Hewlett-Packard (HP) on November 16 unveiled a lightweight laptop computer to take on Apple's MacBook Air in the hot "Ultrabook" arena. The HP Folio will be priced at $900 when it hits the market on December 7, less than two months after the California-based technology titan scuttled plans to abandon making personal computers.
HP tailored the Folio for business, making it thin and light with a battery life of as long as nine hours. The Folio weighs 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) and features solid state drives along with 13.3-inch (33.8-centimeter) high-definition screens. "This category of product breaks new ground and will be a likely choice for businesses to offer to employees looking for a more consumer-centric experience," said IDC chief research officer Crawford Del Prete.
"We expect Ultrabooks will re-ignite interest in the small form factor PC category, and by 2015 expect 95 million Ultrabooks will be shipping world-wide annually," the industry analyst said.
Folio laptops will be powered by Windows 7 operating systems, which promise to appeal to the broad array of businesses that rely on Microsoft software.
A model of Folio will be available with a built-in security chip to encrypt and protect email and stored data, according to HP.