Warning: ‘Ultrabook’ laptops are all hot air

For all the years the Apple MacBook Air has been on the market, some PC maker has tried to copy it. Dell’s Adamo is the best known of these poor man’s Airs, and it’s a good example of how users can tell they’re not the real thing. Now, Intel has come up with the Ultrabook label to help PC makers out when trying to clone the MacBook Air.

You’ll see a bunch of these Ultrabooks advertised for the holidays, in sleek metallic finishes and angular chassis. You’ll see additional takes next year when Intel’s power-efficient Atoms come on the market. And you’ll see even more after that when the next-generation, power-efficient Core processors — the ones used in serious computers like, um, the MacBook Air — become available in 2013.

But there’s a real problem with the Ultrabook label: It means practically nothing. There is no set of criteria PC makers must meet to use the Ultrabook label — so it guarantees nothing, as I learned on a recent visit to Intel.

I asked how the Ultrabook prototypes I saw at Intel weren’t just MacBook Air clones running Windows. (Keep in mind that a MacBook Air can run Windows, so why not get the real thing instead of a wannabe Ultrabook?) I couldn’t get a clear answer from Erik Reid, Intel’s general manager for mobile client products — that is, laptops and the forthcoming Windows 8-powered tablets. After I pressed the issue a little more, he said there was no formal definition, as the capabilities would change over time, but the principles Intel was encouraging were thin, light, pleasing chassis designs; low power consumption and, thus, long battery life; fast startup; and better security.

Reid also noted that some PC makers were using the Ultrabook label on PCs that will be out this fall because they had begun development before Intel coined the term in July. In other words, the first batch of Ultrabook models meant to tempt you for your Christmas holiday shopping likely won’t meet even those basic goals. (At a PC conference later, Intel CEO Paul Otellini echoed this distinction between vendors’ use of the Ultrabook label and Intel’s aspiratinos for it. Otellini said he didn’t expect “real” Ultrabooks until spring.)

Reid did say that one Intel innovation would be common to all Ultrabooks: the use of Intel’s Identity Protection Technology (IPT), which was introduced in the second-generation Core i3, i5, and i7 chip sets in January 2011. Basically, IPT is a separate chip from the processor that generates a unique identifier that acts as a second-factor authentication for user passwords, much like the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chips proposed a few years back. Intel keeps a list of PCs that have IPT — remember, it’s not built in to every second-generation Core-based PC because it requires additional chips from Intel than just the Core processor. Applications and websites have to be written to look for and validate that unique identifier.

But even the use of IPT in Ultrabooks is not guaranteed, as Intel isn’t enforcing any parameters nor defining what it believes qualifies as an Ultrabook (its website is painfully vague on that score). As a result, the Ultrabook label means nothing.

Therefore, don’t pay extra for a laptop with the Ultrabook label, and be sure to check out the specs for the “Ultrabook” you do buy. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad Intel is trying to spur PC makers to deliver better products, and I credit it for bringing to the PC platform some of the innovation Apple has done on the Mac side. And I get that unlike the Mac situation where Apple can optimize both the OS and the hardware, Intel can’t do more than offer advanced products and hope that PC makers (who sadly tend to do little true innovation) do the right thing with them. Finally, I get that Intel has to rely on Microsoft to optimize Windows’ use of the hardware. So Intel can’t do the soup-to-nuts advances for the PC industry as Apple can for the Mac.

I just wished Intel was using the Ultrabook moniker as a licensed, minimum-required-specification brand to provide a real incentive for PC makers to do the right thing in terms of meeting the Ultrabook goals. After all, other than Microsoft, no other company has that ability in the PC space.

Therefore, when evaluating Ultrabooks — as well as thin laptops that don’t use the meaningless label — keep the following facts in mind, based on the specs of the MacBook Air they are trying to copy:

Power usage. Battery life is never as high as the vendor rates. A MacBook Air gets between two and seven hours of battery life. Apple advertises “up to seven hours” when used for Web surfing — which is an accurate claim despite the fact that it uses a power-hungry Core i5. Intel says Apple’s engineers have done a remarkable job optimizing the MacBook Air’s hardware, so it gets the same battery life from a current Core i5 as Intel expects unoptimized Ultrabooks to get when they run the 22nm “Ivy Bridge” Core i5 processors that match the energy efficiency of today’s MacBook Air — but the new Core i%s aren’t expected until 2013. Meanwhile, the so-called Ultrabooks will use the power-hungrier 32nm “Sandy Bridge” Core i5 that the Air currently uses.

