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Ultrabooks are available for the first time this holiday season. That calls for a quick survey of pricing since models have debuted at unexpectedly low prices.

As a refresher, ultrabooks are skinny (typically under 0.8 inches thick), lightweight (three pounds or less) laptops that offer mainstream mobile performance.

In short, they attempt to approximate the portability of a tablet while offering more horsepower via Intel processors. And, of course, they run full-blown Windows--not a minor point.

Pricing runs the gamut but the most-recently-released ultrabooks all fall below the $1,000 mark at retailers like Best Buy. That's important … Read more

Polycom dives into videoconferencing on tablets, Asus unveils a new line of Ultrabooks, Twitter to get "tweet" trademark, and Facebook launches an iPad app -- finally.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

The lofty goal of 40 percent market share for Ultrabooks in 2012 is due for a reality check, according to an analyst. Meanwhile announcements from Asus and Acer in the U.S. are imminent.

First the positive news. Asus is about to roll out, as soon as next week, at least four Ultrabook models ranging in price from $999 to $1,499, according to a source familiar with the PC maker's rollout. The $999 model, for example, will come with an 11.6-inch display, a Core i5 Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and a 128GB solid-state drive. The high-end $1,… Read more

The only way the new Ultrabook laptop category can top the MacBook Air is to get cheap fast. But that won't necessarily be easy, according to an IDC analyst.

Ultrabooks--for the uninitiated--are very light, very thin Windows laptops that compete with the MacBook Air. The core hardware includes Intel second-generation "Sandy Bridge" processors and solid-state drives. One of the best examples is the 13-inch Toshiba Portege Z830.

The Z830 has a magnesium alloy case, weighs about 2.5 pounds, and is 0.63 inches thick. Toshiba claims it will sell for less than $1,000.

By comparison, … Read more

For now, Apple has a vise-grip on ultraportables like it has on tablets.

With the company on track to sell well over 10 million Airs this year, it may well see the product ultimately become its bestselling laptop. And the company will only accelerate this trend when it brings out a larger ultraslim model, which, for all intents and purposes, will also be a MacBook Air.

Samsung with the Series 9 is the only big-time, high-profile PC competitor in the Air's price range right now. The rest is rumor and marketing promises, under the banner of "Ultrabook." … Read more

Comments from Hewlett-Packard's CEO and a report out of Asia indicate that HP may have a design that rivals the MacBook Air in the works or even ready to go.

At last month's D9 conference, no one other than HP's chief executive, Leo Apotheker, dropped hints about a newfangled laptop design. Responding to a question about the iPad, he said, "If you use a state-of-the-art laptop it is as sleek, as slim as [an iPad]"... Then, after being challenged about whether HP actually had such a laptop, he quickly followed up with, "There's a whole new product refresh coming out."

A report may be adding some flesh to that statement. Today, Taipei-based DigiTimes said HP is expected to launch "two or more" Ultrabooks.

What is an Ultrabook? In a word, thin. Intel, the main proponent, describes the Ultrabook as combining the performance of a laptop with "tablet-like features" in a "thin, light, and elegant design."

More specifically, the maximum thickness for an Ultrabook is pegged at 20 millimeters, or about 0.8 inches, with most designs eventually expected to fall below that. … Read more

The decibel level gets higher every day for chatter about the imminent arrival of the updated MacBook Air.

The latest report from Taipei-based DigiTimes says the MacBook Air supply chain will go into high gear in July as Apple ramps up production, supporting earlier speculation from analysts.

Apple's smallest and lightest laptop is also expected to become its most popular this year. Total MacBook shipments for 2011 have been upped from 13 million to 15 million because of the Air's projected popularity, the report said.

Raw production numbers aside, the Air will likely become--if it hasn't already--Apple's flagship laptop, as it embodies Apple's design direction with all of its best-selling products. In short, a small, minimalist industrial design aesthetic, not unlike like the iPad. … Read more

Asus has released a serious competitor to Apple's MacBook Air, which has been the ultraslim laptop to beat in the mobile computing world. The Asus UX21 is the world's first Ultrabook (read more about Ultrabooks here), and it's broken new ground in terms of design, features, and performance. We met up with Asus' product manager at the company's Computex booth in Taipei to bring you this quick hands-on. Click on the gallery below for a close-up look at the Asus UX21 and its specs.

(Source: Crave Asia)… Read more

Intel can be fast and loose with design concepts like its newest--"Ultrabook." But for those grasping for concrete examples, there's the MacBook Air.

Guidelines for the Ultrabook were announced by Intel today at the Computex conference. In a nutshell, Intel is trying to reinvent the laptop as a tablet minus the keyboard. Make a laptop very thin and portable like an iPad and you've borrowed some of the tablet's main--and most compelling--design attributes. That's the idea.

Alternatively, the Ultrabook could be seen as the death knell for the Netbook, the small, Atom processor-based … Read more