Ultrabook Challenges the Tablet

The iPad gave life to a stunted category in mobile computing: the tablet. Consumers quickly adopted the iPad. It's in spite of everything early to get the final numbers on last year, still Gartner report from September forecast media tablet sales to total 63.6 million units for 2011, an increase from 17.6 million units in 2010. It doesn't seem like anything can stop the popularity of tablets, nevertheless a new category of notebook computer might just do that.

The Ultrabook

The Ultrabook, a class of laptop in the Intel family, just might pull the tablet from dominating the mobile computing category. It's thin, it's light, and it has a keyboard. An Ultrabook owes a certain credit to the Macbook Air. "Apple Macbook Air introduced the world to this new category a during ago," says Tech Analyst Jeff Kagan. "This has been a very popular and successful design. When all is said and done the Microsoft Windows version is here and is actually cranking up. Actually we can expect dozens of brand new devices will be launched at CES straightway week."

Like the Macbook Air, and Netbooks, the Ultrabook category has an emphasis on connectivity and lacks inputs just as a CD- or DVD-ROM, Ethernet card and the sort. The notebook typically has a USB port. The advantage over the Netbook is that an Ultrabook typically has more power and a few key features that give it a bang for your buck.

Ultrabook offers the Intel Rapid Start Innovation

An Ultrabook offers the Intel Rapid Start Innovation, which means your laptop will conserve battery in sleep mode, at the time return to full operational power within seconds of "turning" the power on. Smart Response Innovation stores frequently used files and programs for quick access. Smart Connect Research continually updates email, apps and social networking programs even when the system is asleep, so when you look at the program it's up to date.

There are pros and cons for both categories. The tablet is an attractive device, nevertheless the focus is very much on consumption. Aside from the iPod, which is an iOS device, most tablets are based on the Android operating system with a few devices on other software operating systems. This means if you want to do word processing, you probably will want to use Google Docs, or another cloud-based software. Tablets are great for watching video, using apps and checking social networking. Yet back to the word processing point, you probably aren't going to sit down with the tablet and compose more than a brief email on the soft keyboard. During people love the slick ability of the tablet, a common complaint is the lack of support for content creation, namely a keyboard or any tools for composing longer documents.

The Ultrabook will eat away at the tablet market

For now we can say the Ultrabook will eat away at the tablet market. "Tablets are great. Many love these devices. They are not going away. The question is will their growth slow as the new category heats up," says Kagan. "Based on very early numbers and excitement I would say yes. Apple iPad will remain hot. Other tablet computers have been more disappointing. They will all the same be affected by the Ultrabook."

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