Note that the seven-hour estimate assumes you’re working just in your browser, not using local apps. The Air’s battery life plummets when you run Adobe Flash (the highest user of CPU power and battery life, even when it’s idle); running muliple local apps simultaneously also reduces battery life. The same patterns should be true on Ultrabook laptops.

Processing power. Ultrabooks will use the same “Sandy Bridge” Core i5 (and i7) as today’s MacBook Air, but likely won’t have the optimized performance of an Air as most PC makers use the components provided by Intel and others as is, and cannot tweak the operating system. By contrast, Apple designs and optimizes both the hardware and the operating system, which is why the MacBook Air’s performance keeps pace with the full-on MacBook Pro. Intel is working on reference models for manufacturers to achieve both the Air’s performance and battery life, but they require 2013’s “Ivy Bridge” Core i5 and other chips to match today’s Air. (Intel also plans to release the energy-efficient but less powerful 32nm “Cedar Trail” Atom processors late this year, but this chip is expected to be used in netbooks, tablets, and smartphones — Intel does not recommend it for Ultrrabooks.)

Thus, you’ll first see Ultrabooks sold using today’s Core i5 processors to get the kind of performance users expect from a laptop — but at the expense of battery life. Then as the “Cedar Trail” Atoms become available in volume this spring, you may see Ultrabooks using them — assuming their processing power is not as anemic as the current 45nm “Lincroft” Atom’s performance — despite Intel’s guidance that only the Core i5 is suited for Ultrabooks. Ultrabooks matching the current MacBook Air’s energy efficiency and processing power should be available in 2013, though I have no doubt that Apple will have advanced its optimizations in the meantime. Some PC makers might do as Apple has done and make their own system modifications to increase battery life and processing efficiency before the “Ivy Bridge” Core i5s are available in 2013.

Storage. The MacBook Air’s SSD helps it boot faster, work faster, and use less energy. But SSDs are expensive, so you can expect many Ultrabooks to use hard disks instead to undercut the $1,300 price of a 13-inch MacBook Air. That’ll slow boot time, run slower for disk-oriented work, and drain the battery faster. Intel is working on technology that would pre-boot Windows into flash memory to cut the boot time, but it’s not yet ready for use in shipping products.

Thin, light, elegant chassis. What makes a laptop’s design appealing is subjective, but it’s clear that many Ultrabooks will bear a strong resemblance to the Air, with a tapered front and a thin, metallic design. The 13-inch MacBook Air is 0.11 to 0.68 inch thick, 12.8 inches wide, and 9.94 inches deep, and it weighs just under 3 pounds. You can expect similar dimensions from Ultrabooks. Some Ultrabook models will of course clone the 11-inch Air, which as you would expect is not as wide or as deep and weighs less (2.4 pounds).

The biggest differences among various Ultrabooks — and the MacBook Air — is the case material. Apple has a lock on the factories that can do the precision cutting of its solid aluminum chassis, so few PC makers can use the same technique. Instead, you’re more likely to see more traditional “skin” cases formed from metal sheets or various slick polymers.

From the prototypes I saw, you can expect a similar array of ports — Ethernet, USB, power, and audio — and of course no internal optical drive. I noticed surprising quality differences in the trackpad design and ease-of-use, so you should test them in person before taking one home. Apple’s touchpad handles sophisticated gestures, and it’s both simple to use and pleasant to touch; that’s not necessarily the case in Ultrabooks.

Once you get past the Ultrabook’s form, the real issues will come down to performance and power usage. Few Ultrabooks will be able to match the MacBook Air for many months in those departments. But the thinness of the Air is compelling, and you may find the performance and battery life of an Ultrabook good enough to get that advantage if you run only Windows. Just don’t rely on the label in making your decision.

This article, “‘Ultrabook’ laptops are all hot air,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Galen Gruman’s Mobile Edge blog and follow the latest developments in mobile technology at InfoWorld.com. Follow Galen’s mobile musings on Twitter at MobileGalen. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.