Intel Shows Off Its Newest Ultrabooks & The Haswell Chip At Developer Conference

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While you’ve already joined us in a couple of newsy bits from the crew out at Microsoft, who was hosting their Build conference for developers today, they weren’t the only ones having a conference today. Turns out Intel was also offering up some conference today, and what they had to show was pretty impressive in its own right.

Intel was out in full force at their developers’ conference, showing off examples of the constantly discussed Ultrabook, as well as one of their lesser known but, in some circles, still hotly anticipated Haswell chip. Intel also got the opportunity to discuss the Ivy Bridge chip, which will be the successor to the Sandy Bridge line that we’ve been hearing so much about over the last few months.

Intel made some description about how the Haswell chips–along with their Ivy Bridge brethren–would serve to help develop the Ultrabook line, and frankly, that was a lesson badly in need. Haswell chips, according to Intel, would require much less battery life to keep operational, which would boost efficiencies and help keep prices down. The Haswell chips, Intel said, would allow for all-day usage as well as a standby life of up to ten days.

One of the biggest problems for the entire Ultrabook line is one of price, with Intel wanting starter versions under $1000 yet still potent enough to keep up with the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines from long-time competitor Apple. Intel also said that one major issue would be settled with the release of Windows 8, which in turn would go a long way toward getting the Ultrabook lineup properly off the ground. Many suppliers complained that the price of Intel chips–even with a substantial development fund in place–was doing too much damage to the profit side of the equation, and while Intel seemed  a bit unsympathetic at the time, they may well have known about a future project that would be a huge help.

So what do you guys think here? Think that the Haswell / Ivy Bridge combination will be the one-two punch that gets the Ultrabook line properly humming? Or is the Ultrabook still just a pipe dream? No matter what you think, head on down to the comments section and tell us what you think!