Intel Touts Ultrabook, As New Era Of Computing

Chipmaker Intel is launching an ad campaign called “A New Era Of Computing,” heralding the launch of its new brand of processors and Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 8 operating system. The multi-million dollar ad campaign is to promote its thin and light notebook PCs called ultrabooks. The ad highlights the features of the new product in an obvious attempt to wean away buyers from the popular Apple’s (AAPL) MacBook Air.

Intel says that the Ultrabook PCs will have “thin, light, beautiful” designs and be priced for the majority market, as opposed to high-end buyers. Intel expects the “new systems to account for 40 percent of consumer laptop sales by the end of next year.”

Intel’s ads are set in the American Old West, ancient China and medieval times. They tout ultrabooks as “a new era of computing” whilst brushing aside PCs as old-fashioned.

The first ad set in a Western saloon, show old timers finding it frustratingly hard to work with large, slow, conventional laptops only to find themselves interrupted by a stranger from the modern world carrying an Ultrabook.

The second ad shifts it focus to power consumption, from the first one’s speed. Set in China’s Ming Dynasty, it shows a couple of women with conventional laptops fighting for possession of the one available power socket.

The third is set in a medieval castle and shows knights thoroughly uninterested and bored, sitting through a lackluster slide presentation on laptops.

The company said that it was it’s biggest marketing campaign since it launched the Intel Centrino processor in 2003. Intel is extensively singing the Ultrabook’s praises on TV commercials, online and print ads, and even promoted tweets on Twitter.

The company may find it hard to sell ultrabooks and their projected sales could suffer for a variety of reasons. Apple’s (AAPL) MacBook Air is hugely popular and a proven product. Ultrabooks could be confused with netbooks, which are comparatively low priced.

The new tech-set are more focused on smartphones and tablet PCs. Intel however, feels that the ad-campaign will send a forceful message that laptops are evolving ‘rapidly and significantly.’ Intel said Ultrabooks will “marry the performance and capabilities of today’s laptops with tablet-like features and deliver a highly responsive and secure experience.”

Kevin Sellers, Intel’s vice president of sales and marketing and director of advertising and digital marketing said, “There’s a lot of people talking about the ‘post-PC era,’ or the end of the PC. We don’t view it that way.”