Intel's Counter Attack Kick Starts on Friday

So why is Intel ramping up Ivy Bridge to be way ahead of schedule and include a new microarchitecture? Because Intel is rushing their new from scratch processor called Haswell for 2013 in an effort to take on ARM and any other wannabe competitor in the mobile space.

Intel Corporation's biggest marketing campaign in nearly a decade kicks off this week with television commercials, online experiences and print ads that the company is hailing as "cinematic and epic."

The multi-faceted global campaign, called "A New Era of Computing," is aimed at marketing the Ultrabook experience in exciting and innovative ways to consumers. Valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, the campaign is the largest marketing spend for the company since launching Intel® Centrino® in 2003.

"῾A New Era of Computing' is going to be very different from what you've seen from Intel in a long time," said Kevin Sellers, vice president, Sales and Marketing Group and director, Advertising and Digital Marketing. "This is not a campaign where we're talking about the microprocessor or Intel the company. Instead, we're giving a cinematic and epic feel to how Intel-inspired Ultrabook systems are ushering in a new era of computing and making everything else seem like ancient history."

Sellers was referring to the initial TV spots set in the American Old West, ancient China and medieval times that humorously position PCs as old-fashioned and Ultrabooks being, as the campaign theme suggests, "a new era of computing." The spots were directed by Daniel Kleinman, a British TV commercial and music video director who also helmed the title sequence for several James Bond movies.

"Desperado" debuts on American television on April 6 after a world premiere through paid promotion on Twitter (a U.S. first, according to the online social networking service). The referenced ad is the one noted in our opening video.

"House of Flying Laptops," highlighting Ultrabooks' extended battery life and a nod to such stylish martial arts films as "House of Flying Daggers" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," begins in an ancient Chinese temple during the Ming Dynasty. Two traditionally dressed women, each wielding a bulky, power-hungry laptop, engage in an epic battle over a single available power outlet. Their attention quickly turns to a modern woman sitting at a nearby table and working on her Ultrabook.

Set inside a medieval European castle and underscoring Ultrabooks' small form factor and high performance, "Round Table" shows a team of less-than-enthused knights subjected to a slide presentation by their king who is using an outmoded computer that can't keep up. Relief comes to the frustrated monarch when a woman suddenly enters the room with a "mystical device" – an Ultrabook.

Each ad ends with a metaphoric twist as the original ancient setting transforms to a modern-day one. A voiceover at the end says, "Suddenly, everything else seems old-fashioned. Ultrabook: Inspired by Intel."

At the end of the day, I think that Intel's MacBook Air Counter Attack will be successful to a certain degree – but let's be honest here: the Ultrabook was really inspired by Apple's MacBook Air – Period.