And that's what it appears to be. The Spectre 13 has a 13.3-inch, 1080p display, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage in its base model. More importantly, it includes either a Core i5 or a Core i7 processor. That's the type of processor you'd normally find in the MacBook Air or a typical ultrabook — laptops this size usually get Core M, which is slower, but doesn't get as hot and allows for a smaller battery.

Mike Nash, HP's vice president of consumer PCs, says he's well aware that Core M is standard for a machine like this. "We know that. We've seen Apple do that," he says. "But our customers want Core i, and I'm here to tell you today we pulled it off."

Its hinges are modeled after cabinetry

Making a laptop of this size work with a Core i processor meant dealing with heat and battery issues. HP says it handled the former using a heat pipe, which distributes heat away from the processor, as well as two fans that push heat out the back. For battery, HP made a thin unit that takes up most of the inside of the PC. It's supposed to deliver 9.5 hours of battery, which isn't top of the line — the MacBook Air does around 12 hours — but is still pretty good, assuming HP's estimates hold up.

HP really wants the Spectre 13 to be seen as a premium laptop, and it both looks and feels like one. Most of its body is made from a dark gray aluminum (its bottom is lighter-weight carbon fiber), and there's a large bronze piece along the edge for contrast. It looks very cool sitting on its own — just be careful about touching the bronze: it picks up fingerprints in a way that detectives could only dream of. Nash says HP was aware of this, but went with the bronze finish anyway because it looked good. "We [asked] people, 'Can you make it shiny but not show fingerprints?,'" he says. "They were like, 'Yeah, but it'd look like your grandmother's couch.'"

There are a few other interesting design flairs. HP is using a new, angular logo on the back of the machine that looks much sharper than the goofy circle logo you're used to. On the inside, the speaker grating is styled to look like repeating triangles, to either side of the keyboard. And the inside hinge is this curved, open arc. It's not something you'd typically see on a computer, and that makes it stand out in a nice way. Nash says it "steals from cabinetry or the high end furniture department."