to see how it compares with the Dell XPS 13.

 

[SharpieFiend]

Belisarius[/url]":1wzy8zwc]Wow, talk about a total lack of taste. Looks like the Donald Trump Edition™

If it were the Trump Edition™ then the accents would be brass. So much brass...

 

[solomonrex]

Belisarius[/url]":242zo2in]Wow, talk about a total lack of taste. Looks like the Donald Trump Edition™

China.

Even Apple has fake gold phones and is moving away from brohaus west coast design, haven't you noticed?

Yes, I wouldn't buy these, but I'm loving the font on the limited edition. And the spectre hinge is totally unhinged.

Shame these didn't come out in time for the last 007 movie, this is definitely something a Bond villian would launder funds on.

 

[Abhi Beckert]

solomonrex[/url]":1pqskqg1]Even Apple has fake gold phones and is moving away from brohaus west coast design, haven't you noticed?

Apple has aluminium anodized in a variety of colours. It's not "fake", rather is required to stop it from corroding like this:

Sine you have to anodize anyway, why not add some colour? The dark grey MacBook is especially nice in my opinion.

It's nothing at all like this, which has actual copper serving no purpose except "bling" and weight an an ultra portable that's already heavier than it should be.

I wonder what the real world battery life on the i7 is as well. 9.5 hours doesn't sound right for a 10mm thick device with huge fan vents.

 

[Deleted member 276317]

Where there's a niche...

 

[puppies]

The Boontje edition looks like it was bedazzled by a 14 year old girl.

 

[flerchin]

Is pretty. 8GB max RAM is a bit of a disappointment.

 

[Digger]

And still a shite keyboard.

 

[bstarr67]

"The HP Spectre's keyboard is designed with 1.3mm of travel between keys"

Between keys? Don't you just mean vertical travel?

 

[MacCruiskeen]

The other day a got an offer for a 'luxury card' in the mail. A credit card where the gold card was literally a gold-plated, stainless-steel card. The fee was $1000 a year. Now I know what you use that for. I mean, it's really like some cartoony thing from a 1930s movie. Does anyone actually go for this crap?

 

[Deleted member 276317]

MacCruiskeen[/url]":2jr2hwbl]The other day a got an offer for a 'luxury card' in the mail. A credit card where the gold card was literally a gold-plated, stainless-steel card. The fee was $1000 a year. Now I know what you use that for. I mean, it's really like some cartoony thing from a 1930s movie. Does anyone actually go for this crap?

I know, right? Did Kim Jong-un let on he was shopping for a laptop?

 

[Adam Starkey]

I saw copper and got excited, then I saw the pictures.

 

[wrylachlan]

"which echoed the design and Thunderbolt ports of Apple's new MacBook."

...the new MacBook doesn't have a Thunderbolt port.

 

[solomonrex]

Abhi Beckert[/url]":3qcm8vwz]

solomonrex[/url]":3qcm8vwz]Even Apple has fake gold phones and is moving away from brohaus west coast design, haven't you noticed?

Apple has aluminium anodized in a variety of colours. It's not "fake", rather is required to stop it from corroding like this:

Sine you have to anodize anyway, why not add some colour? The dark grey MacBook is especially nice in my opinion.

It's nothing at all like this, which has actual copper serving no purpose except "bling" and weight an an ultra portable that's already heavier than it should be.

I wonder what the real world battery life on the i7 is as well. 9.5 hours doesn't sound right for a 10mm thick device with huge fan vents.

Is it a metal object described as gold by it's maker? Yes. Is it, in fact, gold? No. So with a broad brush, it's fake gold. Notice their 'gold watches' are actual gold alloy.

Now, maybe it's better to say that Apple in the last few years expanded their old Bauhaus design sensibilities to include West Coast/Chinese market bling? They added gold and rose gold, added luxury bands on watches and they make Beats headphones. So let's say Jony Ive invented Brohaus - minimalist, iterative (boring) design with bling flourishes in the metal finishes and accessories.

As long as we're stating subjective opinions, I'll point out that you just praised a grey laptop for being grey. SAD!

 

[helloukw]

For that kind of money I'd rather go Razer Blade Stealth. But, of course, I don't need the battery life.

 

[Bicentennial Douche]

solomonrex[/url]":1642f6d7]
Is it a metal object described as gold by it's maker? Yes. Is it, in fact, gold? No. So with a broad brush, it's fake gold. Notice their 'gold watches' are actual gold alloy.

"gold" is a metal, but it can also be used to describe a colour of a metal. Sure, you might also use "yellow", but that doesn't sound as marketable as "gold" .

Now, maybe it's better to say that Apple in the last few years expanded their old Bauhaus design sensibilities to include West Coast/Chinese market bling?

The design itself is still very minimalistic, only thing that has changed is that they have more colours. But iPods and original iMac came in variety of colours as well.

They added gold and rose gold, added luxury bands on watches and they make Beats headphones. So let's say Jony Ive invented Brohaus - minimalist, iterative (boring) design with bling flourishes in the metal finishes and accessories.

When Apple starts adding crystals to their products, then you can talk about "bling". Having different colours on a otherwise minimalistic design does not qualify, IMO.

Yeah, they have luxury bands, but those too have quite minimalistic design. They don't have crystals or unicorn-vomit all over them. As to Beats: well, that is still a separate company, owned by Apple. And their designs predate their acquisition by Apple.

As long as we're stating subjective opinions, I'll point out that you just praised a grey laptop for being grey. SAD!

I too like the dark grey MacBook. It's a nice, understated colour.

 

[NickN]

Belisarius[/url]":2t9awxln]Wow, talk about a total lack of taste. Looks like the Donald Trump Edition™

Because they want to overtake Apple in design...

