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Intel promises Ultrabooks will become Tablet PCs

Intel sees the new Ultrabook evolving into a convertible notebook. It seems the company has forgotten the Tablet PC has been around for a decade.
Written by James Kendrick, Contributor

Intel talked up the new Ultrabook at a technology conference this week, and excitedly described the "new" category evolving to include swivel screens with touch. According to Intel CFO Stacy Smith Ultrabooks of the future will combine the touch tablet with a laptop, apparently forgetting that's been done before.

"You'll have the ability to have flip screen, it'll be touch mode in certain situations [then] you flip it back around and it's a real productivity device. Now that's not going to happen in 2011, but in time that's how we're going to evolve this [Ultrabook] platform," he said.

That description and detail in the photo above describe the convertible notebook, aka Tablet PC, that has been around for a decade. The Tablet PC has served as a niche device for certain business segments but never caught on with the buying public.

While a thinner, lighter version of the convertible notebook would be better than the Tablet PC that has existed for so long, the form and function has never had mass appeal and likely won't in the future, either. It seems Intel is choosing to overlook the Tablet PC's history in the market and hopes this "brand new product" will grab the fancy of consumers. Sounds like a pipe dream to me. Perhaps Intel has been influenced by the bipolar nature that Windows 8 will have, supporting both notebooks and tablets?

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