Ultrabooks will devour notebook biz by 2016 - report All notebooks will look like Ultrabooks in five years' time as vendors find cheaper ways of offering the shiny Intel-based machines, according to a new report. The report's author also speculated that this move could force Apple to ditch its MacBook Air and look for a new form factor to invent. A new Juniper Research forecast …
Is possibly the Asus Transformer. What if it grows a 12" brother? That or something like it would be an Ipad-Pro or MacPad or something with premium components and design at premium price.
Sounds like Juniper trailing for the next report whenever Apple release an ARM-based device with keyboard.
Why would Apple throw away an investment in engineering just because other manufacturers are copying the Air? They didn't change the form factor of the iPhone because Samsung et al copied aspects of the iPhone.
It's more likely to be the other way around - other manufacturers will avoid designing Air clones because they're likely to be branded as cheap Apple knockoffs and face horrendous assaults of litigation like Samsung.
I bought an ATI computer, win 95, 1 GB hard drive, mmx technology for...... £2000! A business purchase I might add.
Compared to what I paid then anything Apple looks good value, anything Windows looks a bargain.
I still think ultra books are overpriced though as they lack features I would expect for those prices.
To see how Apple will respond to a large number of competitors offering PC ultrabooks to compete with the Macbook Air, just look at what they did with the MacBook Pro to compete with laptops.
They'll keep the form factor, and the premium price, and rely on their premium brand image,and the popularity of OS-X (ask most mac users why they use a mac, and that's what their answer boils down to). The MacBook Pro certainly seems to be pretty popular, despite there being oodles of much cheaper comparable PC laptops to choose from.
And, on a different note - the death of the old style 1+ inch thick plastic-cased laptops can't come soon enough (literally - I already have 4 of the damned things!).
I have an Air and an Asus Zenbook - The build quality on the Air definitely feels a bit better, but the Zenbook comes pretty close. I'm quite happy with my Zenbook so far.
Compare like for like and Apple's products are very competitive and very often cheaper than their rivals. At this point I could go off to Sony and find an equivalent to the MacBook Air, but I'll pass as there won't be one made from a single piece of metal nor have I ever found Sony to beat Apple on price on a like-for-like basis.
And Sony laptops feel like cheap tat in comparison.
Comparing "like for like", Apple notebooks are made from the same components as other major manufacturers'. The only "premium" thing about them is the brand.
I've had a half-dozen Thinkpads (of both IBM and Lenovo branding), and they all functioned perfectly for years - not a single problem, despite being hauled about, dropped, and subjected to other indignities. In that time I've had to either repair myself, pay to have repaired, or replace about as many Apple laptops.
Even my Dell laptops have done better than the Apples. (One Dell laptop eventually discarded due to malfunctioning keyboard; had the same problem with two Apple laptops.)
Yes, I assume all laptops will morph into a tablet or ultrabook form factor at some point... or more likely a tablet with a keyboard, which none of these Wintel paid analysts seem to consider. "No, it has to be a Windows style PC... it just has to be"
How about the "Apple doesn't compete on value" quote? What is this guy smoking? Apple is the only PC company that competes on value. Everyone laughed at Apple when they said they were going to make quality systems at a higher price. He means Apple doesn't compete on price with the plastic boxes of used pinball machines parts that HP, Dell and the rest of the swill merchants sell. Value does not equal price.
The Windows OEMs cannot make an Apple quality PC because their margins are close to zero. If they tried to make an Air quality PC at Windows PC prices, they would lose $200 on each unit sold because of the Microsoft royalties. Now they could raise their prices, which they are trying to do with the absurdly priced ultrabooks, but that will not work because you can get just about the same user experience from a $400 laptop. You can just buy three $400 laptops, instead of a $1,400 ultrabook, so you will have some spares when the first and second Wintel machines inevitably break.
"The Windows OEMs cannot make an Apple quality PC because their margins are close to zero."
That's complete nonsense. Of course they can, and some of them do. You pay as much as you'd have to pay for a comparable Mac but quality is available.
"If they tried to make an Air quality PC at Windows PC prices, they would lose $200 on each unit sold because of the Microsoft royalties. "
More nonsense. Big OEMs pay less than $30 per unit for a Windows license, usually just a fraction of that. Just because your local Best Buys charges you laughable $200 for a Windows copy doesn't mean world and dog has to pay the same.
> "Yes, I assume all laptops will morph into a tablet or ultrabook form factor at some point."
Including all the larger screen laptops; the higher-resolution laptops; the high-performance laptops; the large storage laptops.... Nah, I doubt it.
The low end might morph into smaller, lighter, lower powered, lower resolution clones. But not *all* laptops by a very long shot.
Having just read yet another vendor sponsored & steaming work of fiction by a.n.other research company recently how do I apply for a similar role?
Researchers are never wrong (at least for those with short memories). They are just either ahead of or behind the curve. Occasionally they close the curve to form a circle and you find yourself back where they predicted you would be 10 years ago starting the same set of predictions again.
Weren't we told all that laptops would be netbooks in 5 years time. That hasn't worked so now meet the netbook with more oomph (i.e. a small laptop). When the laptop hasn't been replaced by a tablet in 5 years time, researchers will say tablets are dead. What you now need is a tablet with a hinge, no touchscreen and a keyboard :-)
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