Do not go gentle into that good night
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Intel says touchscreen Ultrabooks will tip up next year
CHIPMAKER Intel has hinted that touchscreen enabled Ultrabook laptops will tip up next year with the introduction of Windows 8.
Next year's Ultrabook selection will offer Intel's Ivy Bridge processor and will also feature touchscreen control, according to Tom's Hardware. This makes some sense, considering that the Windows 8 user interface has a tile system similar to that of the Windows Phone operating system.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini said at the Intel Capital Global Summit, "Starting with Windows 8, you [will] have a mainstream operating system incorporating touch."
"Our view is that in the ultrabook lines, touch is a pretty critical enabler. When users see that new Windows interface, they're going to want to touch it. If the screen does nothing, you [will] have disappointed [the] consumer."
We saw an Ultrabook running Windows 8 at this year's Intel Developer Forum in September. However, it did not have a touchscreen and was demonstrated using just the keyboard and mouse. The demonstrator was keen to point out the fact that it worked fine without touchscreen support.
The Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks we saw at IDF didn't have Windows 8 or touchscreen support either, but apparently they were just on stage to look pretty.
Otellini said that to achieve this, "we have to get touch to a lower cost. This is particularly important, as we move to the launch of Windows 8. The iPad and the iPhone have made touch a paradigm." He also said that Chipzilla will invest in this area with the Ultrabook Fund. µ
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The All in one touch screen pcs are aleady here but touch does not work well with Windows 7 or earlier. If Windows 8 gets touch features right, it will be a great achievement and let us use the pc without the mice and the keyboard. Many home entertainment and lighting systems now come with touch screens, but without windows. Windows can beat Apple etc if they get this right as Macs are not touch enabled like the iphone
I doubt that the Ultrabook will be a conventional laptop. Obviously changes will need to occur with one that has Touch. You need to "think out of the box"
I read that one OEM will be offering a model with a wireless keyboard (instead of embedded). That opens up other interesting possibilities -- most importantly enabling one to use either Touch or a keyboard or both.
I currently use a 12 inch HP TouchSmart TM2-1010EA tablet/laptop PC as a hand-held touchpad for just about all my home computing, but yes, it's inconveniently heavy. I use a stylus to point, and a Bluetooth mouse to click.
Fizzbook Spin is a netbook with a touchscreen and I've also got one of those, but it wouldn't let me resize its disk partitions.
Losing the keyboard for a full tablet design probably saves size more than weight, but what I've got my eye on is the latest set of 10 inch full-Windows tablets, such as Dell Latitude ST, HP Slate 2, Lenovo IdeaPad P1. The Dell's out, at least to order, but too expensive for me. So I hope they make like HP TouchPad and slash it, except that that makes it look like a bad idea for anyone else to make 'em.
There is a reason why conventional laptops and desktops do not have touch screens: because using touch on anything other than a flat, horizontal screen for more than 5-10 minutes leads to painful fatigue.
I think Intel is just floundering around trying to ensure the Ultrabook doesn’t fade into oblivion like the CULV before it, or the Netbook did once they tried getting rid of Linux.