What Is the Ultrabook?

Since May there has been a nearly constant, subcellular buzz on the Internet about something called an Intel Ultrabook. But what, exactly, are we looking at here?

First, let’s understand how Intel “releases” notebooks. Intel makes chips. That, in general, is all they do and all they ever want to do. However, the company often releases reference designs or plans for future products. These reference designs have included embedded systems for machinery (using Intel chips), point-of-sale systems for stores (using Intel chips) and low-power “in-vehicle infotainment systems” (using Intel chips.)

In short, Intel builds something, gives manufacturers the plans (and guidelines), and then sells them a few million chips that will go inside the hardware. That’s why most laptops are, inside, essentially the same: they’re based on a reference design passed along from chipmaker to manufacturer like holy writ.
Every once in a while, though, Intel releases something a bit more impressive than a point-of-sale system. Thus we have the Ultrabook. The Ultrabook is an ultra-slim laptop (think MacBook Air) that maxes out at 0.8 inches thick. Ultrabooks will cost less than $1,000 and they will, obviously, use Intel chips. Other than following those guidelines, however, manufacturers can riff on Ultrabooks like Satchmo on “Cornet Chop Suey.” However, most will depend on one of Intel’s five current reference designs on which to base their manufacturing plans.

The first notebook in the Ultrabook line is the Asus UX21, a .67-inch laptop that is thinner than the Air, includes an 11.6-inch display, one USB 2.0 port and one brand new USB 3.0 port. New processors will join the line-up next year as other manufacturers begin the Ultrabook push.

These laptops are expected to have instant-on features that allows you snap the laptop open and use it immediately. Most will also eschew a mechanical hard drive for one powered by SSDs.

So far the promise of cheap, thin, and light is like a three-legged stool missing a leg: the UX21 and the 13-inch UX31 will cost more than $1,000 when introduced in September and manufacturers are currently struggling to price their hardware below Intel’s requested rate.

This doesn’t mean that Ultrabooks won’t fall below $1,000 in the next year or so. Intel is already cracking down on manufacturers to keep their prices down and, recalling the meteoric drop in netbook prices a few years back, it’s clear that the consumer is hungry for — and expecting — cheaper and cheaper laptops every year.

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