Ultrabook

[Zee530]

Quote: An Ultrabook is a higher-end type of subnotebook defined by Intel. Intel has applied to register the name as a trademark. Ultrabooks are designed to feature reduced size and weight, and extended battery life without compromising performance. It uses low-power Intel processors with integrated graphics, solid-state drives for responsiveness, and unibody chassis to fit larger batteries into smaller cases. Because of their minimal size, the number of external ports (eg. USB) is limited.

That's it? Seriously?

[Runo]

Sounds meh. People is caring too much for mobility these days imo, I found it better when their focus was performance.

[admin89]

Ultrabook ($$$) = smartphone + gaming notebook (Except Acer ultrabook)
Ultrabook cooling design doesn't suit for gaming . Therefore , it can run light game that isn't demanding on the GPU
And you can buy SSD anywhere you want
-> Unless someone gave me 1 for free , i would never buy it

[NaturalViolence]

It's basically designed to be competition for the macbook air. Like admin said they're not designed for performance (obviously), they're designed for extreme portability and battery life. Not only do they have extremely impressive battery life but they're paper thin and weigh almost nothing. It's quite impressive if you ever get the chance to use one in person, however the price tag they carry is ridiculous (as you would expect given how difficult it is to design and manufacture something that thin with a unibody aluminum case).

[Runo]

I'd rather buy a powerful desktop for the same money that can do much more.

[Shonumi]

To an extent, some analysts view these types of machines as competition to the tablet market. They say that Intel's trying to reinvigorate the appeal of laptops by offering notebooks that are extremely portable and fast-booting. Seems like Intel wants to even out the advantages a lot of tablets offer: boot time, battery life, connectivity, weight, even touchscreens in some cases.

To me, that makes sense. Most tablets run ARM chips. Intel won't have to spend money to R&D new chips to compete with ARM models when they can use an existing product line in a form factor (laptops) they're comfortable with. Intel's not oblivious to the apparent popularity of tablets; they're not going to let ARM have all the fun. Even if they do start making chips specifically for tablets to go head-to-head with ARM, ultrabooks might prove an effective stop-gap. At least it could, once the prices go down. Right now, it's a bit of the "early adopter" kinda phase.

[Runo]

(02-28-2012, 09:39 AM)Shonumi Wrote: To an extent, some analysts view these types of machines as competition to the tablet market.

How could it, with the extreme price difference? I have a tablet, but I'd never buy one of these...

[Shonumi]

(02-28-2012, 10:48 AM)Runo Wrote:

(02-28-2012, 09:39 AM)Shonumi Wrote: To an extent, some analysts view these types of machines as competition to the tablet market.

How could it, with the extreme price difference? I have a tablet, but I'd never buy one of these...

(02-28-2012, 09:39 AM)Shonumi Wrote: boot time, battery life, connectivity, weight, even touchscreens in some cases.

Those are the current gaps between standard notebooks and tablets. Ultrabooks close them reasonably enough. There are other factors to consider. Ultrabooks can run x86 apps and run operating systems like Windows 7; that's a draw for a lot of people. Syncing between one's desktop life and their portable life gets a lot easier. Intel's chips in ultrabooks blow ARM chips away, and it seems ultrabooks are addressing the issue of power consumption.

Intel knows ultrabooks are pretty expensive, but like I said, early adopters are going to take a hit in the wallet (think 3DS when it first came out). Prices are supposed to go down over time as adoption takes off. Intel might be betting that the extras of I mentioned will be enough to have people reconsider tablets. If an ultrabook does everything a tablet does, but runs faster, and runs the programs you're most familiar with some people will want to pay that premium.

This strategy won't stop people from searching for the cheapest thing for the task (e.g. internet browsing, e-mail) and for them it might turn out to be tablets. But the ultrabooks do look poised to attract a lot of attention, some of which will probably affect tablet sales.

[Zee530]

Some pictures







As far as dolphin is concerned this is not the way to go then? even if they get fitted with ivybridge processors, will there be any increased interest or at least better performance in dolphin but then again as said the price would be ridiculous

[lamedude]

My guess is the PC OEMs are only making Ultrabooks to get some of that $300 million Intel is throwing at them. Once that runs out they'll will go back to cheap netbooks since they are incapable of beating the MBA. Then Atom tablets will next big thing once everyone finds out how crippled Windows on Arm is.