Items tagged with Ultrabooks
Intel and Microsoft appear to be on the same page when it comes to touchscreen computing. With the launch of Windows 8 for x86 and Windows RT for ARM architectures, Microsoft made it crystal clear that touch navigation is the preferred method of getting around Windows, and rather than fight it, Intel jumped in Microsoft's corner and told its hardware partners that in order to market a 4th Generation Core processor (Haswell) system as an Ultrabook, it must have a touchscreen. Barring an unlikely backlash from buyers, what this inevitably means is that all Ultrabooks will soon have touchscreen displays....
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According to a joint survey from Intel and IDC, the PC market could see sunnier days in 2014. That's the proposed takeaway from a survey IDC conducted of 3,977 adults across both suburbs and cities. The respondents, who all owned at least one PC or Mac, were organized into two basic groups -- those using a PC 4 years old or older, and those using a PC purchased in the last 12 months. Between the two groups, 45% had tablets and 64% owned smartphones -- further underscoring that tremendous popularity of tablets in the American market. According to the survey, 40% of buyers are interested in upgrading...
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Logitech is going for a certain look and feel with its Z600 Bluetooth stereo speakers, which is to say that it’s trying for a sleek, high-end-looking product that matches the luster of ultrabooks. (Especially MacBooks, it would seem.) The twin speakers are quite fetching, with graceful curves and a long, tall stance. They’re sort of an aluminum-white in color, with speaker grills covering most of the outside and a white stripe down one side that contains the power button, Bluetooth button, and 3.5mm input. The flat top offers a volume control that you can manipulate by gliding your...
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As laptops and ultrabooks get thinner, even 9.5mm-thick mobile hard drives are starting to look bulky. Western Digital is stepping up with a new 1TB WD Blue hard drive, which comes in at a mere 7mm thick. The 2.5-inch drive supports standard 9.5mm drive bays in today’s laptops, but it’s also thin enough to accommodate future, compact notebooks. WD's Blue line has even thinner drives, albeit at lower capacities. “Users with large portfolios of content no longer need to sacrifice capacity when buying an Ultrabook or upgrading to a thin and light notebook,” said Matt Rutledge,...
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If the only thing preventing you from purchasing an Ultrabook is the price, we have good news. On the manufacturing side, it's in everyone's best interest to push the Ultrabook form factor, including Intel, which will attempt to get Ultrabooks into more homes by driving down and/or maintaining the cost of entry as new hardware emerges Intel's Kirk Skaugen recently told an audience at the Intel Solutions Summit (ISS) in Los Angeles that new Ultrabook models based on the chip maker's upcoming fourth generation Core processors (Haswell) will ship in time for the holiday shopping season with a starting...
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It's not unusual for a company's profits to come up short of analyst expectations, but what's interesting in Acer's case is fact that its performance in the third quarter of 2012 versus what the market experts were anticipating ended up being miles apart. Acer's net income in Q3 reached NT$68 million (about US$2.3 million), the second largest computer maker in Asia announced today. That's well short of the NT$503 million (US$17.2 million) average Bloomberg compiled based on 18 analyst estimates, and Acer doesn't appear willing to talk about the disparity, at least not yet. The company plans to...
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With so much attention being paid Ultrabooks, now and for the foreseeable future, Patriot Memory figured it might as well launch a memory line specifically for these types of systems. Hence today's unveiling of the company's "Memory for Ultrabook" line, which consist of ultra low power (ULP) SODIMMs compatible with Intel's 3rd Generation Core processor family. “Patriot Memory and Intel have been leaders in delivering the fastest and most optimized technologies for mobile platforms," said William Lai, Director of Product Management at Patriot Memory. "We’re excited to have Intel’s...
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The slim and light are getting slimmer and lighter. This morning, Acer announced the Aspire S7 Series of ultrabooks, the smallest of which has an 11.6-inch IPS touch screen at the full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The 11.6-inch Acer Aspire S7-191. The Aspire S7-191, which has the 11.6-inch display, is 0.47 inches thick and weighs 2.29 pounds. The Aspire S7-391 has the larger 13.3-inch screen and a Gorilla Glass 2 cover. According to Acer, the screen is built to withstand minor falls. Given Windows 8’s tablet-friendly interface, Acer built the 13.3-inch display to fold...
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The television market isn't growing as fast as display makers would like, and as we reported earlier in the month, global TV shipments actually declined for the second consecutive quarter, dropping 8 percent yer-over-over in Q2. That's bad news for companies like Sharp, who have made a living selling TV sets. Enter Intel to save the day, at least as far as Sharp is concerned. Sharp, which is in desperate need of cash, is reportedly getting some from Intel in exchange for supplying liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for Ultrabooks. Unlike the television market, Ultrabooks sales are expected to...
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Weak consumer demand and a limited impact from the Thailand floods in the last part of the year drove PC sales down significantly in the US, while the global market saw a smaller 1.4 percent decline. The impact of the HDD shortage is expected to bite partly in Q1; while the floods hit in Q4, most manufacturers had sufficient inventory levels to see them through much of the end of the year. “Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on...
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We’re making our way around the show floor at the Consumer Electronics Show and have some interesting tid-bits to share with you all from our tours of the Intel and SuperMicro booths in the Central and South Halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Not surprisingly, much of Intel’s focus this year has been on Ultrabooks. There are Ultrabooks virtually everywhere and all of Intel’s major mobile partners have shown off current or future Ultrabook desings in their respective displays or in Intel’s. There is a large tower...
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Intel continues to flog the ultrabook concept for all its worth, but DigiTimes reports that thus far, sales aren't in line with what OEMs expected. Shipments from Acer and Asus are currently expected to reach 100,000 units each by the end of the year, far short of the initial target of 200-300K units apiece. Part of the problem is reputed to be price—the Taiwanese models currently open at ~$1200, and the cheaper US $1000 option isn't available The report claims that lackluster specs and economic uncertainty have further dampened customer interest, while OEMs are leery of ramping production...
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The second day of IDF began with Mooly Eden, Intel VP and General Manager of the PC Client Group, and his keynote discussion, detailing the current state of the company’s business and Ultrabook plans. Eden’s keynote began with a talk about growth in overall PC sales, due mostly to increased demand in emerging markets. Mr. Eden also spoke of the adaptability of the PC and the many transformations it has made over the years to meet market demand and dictate new usage models and experiences. The discussion continued with some talk about the importance of the CPU,...
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As is traditionally the case, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini opened up the Intel Developer’s Forum with a keynote address in the theater at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The focus of Otellini’s talk was the “future of computing” and how Intel plans to capitalize on current trends and growth in the mobile device market. Otellini’s opinion is that we are still in the early stages in this evolution of computing and moving forward, no one device will be at the center of the computing experience. But of course, Intel plans to capitalize on all of them. ...
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