![]() ![]() You may have heard of the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, a hybrid Windows 8-based machine of a different stripe if not, check out my overview in Windows 8: Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga Flip. ![]() I believe the first models will use Ivy Bridge processors, but it's conceivable that an even more efficient Intel chipset will arrive by early 2013 too. These hybrid devices will ship with Windows 8 in late 2012. But when you plug that slate piece into a keyboard dock, they become laptops. ![]() This means they can be used as pure tablet devices, slates, sans keyboard. Third generation Ultrabooks will be hybrid devices where the "guts" of the PC sit behind the screen, not under the keyboard. And this is where things get really interesting. But lingering on the horizon is the third generation Ultrabook platform. If you're in the market for an Ultrabook, I generally recommend waiting for at least a second-generation model, assuming this isn't a buying emergency. Over 100 such machines will ship this year, and most were announced in January at CES. Representative second-gen Ultrabooks include the Acer Aspire S5, Dell XPS13, HP Envy 14 Spectre, Lenovo ThinkPad T430u, Samsung Series 9 (2012), Sony VAIO Ultrabook, and many, many others. That said, most of these machines won't move very far beyond the basic look and feel of the MacBook Air. So they should, in general, offer better performance, better battery life, and, most important, allow for even thinner and lighter form factors. What separates them from first-generation devices is that they will include more efficient third-generation Intel Core i-Series ("Ivy Bridge") processors. Second generation Ultrabooks will ship throughout 2012. They're thin and light and get decent battery life, and many-like the ASUS-are a bit too much about copying the MacBook Air. And that means they sport second generation Intel Core i-Series ("Sandy Bridge") processors. ![]() But as I wrote last August in Intel's Ultrabook Scheme: Is This The Future Of PC Computing?, the Ultrabook is really a platform with a roadmap, and that roadmap specifies three generations of devices that will culminate (for now, at least) with Windows 8.Īt the time this article was written, any Ultrabook you see in the market-the ASUS Zenbook I'm using, the original Ultrabook, the Samsung Series 9, the Acer Aspire S3, or the Toshiba Portege Z835-is a first generation Ultrabook. And there's some truth to that, of course. On the face of things, the Ultrabook is a bald-faced attempt to copy Apple's design for the MacBook Air and apply it to Windows-based PCs. If only it were better suited to running Windows. But it's still very clear that this device is beautiful to look at and, thanks to its thin profile and low weight, an ideal travel companion. What this all adds up to is that the MacBook Air is not an ideal Windows machine. This latter point cuts into disk space, which is crucial given the relatively low storage allotments on the SSD-based Air. (That said, Ultrabooks tend to cost closer to $1000.)Īdding to the misery is the non-standard MacBook Air keyboard, which takes some getting used to and isn't necessarily insurmountable, the lack of optimal Windows drivers (which we can all agree Apple does on purpose), lackluster power management controls (again, just on Windows and no doubt related to the previous point), and the fact that you really need to keep at least a minimal Mac OS X partition on there to perform vital firmware upgrades. Compare those prices to the PC world, where the average cost of a Windows laptop is now about $450. First, it's expensive, with a base model, 11-inch version starting at $999 and the more mainstream 13-inch variant starting at $1299. The MacBook Air is a fine machine, but it's not ideal as a Windows laptop. That experiment, which I ultimately deemed a failure, led to two articles, MacBook Air + Windows 7, Part One: The Best Of Both Worlds? and MacBook Air + Windows 7, Part Two: An Imperfect Storm. And while I'm very enthusiastic about the Ultrabook form factor overall, I'm not sure I can recommend this particular rendition, at least not universally.Īs a backgrounder, you may recall that I experimented with using a 13-inch MacBook Air with Windows last year. I apparently can't follow my own advice: I recently purchased an ASUS Zenbook, one of a handful of first-generation Ultrabooks currently in the market and the one, I think, that most closely resembles Apple's MacBook Air. ![]()
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