In the thin laptop market the MacBook Air is probably the market leader, but there are alternatives in the pipeline or already released. Today we have news that ultrabook producers are to keep shipments low to start with in the battle with the MacBook Air.
According to an article on Electronista the first batch of ultrabooks are set to be purposely kept low so companies can test the market. Units such as the Acer Aspire S3, Lenovo IdeaPad U300s and Toshiba Portege Z830 could have production runs of fewer than 50,000 for the first batch.
The companies want to see if there is a market for the ultra portable laptops outside of what Apple has to offer consumers. This follows their experiences they had with Consumer Ultra Low Voltage notebooks in 2010. They are looking to avoid a repeat performance that saw the likes of Acer with its TimelineX, which tried to bridge the gap between netbooks and full size notebooks.
These devices were often not much faster than netbooks as they were equipped with lack luster processors, but were still priced at a premium rate because of their chips and screen size. There is believed to be another ultrabook related meeting being held by Intel on the 14th of this month.
The meeting is thought to look at ways to overcome technical limits that Windows PC makers are facing, and to try and persuade more manufacturers to embrace the idea. Companies had previously complained they could not use cheaper components, and weren’t used to some of the design idea’s that Apple used.
These included the likes of solid state drives, metal bodies, and better battery techniques. There are some who believe the ultrabook is the final chance to push Windows notebook sales that have mainly struggled. The current financial climate around the world could affect Intel’s plans for ultrabooks by up to forty percent by the end of next year.
Analysts also point to the fact that many consumers are shunning notebooks for the likes of the iPad now, which further hits the ultrabook market. Do you think there is a market outside of the MacBook Air for ultra slim notebooks? Or do think that tablet PCs will take over?
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