HP has gone laptop mad at its Shanghai-based influencers conference, announcing a confusingly large array of new portable machines headed by the flagship Spectre XT. Sitting behind these are a newly updated range of Envy Ultrabooks and the alternatively named Envy Sleekbook with AMD chip inside.

Arriving in 14-inch and 15.6-inch versions, both laptops carry latest gen Intel processors or AMD APUs, which we presume will be Ivy Bridge and Trinity although we can't be sure of clock speeds yet. Both laptops have a 1366 x 768 resolution screen.

You also get a choice of 500GB hard drives with an optional 32GB mSata SSD drive. All the usual Intel Ultrabook technologies are there, such as instant on and smart connect. Beats Audio is thrown in for good measure. There is also 4GB of RAM to play with, to keep multitasking going zipping along smoothly.

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The Envy comes in two colours, either a black and red version with a matte base and black keyboard or a silver keyboard version with a matte black base. Both look fairly tasty although a personal favourite is definitely the red option, which looks particularly slick with the Beats branding. 

The bigger 15-inch version of the Envy does appear to be leaning towards the bulkier side of the Ultrabook specs sheet, although both are well within the required specs at 19mm thin and 1.79Kg at their lightest. They both feel portable enough when you pick them up.

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WAN, VGA output, USB 3.0 and Display Port ensure the Envy has a lot to play with in terms of connectivity. There is also HD Webcam sat on top. 

One significant difference between the Sleekbook and the Ultrabook is that AMD's offering uses discrete class graphics on its APU. The Ultrabook uses integrated graphics but does have the option to upgrade to discreet graphics.

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At the moment complete specifications of the new Envy setups are pretty thin on the ground. Pocket-lint will of course be keeping you updated with details of all of HP's new hardware straight from Shanghai. Expect to see the Envy Ultrabooks and Sleekbooks turning up around June time. 

Like the look of the new Envy hardware? Let us know in the comments below ...