mujiali wrote:
Went with the i7 512, and surprised myself by getting it at Best Buy, which had the best deal. Got a student discount of 150 off, and 12 month financing which will allow me to wait on paying till I can get a supplemental loan from HLS for the laptop

Also if anyone else goes for this, hold off on getting a warranty! HP sent me a message a day after I bought it with a discount code. Got 140 off a 3 year warranty (+accidental damage coverage), and it ended up being cheaper than Best Buy, Square Trade, or the Microsoft Store.
I would have waited to buy it till August/September, but my old laptop up and finally died last week, so I figured why not.
The Spectre itself is amazing. I find myself loving the touch features and using it for things I never thought I would. Not the novelty crap you do once, but little day to day useful things that are just easier when you can touch/flip the screen. Also the keyboard is magnificent for an ultrabook. Take everything I say with a grain of salt though, cause I just replaced a Macbook Pro mid-2009, so this is my first foray into good battery life and SSDs.
Plus it plays Civ V, so I'm happy.
I snagged the same model (the QHD) and am enjoying it so far. Side by side with the XPS, feels like the Spectre has the better keyboard. If it didn't have such superb palm rejection that trackpad (ginormous) would be a dealbreaker though. As is it, still getting used to the click zones (I understand they are adjustable). It's been sorta kinda useful in tablet mode - wish HP had designed a sleeve for that because I hate grabbing keys on the back when holding it, maybe there's an aftermarket sleeve that'll work tho. Works great with Dell Active Stylus...so far so good.
I think I'm gonna keep it over the XPS. The XPS webcam (will use a lot for g/f Skype) is necessarily weirdly placed and nobody wants to see your nose hairs. Being able to use tablet mode (and not having the $$$ for a SPro3 plus laptop) is ultimately just too damned handy.
So probably keeping the Spectre. It's a slick little machine, just feels better than the XPS and tablet mode is reeeeallly handy when you need it. Just going to snag a monitor for workstation purposes and will be all set. Good look Mujiali.