Europeans turn backs on Ultrabooks

Until tablets and ultrabooks....

Come down in price to such a degree that a 'good enough' one costs relatively peanuts, I can't see them making massive headway.*

The cheapness of notebooks/desktops, plus the fact you can have a decent sized screen and keyboard is still attractive to a lot of people.

*Ok granted, 20% share is probably nothing to be sniffed at, but I mean beyond that.

Where are the cheap 12" notebooks?

I don't want a monstrous 15" notebook.

I don't want a 10" Netbook with barely enough power to render web pages.

I don't want a 12" Ultra book in shiny mental and SSD drive which will set me back close to £1000.

I just want a bog standard cheap laptop with a smaller screen - it doesn't have to be wafer thin - in fact I would prefer if it wasn't. So if they can flog cheap 15" laptops in PC World, why aren't there any cheap 12" laptops on display (that are not under powered netbooks or hugely expensive Ultra-books) ??

Prices are dropping?

Since when? I am still waiting for an affordable, decent spec netbook (never mind notebook).

Fix the power consumption / battery life!

So who's going to be first to market with a laptop (of any screen size) with an E-Ink screen, ARM processor, and enough battery life to take backpacking away from regular recharges?

There's a worldwide recession/depression. So Intel, worried about its non-presence in phones, offers us some nice, poky little machines -but at an exorbitant price.

I'm looking for one, but I wouldn't pay more that £700. Anything selling for close to £1000 has me pointing and laughing.

1500 lines

For 11.6" long document at 133dpI, you need more than 1500 lines.

Widescreen makes 15" screens too poor on vertical. We need 4 x 3 or even square screens.

The obsession with video is really annoying. Besides most cinema is actually NOT 16:9

To replace a 15.5" approx 1600 x 1200 ten year old 4:3 laptop you now need an 18" machine. Crazy.

Ultrabooks/macair/Ultrathin are a pointless luxury format.

Can't think why

What's not to like about a laptop with a 2-3x markup over a functionally equivalent conventional model simply because the case is a bit thinner?

I think that when manufacturers lower the margins and stop using materials like aluminium as an excuse to boost the price that they might just become a bit more popular.

overpriced

People always say Apple kit is overpriced. But hey, see what happens when someone else - companies known for producing cheap kit - try to match them. They can't get them significantly enough cheaper than the Apple to make it worthwhile for non-Apple-haters to not choose the apple.

So is Apple's stuff really overpriced?

Manufacturers need to get real.

People wouldn't have bought iPads at £1k a pop. That's a fact. Theya re not essential (not yet anyway) so have been priced accordlingly. If folk are interested in ultra books it will be because if helps them achieve something new, and that comes at a price which many precieve as being too expensive. I would like a portable device with a 15" screen (13.3 is too small for me) for my photography work. I don't need it to have the fastest processor, the most RAM, a 1tb harddrive or SSD for that matter, a wacky graphics chip etc. I just would like it to be well built, have moderate power (i3 is cool), good screen but not silly, of a decent weight (sub 2kg), look nice, come with good tech support and not cost the earth. I think these will sell like hotcakes. I suspect the market will pay more for portability and service but not double the price.

No favours...

Intel didn't do the Ultrabook any favours, by launching it in Q4 last year and announcing, that the next revision would come in Q1, with Ivy Bridge, oh and we are planning 3 generations, with the 3rd generation having touch.

Talk about killing an idea off, before it is born.

Some of the problems is that people have different requirements for PC's, which often overlap the silly group names.

I don't want a netbook, ultrabook, superbook or thebestestbook, I personally want a laptop, that is:

Powerful enough for: office, internet, watching video's, editing photos and occasionally editing video from snowboarding (games would be nice but I have a PS3).

Battery: I would like it to have 6hours of normal use, though I know it will be a bit heavier (if batteries were cheaper, they could come with a slim 3hr battery and stylish, but heavy 6/8hr one as I have on my work'slenovo T500)

Screensize: Large enough to use, all the grads get the manbag size 11 & 13inch and regret it after a while. I like to have a wide screen 15inch so I can have email and word open, or 2 excel docs, (or a video and firefox :) side by side for multi tasking and making life easier

I would like it to be stylish, sleek and not too heavy (when I think apple I think these, when I think PC, only Sony and some samsung come close, but then they are plasticy and break easy, all my perception of course).

But as said this is just me, I travel a lot in hotels most weeks, watch movies, use the internet, work with multiple docs, tools and screens.

The problem is the marketing, media and pigeon holing of machines. Really people prefer cheaper machines at the moment, possibly due to price or screensize.

Also if I am going to splash out, then might as well splash out on Apple as they make good stuff, that is nice to use, lasts and has good customer service, thus worth the higher price (which can be seen in the tablet and phone markets)

Are Apples over-priced?

Not when you account unglamorous but very real depreciation factor. Just before Christmas I sold a 15" Macbook Pro from early 2006 for a shade over £400. Cost £1150 new (well, Apple refurb). So cost to me just under £11 a month (no repairs /replacements etc needed). Oh yes and I sold an iPhone 3GS (16GB) for about £200 in July which I'd had for nearly two years.