Originally posted on July 13, 2011 @ 8:45 am
HP Logo
Apple may have the edge when it comes to ultrathin laptops with their MacBook Airs, but I do not expect the status quo to remain for very long. Samsung already has its Series 9 laptops competing with the MacBook Airs – at least in concept, if not yet in sales and demand.
Now Hewlett Packard is going on the offensive as well with its Ultrabook laptops, which are supposed to come out soon. How soon exactly remains a question.
So what in the world is an ultrabook? To be honest, as much as I love gadgets – laptops included, of course – all these terms are starting to get on my nerves. Can you just imagine the average person without much tech knowledge wanting to buy a laptop? Netbook, notebook, Ultrabook, Elitebook, etc. – that list could go on and give someone a headache!
Anyhow, having had that mini-rant, I’ll go ahead and define Ultrabook. I like how CNET simplifies matters: “What is an Ultrabook? In a word, thin.” ((Source))
So basically, the MacBook Airs and whatever other laptops with similar form factors are considered Ultrabooks. Another way to look at it – laptop with features similar to tablets and with a design that is thin and light. We can all blame Intel for this term, as the company is the driving force behind its use. It has even issued guidelines regarding the use of the term and the general specs for this class of laptops.
Going back to HP’s Ultrabook…while there seems to be concrete evidence that the company will be launching at least two Ultrabooks, there isn’t much information to be found right now. All we know are the details for Ultrabooks in general – a maximum thickness of 20 millimeters (0.8 inches); a solid state drive; efficient power consumption; and hopefully, a reasonable price. Although what is reasonable will vary from one person to the next, Intel’s guidelines for this class of laptops states that the price should be less than $1,000. That is definitely a plus for Ultrabooks.
Oh, and there is a little bit more information about HP’s Ultrabooks – they are probably going to use Intel’s Core i7-2677M (1.8GHz) and i7-2637M (1.7GHz) dual-core CPUs. ((DigiTimes)) No surprise there.
What do you think about the Ultrabook concept?