Intel labels Ultrabooks a “Failure”

[zoiks]

The Apple Air screen is pretty bad. A friend went into PC world (of all places!) to play with different laptops and found the screen on the Sony to be better along with the keyboard. I think the main thing I really like about the Apple hardware is the track pad, but Sony has one that feels very similar now. So all in all from a hardware perspective for less price you can get an all round faster more capable machine with better components in an ultra book than you can with the current Apple Air.

The problem is people still think the Air is better when it isn't really the case. The OS is a different matter of course, I am not a great fan of Windows 8 but at the same time on a touch screen it makes more sense. The friend really liked the touchscreen aspect of the Haswell Ultrabook and it makes it easier to use in certain places in the house. What they disliked was the disjointed nature of the two worlds in Windows 8 where they end up in the new UI when they doesn't want to. But that isn't a hardware issue its a software one and has by and large been fixed now by installing software in the desktop mode to handle common file types.

My friend came to the conclusion that the ultrabook was what was wanted having played with the various machines on offer. Initially they thought a £400 machine would do the job, but they only come in two types. They are either bug and heavy or really slow (AMD E series CPUs). So while big and heavy is and cheap and faster is definitely possible they are still big and heavy. My friend really wanted something lighter so it came down to ultrabooks + Apple Air and we both played with both side by side and the Sony was the better machine hardware at a cheaper price. Of course supports Windows which is a much large ecosystem of software out of the box.

So I don't agree with the sentiment that Apple is better, having played with a really wide range of laptops recently and looked at all the specs I think the ultrabooks have a clear place in the market. If people actually go and play with the machines properly and pick the darn things up you can see the very clear trade off that they make. I don't personally think for my own work laptop an ultrabook is a good call, I need faster CPUs with more cores than they offer but I can see if you don't do really CPU heavy work they are lovely machines. There are a lot of ones to choose from and by and large we don't care much for all the new form factors, my friend wanted a laptop not a fridge magnet.

Actually I disagree with you with the notion that the apple air is bad (your first sentence). It's not bad and not by a long shot. I personally don't like Apple as a company and hate the iPhone and iPad but if they did get something right, it's their laptops and computers. Since they have control over the software and hardware, they have the ability to integrate and marry the two together like nothing else. My co-workers have the retina version of the macbook pro and I have the air and when it comes down to computing, it doesn't really matter which one you have unless you like to use photoshop or something else for accurate colors but IMO the Air isn't bad in any way in displaying pictures or text.
Now as far as the operation is concerned, I use my Air day in and out and have been over a year. It has the best keyboard and trackpad I've ever used. It's actually a joy to use since it's so good. I won't get into how light the apple is or just how thin it is (matters to me since I tend to run to the train station every day).
Things I like about is...
1. Almost instant boot up after opening.
2. Amazing battery life
3. Speakers are crazy loud
4. Screen is pretty good(I guess your preference is different)
5. Stays very cool throughout operation
6. Is very quiet unless you start playing a game (fan turns on)
7. Very well made. It's a 5 year old design but still is eons better than anything else out there in terms of functionality and usability. I tried Samsung, high end Lenovo's, Acers, Asus's but they all don't compare to the Air. No flex, no quality issues.
8. It's also blazingly fast. Much faster than my other work provided laptops.

There are other things about it that are great. It works seamlessly without too much trouble. I like the fact that Apple made things simple and easy to use which is probably why they're very popular here in the bay area.

Edit -- Oh, I forgot to mention that one of the most amazing things about the Air (or perhaps it's the same for other macbooks) is that there is very little if any parasitic drain when the computer is closed. If I have 80% left when I close the lid of the Air, 2 days later I'll still have the same 80% battery left if I were to open it back up. I've *never* experienced that with any of my other previous laptops. If people know that going in, they'd definitely choose the Air over anything else out there.
The cost is moot. Given that the Samsung series 9 and other worthy ultrabooks are close to or more than what the Air costs, I'd say that the Macbook Air is very difficult to beat in price, performance and quality.

