The Slow Death of the Ultrabook Begins ⇥ zdnet.com

Some hardware manufacturers are finding it difficult to comply with Intel’s requirements of what constitutes an “Ultrabook”, the Windows equivalent of the MacBook Air. Intel responded by changing the requirements to allow plastic bodies, not just metal ones. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes comments:

Once again, Apple has set a bar that others have to match up to. And it seems that the bar has been set too high.

Compromising on what an Ultrabook is supposed to be — especially this early in their lifecycle — does not bode well for the platform. To me, this feels like netbooks all over again, and it won’t be long before a promising platform is driven into the ground in an attempt to cost as many costs as possible.