Pinboard (guardiantech)

Touchscreen to become standard specification for third-generation ultrabooks >> Digitimes

guardiantech — 2013-04-11T15:57:21+00:00

Intel has decided to make touchscreen functions a standard specification for its third-generation ultrabooks, which is expected to launch shortly after the release of its Haswell platform in early June, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
However, overall related costs will increase by at least US$70-80, and while Intel hopes its brand partners to offer their ultrabooks at a price level in the sweet spot of the market, the sources are concerned that the strategy will greatly shrink ODM profits, despite Intel marketing subsidies.

Digitimes etc etc. But: we're in the third generation of ultrabooks? And: they think higher assembly costs will let them sell at the same price?

HP Envy Spectre XT TouchSmart review >> The Verge

guardiantech — 2013-03-25T15:40:36+00:00

Battery life is where the Envy Spectre XT TouchSmart’s value falls apart. In our Verge Battery Test, where we run through a series of high-res images and websites over a wireless connection with screen brightness set to a modest 65 percent, the laptop lasted just 3 hours, 34 minutes. That’s already one of the lowest scores we’ve seen from an ultrabook — a full hour below even its shortest-lived competitors — but you haven’t heard the worst yet.
When I tried to actually use the Spectre XT TouchSmart with my typical workload of auto-refreshing browser tabs, two push email accounts, and Pandora streaming music in the background, the laptop died after just 2 hours and 18 minutes of use. There’s a word for that: atrocious. HP currently quotes a 5 hour, 15 minute battery life, but I can’t imagine a realistic computing scenario where that would be true.

Looks good, has a good touchscreen, fails on this part. Is this really where ultrabooks are? Is the touchscreen the cause of the shortened life?

Ultrabook vendors concerned about revision of MacBook Air in 2013 >> Digitimes

guardiantech — 2012-12-30T18:14:41+00:00

Apple has issued requests for quotations (RFQ) to Taiwan-based supply chain makers for the revision of several notebook models including MacBook Pro and MacBook Air series in June 2013, causing ultrabook vendors to be concerned, according to supply chain makers.
The sources pointed out that the MacBook Air for 2013 will feature a new processor platform, but its industrial design will not see any major changes.
The sources noted that pressure on ultrabook vendors mainly comes from the Air's price since Apple is likely to reduce the prices for its existing MacBook Airs before the launch of the new models which could take away demand for ultrabooks.

Shipments of ultrabooks, ultra-like models to double in 2013, say Taiwan makers >> Digitimes

guardiantech — 2012-11-26T17:09:11+00:00

Ultrabooks will account for 10% of global notebook shipments in 2013, and ultra-like ones will make up another 10%, the sources estimated.

On the basis that notebooks are about 60% of total PC shipments, that would make ultrabooks about 12% of total PC shipments, or 41m over the year (assuming 340m total Windows PC shipments).

Black Friday to be crucial market test for convertible notebooks, say Taiwan makers >> Digitimes

guardiantech — 2012-11-22T22:06:39+00:00

The Black Friday peak sales period starting from November 23 in the US is seen as a crucial market test for convertible notebooks which combine features of ultrabooks and tablets, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.
The sources pointed out that the attractiveness of Windows 8 as well as consumers' acceptance of touchscreen features in notebook devices will also become major factors affecting demand for convertible notebooks.

Ultrabooks have so far disappointed. Will convertibles (which have tried and failed once before, about ten years ago) succeed instead?

A good Ultrabook, a bad tablet: the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 review >> Ars Technica

guardiantech — 2012-11-22T10:45:20+00:00

There are three major problems with using the Yoga as you would an iPad or even a Surface tablet. The first two are, obviously, size and weight. This is a full Ivy Bridge system. While it's reasonably thin and light for a laptop, it's pretty thick and heavy for a tablet. The 13-inch screen also makes it awkward to hold for long periods of time, especially with one hand. It does somewhat better if you're sitting in a chair, on a train, or in a plane with it resting in your lap, but it's still not something you'd want to carry around your house.
The other problem is the keyboard—since the screen flips all the way around on its hinge, it leaves the keyboard and trackpad completely exposed. The laptop disables keyboard and trackpad input when not in laptop mode, so accidental input isn't a problem, but it still makes the computer awkward to hold while in tablet mode. This is all to say nothing of the extra wear you're exposing the keyboard and wrist rest to by placing it on a flat surface and scooting it around.

The full flip on the hinge is clever, though. (Thanks @hotsoup for the link.)

Dell announces new XPS dockable windows tablet and convertible ultrabook >> PCWorld

guardiantech — 2012-11-13T22:40:21+00:00

The XPS Duo 12's unusual screen-flipping design will no doubt remind you of the Inspiron Duo convertible tablet, whose screen also popped out of its keyboard case. Though innovative in its design, the Inspiron Duo didn't last too long in the market, thanks in part to the device's lackluster specs, including a mediocre display and underpowered Atom processor.
The XPS Duo 12 will hopefully overcome those issues by combining the flipping design with Ultrabook specs. Dell's press release highlights the XPS Duo 12's premium materials: an aluminum and carbon fiber chassis plus a Corning Gorilla Glass display.

Answers a later question about where the Windows 8 tablets are. They're folded into Dell designs, to begin with.

MacBook Air to occupy 39% of global slim notebook market in 2012, 28% in 2013, say Taiwan makers >> Digitimes

guardiantech — 2012-10-05T13:30:52+00:00

Apple's MacBook Air is expected to have a global market share of 39% for slim notebooks in 2012 and the market share will slip to 28% in 2013 due to increasing sales of ultrabooks, according to Taiwan-based notebook supply chain makers.

