Is 2012 the year of the Ultrabook?

Reading the coverage from the Consumer and Electronics Show (CES) is interesting. While many of the products that you see there are not destined for the Philippines Market, most will not be available for several months and a fair never will never actually see the light of day, it is a good place to see where the industry is heading.

HP Folio 13-1001TU: 13.3-inches, 3.3 pounds, Intel Core i5 inside, with 7+ hours of real world battery life for Php55,990.

Intel hopes to make 2012 the year of the Ultrabook. The Ultrabook is a new name for an old concept. Basically Ultrabooks  are thin, light, higgly portable laptops with long battery life. The concept really is nothing new. The Ultrabook moniker is really a set of design standards backed by a US$300,000,000 Intel fund the development of new technology. What Intel really aims to do is bring down the prices of what used to be the design of high end ultraportables to a level that makes it a mainstream computer laptop. How mainstream. By 2015, Intel hopes two of every five laptops sold will be ultrabooks.

Acer Aspire S3-951-2464G34iss: 13.3-inches, 2.89 pounds with an Intel Core i5 processor for Php44,990.

Intel feels this is the best way to combat the threat of tablets with affordable ultra portable laptops. I do not think the Ultrabook will not end the tablet frenzy but it will help hold the line by giving consumers more choices when looking for highly portable computers. 

Asus UX31e-RY009V: 13.3-inches, 1600 x 900 screen resolution, 3 pounds with Intel's Core i5 inside for Php59,990

In a way this is Netbook Part II. Some of you may still remember when the cheapest laptops were 15-inch platforms. You paid more for bigger laptops and for smaller laptops. Laptops with 10 to 12 inch laptops were terribly expensive The Netbook change that, and today, generally smaller is cheaper. The Netbook did mean compromising performance for portability and endurance a lot of sacrifice in terms of performance. The Ultrabook will continue this trend and convert today's Php40,000 to 50,000 four pound laptop into a sleeker one for the same money.  This time around, Intel hope to bring you more portability and endurance, without sacrificing performance.

When Windows 8 launches end of the year, touchscreen Ultrabooks will start appearing, and with this maybe the second coming of the Tablet PC. Basically, 2012 could be the most interesting year for laptops since 2008.