{"id":51655,"date":"2012-06-03T07:25:38","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T05:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=51655"},"modified":"2012-06-04T09:23:49","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T07:23:49","slug":"intel-to-build-sturdier-laptops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/hardware\/51655-intel-to-build-sturdier-laptops.html","title":{"rendered":"Intel to build sturdier laptops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Engineers at Intel Corp<\/a> are applying lessons from aircraft design to create sturdier laptops in a bid to reduce the prices of the new ultra-thin computers the top chipmaker is promoting heavily.<\/p>\n

Intel is counting on the super-thin laptops, a category it has dubbed ultrabooks, to add some pizzazz to a PC market languishing due to the growing popularity of Apple Inc’s<\/a> iPad.<\/p>\n

Combining the best of laptops and tablets, the ultrabooks will have large, touch screens, “instant on” responsiveness and razor-thin dimensions – all expensive features that have left some on Wall Street wondering if they might be too expensive for average consumers.<\/p>\n

Engineers at Intel’s Dupont, Washington R&D center, including former Boeing Co employees, have come up with a design method to make plastic laptop cases as strong as more expensive metal ones. That may cut the cost of future ultrabooks by between $25 and $75, said Ben Broili, head of the team.<\/p>\n

Their work is an example of the steps Intel is taking to find ways to make future ultrabooks more affordable – without cutting the prices of its processors.<\/p>\n

At a meeting with analysts last month, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini<\/a> said ultrabooks would be available for as little as $699, but many are expected to be priced nearer to $1,000.<\/p>\n

Borrowing from the aerospace industry, the engineers have found that hard drives, motherboards and other components that make up the guts of a PC can be laid out in ways that make the laptops structure much stronger.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t develop a new material. We are able to use an existing plastic with an existing manufacturing technology,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview. “It just requires some more upfront thought initially about how you lay your system out and how you can bring these things together and tie them in.”<\/p>\n

Different components in the laptop can be leveraged to support its chassis, or even dissipate heat from the processor, he said.<\/p>\n

“There is no one size fits all,” Broili added. “We’re trying to enable the entire industry. You can make trades, move stuff around; and if you don’t want your hard drive here, then move it. You have a menu you can pick from and see what you win or lose from a cost and quality standpoint.”<\/p>\n

LESS FLEX<\/p>\n

Laptops with metal cases tend to be sturdier than laptops with plastic cases, but they cost more.<\/p>\n

To get an idea of the structural quality of any laptop, Broili recommends lifting it up by a front corner while it is open and watching how much it flexes.<\/p>\n

Intel has already held a seminar in Taiwan to demonstrate its new design technique to PC design engineers and it is promoting it with specific manufacturers.<\/p>\n

At the Computex technology show in Taipei, Taiwan, next week, PC manufactures are set to unveil dozens of ultrabooks using Intel’s newest Ivy Bridge processors.<\/p>\n

They will also demonstrate future models with touch screens, based on Microsoft Corps’s<\/a> Windows 8<\/a> platform, which is expected out later this year.<\/p>\n

Broili said Intel engineers are working on other ways to improve ultrabooks, including tweaks to motherboards, touch screens and Wifi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Separately, Intel launched a $300 million fund last year to invest in small companies focused on technologies complementing ultrabooks, such as improved battery life.<\/p>\n

A few ultrabook models launched this year have been reviewed as nice but pricey, leaving some analysts skeptical the category will attract mainstream shoppers.<\/p>\n

Otellini has said Intel is on track to reach its goal that ultrabooks account for 40 percent of all consumer notebooks sold by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Microsoft, Intel to appeal billion dollar European fines<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Intel launches \u201cmachine learning\u201d research<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Engineers at Intel Corp are applying lessons from aircraft design to create sturdier laptops<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":340871,"featured_media":47744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[36,605,131,39,4704],"class_list":["post-51655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","tag-active","tag-apple","tag-intel","tag-ipad","tag-paul-otellini"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/340871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51657,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51655\/revisions\/51657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}