HP Laptop Launch Includes AMD 'Sleekbook'

Along with remodeling its consumer laptop line, HP has answered the curiosity of onlookers who wondered what a vendor might call an ultra-thin portable with an AMD processor that disqualified it from Intel's ultrabook trademark: Meet the Sleekbook.

Actually, the AMD APU-equipped, 15.6-inch HP Envy Sleekbook (shipping June 20 for $599.99) is accompanied by an Intel-powered 14-inch model (shipping May 9 for $699.99) with optional discrete graphics, as opposed to the "discrete-class" graphics of the AMD laptop. Each starts at 4 pounds, measures just 20mm thick, and features HP's Beats Audio with two speakers and a subwoofer. The 14-inch Envy Sleekbook offers a 500GB hard drive and, HP claims, up to eight hours of battery life; the 15.6-inch model comes with a 320GB drive and up to nine hours of battery life.

For consumers who crave the Intel trademark, May 9 will also see the debut of 14- and 15.6-inch HP Envy Ultrabooks (starting at $749.99 and $799.99, respectively). They, too, slide under the 20mm limbo stick and offer 2.1 Beats Audio. Each comes with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive plus 32GB mSATA SSD cache, as well as Intel ultrabook features including Rapid Start, Identity Protection, and Smart Connect Technologies; HP promises up to eight and nine hours of unplugged operation for the 14- and 15.6-inch models, respectively.

Another new Envy model, the Envy Spectre XT, is a premium 13.3-inch ultrabook positioned above the . A fraction lighter than the Folio at 3.1 pounds, the $999.99 system has similar hardware specs—4GB of memory, a 128GB solid-state drive, a backlit keyboard—with the exception of being available with an Intel third-generation "Ivy Bridge" processor. Its software bundle includes full versions of Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and Photoshop Elements 10 and a two-year subscription to Norton Internet Security. Featuring Beats Audio with quad speakers, the Spectre XT will ship June 8.

The rest of HP's new consumer laptops wear the Pavilion brand, led by the Pavilion m6—a 15.6-inch model in a slim chassis about a pound lighter than the 6-pound Pavilion dv6. Available with Intel or AMD processors and an optional backlit keyboard, the brushed aluminum m6 boasts 2.1 Beats Audio and will start at $699.99 when it reaches Best Buy and HP Direct in June.

The 15.6-inch Pavilion dv6 ($549.99) and 17.3-inch Pavilion dv7 ($799.99) have been redesigned with a metal finish in midnight black, a soft-touch panel at the base of the display cover for an easy-to-hold profile, quad speakers, and optional Nvidia GeForce graphics. HP's best-selling economy models, the Pavilion g6 and g7 (starting at $479.99 and $549.99, respectively), offer a new island-style keyboard with bowl-shaped keyboard deck, as well as Dolby enhanced audio with an exposed speaker bar for better sound projection. They'll be available July 25 in red, white, black, blue, and purple.

Stay tuned to PCMag for reviews of all (well, most) of the new HP laptops.