What, Exactly, Is an Ultrabook?

Intel will tell you the former-that Ultrabooks represent a revolutionary "new era" in computing. Intel's role is to provide the ultra-thin guts to PC manufacturers like Toshiba, Acer and Asus, who bundle the hardware into their own unparalleled takes on the ultrabook form.

Good things continue on the inside. Intel's Sandy Bridge integrated graphics can power DirextX 11 graphics without breaking too much of a sweat. Built-in nearly-field communication brings the opportunity of instantaneous info transfers from NFC-equipped objects for quickly entering credit card info, sharing links and photos, and more. When paired with Intel's hardware-based identity protection system, which verifies your info is coming from your computer, it's a convenient and secure package. Intel's as well partnering with the voice-recognition company Nuance to provide the computing muscle necessary for advanced Siri-like speech controls, however without having to connect with the cloud.

Intel's as well interested in playing with user interfaces. Personally I'm skeptical of their claim this morning that touching our laptops' screens will ever be a viable method of interacting with them. Right now, I can only see this being usable on hybrid tablet-laptop devices like Asus's Transformer Prime, especially when paired with Windows 8's touch-focused interface components.

The elephant in the room for Intel

The elephant in the room for Intel and the PC makers, clearly, is that the MacBook Air has been on sale since January 2008. The current generation, the first to fully and with no compromises in power replace a larger laptop for day in day out use, has been on the market since late 2010. There's a lot of catching up to do, hence the major marketing. Eventually, we'll be dealing with tons more sleeker, lighter and faster Windows laptops on the market. A good thing? Anyway. Akin to man's discovery of the iron plow? Probably not.

A comment about the MacBook air, I have never used one because in my own opinion I find the Mac OS less friendly than Windows, however that is because I have used Windows for forever. Back on topic still is that, being that Windows is the dominant OS, these will more than likely be far more popular than MacBook Airs.

Also, I disagree that touch screen won't work so then with laptops, as much as I hate to admit it, using windows 8 without touch screen is like using a TV without a remote, viable, however uncomfortable. If you don't believe me, get a Windows 8 developer copy on a VM and see for yourself. I'ts fantastic, yet without touchscreen is terribly awkward.

The age of the old desktop pc is disappearing

the age of the "old desktop pc" is disappearing.....in the near future ultrabooks and tablets will dominate the computer industry. its scary how fast the innovation revolution is moving.....

i spent the better part of 2 years fixing computers for a living and most of those were laptops. 75 percent of the time the problems existed because the laptop was using old research for new programs or the laptop was getting too hot on a consistent basis. i will personally never own a laptop in other words bigger than a netbook. my main computer will always be a desktop until they fix the overheating problem.

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