I’ve been watching the notebook space for a while now and have also been waiting for the first “ultrabook”; and in my opinion there hasn’t been one yet. The problem with most notebooks is that there’s always too much compromise.
Functionality & Design
I don’t want Beats audio or some other fancy thing, but I want the keyboard to offer superior tactile feedback and have very strong ergonomics. What’s the point of a laptop if you can’t do minimum work on it? But all we get are odd layouts and chiclet style keyboards.
Then there’s the other major offender, the touch-pad. The only manufacturer to get it right so far has been Apple. Lenovo’s X1-Carbon has apparently done a good job, but opinion is divided there. And I don’t understand it. Why is it so difficult not to put a uselessly cheap touch-pad on most laptops? If Apple can do it, why can’t anyone else?
Last design issue is improper heat management. While I like my laptops thin and light, the idea of almost burning my lap isn’t very appealing. OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) have been bad at this forever. But Apple is slightly better.
Don’t Bloat the Boat
I dream of the day when manufacturers will sell laptops without a gazillion billion programmes installed that aren’t needed. They should simply install essential drivers.
Promote Self Service
As tech-literacy increases, we have a lot more people who can perform basic repair and replacement jobs on their devices. Parts like the battery, hard drive and RAM should be replaceable, even on ultrabooks. Documen-tation on supported devices should be provided by the company.
Where’s the Ultrabook?
If I’m paying `50,000+ for an ultrabook, it better be perfect. After all, thin and light doesn’t justify this price tag. You’re not getting the performance that’s typical of this segment after all, since you’re getting low power parts and no optical drive. So if you’re not paying for performance then you should be paying for (and getting) luxury. Not some half-hearted MacBook Air clone.
And where’s the promised eight hour battery life? Where’s the Thunderbolt port? Where’s the promised SSD? No, hybrids, priced at `50k, won’t do. And where’s the cool gesture support and light sabre?
Let Us Customise It!
My last gripe with OEM PCs is the lack of customisation. You can’t choose your parts. You can’t have a Core i5 and 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. You must have the Core i7 or use the 128GB SSD with the i5. We really need a way to optimise the amount of money we spend.