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Not many ultrabooks make such a strong first impression as the HP Envy 14 Spectre. It’s the first ultrabook designed with all-glass exterior and interior surfaces, making it a definite head-turner. Just as impressive is its 14-inch HP Radiance display, one of the best you'll find on any notebook—blacks are blacker, whites whiter, and colors pop off the screen with lifelike detail.

The Spectre also boasts enough multimedia features to make it your entertainment hub. With WiDi, you can mirror your desktop by streaming your favorite PC and online content to your HDTV or monitor (separate adapter required). HDMI connectivity lets you watch movies on your TV for a home-theater feel, and you get top-notch sound to match with crystal-clear and bass-heavy Beats Audio. And for those times you want to listen in other rooms, built-in HP Wireless Audio lets you stream your tunes to up to four external devices.

The Spectre is powered by the Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost and 4 GB of RAM to give you plenty of speed and smooth efficiency for multitasking. Enhancing that is a 128 GB solid state drive that enables faster bootup and shutdown times compared to traditional hard disk drives. And when you need to keep working and playing when the lights go down, a backlit keyboard with individual LEDS under each key gives you maximum brightness. It also lights up row by row when you approach and dims down when you're away to save power.

The original Series 9 was already a winning combination of form and function, but Samsung raised the bar even higher with this updated version. It's lighter and slimmer than its predecessor at 0.51 inches and 2.5 pounds, down from 0.64 and 2.8. It also fits its 13.3-inch display into a 12-inch frame to give you more screen for edge-to-edge views. And that's where this PC really shines—the display's 1600 x 900 gives you excellent picture quality in a PC this size, perfect for viewing everything from photos to movies to work documents. Reflections are also kept to a minimum thanks to a matte finish.

Performance-wise, the Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost and 4 GB of RAM easily handle heavy loads of work and play. Multimedia options are equally solid with Intel Wireless Display which lets you stream PC content to a monitor or big-screen TV (separate adapter required), and Micro HDMI for watching movies on your HDTV. Portability is further enhanced with up to seven hours of battery life* which will keep you going on long flights and jam-packed days of meetings and classes. And, with Samsung's Battery Life Plus technology, the battery will retain 80 percent of its original capacity for up to 1,500 charges—up to five times more than other notebooks.

ASUS is noted for its elegant design, and nowhere else is that more evident than in its UX Series. The ZENBOOK UX21 is a definite looker, built with a durable and feather-light aluminum unibody frame that features a unique "spun" finish on its polished metal surfaces. It's also needle-thin at only 0.70 inches and is a cinch to carry with a weight of only 2.8 pounds. Add in a solid battery life of over seven hours, and this is one laptop you'll be glad to be seen using.

The UX21 is comfortable to use with an oversized chiclet-style keyboard and glass, click-anywhere touchpad. It comes with the second-generation Intel Core i5 processor for powerful and speedy system performance, and a 128 GB solid state drive that gives you durable storage, faster boot-up times, and quicker application launching.