The X101 compared to a Macbook Air. Future Ultrabooks must take some cues from the humble netbook if they are to gain the interest of people looking for a secondary computer.
Being bored and having nothing to do, I went to look at the one and only Ultrabook in stores now – the Macbook Air. There were two versions of the Air, one with a larger screen and the other with a 11″ screen. The latter is what really impressed me.
Ultrabooks are really just something that will turn geeks on. If only because of its mesmerising dimensions. The computer is so thin, it can almost cut things. It closes so well that you really need nails to open the Air from anywhere else but the middle cut-out portion. It’s so light that you it really is like carrying a book. And it’s so thin that it won’t take up much space in your bag. It’s ultra-quiet, ultra-sexy and very much more powerful than a netbook.
I’d sure love to have one, but the MacBook Air is prohibitively expensive. At US$999, the MacBook air proves to be one of the most expensive notebooks out there with its configuration. But that can also be attributed to the fact that it comes with an Apple-product premium. And it’s a bit difficult to justify the expense when I prefer power over portability.
But that led me to think of something that would really interest me. I love the thinness of the Ultrabook, but the truth is that that’s all that I care about if I’m going to buy an Ultrabook. Intel’s philosophy of an Ultrabook, however, is a mix being a capable and ultra-thin notebook. However, when I think of the people who will use an Ultrabook, it seems that they’re gonna be people who don’t intend to game much – the only thing they’ll play on their computers are HD videos and watch a movie, perhaps. They won’t be editing videos in anything but Windows Movie Maker. They won’t be doing complex calculations on it. Most of the time, it’ll be something they use to get online and write things in Microsoft Word. Basically, when I buy an Ultrabook, my expectations would be akin to buying a notbook (i.e. high-performance netbook).
But when I went to see a notbook yesterday, and had a Macbook Air alongside, it seemed that, if you asked me to pay a 20% premium just to get a equally-configured Ultrabook (i.e. $400 vs $480), I wouldn’t mind. I don’t need a Core i3. I don’t need discrete graphics. I just want greater portability and the cool factor of having less than an inch thick. Right now, the cheapest Ultrabook will go about $700, according to PCWorld, but that can also be attributed to the fact that they’re still equipped with pricier processors.
I suspect that, if you’re like me, and you’re interested in gaming, you’ll have another rig – be it a desktop or a gaming notebook- to play games on. An Ultrabook will have issues matching up with a full-size gaming laptop because of its thinness – you’d have to pay through the nose, or you’d have to sacrifice some performance. Size does matter because we’re just not at that stage yet where you can cram lots of power in something so miniature.
Pragmatism will rule the day, and therefore it is in the interest of Ultrabook manufacturers to make something that makes sense. If my computers were outdated and I had to upgrade to something that can play today’s games, I won’t buy an Ultrabook. But as a secondary on-the-go computer, I’d imagine that it makes a lot of sense to buy a cheap Ultrabook that would exploit its inherent strength as a result of its form factor – ultraportability. Portability is an important consideration when buying a notebook, but for gamers like me, I put price, power, battery life and portability as my priorities in that order. But once my gaming needs are set aside, a secondary on-the-go computer would have these traits – cheap, portable, long-lasting battery. Power is not a significant consideration.
Inevitably, the latter ranking of priorities points to only one type of laptops – the humble netbook. If an Ultrabook can take a few cues from a netbook, it will move from my list of things I admire, to the list of things I’d buy.
Image: Laptop Computer Planet
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