Needed Specs
Dual Core Intel Ivy Bridge Processor
Nvidia GeForce GT 600M Series (with Cuda Cores)
Intel Wireless Display (WiDi)
USB 3.0
Backlit Keyboard
Solid State Drive for Operating System
Screen Size less than 15 inches
Wanted Specs
802.11ac Wireless
Touchscreen
At Least 500MB Storage
1920x1080 Screen Resolution
Tablet Convertable
Under $1,500
The Winning Ultrabook:
Asus Zenbook Prime UX-32VD
Official ASUS Zenbook Prime UX-32 Page
Amazon: ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook
The Estimated Ultrabook Timeline
According to ultrabooknews.com
April – Expect Ivy Bridge Ultrabook ‘launches’ from premium manufacturers from now. At least 2, maybe up to 5 launches could happen in the next 4 weeks. Look for some price drops on 1st-gen Ultrabooks that will give hints. Launches are part of the early marketing and advertising process. Final specs, baseline prices and a rough availability should be given.
Mid May – 2-core, low power Intel Ivy Bridge silicon production to start.
End of May – 1st shipments reach ‘first-in-line’ Ultrabook manufacturers.
1st week June – First production run of premium models of new Ultrabooks.
3rd week June – First products hitting shelves in main countries. (Taiwan, Japan, USA)
End of June – Ramp-up of availability for early models from tier-1 manufacturers including other main countries. (Germany, UK, Canada, Australia, Western Europe)
July – staged availability of mainstream models and 2nd-tier manufacturers. Look out for the ‘back-to-school’ offers in the USA. Big marketing push.
August – Street prices starting to drop to sustainable levels (-5%, –10%) End of back-to-school offers. Production numbers increase to feed the Q4 sales period.
Sept-Oct - Q4 launches, holiday season marketing ramp-up in many of the large geographical markets. Intel provides more details of 3rd Gen platform, Haswell
Oct-Dec Wide availability of Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks at competitive pricing. Tail-off on production of 1st-gen Ultrabooks. Stock clearances should provide good offers.
Dec – leaks, marketing for CES soft launches of 2nd-wave of Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks at CES.