The Ultrabook,, focuses on thin and light mobile computing with "tablet-like features." With a sub-$1000 price, Ultrabooks appear to be gunning for the MacBook Air--the reigning ultra-thin, ultra-light notebook, which starts at $1000 for the 11.6-inch version.
The first Ultrabook, the Asus UX21, sounds a lot like the MacBook Air. It doesn't have a price yet but will support up to a Core i7 processor and, like the MacBook Air, feature a unibody design and a thickness of just 0.67 inches (ok, the MacBook Air is 0.68 inches thick).
Later waves of the new ultrathin Ultrabook laptop will boast the upcoming Intel processors-, which are claimed to be 37 percent faster than current chips and more energy-efficient. Looking even further into the future, in 2013, Intel expects Ultrabooks to be even thinner and have longer battery life. Although a third of an inch thin is plenty thin for most people, thin and super-powered is the trend Ultrabooks are definitely trying to ride.
Perhaps even more relevant than the thinner designs are the yet-to-be-detailed "tablet-like features" of Ultrabooks. A crossover category between ultraportable laptops and tablets might really rejuvenate the laptop category, but this will depend on the Ultrabooks' touch experience-something yet to be determined.
On the other side of the spectrum are Google's , which have also promised to reinvent mobile computing with their low cost and Web-centric platform. While Ultrabooks seem to go after the premium laptop category, Chromebooks are targeting budget users, as evidenced by a monthly subscription plan for business and education users and a starting price of $349 for the 11.6-inch Acer Chromebook. Chromebooks don't advertise processing power or extraordinary aesthetics as much as they do ease of use and cloud connectivity.