HP’s newly announced ultra-slim Spectre laptop looks amazing. The engineers have been able to compress well-rounded specs and a 13” screen into 2.45 pounds and a mere 10.4mm thickness. Its aesthetics are a lesson in striking, artful contrast, combining classy matte black with gold highlights that firmly state (not scream) “luxury”. The minimalist, geometric HP logo on the lid tells everyone who sees it that this is an HP computer, and that HP is pushing design forward in its own direction.

The Spectre sports 512GB of flash storage, up to 8GB of RAM, a 802.11 ac 2x2 Wi-Fi antenna, and brand new USB-C ports. All of this is run by Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, displayed on a 1080p Gorilla Glass screen, with audio provided by Bang & Olufsen.

It’s an interesting competitor to Apple’s offerings. The specs are competitive with Apple’s MacBook, MacBook Air, and some MacBook Pro and MacBook Pro Retina offerings, which are solid choices for the millenial or young professional on the go. And the price point reflects that: $1169.99.

But with only 512GB of storage and a maximum of 8GB RAM, the Spectre cannot compete with the beefier MacBook Pro and MacBook Pro Retina’s power and resources, and can’t hope to capture any users who need power and portability. The 16GB of RAM those laptops can support enables better responsiveness and more productivity with data-intensive tasks like video, audio, or image editing, or database management.

The design, which is certainly the focus of this Spectre, is not just a lesson in contrast, but a start contrast to Apple’s overall design as well. Apple’s offerings have, since the first-gen iPod, been about complementary features and understated simplicity, usually featuring one color whenever possible. The Spectre’s focus on contrast differentiates it from Apple, perhaps in hopes of giving consumers something as well-designed as Apple, but starkly different. The Spectre’s drive to be slimmer than MacBook models serves as a supportive hook, saying “Slim is in, and we’re the slimmest.”

HP may have just driven a futurecar into the ultra-slim laptop race. How the Spectre performs, and how attractive it is to its target audience, remain to be seen. More interesting is what, if anything, Apple will do in response-- especially with a MacBook refresh rumored to be pending this year.