Is 2012 Slated to be the Year of the Ultrabook?

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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OK….so what exactly is an Ultrabook? Well, I’m so glad you asked.:D The Ultrabook is a category of a notebook/laptop created by Apple and trademarked by Intel to describe what is basically a netbook on steroids. The big push for the Ultrabook will begin at the Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas in January.
 
I really want one, but just not with Intel HD 3000 graphics. The Asus Zenbook is a REALLY nice system.
 
i just cant wait until we have a dozen or more 'classes' of laptops to contend with! mankind's naming fetish continues!
 
So Ultrabook = cheap laptop?

People in marketing and advertising should kill themselves.
 
Aaron11 said:
Well, if they are ultrabooks made by Apple, look for a $3k price tag.
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This is the market chasing after apple thinking they can meet up at the same price point as Apple and win. I'll pay $999 for a macbook Air, i wont pay for that for an Win7 ultrabook.
 
Spire3660 said:
This is the market chasing after apple thinking they can meet up at the same price point as Apple and win. I'll pay $999 for a macbook Air, i wont pay for that for an Win7 ultrabook.
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Well then I don't see a point then. Why pay $1k+ for something that's just super thin with no disk drives. Why not get something that's way more functional that's maybe an inch thicker and costs a lot less? I have noticed a trend that even the new Samsungs and Sony laptops are taking after Apple's Macbook Pros in terms of aesthetics. Maybe that's a market they can win because the one's I've seen are under $1000. If I were ever going to get a Macbook (and I probably won't ever in my lifetime) I would never get an Air, I would probably get the Pro (even tho the Pro is more expensive, you get my point). I always thought that the Air was for hipsters who loved to put their ultrabook in a manilla envelope. :p
 
I'm using an Asus UX31 right now and really like it. I fail to understand why they made the battery non user replaceable and why the max RAM is 4 GB without possibility to upgrade, though. 4 GB may be fine for most now, but will probably limit its useful life.
 
El Barto said:
The Macbook Air starts at $999. :rolleyes:
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He still has a point... if Apple added Ultra to the name "Macbook Air Ultra", they could just change the plastic shell and charge 2000 dollah. They'd be all, how you like 'em Apples?!? And they would be liked by many, indeed.
 
SemiAccurate did an editorial and it opened my eye to the stupidity that is the Ultrabook. You're not really paying for an amazing piece of kit, you're paying for a thin piece of kit that performs like a regular piece of kit. They could just as easily stuff those same components into a netbook chassis and use standard 2.5" SSDs, use a larger battery, add more ports, and charge less. It's a fad that has an inverse relationship with pragmatism/common sense.
 
From what I've seen, Intel is pushing this on OEM's. They have certain requirements for ultrabooks in terms of battery life, processor, wake up time, size and weight, etc.

They look nice, but they cost too much for what you get out of them.
 
I'm anxious to get an ultrabook with light peak.

I want a quad core Core i7, 6+GB RAM, raid 0 120GBx2 SSD's, Display Port, and 1080p on a 13 inch OLED display. More importantly, through light peak, I want an external video card that allows me to game on my 2560 monitor and 3D 1080p.

I'd pay $3,000 for that combination.
 
I forgot to mention, I want an ultrabook because it can be both carried and setup with little effort.
 
Modred189 said:
No not really. They run ~$1k and have SSDs, lots of ram and Core i5/i7 cpus.
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So I'm still not following the need for this stupid title. My cheap laptop assumption was gleaned from "netbook on steroids".

So basically it's just a modern laptop.
 
I just returned an Asus UX31 to newegg because it had a tenancy to BSOD and generally otherwise hang for not fucking reason.

Other than that it was spectacular. You ain't gonna game on one of these (Intel GPU suck factor set to 11) but for work it as spectacular when it was not crashing.

I hope it was just a bad unit. Waiting for the replacement.
 
THRESHIN said:
i just cant wait until we have a dozen or more 'classes' of laptops to contend with! mankind's naming fetish continues!
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Damn naming conventions!!! It's a luggable!! It has been since it was invented 25 years ago. I have no idea wtf a laptop or notebook even is...:p
 
XacTactX said:
They could just as easily stuff those same components into a netbook chassis and use standard 2.5" SSDs, use a larger battery, add more ports, and charge less. It's a fad that has an inverse relationship with pragmatism/common sense.
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So why not just buy a desktop that performs much better for even less money?
 
I won't upgrade my laptop (X61 Tablet) until I can get an "ultrabook" tablet.
 
