Intel says Ultrabooks trump MacBook Air, iPad

In an interview published on Monday, two Intel representatives claim that the features, price point and operating system of Ultrabooks beat out Apple’s thin-and-light MacBook Air and iPad tablet.

Intel says that the products coming from its Ultrabook initiative are more functional than Apple’s iPad and represent a better value than the MacBook Air, for which the company currently supplies processors, reports PC World. If you are in need of a new laptop but are not sure which is the best one for programming and coding, for example, taking a look into this source may make the decision process a lot easier.

Product manager Anand Kajshmanan and media relations representative Alison Wesley sat down to discuss Intel’s vision of what a so-called best ultrabook represents, and why it is investing so heavily in the program.

“‘Ultra’ means pinnacle, and we wanted the Ultrabook to be the pinnacle of everything that users have come to expect from their computing device,” the representatives said. “So we did extensive research into what users’ expectations were for their mobile computing devices, and there were four things that really stood out.”

The definition of the Ultrabook category comes down to a product that is “ultra-responsive,” portable, has great battery life and is safe and sound. Intel goes on to say that the power of the project lies not only in the platform, but the variety of devices that are available which it calls a “surplus of choices.”
When asked to compare existing and future products against the popular Mac-Book Air, the pair noted that the device is powered by an Intel Core processor, shares some of the same attributes as an Ultra-book and represents a “great choice for someone who wants to spend in the Mac operating system.”
“But really, with the Ultra-book, it’s about offering all those things in the same device–the great receptiveness, the great battery life–and with an operating system that people have come to love more than the years, as well as all the inheritance applications that they would like to run,” they said.

Apple’s MacBook Air will be in direct competition with upcoming Ultrabooks. Are you currently a MacBook user? If so, you might be interested in checking out this source link that contains an overview of some of the most popular VPN services for Mac computers. Ultimately, we should all be doing more to protect our online privacy and security, and using a VPN can enhance both. | Source: Apple

One of the key differentiators is price of entry and Intel believes that it can bring the most value to the table by pouring down traditionally high device cost to reach “ordinary cost points.”

“We have the $300-million Intel capital fund to kick-start this innovation and we’re bringing everyone together and saying, hey, this is a great opportunity,” the representatives said. “We’re definitely working with our partners to supply a lot more volume, which will bring Ultrabooks down to the ordinary cost points.” It would be interesting to see the ultrabook for gaming. A friend told me that there is a great range of ultrabooks for gaming from Razer, he says that they can play all of the AAA games out at the moment and is small enough to fit into his bag.

An exact number was not mentioned, and Intel finds “ordinary” to mean what the market will bear.
As for the iPad, Intel dismisses the tablet because it doesn’t have the tangible feedback that comes with a keyboard. This is not to say that the company has written off touch input altogether, however, and thinks that touch-screens will be a huge selling point in 2012 and 2013.

Upcoming Ultra-books sporting designs that can transform from clamshell into tablets are thought to be big sellers and although related products have been available for some time, Intel’s thin and light platform will make the format a bit more portable. Windows 8 was mentioned as being a driver in touch computing on convertible laptops.

The Lenovo Yoga features a convertible design and is expected to launch later in 2012. | Source: Lenovo

The future of the Ultrabook has yet to be determined, though some analysts don’t see the sector generating the sales Intel is looking for. Apple, on the other hand, has seen success with its new macbook pro Air line which, as of November 2011, accounted for 28 percent of the company’s notebook shipments. In addition to MacBook Air sales, the strong performance seen by the iPad helped make Apple the world’s largest computer maker in 2011, and analysts only expect the tablet’s market to grow in 2012. Apple’s newest iPad enjoyed record sales of over 3 million units during its first weekend on sale earlier in March.