As Intel prepare for the Ivy-Bridge chipset/CPU in April ... we can expect a price drop for all current ultrabooks, which is great news for users who wants a slim, light-weight notebook for work and travel.
"Prices of the existing ultrabooks are expected to see a 20-30% drop in early March to April to help digesting notebook vendors' inventories as Intel is set to announce its next-generation Ivy Bridge platform in April, according to analysis offered by sources from channel retailers.
In addition to ultrabooks, mainstream notebooks and desktops that feature existing Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs and priced between NT$22,000-28,000 (US$746-949) will also have chance to drop to an even lower level."
Ultrabooks is the way to go for 2010 ... no more bulky and clunky laptops. But according to Digitimes ... ultrabooks will account for 25% of total notebook sales? Mmmm ... not sure about that.
"Acer plans to launch its second-generation ultrabook models in the second quarter of 2012 and more new models in the third, with ultrabooks to account for 25-35% of its total notebook shipments for the year, according to company chairman JT Wang.
Sales of Acer's first ultrabook, the Aspire S3, totaled about 250,000-300,000 units in the first quarter after launch, and the company expects sales for its new Aspire S5 tablet PC will be even better."
Engadget has a round-up of the all the Ultrabooks on display at this year's CES 2012. Go check it out ... I love the Samsung Series 9 Ultrabooks.
"Intel is betting the farm on its Ultrabook concept as its hardware partners continued to push out the first real wave of laptops designed to take on the MacBook Air (who thought we'd be saying that four years ago?). Whatever your feelings on these devices, given Santa Clara's billion-dollar advertising push, you won't be able to ignore them this year. So, let's take a look at five of the best products that rolled off the keynotes into the hands of our editors."
"The cover has a brushed aluminum texture, with a shiny stylized VAIO logo stamped in the center. When closed, it's not the thinnest Ultrabook, from what we can tell. It also has a glossy 13-inch display and Sony's signature chicklet keyboard. Above the keyboard, you've got a row of small physical buttons, denoting power on / off, VAIO, Web and Assist -- familiar functions, all. In front of the keyboard is a seamless clickpad, with another VAIO logo sitting to the left."
Woohoo! ... 1 prediction down, 4 to go. I told you all about "hands-free" or gesture-control computing ... and it's coming from Intel and of course, using Microsoft OS although we're not sure which version.
"Intel has shown off gesture-controlled ultrabooks with built-in tilt sensors and touch-free credit card readers. The chip maker said more than 75 laptop models - with less advanced features - are in the pipeline this year.
The US firm told a Consumer Electronics Show press conference that it planned to launch its biggest marketing campaign in nearly a decade to back the format, starting in April. The move may help the firm offset slowing desktop PC sales.
Mooly Eden, the vice president and general manager of Intel's PC group, dedicated most of his presentation to the user-experience that ultrabooks offer, giving only brief mention to the technology behind its upcoming Ivy Bridge and Haswell processors."
I love the Vizio ultrabooks ... they look mega-thin. Well worth a look, that's if you're in the market for one.
"Intrigued by the news from Bloomberg earlier this week? Well, Vizio has just made its plunge into the PC business official. While not offering much more information than the earlier reports, we're still anxiously awaiting specs and pricing but what we do know is that when the family arrives this spring, it will be sporting a "clean" system image optimized by Microsoft itself and ostensibly free of bloatware. Based on what we'd gathered already, we know that 24 and 27-inch all-in-one PCs will make their debut alongside 14 and 15.6-inch thin + light laptops in addition to a 15.6-inch regular ol' laptop -- all powered by Windows 7."
Now this looks real sexy ... an ultrabook powered by a hybrid core processor with x86/ARM support. Nice ... I want one!!
"Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 was introduced in May 2011, and the company now is readying an innovative follow-up: the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid. The 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Hybrid is built around Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processor and Windows 7. In addition, the ThinkPad X1 includes Gorilla Glass, Dolby Home Theater v4 audio, HDMI-out, Intel Wireless Display technology, and Rapid Charge technology that allows the notebook to reach an 80 percent charge in a quick 30 minutes.
However, the most interesting part of the laptop comes courtesy of its "Hybrid" nomenclature. The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid includes a secondary Qualcomm dual-core ARM processor and 16GB of flash storage. This Instant Media Mode (IMM) allows a user to enter an Android-based environment for multimedia playback, web browsing, and productivity work (i.e. working on documents and spreadsheets)."
Intel's forthcoming next-gen ATOM processor aka Cedar Trail gets benchmarked by Notebook Live ... take a look at the benchmarks ... oops, they've taken it down due to NDA.
"First though, let’s have a quick look at this new processor. The N2600 is part of Intel’s new line of low-power CPUs, named Cedar Trail, and is built on 32 nm lithography. The official specs for the CPU are not yet available, but we do know that we have a dual-core CPU, with HT, clocked at 1.6 GHz. It includes Intel HD 3600 Integrated graphics running at 400 MHz, Direct X10.1 compatible (based on specs) and it should support only up to 2 GB of DDR3 RAM. As James noted in one of his comments here, it does not offer Flash hardware acceleration support, but it should be able to handle up to 1080P self-stored videos (plus, the little laptop offer an HDMI port, which supports this assumption)."
Press Release: RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – December 6, 2011: Lenovo announced today the ThinkPad X130e laptop, specially ruggedized for education and with the features needed to help students in grades K-12 and their schools get the most out of their PC technology. Equipped with the advanced technology expected for an educational laptop, the ThinkPad X130e comes with choices of the latest Intel or AMD processors and fast, integrated graphics as well as wireless connectivity and multimedia tools for today's digital learning. Designed to be handled by kids, the ThinkPad X130e has a reinforced and extra durable top cover, keyboard and hinges. Schools will also like its performance, reliability and customizable options including asset tags, BIOS modifications, custom imaging and a broad selection of custom colors.
