Can Intel’s standard replace the MacBook as
the most desirable luxury portable?
You can’t accuse Intel of modesty,
bashfulness or copyness. It’s clear just from the name that Ultrabook is intended
to be something special. Whether it’s destined to be something special is, of
course, a very different question, and we’ll discuss that issue as you read
through this article.
Aluminum
unibody laptop chassis
Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum back
in September 2011, Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the PC
Client Group, said: ‘Not since the introduction of Intel Centrino technology
more than eight years ago have we witnessed such a fundamental transformation
in terms of personal computing.’
‘Today’s devices powered by our second
generation Intel Core processors are giving people a personal computing
experience they’ve never had before, and we won’t stop there,’ he continued.
‘We know people desire and demand more from their computers – to create,
consume and share – which is why we have challenged ourselves and the industry
to make Ultrabook the most adaptable, complete and satisfying device.’
You might have read that the easiest way to
understand Ultrabook is to think of it as a MacBook Air that isn’t made by Apple
or Intel. To a degree, that’s pretty much spot on. When the MacBook Air was
released on January 15, 2008 punters were left rocking on their heels. Apple
had created a laptop that was impossibly thin and chic yet practical and
powerful. Indeed, at just 19mm thick, it was the world’s thinnest laptop.
Could
the move to premium designs spell the end of chunky, ugly netbook?
Under the gloss
In some regards Ultrabooks are all about
achieving the same goals: good looks, practicality and get-up-and-go. The key
difference is that Ultrabook is a platform or a standard. Intel has pieced
together a list of key design requirements, dimensional limits, essential
components and new technologies. It wrapped all these factors up and called the
result ‘Ultrabook’.
Intel doesn’t make Ultrabooks itself; it’s
leaving that to its traditional partner firms – companies like Asus and
Toshiba.
What’s in the specs?
Waiting about a minute for your laptop
to boot, doesn’t cut it anymore.
So. What kind of rules has Intel set for
its new portable standard? First, Ultrabooks must be thin: no more than 21mm is
allowed. It’s important to note that some Ultrabooks may be thinner.
Intel is also stipulating that Ultrabooks
should weigh no more than 1.4kg. If you’re interested, the heavier MacBook –
the sort with a traditional mechanical hard disk – weighs in at 1.34kg. Choose
an SSD-equipped Apple machine and that drops to 1.08kg. Continuing the
slimmed-down theme, Intel has also stipulated that its new laptops will eschew
optical storage.
An Ultrabook must start quickly too. Intel
Rapid Start Technology gets your system running faster from even the deepest
sleep, helping save you time and battery life. Intel claims the system wakes up
almost instantly and gives users access to their data and applications very
quickly.
In a world where users are getting used to
the iPad and other tablets’ near-instant access to the internet, waiting around
a minute for your laptop to boot just doesn’t cut it anymore, so this is a
feature we’re particularly pleased to see.
The first batch of Ultrabooks on the
shelves will use Intel’s frugal Sandy Bridge processors. There’s a range of
four to choose from, spanning from Core i5-2467M chips running at 16GHz right
up to a 1.8GHz Core i7-2677M.
A second phase of Ultrabooks is planned for
release later this year, featuring Ivy Bridge chips. This is a 22nm die shrink
version of Sandy Bridge. Like its predecessor and graphics engine rolled into
one. When it comes to graphics, Intel reckons Ivy Bridge is 30 per cent faster
than its predecessor, and looking at pure processing, the new chips is reckoned
to be 20 per cnet better. The second phase of Ultrabooks will also pack PCI
Express 3.0and USB 3.0.
Chic,
skinny and powerful: Intel hopes its new Ultrabook standard will refine mobile
computing.
Looking even further ahead to 2013, you can
expect future Ultrabooks to pack Haswell chips. There are 22nm chips like Ivy
Bridge, but will benefit from a new and improved design and architecture. They
will take the die-shrink, with its tri-gate transistors, and innovate further.
For mobile users, the arrival of Haswell
means not only more power, but also greater efficiency. It’s reckoned Haswell
will sip power frugally and keep cool while it does so. Sandy Bridge and Ivy
Bridge have Thermal Design Power (or TDP) measurements of 35W. TDP refers to
the amount of heat a computer is needs to dissipate. Haswell is targeting a TDP
or 10-20W for mobile versions.
