Super-thin laptops will grab much of the market share in short order

Sep 8, 2011 08:41 GMT  ·  By

Ultrabooks might not be the cheapest things out there, but they are set to slam through expectations anyway, expectations which are already quite optimistic.

The recently concluded IFA 2011 trade show saw the showing off of multiple Ultrabooks, like Acer's Aspire S3, among others.

This was just the latest sighting of this very thin and light type of mobile personal computers.

For those that don't remember, the Ultrabook concept came about as a reaction to the effect tablets were, and still are, having on the laptop segment (they stole market share fast).

They are thin enough, even when closed (and even as their performance is far higher), that some slates look thick in comparison.

All in all, analysts see great things ahead for this emerging product type, to the point where over 10% of the full notebook market will go to them next year (2012), from this year's predicted 2%.

"We believe that ultrabook market share will jump from under 2% in 2011 to over 10% in 2012, stimulating renewed growth of the PC industry," said Kevin Lin, chief executive officer of TrendForce.

"PC manufacturers will introduce different levels of ultrabooks at different price points, in hopes that having models with varying specifications will help them maneuver the market, satisfy consumer needs.”

Multiple hardware segments will benefit from this development, like that of solid state drives and ultrathin display panels, especially LED-backlit ones.

"In the short term, the effect of ultrabooks on the LED market is not likely to be significant, but will increase as ultrabook penetration rate increases. By 2015, LEDs used in ultrabooks will account for 30% of total notebook LED use," said Renee Liao, an analyst with LEDinside, a subsidiary of TrendForce.

“Using open cell panels to integrate backlight modules with notebook covers (component A), this assembly method reduces the thickness of the back cover and module frame, simultaneously achieving thin form factor and cutting costs," said Boyce Fan, an analyst with WitsView.