 

[blackened23]

What he said^. PC guys tend to hate Apple for some reason, but I will give them this: all of their portable computers are absolute top notch high quality computers. They still have the best and most comfortable keyboard and track pad. I cannot tell you how many GARBAGE ultrabooks i've used with non-responsive trackpads; it is maddening. Ultrabooks still use 16:9 for the most part (DO NOT LIKE THIS). Most ultrabooks cannot do external displays higher than 1080p - all macbooks can. Everything about the macbooks are quality through and through. The PC nerds will cry and hate on apple, of course, but credit where credit is due and such. Still to this day nobody has matched the retina MBP. Maybe someone can this fall, but no PC vendor has. Yet. And I would like for them to because I certainly prefer Windows over OSX.

 

[tential]

Apple got one thing right more than anything else - cheap computers are rubbish and they diminish your brand, they do a good job of making getting reasonable hardware easy, because actually there are no cheap and rubbish mac books at all. Right now I would say Sony's 13" ultra book is better than an Air in almost every way, the screen is better, the performance is mostly better, the keyboard is better and the touchpads are equivalent. But Sony also has a bundle of cheaper and quite rubbish machines as well and that distracts the buyer into thinking Sony's machines overall are worse, which on average is definitely true.

There was this wonderful piece about sales tactics and experiments that a website did using A|B testing. They tried offering various versions of their online product and 2 clear segmentations made sense. But when they tried making up a third offering that was clearly not worth the extra price above the previous reasonable top offering more people bought the middle one (the previous top tier). If it was just the 2 offerings without the stupidly priced top one more people bought the bottom offer but once the third was there it didn't get any sales but the middle one suddenly did much better. Yet nothing else changed. It seriously impacted their income however.

There is quite a weird psychology around the number of different products you offer and how you segment them. If you have too many products at too many different price points then you end up framing your other products in a different light. Ultrabook's and other "top price" machines get piled into the too expensive bracket, yet there was a time when PC's were basically a £1000 and that was the entry level and it went up from there. The machines did get a bit cheaper over time but if you kept buying at that price point you find performance keeps getting better. I would argue its still about the right price point for a decent PC. The adding of the low end machines like the atoms changed our expectations of the price of a PC to make a new "mid price". But that doesn't mean that is actually what people should be buying. Realistically for a good experience people should be choosing between portable or faster at roughly the same price points. What they actually do is choose between cheapest and a bit more expensive and they end up with under performing and poor quality machines.

The race to the bottom in price has really hurt the overall perception of the PC, many people are not surprisingly disappointed with the lower end machines. Apple simply doesn't offer them, they already understand that margins are low there and its not really what people want. But if you can cut through the marketing Apple might be first but its no longer the best at that price point, but they sure make it easier to see their good hardware because they don't have the bad making it look expensive.

That is my opinion on why the perception is the way it is. Could be wrong of course.

You summed up just about everything I wanted to say.
Apple thrived because they make sure their products have a finished premium feel so people are willing to pay more.
Other oems sell terribly balanced products in an attempt to just sell something to make money. This is a short term success but long term people use the product then tell their friends how much it sucks.
I don't think apple makes the best ultra book at all (and this is a space I follow because I couldn't care less about the types or processors/pcs that most enthusiasts care about). I think this generation has a ton of competition and apple with their low resolution screen to me, is offering a product that just can't be the best. 1080p is a minimum above the 1k price point to me.
Every ultrabook this year has its high and low points Imo. I don't see a clear value winner.

 

[blackened23]

Apple thrived because they make sure their products have a finished premium feel so people are willing to pay more.

I used to think it was merely an "apple tax", until I started actually using their products - as a preface, I went through a TON of ultrabooks and without exception, all of them had deal breaking "features" and outright broken nonsense that resulted in me RMA'ing them. The macbook pro retina was completely different - once you actually use their stuff, you appreciate all the little touches they put into it to ensure quality; everything from a trackpad that is super responsive, a battery that doesn't go kaput when you close the lid, a keyboard that is completely responsive (i've used ultrabooks where some keys were more responsive than others, which is stupid), and supporting display out via mini DP higher than 1080p. 99% of ultrabooks only support 1080p through HDMI which is a BIG deal breaker for me.

