What is an Ultrabook

Ultrabooks are the future of computing. At least that is what Intel wants you to believe, and they are doing everything that they can to make sure that it is.

The idea behind these devices, is that they are about the same size as a Tablet, and that they have enough power to get any kind of computing done. In fact, the only thing that these things aren't good for is gaming, which they aren't good at, because they lack powerful graphics.

They have enough graphics power to get some photo editing done, and a little light gaming, but they are not designed for hardcore gamers.

Some of these devices main competition comes from the Macbook Air, but they measure up to their competition pretty well. Part of the Macbook Airs appeal is its size, which is very impressive, at just over half of an inch thick. Most of these ultra-thin laptops match this size, or are even smaller. Another part of the Macbook Airs appeal is that it turns on in under 20 seconds, but these devices all match this, with the majority of them beating it.

The shortest cold boot time that I have seen on one of these things, is 11 seconds, which is awesome for anyone who needs to get started on their work quickly. All of the ultralight laptops are also said to have almost instantaneous resume time (almost instantaneous meaning inbetween 1 and 2 seconds), all thanks to their speedy flash storage.

For hardware, almost all Ultrabooks are packing Intel core i5s, or Intel core i7s, and with the majority of them having 4GB of RAM. The weakest hardware I have seen on an Ultrabook is an Intel core i3, which is still pretty powerful, especially when paired with some speedy flash storage, and Intel Rapid Start® technology, which is a technology that Intel has developed, to make computers start faster.

The Ultrabook Plan

The release schedule for these things split into three waves. The first wave is scheduled for 2011. The second wave is scheduled for 2012, and the third wave is scheduled for 2013.

The First Wave

Intel has developed a game plan for Ultrabooks. Their plan split the release schedule into waves. The first waves release date is late 2011, starting in November. All of the devices from the first wave will have 2nd Gen Intel core processors.

The Second Wave

The second wave is scheduled to be released in early 2012, and will include the new Intel chips (Ivy Bridge), which is supposed to make the ones released in the second wave up to 33% more powerful than the first wave. There is also a chance that the second wave will ship with Windows 8.

The Third Wave

The Third wave will ship in early 2013, and will come with third generation Intel core processors (codenamed Haswell), as well as Windows 8. Intel doesnt have any good estimates as to how powerful the third wave will be, but they have said that they will have massive improvements over the first and second waves.

My reviews so far

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