Are ultrabooks some sort of netbooks? Not at all. Actually very far from it. Let’s explore the differences.
1) Performance: ultrabooks are capable computers. They can do tasks that average laptops can perform without skipping a beat. Netbooks however have their limitations as they can only undertake basic computing tasks.
2) Size: most netbook notebooks are smaller than 10” while 10” seems to be starting size of many ultrabook laptop computers. While a netbook could be easily fit in a jacket’s pocket, an ultrabook, while pretty light and thin cannot.
3) Design: no attention seems to be paid to the design of netbooks. After all, they’re meant to be cheap so why bother, right? Ultrabooks on the other hand are the best-designed PC laptop computers out there.
4) Price: Netbooks are meant to be low-cost subnotebooks while ultrabooks are high-end laptop machines. At this time of writing it’s almost impossible to find a netbook that costs over $600 while the lowest-priced ultrabook starts at $900.
There are the major differences between a netbook and an ultrabook. They’re both thin and light but they’re meant to appeal to two different types of computer users.
If you just want to perform basic computer tasks (email, Internet browsing) and are not too eager to spend a fortune on a notebook, then shop for netbooks.
If you’re after a thin and light yet powerful laptop that is slick-looking and you’re willing to pay the premium, you should be shopping for ultrabooks.
In the previous article, the reasons why buying an ultrabook computer over a conventional notebook were listed. But there’s also bad news.
1) Hard drive capacity: Solid-state drives used in ultrabooks are still new on the market and compared to traditional laptop batteries. The point? They do have as much storage capacity. Most ultrabooks cap at 128GB (at this time of writing).
Average new notebooks have at least 500GB hard drive space. If you need to store a lot of data such as movies, music, etc, be aware of this. Of course you could carry an external hard drive but that would defeat the purpose of portability, right?
2) Price: ultrabooks are new on the market and coupled with the fact that they feature high-end expensive components, the final price can be rather steep compared to traditional laptop computers.
Let’s be get real here, ultrabook computers are marketed with the hope that they will make more money to manufacturers by having shoppers pay a premium for such new generation notebooks.
At this stage, these are the two disadvantages of shopping for an ultrabook laptop computer. As the industry matures, this shopping guide will be updated accordingly.
If you’re new to ultrabooks and are considering buying one over a traditional laptop, here are five reasons why.
1) They’re light: ultrabooks don’t have optical drives (CD/DVD drives) and they use SSD (solid-state drives) which are lighter than average hard drives. These two features alone make an ultrabook very light compared to traditional laptops which is a big plus if you carry your computer with you all day long.
2) Their batteries last longer: again thanks to the lack of an optical drive that would require a lot of computing power and the use of SSD that use little power too but also thanks to the Intel processor that’s optimized to use as little energy as possible, an ultrabook is able to last longer than your average laptop. There’s even word of ultrabooks that can last almost 10-hours!
3) They perform well: you’d think that ultrabooks being small and light are probably weak but that’s not the case. Thanks to the Intel processor, the solid-state drives and advanced graphics cards, an ultrabook laptop is actually as fast as a traditional notebook and in some instances even faster thanks to the fast hard drives.
4) They’re pretty: most people don’t care about the looks of their laptops but Apple made the world pay more attention to design thanks to their products. Ultrabooks are stylish and it shows that attention went into making sure that they’re slick and are quickly changing the notions that computers have to be grey and dull bricks.
5) They’re the future: the fate of laptop computers is that some notebooks will be made for portability and others for performance. In other words, ultrabooks will become the laptops of choice for people who commute or travel with their computer while the ones meant to sit on a desk to perform heavy tasks will only become bulkier. Ultrabooks are more than capable of performing the tasks of the average computer user.
But there’s a flipside to the coin: ultrabooks do have their disadvantages.
An ultrabook looks and functions like a normal laptop. Or does it really? Here’s exactly what ultrabooks are all about.
An ultrabook is a smaller and lighter laptop computer with a longer battery life and other high-end features that make it a premium notebook, meaning that it’s usually more expensive than average portable computers.
Why are ultrabooks more expensive than everyday laptops?
1) They use technology that’s still not mainstream such as SSD (solid-state drives) or the low-power Intel processor (low-power = better battery life)
2) Marketing: since they’re positioned as high-end laptops, ultrabooks have to be priced accordingly meaning more profits for computer makers.
Of course the above definition for an ultrabook is very basic and die-hard computer geeks will sigh at this elementary explanation but for non hardcore laptop shoppers, this is all you need to know.
Next: read about the advantages of ultrabooks over traditional laptops but also the disadvantages of an ultrabook over an everyday notebook!
Ready or not, 2012 is the year when ultrabooks went mainstream. All this fire started at the Consumer Electronics Show in January where almost all computer manufacturers had an ultrabook laptop on show.
With this in mind, Ultrabook Star was launched to showcase ultrabooks and help you the shopper figure out what’s available out there, how it stacks, what’s best for your needs and above all where to get the ultimate ultabook without breaking your wallet.
Thank you for your attention and should yo have any questions or feedback, please send us a tweet at @UltrabookStar.