Credit where credit is due and such. Apple makes fantastic machines, period, this is why people buy their stuff. I was like you once. I thought Apple was overpriced garbage - then I started using their wares. My mind quickly changed.

That said, i've seen some ultrabooks this year that look very promising. The Yogo Pro 2 looks like a fantastic machine (with a higher than retina MBP resolution) as do the Sony Tap and the Surface pro 2. I remain optimistic that Haswell ultrabooks will get it "right" this year, so to speak - most of the premium ultrabooks have not been released yet and will not be until Windows 8.1 hits. Again, i'm optimistic. I think this may be the year where ultrabook catches up to the macbook (rMBP in particular). Last year definitely was not. Last year was the year of PC OEMs trying to shove overpriced, underfunctioning garbage at us. This year? Hopefully things will change. Like I said before, I certainly prefer windows 8.1 over OSX so I *hope* it does change.

 

[tential]

I used to think it was merely an "apple tax", until I started actually using their products - as a preface, I went through a TON of ultrabooks and without exception, all of them had deal breaking "features" and outright broken nonsense that resulted in me RMA'ing them. The macbook pro retina was completely different - once you actually use their stuff, you appreciate all the little touches they put into it to ensure quality; everything from a trackpad that is super responsive, a battery that doesn't go kaput when you close the lid, a keyboard that is completely responsive (i've used ultrabooks where some keys were more responsive than others, which is stupid), and supporting display out via mini DP higher than 1080p. 99% of ultrabooks only support 1080p through HDMI which is a BIG deal breaker for me.

Credit where credit is due and such. Apple makes fantastic machines, period, this is why people buy their stuff. I was like you once. I thought Apple was overpriced garbage - then I started using their wares. My mind quickly changed.

That said, i've seen some ultrabooks this year that look very promising. The Yogo Pro 2 looks like a fantastic machine (with a higher than retina MBP resolution) as do the Sony Tap and the Surface pro 2. I remain optimistic that Haswell ultrabooks will get it "right" this year, so to speak - most of the premium ultrabooks have not been released yet and will not be until Windows 8.1 hits. Again, i'm optimistic. I think this may be the year where ultrabook catches up to the macbook (rMBP in particular). Last year definitely was not. Last year was the year of PC OEMs trying to shove overpriced, underfunctioning garbage at us. This year? Hopefully things will change. Like I said before, I certainly prefer windows 8.1 over OSX so I *hope* it does change.

I never said Apple was overpriced garbage. A couple of years ago, yes. Now though that Steve Jobs is dead (RIP), they're VERY competitive. Hence why I said there is no clear winner this year at all.
I don't say it's an "apple tax". It's a premium product thus a premium pricing, which ALL ultrabooks pretty much have. There is no clear winner because it's ultra competitive at this point.
The reason Apple thrives is like I said, they ONLY offer products that work. They aren't like other companies that are simply trying to sell a laptop. They don't put bad offerings in their lineup. Other companies put unbalanced or TERRIBLE laptops in their lineup just to sell something. This ultimately hurts them in the long run.
I always say, if you don't know ANYTHING about computers, and have 1000+ to spend then

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

The new Asus Zenbook Infinity looks incredible.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I never said Apple was overpriced garbage. A couple of years ago, yes. Now though that Steve Jobs is dead (RIP), they're VERY competitive. Hence why I said there is no clear winner this year at all.
I don't say it's an "apple tax". It's a premium product thus a premium pricing, which ALL ultrabooks pretty much have. There is no clear winner because it's ultra competitive at this point.
The reason Apple thrives is like I said, they ONLY offer products that work. They aren't like other companies that are simply trying to sell a laptop. They don't put bad offerings in their lineup. Other companies put unbalanced or TERRIBLE laptops in their lineup just to sell something. This ultimately hurts them in the long run.
I always say, if you don't know ANYTHING about computers, and have 1000+ to spend then

You can have a Ultrabook that has the same specs and build quality as a Macbook X and it still won't sell for $200 less, simply because merely having Win 8 and none of the Apple branding turns off people faster than they can say no.

If raw specs alone sold PCs Apple would be long dead.