Can Intel-Powered Ultrabooks Stand Up To iPad?

Tabletlike ultrabooks will hit store shelves this holiday season as Intel (INTC) and allies aim to blunt tablet cannibalization of PCs. But it may be a case of too little, too late for too much, analysts say.At $899 to $999, the first ultrabooks will look and be priced much like Apple's (AAPL) popular MacBook Air portable, analysts say. But, it's Apple's iPad tablet that has roiled the PC industry.
Mobile PC shipments will grow only 6.5% in 2011 vs. about 20% in the prior two years, says market research firm Gartner. Consumers and businesses will snap up some 65 million tablets, mostly iPads, worldwide this year.Smallish netbooks have been especially hard hit. IDC says netbook shipments will fall almost 13% in 2011 and 11.6% in 2012.
Intel, usurped by ARM Holdings (ARMH) in chips for smartphones and tablets, has been pushing PC makers to build thinner and lighter laptops. The new ultrabooks are about 30% lighter and thinner than earlier, comparable models, estimates IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell.The Laptop cases: A must have accessory for laptops .Asian notebook firms Asus and Acer rolled out ultrabooks this month. Lenovo and Toshiba are slated to sell models by year-end.
Most tablets are not using Intel chips or Microsoft (MSFT) operating systems. Profits are shifting to Apple and Google (GOOG) from the "Wintel" camp, says a Goldman Sachs report. But Intel sees an opening, though."We create and we consume," said Erik Reid, general manager of Intel's mobile client platform group. "The PC is the device best able to deliver on both those. Tablets are very much (media) consumption focused. People also want the creation experience, with video or photographs."
Over the next 12 to 18 months, PC makers will strut out ultrabooks with tabletlike features such as touch-screens, longer battery life and rapid restarting. Microsoft's Windows 8 OS, which supports touch-screens, is slated for release next fall. Some ultrabooks will sport GPS and sensor technology similar to tablets. A long product road map concerns some. An Intel processor code-named Haswell that's expected to halve notebooks' power use isn't due out until 2013, says Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes.Intel and PC makers hope to create momentum at January's Consumer Electronics Show. More ultrabooks are due out in mid-2012, in time for the back-to-school shopping season.