Gaining an extra 270 days to trade on a non-registered foreign bank platform can help many retail forex traders who are not otherwise ready to begin trading under the new CFTC rules, which include 50:1 margin on majors, 20:1 margin on minors, the hedging rule and no FDIC, SPIC or segregation protection.

FORBES: Forex Traders Have A Little More Time

In addition to cost, though, the trade-off to all that armor is some extra heft: the Spectre weighs in at 3.97 pounds and measures 20mm thick, making it the chubbiest 13-inch Ultrabook we've seen yet.

ENGADGET: HP Envy 14 Spectre official: 3.97 pounds, NFC, Radiance display and glass chassis, arriving February 8 for $1,400

Mechanically, the extra liquidity has been finding its way into risky assets via the carry-trade.

FORBES: After The Gold Rush -- Commodities Prices: Why So High?

Obviously, the question remains how big of a trade-off there is on battery life in exchange for those two extra cores and the more powerful graphics chip.

ENGADGET: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) MDP benchmarks blow away the competition (update: video)