Then there's that Steve Jobs quote about design being more about saying no than yes. It seems HP is all about saying yes.

 

[Ten Wind]

I don't know who first came up with this style of keyboard, but they need to be found and brought up on charges of crimes against technology.

Add a couple of millimeters to the thickness and put in a decent keyboard for god's sake.

 

[jonah]

CNC Aluminum is not a thing.

Aluminum can be fabricated or machined via a CNC. It does not magically become a different material when it is, though.

Also this laptop is ugly as sin.

 

[quietnine]

looks... "nice", but the ports are only in the back? thats not very user friendly.

not sure i can ever go back to metal or plastic palm rests after the wonderful soft-rubber on the dell XPS 13s and 15s (or similar, the fabric palm rests on the Surface keyboard lineup).

 

[rogifan]

HP talks about out-designing Apple. Is that because they can't make any comparisons to Microsoft or they think Apple is still the gold-standard and not Microsoft Surface?

 

[fivemack]

Bicentennial Douche[/url]":2evg54ic]

HP also teamed up with designers Tord Boontje and Jess Hannah to make two super-fancy, limited edition versions of the Spectre. Boontje's design is coated in midnight blue with floral swirls and Swarovski crystals on top that are accented in 18k gold.

"Swarovski crystals: When you need to make anything just a bit more tacky and gaudy." (tm)

Don't diss Swarovski; the money they make from bling enthusiasts pays for the development of the best high-end binoculars I've ever used.

 

[neodorian]

I'm not personally one to pay extra for "bling" or extraneous polish on a computer but I am sort of curious how the copper will look after a while and if it will oxidize. The accents might actually look kind of cool once they aren't completely shiny like the images (assuming it's not coated or treated to stop oxidizing).

(example)

Again, not interested in buying this laptop to get it, but in terms of pure aesthetics, some copper accents might look fairly nice once they've developed a bit of patina.

 

[BasP]

Nargg[/url]":2j8fkqhu]

obarthelemy[/url]":2j8fkqhu]

sverrisson[/url]":2j8fkqhu]I don´t like that hunchback for the plugs. I would rather want it to be thicker and thus have longer battery life.

It helps in cramped spaces (plane) by giving a bit more room to tilt back the screen.

Bull. Remove the extra back and you'd still have the same space.

What? No. The extra back isn't empty, there's hardware in there. If you move it to the back, under the overhanging screen, you need less space on the table.

Why is math so difficult for some folks?

Ironic.

 

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Belisarius[/url]":3yvfuwrj]Wow, talk about a total lack of taste. Looks like the Donald Trump Edition™

I was going to try for a slightly more tactful phrasing; but I am honestly curious: even Apple, long the paragons of "You can have any design you want, so long as our experts have decreed that it is tasteful" has gone all in for 'rose gold'; and HP is, predictably, executing a similar concept with somewhat less restraint.

To the best of my memory, this actually seems like a bit of a shift in consumer electronics coloring: You've always had the battle between "I want to paint it black" and "Silver has high WAF"(with classy black gear being either hard-anodized aluminum, powder-coat steel, or whatever-thinkpads-are-coated-with; and classy silver gear being natural colored aluminum in various textures; while the cheap seats are mostly creaky plastic with or without 'silver' paint); and there have been various "Let's do something Colorful!" experiments(like the polycarbonate Lumias and the HP Streams); but gold and rose gold seem to be a relatively new thing outside of the jewelry market.

Is this just a fad? Somebody identify an untapped vein of bad taste? Is there a formerly-too-poor-to-cater-to market where the locals have always preferred gold that is now wealthy enough to actually buy consumer electronics(China?).

My own feelings aside(I respect your right to be wrong; but The Monolith from 2001 would basically be the pinnacle of electronics design if it only included a Model M, Model F, or 701 'Butterfly' keyboard and trackpoint, this is just how it is); I am honestly curious about this shift. Is it a designer-led thing, with some new industrial-design wunderkind finally in a position of power and ready to exercise his tastes? Is it a market demographics shift? Something must have changed here.

 

[Deleted member 192806]

Belisarius[/url]":3rqdxqh9]Wow, talk about a total lack of taste. Looks like the Donald Trump Edition™

Taste has always been in the eye of the beholder. This article doesn't change that.

 

[quietnine]

JustQuestions[/url]":15lybqs5]

Abhi Beckert[/url]":15lybqs5]

solomonrex[/url]":15lybqs5]Even Apple has fake gold phones and is moving away from brohaus west coast design, haven't you noticed?

Apple has aluminium anodized in a variety of colours. It's not "fake", rather is required to stop it from corroding like this:

Save it.

Judging by the comments and responses to comments, Ars viewers don't appreciate or know much about materials...

Still giggling over "CNC aluminum" myself.

I could be wrong, but i don't think you were down voted for pointing out that CNC isnt a type of aluminum, rather, that you came off both a little condescending and as implying that the author was "an ignorant person." the latter was indirect, but it could've been worded a bit better. constructive criticism is welcome, but the comment mob tends to downvote rudeness (unless its a political topic, in which case the voting system seems to be used more for silencing disagreement no matter how politely worded the opposition).

 

[nehinks]

fivemack[/url]":38cvw1rq]

Bicentennial Douche[/url]":38cvw1rq]

HP also teamed up with designers Tord Boontje and Jess Hannah to make two super-fancy, limited edition versions of the Spectre. Boontje's design is coated in midnight blue with floral swirls and Swarovski crystals on top that are accented in 18k gold.

"Swarovski crystals: When you need to make anything just a bit more tacky and gaudy." (tm)

Don't diss Swarovski; the money they make from bling enthusiasts pays for the development of the best high-end binoculars I've ever used.

Holy crap those are expensive binoculars! And here I always associated Swarovski as just a bejeweling company.