14 DAY TRIAL // Some Ultrabooks are already showing up and, even though it stuttered a bit because of the strange PC-related woes, HP is apparently on the train.
Whether or not HP would make Ultrabooks is something that has been the subject of speculation for a while.
Now, speculations do not apply to this exactly, but to just what Ultrabook will appear.
“Ultramobile is a notebook category of sub-17 millimeter notebooks,” Todd Bradley, the executive vice president of HP’s Personal Systems Group, reportedly said in a conference call.
“We’re very focused on having a suite in that ultramobile space. And you’ll see that very soon.”
For people who want a reminder or an update on this whole Ultrabook business, Intel and PC makers came up with the idea a while ago.
Essentially, they are very light, very thin but still powerful notebooks that, ideally, will revive interest in this segment.
Not that people aren't buying notebooks anymore, of course, but the sales level have been slowing down, what with tablets stealing the spotlight with their (now lessening) novelty.
Ultrabooks are laptops that, even while retaining a physical keyboard, are just as, if not more thin than slates.
With this to remove the slimness advantage, the full-fledged PC capabilities should be enough of a motivator for consumer to buy them.
Alas, Ultrabooks still have one big issue, in that they are very expensive compared to both slates and other mobile computers.
Nevertheless, we have already seen such laptops reaching well below the 1,000 Euro price, like when Acer's Aspire S3 was tagged with 799 Euro, which is about the same as $1,133. Granted, higher-end models will still dry finances a lot more, but at least there is clear evidence of what HP might be able to do as well.
Having decided to keep the PC business, HP will have to make sure to start impressing prospective customers again soon.