Intel’s Ultrabook Creates New Computing Category

It’s a laptop..It’s a tablet…It’s an Ultrabook! Faster than your average tablet and more portable than your average computer, Intel’s Ultrabook looks to bust into the tablet/PC marketplace, creating a new category: the Ultrabook.  But can the super powerful Ultrabook eliminate the competition and defeat its arch nemesis, the tablet?  Let’s explore.

A couple of weeks ago at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, Sean Maloney, Intel Corporation’s Executive Vice President, announced the company’s vision for the next generation of portable computing.

“We want to find new ways to propel the PC forward,” Maloney said.

Tom Kilroy, Intel’s marketing chief, told CNET news that “By the end of 2012, we think as much as 40 percent of the volume will be in this ultra category.”

Intel also believes thinner, faster devices should be available to the masses at a price most people can afford.

“Many of the super-sleek devices today are quite pricey,” Kilroy stated. “The price points need to become more mainstream.” The Ultrabook is targeted at under $1,000, initially. “And as the volume picks up, the price points will come down. And we think by 2013…you’ll see ultrabooks in truly mainstream price points of $599,” Kilroy said, assuming Intel’s system-on-a-system chip, “Haswell,” is released.

Other than a reasonable price, Intel’s Ultrabook offers many advantages to business professionals and average Joe’s alike.

The Ultrabook is portable.  Its thickness is anticipated at 0.8 inches, allowing users to easily file the device into their briefcase or travel bag.  It’s rivals, the MacBook Air and the iPad, stand at 0.68 inches and 0.34 inches, respectively. A MacBook Pro is 0.95 inches.

The Ultrabook is lightweight.   Asus, a leading computer manufacturer, released its UX21 Ultrabook at Computex, and the ultra computer weighs in at just over two pounds.  The 11-inch MacBook Air is 2.3 pounds, and the iPad is 1.33 pounds.  The 13-inch MacBook pro is 4.5 pounds.

The Ultrabook is fast and has long battery life.  Equipped with Intel’s Ivy Bridge Processor, which uses a 22 nanometer manufacturing process, the Ultrabook is said to be 37% faster and to use 50% less power than machines running Intel’s 32 nanometer chip.

And the Ultrabook could become the corporate world’s go-to accessory.  Offering the speed and power of a PC, the intuitive nature and motility of a tablet, and the price comparable to a netbook, the Ultrabook might be the next standard issued computer. Corporations could trash the outdated laptop and replace it with the up-to-date Ultrabook, likely appeasing employees and shareholders alike.

But what do you think?  Will the Ultrabook win over consumers and make friends with the corporate world?