It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
Summary: Why it's a good idea to hold on to your money for now!
Intel is using CES 2012 in Las Vagas as a platform for showing off the first wave of ultrabooks. But is it the wrong time to buy an ultrabook?
I think it is ... and here's why.
See also: James Kendrick's 'Ultrabook is going to confuse buyers'
Ultrabooks are the latest form factor to hit the PC market. They're essentially thin and light notebooks built out of brushed aluminum featuring decent processing power and good battery life. Think something along the lines of Apple's MacBook Air but instead of mac OS X you get Windows.
But not everyone is happy to jump onto the ultrabook bandwagon just yet. Ultrabooks have debuted at an awkward time seems that buyers are getting smarter, realizing that it they wait, they'll get a better deal.
So why is it the wrong time to buy an ultrabook?
- Windows 8 is on the horizon, and that will make that shiny new ultrabook seem like a fossil. While I still need convincing that Windows 8 has much to offer on the desktop, the OS will make compact systems like ultrabooks much easier to handle. Ultrabooks aren't tablets (yet) but they're tablet-like enough to benefit form Microsoft's new OS.
- Current ultrabooks are based on Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture. On the horizon are ultrabooks powered by the die-shrunk Ivy Bridge architecture which will bring better CPU and graphics power to the platform.
- The current lineup of ultrabooks are pretty basic when it comes to features. They're basically thin and light notebooks. Next-generation units will not only have better hardware but also come equipped with cooler features, such as touchscreens and voice control.
- The price will come down. Currently ultrabooks start at around $800, but Intel expects to be able to shave $100 off that by the end of the year. Doesn't seem like much, but combine it with better hardware and it makes sense to wait.
It makes sense to wait!
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Related:
- Did Intel fake the CES 2012 'Sandy Bridge' Ultrabook demo?
- Acer and ASUS unveil Windows ultrabook systems
- It's too early to declare Windows 8 an iPad killer
- Notebook OEMs playing it safe with Ultrabooks, limiting shipment volumes
- Acer: Ultrabooks and tablet PCs are a fad
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Talkback
Waiting on Windows 8...
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
Even if some PC manufacturer comes out with a convertible ultrabook-tablet, once you have used your multi-touch on the screen to play with the Metro interface you are back at Windows 7 and all of your x86 Windows applications. It will be more productive to flip the convertible back into notebook-mode to use those applications (imagine trying to use the Windows versions of Excel or Photoshop just using multi-touch instead of the keyboard and trackpad).
Wannabe MacBooks
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
Good one, Loverock.
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
Netbooks were out well before there were any airs. It was a highly lucrative product line for several years. No longer but it was. Apple missed that boat. They one up that business model line with air. The PC industry, no longer making good money off of netbooks are one uping air with ultrabooks.
And as you yourself pointed out there were super slim notebooks before air, so in fact, airs are the wannabes.
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
The market that Apple created with the 3rd generation Macbook Air's is new and different from the market for the Original Sony Vaio's, and Original Air's in that they are not Premium Priced (in the Mac World they are less than the Pro's) and they are very powerful (more powerful than 2 year old Xenon desk top machines).
The Original Sony ultra compact Laptops had major problems with Windows (their high tech stuff required unique Sony Drivers that broke everything MSFt updated Windows - I know as I owned a bunch of them and Original Air's and current Air). Both the Later Sony's and the Original Air was massively underpowered, such that you payed a premium for a wimpy machine to get portability.
Netbooks on the other thad were very low priced small laptops that could not run real software. They were cheap but underpowered (not just wimpy).
Most of the Ultrabooks so far are not in the same class as the Air as most use hard disks and do not offs the battery life of the Air (and are slightly bigger but not enough to matter in most cases), but offer a reasonable trade off in term of price / performance. Of course you have to be willing to use Windows rather than OSX which is ether a benefit or a show stopper for most people.
Look
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
1+ million PCs are shipped everyday. How many are Macs and how many are Pcs..... who's late?
PCs are ALL modeled after Macs!!
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
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RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
Get in line, buddy.
RE: It's the wrong time to buy an ultrabook
Windows 8???? Sheesh!
I have to let you in on a well-kept secret, Adrian. There is ALWAYS some Microsoft Windows version aborning in the great Redmond womb.
How about if we apply today's circumstances to today's products? And how about less free PR for Microsoft? For years, Microsoft PR flacks have made the old Communist politburo look like rank amateurs. Microsoft does not need any help from the press. Ah, but I forget. Without Microsoft, you would have less to write about, and maybe no job. Same as politics. Without stupid primaries, reporters on the political beat would be out of jobs, too.