Intel touch display Ultrabook reference design: hands-on

[Cebit 2012] Intel is showing a touch-enabled Ultrabook reference design at Cebit, and the overall goal of this exercise is to show what this looks and feels like, and to provide developers with something that they can work on until Windows 8 launches later this year. This is of great importance for both Microsoft and Intel as Windows 8 and its native touch user interface could be an inflexion point for the Intel-based mobile market.

As for the reference design itself, its profile looks like a 2012 Samsung Series 9 computer, but it comes unbranded, so it’s hard to know for sure who Intel has partnered with on this project. What we do know is that this reference design truly represents what future Ultrabooks (and more…) will look like going forward. Microsoft itself has said that it expects every screen to become touch-enabled, so this is certainly only the beginning.

Overall, this is a good idea because trackpads are not the most precise pointers out there, although they will stay, along with the mouse, as an option, so the touch aspect is truly a supplement and not a replacement when it comes to pointing devices. Because of this, you can also expect many designs to fold completely into tablets – just like that “Yoga” Ultrabook that was shown by Microsoft during Mobile World Congress. Whether you want it or not, your next computer will be a touch-enabled one, so… what do you think? We also recommend checking this video from our friends from Ultrabooknews: