ultrabooks

Lenovo is expected to announce an Ultrabook and a 7-inch Android tablet in the coming weeks, CNET has learned.

The IdeaPad U300s would be Lenovo's first portable tagged as an Ultrabook--a category of sub-0.8-inch-thick laptops that has many of the hallmarks of Apple's MacBook Air. That is, weighing typically 3 pounds or less, constructed from special materials like aluminum or carbon fiber, powered by Intel Sandy Bridge processors, and priced--at least some models--below $1,000.

During Lenovo's earnings conference call last week, Chief Operating Officer Rory Read said that Ultrabooks would "reach mainstream price points...that were only 18 months ago in premium segments."

"The Ultrabook, like the tablet, is a legitimate member of the high-mobility class of devices," said Roger Kay, the principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies. The initial iteration of the Ultrabook is expected to hew to the traditional clamshell laptop design. "So, it's a very portable device that comes in a very useful form factor," Kay said.

A video of the U300s appeared in late May from the Computex show floor. Cosmetically, it resembles the 0.7-inch-thick IdeaPad U260 announced last November.

But that's not all Lenovo has in store. The 7-inch IdeaPad A1 tablet is also expected to be rolled out. A similar tablet has already gone on sale in China, according to Netbook News. The tablet for the China market is spec'd with a 1,024x600 display, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 3622 processor, 512MB system memory, 16GB storage, and micro-USB and microSD slots. … Read more

Ultrabooks are coming. The first wave of superslim laptops are expected to hit in force by the holiday season. Earlier this week, I spoke with Greg Welch, director of Intel's Ultrabook group, to get a better idea of what an Ultrabook is.

Though Intel won't make Ultrabooks, it will supply the core components, so it is intimately involved in the platform. And, as Welch, describes it, the Ultrabook is "an initiative to advance the state of the art of the notebook experience across several years."

Question: Can you talk about some of the new technologies Intel … Read more

Lenovo, which reported first-quarter earnings in Hong Kong on Thursday, discussed its upcoming strategy for Ultrabooks--ultraslim, light Windows laptops that compete with the MacBook Air.

During the earnings conference call on Thursday, Chief Operating Officer Rory Read spoke about Lenovo's Ultrabook strategy in response to a question from an analyst. "Lenovo will invest in innovation to be a leader in that space and that will drive demand. No doubt," he said, referring to the Intel-based laptops.

Read continued. "You'll see us introduce over the coming quarters the ability to reach mainstream price points with [Ultrabook] … Read more

This episode, the Google/Motorola deal is the big news of the day, but we also delve into the murky world of Intel's Ultrabook concept, as well as some MIA Samsung laptops. Also--a quick rundown of the biggest, baddest 18-inch gaming laptop ever, and a chance to pick up a sweet Call of Duty T-shirt, just by commenting on our Facebook page.

Bonus: Download the show's jaunty theme song as a free MP3 here.

… Read more

With Intel now kicking in $300 million to partner with PC makers on its ultrabook concept, one has to ask whether this purported revolution in mobile computing is on shaky ground. After all, representatives of several of the major computer companies could barely stifle a yawn when I've asked them (both pre- and post-$300,000,000) about their plans for, or enthusiasm about, the ultrabook category.

The basic pitch, not that it has been particularly clearly communicated by anyone to date, is this: We can already make a really thin laptop with decent battery life and a fast, power-efficient processor (as opposed to low-performance CULV chips, which led to modest battery life gains, but serious performance hits)--but these tend to start out expensive, and only go up from there. We also know how to make pretty decent midprice laptops, in the $600-$900 range, and that's a comfortable budget for many computer shoppers. What if, the ultrabook theory states, we could somehow make a thin, full-featured laptop, and also get the price down to that magic range everyone from small-business owners to students likes to shop in?

Sounds like a solid idea, but the R&D required for such a new category would be extensive, which is where the Intel investment comes in. But the problems go further than that. To be blunt, there are a lot of great, reasonably thin laptops already available in that price range (Acer's Timeline X, Toshiba's R835, Samsung's Series 3), and shaving a few tenths of an inch off them would not necessarily make a huge difference to most consumers. … Read more

Intel will not give in to demands of Ultrabook vendors to reduce the price of its CPUs by 50 percent, DigiTimes is reporting.

Citing anonymous sources, the Taiwan-based publication said that Intel was asked by its Ultrabook vendor partners to cut the price on its CPUs to help the companies improve their chances of profitability on the upcoming machine. However, for fear of missing out on its own profitability marks, Intel has agreed only to a 20 percent discount and some assistance with marketing costs.

Intel introduced Ultrabooks earlier this year. The yet-to-be-released computers from vendor partners, such as Asus, feature a laptop-like design with "tablet-like features." In order to qualify as an Ultrabook, a computer must be 0.8-inches thick or less and cost under $1,000. For its part, Intel has high hopes for Ultrabooks, saying that they could make up a large chunk of portable shipments in the coming years.

"Many of the super-sleek devices today are quite pricey. The price points need to become more mainstream," Intel marketing chief Tom Kilroy told CNET in an interview earlier this year. "And as volume ramps, say by the end of 2012, we think as much as 40 percent of the volume will be in this ultra category."… Read more

What's an Ultrabook? According to Intel, it's a superthin MacBook Air-like laptop with great battery life and a solid-state drive, which is less than .8 inch thick. Most people couldn't tell you that, though. It's not surprising then, perhaps, that Intel Capital has created a $300 million Ultrabook Fund to drive continuing growth in the category. It is, however, significant news.

According to the press release sent today, Intel's Ultrabook Fund will "invest in companies building hardware and software technologies focused on enhancing how people interact with Ultrabooks such as through sensors and touch, … Read more

A rumored Acer laptop appears to offer a striking likeness to the MacBook Air, though Acer wouldn't be the first to offer a design that closely adheres to Apple's design parameters.

The 13.3-inch Aspire 3951 will have many of the hallmarks of the Air, including an aluminum chassis, a weight of about 3 pounds, and a thickness of about 0.5 inches, according to Vietnam-based tech Web site Sohoa.

And like other Ultrabooks, it will use Intel's Sandy Bridge processors and come with a 160GB solid-state drive option, according to Sohoa, which says ports include HDMI and USB and battery life is said to be six hours.

Of course, the biggest difference is that Ultrabooks like the Aspire and Asus' UX21 and UX31 (also Air look-alikes) will run Windows 7, not OS X. Price may also set them apart. The Vietnamese Web site hints at prices starting as low as $800, which would be about $200 less than the cheapest Air. No release date information was given, and Acer declined to comment.

(Via Electronista)… Read more

Staples has begun selling the 11.6-inch Samsung Series 3 laptop for $619 after "instant savings," one of the least expensive ultraportables based on Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processor.

The Series 3 presages sub-$800 Ultrabooks likely to appear in 2012 from PC makers. Though--with a maximum thickness of about 1 inch--it's not as thin as Ultrabooks are expected to be, the weight is about right at 2.8 pounds.

The silicon is similar to Ultrabooks too. In this case, an ultra power efficient Intel Core i3-2357M Sandy Bridge processor.

Unlike the Samsung Series 9 (which … Read more