Thin, light and powerful notebooks are coming to take over the world, and it appears it isn’t just Intel that will be promoting this form factor next year.
Since the launch of the first Ultrabooks – notebooks powered by low-voltage versions of the second generation of Intel Core processors – we’ve seen many different variations positioned to suit different customer segments.
All vendors take slight different riffs on the same ultimate goal – to provide a lightweight, slim, aesthetically pleasing notebook that can still provide similar computing experiences to the traditional notebooks that most end users own.
In the comments area for our YouTube segment featuring comparisons between three Ultrabooks from three major brands, one viewer, cowmonkey10, commented “Um…isn’t this just a laptop? What’s an ultrabook?”
That is the foundation for a lot of discussion going on in the IT manufacturing sector right now. Intel have set up a fund to provide marketing assistance to vendors who can make models that meet the criteria for Ultrabooks, which they hope will motivate the ramp up and customer acceptance of these new models.
I was chatting online to Steve Paine (aka “Chippy”) who runs the Ultrabook News website, and he pointed me to an article on CNET regarding Intel’s apparent focus on smaller companies to develop and produce Ultrabooks. This could be a good sign of competition in the new year, as the second-tier vendors will most likely release more competitively-priced versions of an Ultrabook and keep the larger brands in check.
Of course, Intel isn’t an island, and another article, this one on Tom’s Hardware, came out recently suggesting that AMD was readying itself to showcase their own versions of the “thin, light and powerful” category – possibly without stipulating dimensions and specifications. There’s some exciting possibilities there, and we hope to see some examples at the upcoming CES in Las Vegas.
So the question of “What is an ultrabook?” that I posed in the title is a reflection on the creation of a name to describe a new category – and whether this will impact and influence buyers of their next portable PC. I imagine this will depend on Ultrabooks living up to their promise of uncompromising performance in these sleek form factors.
What the term “Ultrabook” does achieve is provide some level of expectation in a potential buyer’s mind, and by forcing manufacturers to build to certain standards can ensure consistency in output. Even though each brand promotes their own offering in their unique way, a customer is educated to the general benefits and characteristics of the category, in the same way the term “netbook” became accepted as a smaller mobile computing platform.
In the meantime, we thought we’d answer cowmonkey10’s question for our YouTube audience and share that with our readers here as well. There are plenty of sites, both official and non-official, that discuss the criteria in detail. Chippy’s page is a great reference for anyone that wants lots of information.
For those that want the lowdown in just one minute, here is our crash course in what is an Ultrabook:
For easy reference, here’s our comparison segment so you can see how different Ultrabooks can be, despite coming from the same general criteria:
Will the marketing activity of the term “Ultrabook” help sway you to purchase these a model that fits the definition, or will you buy simply on the merit of a notebook’s individual look, feel and performance?
Would love to hear your thoughts about how branding and classifying products affects your purchase decisions! See you all below.
Aaron James says
Great reviews! I’m glad I found your site! Thanks for the clarification on what a “Ultrabook” is. Looks fairly tempting. Though, I’m gonna stick with the Transformer prime and get the keyboard dock… basically a similar item when combined.
-AJS
Ritchie says
Hi Aaron.
Thanks for joining us here. Ultrabooks, tablets with keyboards, MacBook Air… there’s a lot of choice for thin and light portable computing. I can only imagine how the choice will expand next year! Enjoy the Prime!
Justin says
So glad I found your website, very well written content. I’m in the market for an ultrabook myself at the moment and nice to see some great content to help making the decision easier. Thanks.
Ritchie says
Hi Justin,
Thanks for your kind words. Ultrabooks are the new notebooks as far as the evolution of the PC goes. Thanks for joining us here!
Ritchie