HP’s decision to buy boutique PC maker Voodoo in late 2006 was a declaration of war on Apple, which had just raised the bar on premium laptop quality with its new MacBook Pro. In 2007, the Voodoo Envy hit the market (to mixed reception), and it was followed by a long line of increasingly awesome Envy-branded systems which emulated and improved on the formula Cupertino created.
And then, to our horror, development of Envy just kinda stopped. Most of the excellent high-end models were discontinued and the brand was used to market far less expensive products. HP put the brakes on its premium laptops just as competitors slammed on the gas.
There is, however, a new hope; HP’s Spectre 13t. Though it lacks the Envy name, this is the company’s most expensive consumer ultrabook, and it’s meant to carry on the fight against Zenbooks, MacBooks, IdeaPads and the like. The Spectre’s price of $999 is quite low, however –- so can affordable luxury really stand up to Apple’s MacBook Pro 13 with Retina?
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