Intel aims to for the budget-conscious customer at the Intel Solutions Summit (ISS) 2013-- the company promises lower-price ($599) Haswell-powered Ultrabooks will start shipping by the holiday season.
The next Ultrabook generation will be more than "just a retrofit of what was already in the market," as Intel PC Client Group senior VP Kirk Skaugen puts it. Together with lower prices, the company promises next-gen Ultrabooks will include touchscreen support, faster SSDs, slimmer yet more durable chassis, higher-resolution displays, voice and facial recognition technology and "all-day" battery life.
"We designed [Haswell] from the ground up for the Ultrabook," Skaugen claims. "You'll truly be able to leave your battery pack at home."
Intel insists such initiatives are not about "a race to the bottom"-- instead executives at ISS 2013 say lower component prices allow Intel and OEM partners to make more affordable, more feature-rich premium notebooks.
Despite plenty of promise, Ultrabooks did little to boost a PC market best described as bleak. According to the latest Gartner numbers Q4 2012 mobile PC shipments fell by -12.1% Y-o-Y in W. Europe, as the market faces issues beyond a weak economy, a misunderstood Windows version or new notebooks being too pricey.
Back at ISS 2013 Skaugen also claims the stand-alone 10-inch tablet does not have much of a future-- during 2013 the form factor will "rapidly erode" into smaller 7-8-inch devices and 10-inch notebook-tablet hybrids with convertible displays and detachable displays.
Larger 13-inch Ultrabooks will also have convertible tablet functionality through touchscreen support.
"The biggest trends right now are convertibility and detachability," Skaugen concludes. "You're going to see a ton of innovation here."
Go Intel
