The Ultrabook craze that Intel seems to have kicked off at CES has yielded lots of upcoming models that are going to give IT a lot to think about. In fact, predictions from market research firm iSuppli suggest that a radical transformation of day-to-day computing is at hand as the market shifts quickly to smaller and more mobile devices. Ultrabooks will capture 43 percent of global notebook PC shipments in 2015, up from 2 percent in 2011 and 13 percent in 2012, says iSuppli. These Windows 8-equipped models will drop any kind of drive, using flash memory instead, which will make for longer battery life. iSuppli sees the number of ultrabook products growing from about 29 million units in 2012 to over 136 million units by 2015. At the same time, expect a big migration to cloud-based services that let mobile devices outperform desktop and laptop PCs. And, expect new and younger workers to simply expect that this is how things are supposed to work. Using a phone or tablet as a main computing device isn't a big deal to them. Will any hard-drive-based systems remain? Sure, but drives will have to slim way down, from 9.5 millimeters in 2011 to 7 millimeters in 2012 and 5 millimeters to remain relevant. So, will anyone in IT ever buy a desktop PC again? Times are changing fast. Photo: Intel Ultrabooks Will Kick Off a New Era for Enterprise IT
The Ultrabook craze that Intel seems to have kicked off at CES has yielded lots of upcoming models that are going to give IT a lot to think about. In fact, predictions from market research firm iSuppli suggest that a radical transformation of day-to-day computing is at hand as the market shifts quickly to smaller and more mobile devices. Ultrabooks will capture 43 percent of global notebook PC shipments in 2015, up from 2 percent in 2011 and 13 percent in 2012, says iSuppli. These Windows 8-equipped models will drop any kind of drive, using flash memory instead, which will make for longer battery life. iSuppli sees the number of ultrabook products growing from about 29 million units in 2012 to over 136 million units by 2015. At the same time, expect a big migration to cloud-based services that let mobile devices outperform desktop and laptop PCs. And, expect new and younger workers to simply expect that this is how things are supposed to work. Using a phone or tablet as a main computing device isn't a big deal to them. Will any hard-drive-based systems remain? Sure, but drives will have to slim way down, from 9.5 millimeters in 2011 to 7 millimeters in 2012 and 5 millimeters to remain relevant. So, will anyone in IT ever buy a desktop PC again? Times are changing fast. Photo: Intel 