Posts Tagged ‘intel ultrabook’

Ultrabook production to go full force in 4th Quarter 2011

If  you have been waiting to get your hands on one of the new Intel Ultrabooks coming out, your wait will soon be over.  Several OEM’s have said that they plan to ramp up production of the Ultrabook in the 4th quarter of 2011.  According to industry sources, Quanta Computer will begin production of the HP Ultrabook sometime in November.

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.

Features I’m looking for in the Ultrabook

There have been some great features that have come out that will be in the new Intel Ultrabook.  We know that it will be really thin, less than .8 of an inch thick.  We know that it will have at least a 5 hour battery life and that it will run on flash memory that gives it the ability to awake from sleep in less than 7 seconds.

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.