Why an Ultrabook is a Cheap but High Quality Alternative to a Laptop

One of the latest buzzwords in the technology industry is the Ultrabook. Officially, they are a trademarked word by Intel that the brand is trying to use to define a certain set of features included within a laptop. In an attempt to give an obvious comparison, you’d probably say it was brought in as a direct competitor to Apple’s MacBook Air, a line of super-thin laptops.

The MacBook Air has been popular the world over, selling millions of devices, but like the majority of Apple products, it features a hefty price tag which limits its audience somewhat and prompts those outside it’s market to pay often substantially more than they’d like to in order to get the features on offer. So in that respect, the high-speed Ultrabooks hitting the market now are a Godsend, offering customers a cheaper option, giving the majority of the same features just under different badges to the Apple.

The first key feature of an Ultrabook is that it is thin. Now you might think that all laptops are thin, but Ultrabooks are defined as being less than 1-inch in thickness. The reason for this is to promote how easy it is to carry around and use wherever you like, even competing with the increasing range of tablet computers. Then, in the case of the Ultrabooks as opposed to the MacBook Air, there are three key Intel technical features – Rapid Start, Smart Response and Smart Connect. Rapid Start is a particularly prominent feature, with the device ready to use in under five seconds from a ‘sleep’ or ‘hibernate’ state.

Smart Response is a method of boosting performance, taking the most used files and storing them on faster responding drives. Smart Connect is designed to rival the capabilities of tablets, like the iPad. Tablets aren’t ever REALLY switched off. Instead they’re essentially put into what we know as sleep mode and they will be using certain functions throughout this state in order to stay up to date. Smart Connect works in the same way, only on the larger device.

Essentially, Ultrabooks perform the same tasks as laptops. They all offer Internet browsing, word processing, gaming, music and DVD playback, photo storage and more. The only main difference, before switching the devices on, is that the Ultrabook is a slimmer model. However, there are key differences between Ultrabooks and the main rival – the MacBook Air – the main one, of course, being the price. While the Apple device is the global favourite, it isn’t an option for many, particularly the occasional user and the majority of students. However, by providing a more cost-effective option featuring the majority of similar if not the same specifications, the manufacturers have opened a door to the audience that were closed out by the Apple price tag.