If the market expands but sales remain static, market share falls. Inexorable.

Ultrabooks still racking up infra sales >> AllThingsD

guardiantech — 2012-08-30T17:45:44+00:00

According to new research from Barclays, Ultrabooks accounted for only about 5 percent of all laptops sold in the second quarter. That’s not even half of what the PC manufacturers who make them had been expecting. Clearly, Intel’s Ultrabook concept — which was supposed to prop up the PC market and win over consumers to whom Apple’s MacBook Air and iPad appeal — isn’t gaining quite the sort of traction the chip giant had hoped for.
And that traction isn’t likely show up until PC manufacturers are able to lower their prices. According to Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh, 75 percent of the Ultrabooks currently available at Best Buy cost more than $950. Of those, several command prices of more than $1,300.

From February: Intel's UK head interviewed about ultrabook expectations on Tech Weekly.

Asus UX32VD Zenbook Teardown >> iFixit

guardiantech — 2012-08-16T14:23:01+00:00

Today we tore apart the Zenbook UX32VD, Asus’ flagship Ultrabook. And the Zenbook lived up to its name, giving us very little frustration during deconstruction.
Even though it lost by a couple of millimeters in the slimness race against the MacBook Air, the Zenbook more than made up for it with stellar repairability. With an upgradeable RAM slot, swappable 2.5″ hard drive, and a battery that can be easily replaced, the Zenbook earned an 8 out of 10 repairability score, easily trumping the soldered-RAM-and-proprietary-SSD MacBook Air’s meagre 4 points.

Lenovo to release ThinkPad X1 Carbon business ultrabook in August >> FierceMobileIT

guardiantech — 2012-08-08T20:08:53+00:00

The new ultrabook is designed specifically to appeal to business users and includes a number of Lenovo's security apps and Intel's vPro technology. The new ultrabook is .71-inches thick and weighs in at 3 pounds. This is about twice as thick and twice as heavy as a third-generation iPad, but thinner and lighter than most ultrabooks.

Prices starting at $1,399 up to $1,849.

Notebook vendors to push ultra-like notebook models >> Digitimes

guardiantech — 2012-04-27T05:17:26+00:00

The high prices of second-generation ultrabooks which are set to appear in early June of around US$1,000 are unlikely to help them win-over consumers; therefore, notebook vendors plan to launch ultra-like notebook models with lower prices along with the new ultrabooks to help boost sales, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Acer is reportedly set to push 13- to 15-inch ultrabooks and Asustek plans to announce two ultrabook models featuring 11- and 13-inch IPS panels shortly.

"Lower-priced ultra-like" notebooks. Or as they're also known, cheap notebooks.

MacBook Air with Windows 7 review: the ultrabook to rule them all? >> The Verge

guardiantech — 2012-02-10T22:15:19+00:00

Joanna Stern has really smart idea: run Windows 7 on a MacBook Air via Parallels and Boot Camp.

The MacBook Air is simply best in class when it comes to hardware. The build is outstanding, the touchpad works better with Microsoft’s operating system than any other laptop trackpad out there, and the display makes Windows look better than ever. All that combined with very snappy performance makes the Air more enjoyable to use than many of the other ultrabooks on the market, including the higher end $1,110 Asus Zenbook and the $1,200 Lenovo IdeaPad U300s.

It's expensive, and the battery life is worse. But it kicks all the others in the display and trackpad, Stern says.

CES 2012: Intel Lays Out Its 2012 Ultrabook Strategy, Concept Laptops - Tested

guardiantech — 2012-01-09T21:36:37+00:00

Services such as PayPass—which will allow users to make payments by tapping their credit cards to the device using NFC—and Nuance speech recognition are being incorporated into new Intel partner devices. The goal, said the chip giant, is not only to produce thinner and lighter machines, but laptops that are both fast and capable too, thanks to Intel’s forthcoming Ivy Bridge chipset.

Ultrabooks? They're just lighter, thinner laptops >> AllThingsD

guardiantech — 2012-01-05T22:39:18+00:00

Ina Fried: "Intel plans to make sure that if you haven’t heard of Ultrabooks, you soon will. The chipmaker, which has trademarked the name, is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into both the manufacturing and the marketing of Ultrabooks. "Well, I have another word for them. I call them laptops." Party pooper.

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook review >> This is my next...

guardiantech — 2011-10-15T19:33:59+00:00

Fascinating review, because the only part where it is complimentary is on the boot and resume times. On everything else - keyboard quality, build quality, performance, battery life (they couldn't get it above three and a half hours) - it's not as good as rivals, especially Samsung. Notice how Samsung is the name that keeps getting complimentary comments: it is beginning to look like the only company that can properly challenge Apple in both PCs and phones. It even has its own mobile OS.

Acer’s Aspire S3 ultrabook hits US shelves October 16th for $900 >> This is my next...

guardiantech — 2011-10-12T05:54:18+00:00

"And Acer is the first out of the ultrabook gate — the 0.51-inch thick, 2.89-pound Aspire S3 that we were quite impressed with back at IFA will be touching down on [the US] side of the Atlantic on October 16th for just $899.99. The price is in line with Intel’s sub-$1,000 ultrabook target, but Acer’s getting there with the always-clever flash and hard drive combo trick. While the 13.3-inch laptop (or MacBook Air replica) boasts a Core i5-2467M processor, Intel’s integrated HD graphics, and 4GB of RAM, Acer’s gone with a 20GB SSD to house its Windows 7 Home Premium OS and a 320GB, 5400RPM hard drive for files and less frequently used application storage." Hmm, Flash and spinning hard drive? But it will be interesting to see how this sells.