Report: Intel Prices Ultrabook BOM at $475 to $710
Intel does the math for manufacturers.
The brief word on the street was that ODMs/OEMs were having trouble making Ultrabooks (essentially laptops with a form like a MacBook Air) for under $1,000. Then a report popped up of Acer's offering that should creep in at $768 to $960, helping to put to rest the fears of a ballooned budget.
According to Digitimes, Intel has put together a reference design and bill of materials that range from $475 to $710. Mind you, that's the just the material cost, so the final product will definitely reflect further value-added cost on top.
The Taiwanese publication details that the 0.8-inch (21 mm) notebooks have a BOM of $475 to $650 and the 0.7-inch (18 mm) design has one $493 to $710.
It looks like a sub-$1000 Ultrabook will be real after all, though it still remains to be seen how much you will have to pay to get the configuration you desire.

Just for the Apple logo and their crap OS.
I'm sure they can build one for $768 to $960 but it will have crappy celeron , or in best case scenario core 2 duo.
Intel charges too high premium for their CPU. AMD please release bulldozer already!
In some ways a $399 laptop is still a sub $1000 laptop... Depends on how you look at it!
So what, a laptop that's half the thickness?
They can do better by creating a fast netbook that fits in a backpack!
Not to mention these designs have reduced battery life!
You'll see, this netbook craze is going to come and go, and no person actually noticed them!
I'm interested to see what options become available in the next year or so, but the hardware manufacturers need to get on the ball here - Apple already has an almost one year lead in the market, now with a very solid Core i5 option with a backlit keyboard.
The slightly larger size (11.6-13" vs. 9-10") allows for a full size keyboard. That's the main reason I went with an Air vs. a netbook with an SSD and all the bells and whistles.
Me, personally, I get the idea of the Air but I also prefer functionality over the loss of 4/5 oz to be honest. For myself I got the Toshiba protege with an i5 earlier in the year. Its weighs only a fraggin 1/3 lb heavier that some netbooks but has all the inputs and a DVD drive for work and, unlike an Air, it did cost cheaper and frankly I gained more functionality wise than the air. If I had a choice, I'd prefer consumers opt for the direction of laptops like the Protege or even Macbook Pro but I'd lean towards the Protege for the sake of pricing and its not like Toshiba and Windows 7 together is a bad combo.
And no I'm not a windows fanboy; my dual boot hackintosh is testimony to that but I feel that if consumers feel that Apple is the way to get out of having to learn about using a machine, frankly they'll just never learn.
@evo_7, have you ever use or see an Air? I haven't use Toshiba protege before. My last Toshiba was a piece of plastic that was poorly put together. Air is made out of Aluminum, that along makes me happy already. I used to be a windows only person, buying $600 to $800 laptops for myself and anyone that asks for my recommendation. Recently I got myself a 13" Air(core i5 version) for $1299. I got to say it's worth every dollar.
The quality build of it just amazes me, I'm in love with the touch pad, I used touch pad in many different windows laptops before, none of them even comes close to the one Air offers.
Currently, I got 6 windows pc and 1 Mac in my home. I use 1 pc for gaming and do everything else on Air. The other 5 pc(desktops & laptops) are just sitting there gathering dusts.
And no I'm not a windows fanboy; my dual boot hackintosh is testimony to that but I feel that if consumers feel that Apple is the way to get out of having to learn about using a machine, frankly they'll just never learn.
I was looking at the 11.6" Satellite (I think) when I bought my Air in December, but the Sandy Bridge models weren't out then, and Apple's keyboard was better. I prefer the aluminum build construction of the new Macs, so that had some role in my decision. I'm also a college student with a custom desktop, so all I needed was a mobile platform to work on when on the go; weight, then, was of higher importance in my case.
Also, the updated Air makes much more sense than the C2D version. I bought the older one because I needed it then.
Regardless, it's amazing how many computing options there are now. Everything from tiny netbooks to monster gaming laptops, and then you get an insane number of options when you move into desktops.
That's why I've stuck with Mac laptops - aluminum bodies with amazing multitouch trackpads. I've never needed a mouse with a MacBook...
The current Celeron CULV actually is a Sandy Bridge CPU. But yeah, competition is long overdue.
You said the word "aluminum" and the price shot up a bit...
Quality has a premium. I'd pay and extra $100 for an aluminum chassis on a 10.1" netbook. (Hence the $450 price point, rather than the 250-350 price point I am generally content with).