HP could be first to market with Intel ‘Ultrabook’ devices

The world’s largest PC maker HP may be the first to market with Intel ‘ultrabook’ concept notebook computers, appearing before the already unveiled Asus UX21.

Citing the usual chatty sources within the Asian electronics supply chain, industry watcher the DigiTimes said that two, or possibly more, HP Ultrabook models may. The devices would be based on Intel’s Core i7-2677M (1.8GHz) and i7-2637M (1.7GHz) dual-core CPUs, as unveiled in Intel’s previous discussion of the ‘ultrabook’ concept.

The DigiTimes earlier this month unveiled some industry gossip that rival notebook manufacturers were playing a game of wait and see, largely due to the high prices of Intel’s super thin processors. Those sources claimed the notebook manufacturers would be looking to the Asus UX21 to see how the market warms to Ultrabooks.

It may turn out that the HP Ultrabooks get something of a head start in the market, assuming that consumers will be drawn to premium price tag ultra portables. While Intel says such devices would be priced under US$1,000, there are some concerns about how realistic that price point will be.

Intel is banking on consumer demand for super thin and light notebooks packing some decent horsepower in exactly the way that netbooks, based on the sluggish low-power Atom range, tend to omit.

At least some inspiration for the push into this market segment is thought to be derived from the success of Apple’s MacBook Air products.

While HP’s Ultrabooks might arrive first, we’d hazard a guess they wont look anything like as classy as the Asus UX21 (pictured).