HP Announces Glass-Backed Envy 14 Spectre

HP has upped the ultrabook ante with a glass-backed HP laptop that looks a bit like a MacBook and a lot like the future of HP trade dress. The HD screen displays 1600×900 pixels and includes HDMI out, Ethernet, USB 3.0, and mini Displayport ports.

The glass on the back of the laptop is Gorilla Glass, which means it probably won’t break if you drop it. It includes a fat 128GB SSD drive for $1,400 and an optional 256GB upgrade. It runs a Core i5 or i7 processor and ships in February.

HP has been using this design quite a bit lately, which suggests they’ve gone all in when it comes to high-design ultrabooks. This one is a very special case – the glass back is more gimmick than anything else – but it will be interesting to see how HP is able to sell this to fleet buyers.