Intel launches new class of Ultrabook laptops

From InfoWorld: Intel announced plans for a new class of thin and light laptops at the Computex trade show on Tuesday, its latest move to improve its competitiveness in the mobile computing market.

The new class of "Ultrabook" PCs will have "thin, light, beautiful" designs and be priced for the mainstream market, as opposed to high-end buyers. Intel expects the new systems to account for 40 percent of consumer laptop sales by the end of next year, it said.

It will take time for the systems to evolve, however. An initial crop of Ultrabook PCs will go on sale from PC makers in time for the holiday shopping season at the end of this year. Based on Intel's existing Core processors, they will be less than 20mm (0.8 inches) thick and priced under $1,000, Intel said.

A second wave of Ultrabooks will appear in the first half of next year, based on Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors. A final wave is due in 2013, based on a new Core processor design, code-named Haswell. Haswell will half the power consumption of Intel chips compared to today's laptops, Intel said, enabling thinner designs and longer battery life.

Sean Maloney, joint head of the Intel Architecture Group, is scheduled to introduce the Ultrabook concept in a speech at Computex Tuesday afternoon. He'll be joined by Asus Chairman Jonney Shih, who will show an Ultrabook called the UX21 that Asus plans to sell later this year.

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