“The combination of extreme mobility and affordability found in the Acer Aspire S3-951 Ultrabook will undoubtedly change the way people think about mobile computing.  Consumers are going to love the value they find in the freedom and capabilities it offers.”  Sumit Agnihotry, Vice President of Marketing

One of the great features of this new device is the Acer Green Instant on Technology.  This provides super fast response, and will boot up from sleep in 2 seconds.  The hard drive is a decent 20GB SSD.

If the Ultrabook is left unattended for 8 hours or more, it enters a “deep sleep” mode.  It take a mere 6 seconds to boot up from this mode and all documents that were left opened are restored to the state they were in when the Ultrabook was left alone.

One of the best features of the Acer Ultrabook is the price tag, starting at under $900.  It also comes in at under 3 pounds in weight and it is just a half inch thick at its thinnest.  It sports a 13.3 inch LCHD LED screen and integrates the glass panel with the cover to help reduce the size of the Ultrabook.

For wireless options, the Ultrabook has a Acer InciLink Npilfy 802.11 Wi-Fi connection to deliver reliable wireless internet at any hotspot.  There is also a Bluetooth 4.0+ HSR for short range wireless transfers.

Intel vice-president said, “An array of Sandy Bridge-based ultrabooks will hit the market during the 2011 year-end holiday season, while more Ivy Bridge-based models will be rolled out in the first half of 2012.”

Toshiba is also working on an Ultrabook, the Portege Z830.  They will use Intel’s second-generation Core i3, i5 or i7 processors and are in production by Compel Electronics and Quanta Computer.

Acer has already begun delivering it’s Aspire S3 Ultrabooks to distributors.   This Ultrabook is being manufactured by Wistron.

Asustek is planning on unveiling it’s Ultrabook in early October, but will start shipping 100,000 units to distributors in late September.    They have outsourced their Intel Ultrabooks to Pegatron Technology.

The Ultrabooks released by Asustek in October will range in screen size from 11.6 inch to 13.3 inch.

Shih has said that the price drop in DRAM and other key components has enabled the company to lower the production cost of the Ultrabook, and will pass that savings on to the consumer.  With HP going in a different direction that PCs and Dell and Toshiba being cautious about the new Ultrabook, it should give a nice edge to Acer and Asustek who are bringing the first Ultrabooks to the market.

The Ultrabook is the next generation of laptop made by Intel.  The ultra slim laptop will be thinner than an inch and have flash memory that will let it boot up from sleep in less than 7 seconds.  The Ultrabook is expected to compete directly with the Macbook Air but at a much lower cost and also some models combined with a touchscreen will help it combine the usefulness and practicality of a tablet.

There are some rumors of other features that the Ultrabook will have, not a lot has been released about them.  We still do not know if HP or Asus will be the first with one on the market.  Here are some features that I would like the Ultrabook to have.

For starters, I would like a touchscreen.  I have read some reports that this will be included on later models, but probably not on the first Ultrabooks to hit the market.  A touchscreen would be the perfect touch to combine a laptop computer with a tablet.  Isn’t that what Intel is trying to do?  Hp, Acer, Asus, Lenovo and every other pc maker, please include a touchscreen on all models of the Ultrabook.

Secondly, I would like to have some USB ports.  I have read a few articles online stating that there won’t be any USB ports on the Ultrabook.  I really hope that they misread or were given wrong information.  USB connects so many of our devices like scanners, phones, card readers, printers, and cameras.  I can’t imagine paying a $1,000 for a “laptop” that doesn’t have USB ports.  Hopefully as more features leak out about the Ultrabooks, we can get a more definate answer on whether or not they will be included.

Other features that I would like but can live without would be a battery that lasts longer than 5 hours, maybe closer to 10 although I’m not sure if that is economically possible yet.  I know it can be done but they are trying to keep the price at $999 and under on all models.  A webcam for Skype would also be nice, and I would love to have an ”App” store for programs.

For now, we will have to just wait and see what features the different models have when they are released.  It could come as soon as September, but we definitely will know by Christmas.  Until then, all we can do is speculate and hope for features that we want.

Erik Reid,  Intel’s PC Client Group General Manager of Mobile Platforms Division, said “We are working very hard to bring the Ultrabook into the main stream…the prices will come down over time”.  Considering they are started at $999 and under, the price should be a great price point for consumers looking to save money, but have the latest in technology.

Intel launched Ultrabooks in May and said that they expect them to be 40% of all notebook sales by the end of 2012.   Ultrabooks will also focus on the enterprise market, with HP and Dell launching products of their own.

The company is excited about making products that will appeal to the generation that is drawn to the Apple iPad and Macbook Pro.  The success of those 2 products shows that consumers want a PC that is thin and light, yet has powerful as a bulky desktop PC.

With $300 million set aside for development of Ultrabooks for the next 3-4 years, Intel is staking a major investment in tablets and notebooks.  It won’t be easy to take over the market share that Apple has a large lead in.  With a price point significantly lower than the Macbook Pro, Intel will look to gain the consumer who is looking for a high performance notebook but at a reasonable price.

I know one thing, I will be the first in line to get one of the new Ultrabooks and see how it compares to the Macbook Pro.  If it preforms smoothly, Intel may have a hit product on their hand.

It is no secret that Intel is aiming at the Apple iPad and Macbook Air crowd.   The iPad and Macbook Air have been very successful for Apple, giving them the market share in the portable notebook and tablet market.

The Ultrabooks are rumored to be less than 21 millimeters thick, a tab bit thicker than the 17 milimeter Macbook Air.  A few versions maybe even thinner than that and it will wake up from sleep mode in under 7 seconds, thanks to the flash hard drive.

If Intel is going to be successful with the Ultrabook, they will have to make this Windows based PC/Tablet stand out from not only the current lineup of  Windows PCs, but also Apple products.  Other Smartbooks have failed to dent the iPad market share, but with $300 million to be  invested, I would not count Intel out of the tablet market.

The first Ultrabooks are scheduled to hit the market in September, with more models coming out towards the end of the year.  Competition is good, is ALWAYS helps the consumer.  Let’s just hope that Intel hits one out of the park with the Ultrabooks.  Tablets and ultra thin PCs are the future of computing, large bulky desktops will soon be a thing of the past.