PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Notebook manufacturers are set to begin mass manufacture of Intel ‘ultrabooks’ with devices set to appear before the end of the year.
Far Eastern industry analysts the DigiTimes had earlier said that notebook manufacturers were playing a game of wait and see regarding Intel’s upmarket ultraportable notebook concept the chipmaker dubbed the ultrabook.
However when the likes of HP apparently climbed on board the Intel ultrabook train it seems the other brands thought it best not to be left out of the category altogether. The DigiTimes cited supply chain sources as they pegged ultrabook production to begin in September.
Interestingly the same supply chain sources said that Taiwan-based Asus had placed an order for 400 to 500 thousand notebooks described as ‘ultrathin’ but only a quarter of those would be ultrabooks, based on Intel’s costly low power high performance processors.
HP having started manufacture earlier looks set to pay off with an ultrabook rumoured to appear in August.
While some market clearly exists for ultraportable notebooks, manufacturers are so far playing a cautious game as to what the market will look like. Intel’s ultrabook is thought to be aimed at the Macbook upper end of the market but it’s not yet clear if this is a volume business given weak demand in the notebook sector at large.