If 2012 will be the year of the ultrabook, 2013 will be the year of the keyboard dockable tablet hybrid.
 
Aaron11 said:
Well then I don't see a point then. Why pay $1k+ for something that's just super thin with no disk drives. Why not get something that's way more functional that's maybe an inch thicker and costs a lot less?
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Because it's a lot smaller? To put it in perspective, the m11x R3 is nearly double the mass of an Asus 11" Ulrabook. Basically from a cost perspective, you're paying for the ability to have switchable graphics with a larger chassis.

From my perspective, I used to get laptops with discrete graphics (my current one is an Asus 14" with a 1GB Radeon 4650). Then I realized it was somewhat worthless because I game on the go maybe once a month. HD3000 is a little too weak (can play everything I have minus BF3, but then again my 4650 can't even play BF3 well) so I'm waiting for Ivy Bridge integrated graphics.
 
Ivy Bridge is the future of notebooks, and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that here.

Can't wait until I can get one for myself.
 
Taco said:
So I'm still not following the need for this stupid title. My cheap laptop assumption was gleaned from "netbook on steroids".

So basically it's just a modern laptop.
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Pretty much. It's just a WIndows version of the Macbook Air.
But they all have some kind of deal breaker right now (as is the case for the first generation of anything):
Asus: Intel graphics
Macbook: Intel graphics, Ram is not user-replaceable, +$100 for windows
Toshiba, Lenovo and Acer: Crappy screen, intel graphics

The day the Asus adds discreet graphics is the day I order one.
 
Modred189 said:
Pretty much. It's just a WIndows version of the Macbook Air.
But they all have some kind of deal breaker right now (as is the case for the first generation of anything):
Asus: Intel graphics
Macbook: Intel graphics, Ram is not user-replaceable, +$100 for windows
Toshiba, Lenovo and Acer: Crappy screen, intel graphics

The day the Asus adds discreet graphics is the day I order one.
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You're not going to see discrete graphics in an ultrabook. There isn't enough space to put in a dedicated GPU and the amount of cooling needed by one. Plus, the Ivy Bridge IGP is supposed to be about twice as fast as the current generation, so it will probably be competitive with most low-mid-range mobile GPUs from ATI and nVidia, making discrete graphics unnecessary.
 
Modred189 said:
The day the Asus adds discreet graphics is the day I order one.
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There's just going to be less and less need for discrete GPUs in thin, light and low power designs. The HD3000 was a MAJOR step up for Intel IGPs, AMD has a decent IGP solution and Ivy Bridge will be an even bigger upgrade in GPU power accorder to Intel.
 
Something that small is never going to be upgradable. Even with proper sized laptops, you can usually only change out the memory chips and a couple of add-on cards. Laptops are fine for the professional sort or for someone who wants to play games that are a little bit older. I had loads of fun replaying portal on my macbook pro the other day. To expect more in terms of upgradability or performance is shooting for the moon. I'd love a computer this small and light for work, but not much else.
 
This used to be called ultraportable, now it's ultrabook.
Kind of like Apple's naming scheme! :rolleyes:
 
Ignoring the haters..

These are basically a full powered Laptop that is ultra thin and light (You know the thing that A LOT of high travel business people want), with excellent battery life. You pay a slight premium in price for that weight reduction (expected) but really not that much once you factor in the SSD and other things.

Not going to appeal to everyone, but there is most definitely a market for this. With Tablets gutting the useless netbook market, it is nice to see something else move a different direction.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
These are basically a full powered Laptop that is ultra thin and light (You know the thing that A LOT of high travel business people want), with excellent battery life. You pay a slight premium in price for that weight reduction
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I don't understand. These ultrabooks are maybe 1/2" thinner than your average netbook, and at most weigh 0.5 lbs less. Are businesspeople really that conscious of form factor?

I'm not being rhetorical, I'm just surprised.
 
XacTactX said:
I don't understand. These ultrabooks are maybe 1/2" thinner than your average netbook, and at most weigh 0.5 lbs less. Are businesspeople really that conscious of form factor?

I'm not being rhetorical, I'm just surprised.
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The problem is that netbooks have VERY limited ram and cpu horsepower. The COre i5/i7s in these ultrabooks, plus 4gb ram, are SIGNIFICANTLY faster. I started law school with a netbook I had used with no issues through grad school and it just couldn't hack it. One Note with some powerpoint slides, notes and a music app brought it to its knees. Add smaller, crappier screens, tiny keyboards and worse battery life and netbooks just are in a different class. They aren't really comparable.
 
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