Notebook Computers

Ron Fehling/Masterfile

Imagine a notebook computer that starts up in 2 seconds, has a battery that lasts as long as 12 hours, and is thinner and lighter than anything that you might have considered buying 2 years ago. Imagine no more. Notebook computers continue to evolve, and you’ll find lots of changes that will benefit you regardless of whether you’re upgrading from an older model or buying your first notebook computer.

ULTRASLEEK. About 75 percent to 80 percent of computers that were produced in 2011 were notebook computers, according to market-research firm The NPD Group. That’s consistent with where notebook computers were in 2009. But, in fact, the notebook-computer market took a detour last year. This downturn followed a banner 2010 thanks to the then-new Windows 7 operating system and the mania that surrounded netbook computers—10- to 12-inch models that typically have less hard-disk storage and less powerful processors than what you typically will find on a notebook computer. NPD says 26 percent of the notebook computers that were sold in 2009 were netbooks, but that number fell to 12 percent during the first half of 2011 and sank to just 8 percent last August.

Although we expect manufacturers to continue to sell netbooks for the next 2 years, the product’s heyday is over, independent analyst Rob Enderle says. The new hot platform is the ultrabook, which is a new type of ultraportable notebook computer that began to ship last fall.

Ultrabooks have a low-voltage processor that Intel designed to boost battery life to 5–8 hours in a package that weighs about 3 pounds. These computers have more processing power than do netbooks and have 12.1- to 13.3-inch screens, compared with the 10.1- to 12.1-inch screens that are on netbooks. As of press time, ultrabook models cost $800–$1,100.

Ultrabooks are Intel and Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s MacBook Air. Although the early MacBook Air models achieved their slim size by giving up performance, Apple’s 2011 models reconciled that difference.

Intel estimates that by the end of 2012, ultrabook models will represent about 40 percent of consumer notebook computers that are available. We believe that this figure might be a bit ambitious, given that manufacturers released just one ultrabook model apiece last fall. But given consumers’ increasingly mobile lifestyle and demand for longer battery life, we expect that ultrabooks will be prevalent on store shelves by the end of the year.

FULLER FUNCTIONS. Notebook-computer processors have evolved considerably in the past 2 years.

Intel, which dominates the computer-chip market, has made great strides with its second-generation Sandy Bridge processor, which it introduced last year. This chip is a significant improvement over the company’s previous Core series processor. The new design optimizes power management and battery life, improves performance and integrates the graphic-processing unit directly onto the processor. This integration means that you’ll see clearer videos and webcam chats, get smoother 1080p playback and have more support for 3-D Blu-ray Disc playback than you do on notebook computers that use the previous generation of processor.

Lenovo’s Jason Parish says his company’s 2011 products have a 30 percent improved battery life over its 2010 models. From what we’ve heard, this 30 percent improvement is typical for all of the companies that use the new Sandy Bridge processor. Half of that improvement, Parish says, is because of the processor; the rest he credits to engineers who reduced the overall power consumption of notebook computers.

Meanwhile, competing processor-maker AMD made strides in the past 2 years by boosting its processors’ battery life to as much as 12 hours from an average of 5.5 hours to become more competitive with Intel’s processors. Computer-makers noticed: Both Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo now include AMD chips in several of their notebook-computer series. Two years ago, you’d find AMD chips only in low-cost machines.