Geek Alert: Is the Ultrabook going to replace the tablet and laptop?

I clicked on this thread because I thought I saw Greek alert. I suppose that still qualifies me for a geek?

Susan,

As one who definitely qualifies as a Mac Geek (I've owned Macs since 1985, and currently still have 5 Macs running in various capacities), I would say from my perspective that ultrabooks are not going to replace tablets or laptops except for a certain segment. The people who most benefit from ultrabooks are so-called "road warriors," who travel a lot as part of their jobs, and need a full-functioning laptop that is used a lot, but they don't need the weight and size of a full laptop, or they really like the longer battery life of the ultrabooks.

For the average person who only uses computers for simple tasks, tablets have shown themselves to be far superior to typical computers. I gave both my Mother and my Mother-in-law iPads for Christmas last year, and both love them. My M-i-l was wanting a laptop, but I spent some time figuring out what she would use it for, and a tablet fit the bill better. My Mom also has a desktop PC that she uses for photo editing, and other various tasks, but she has never been interested in a laptop. She takes her tablet with her, checks out books from the library on it, etc. I'm fairly certain she would never get much use out of an ultrabook.

I mostly use my iPhone for computing on the go, but when my needs are greater, I take my Macbook Pro along. It has a full-sized keyboard and a large screen, both of which I find much more usable than the sizes of both on an ultrabook. I can't see an ultrabook filling the niche in which I use my laptop. In fact, for me, since I have both a smart phone and a laptop, even a tablet is superfluous. It could do a few things better than my phone, but not enough for the size, and it can't really be a full-sized laptop either.

I think the ultrabook market segment is interesting, but I would be much more interested in a full-sized, but much thinner and lighter laptop with the good keyboard and large screen that I find so indispensable.

I'd keep my eye open for the forthcoming Kindle tablet myself if I were you, Susan. Either that, or try to grab one of the (finally) reasonably priced HP Touchpads.

I have a 16GB WiFi iPad, and while it's nice, I wouldn't rush out to buy another one if it broke. I'd prefer a Android based tablet myself, since that frees me from Apple's constraints on what I can do with my (not their) tablet. Oh, and I hate iTunes too...but that's a different story.