Acer President: Ultrabooks Will Cost $499 in 2013
Ultrabooks will enter the tablet price range in 2013 according to Acer.
Following reports that Intel plans (but also formally denied) to offer a $100 subsidy on every ultrabook, Acer president Jim Wong said on Thursday that ultrabook prices will drop down to $499 USD in 2013.
According to Wong, the drop in price should begin sometime around 2Q12 where he expects the new form factor to retail for $799 to $899 USD -- a 20-percent price drop from the current price point. Presently the company is shipping 100,000 ultrabooks each month, but the number of units is expected to ramp up to 250,000 to 300,000 units by the end of December.
Wong also reports a positive outlook for 4Q11, as there are signs the company may actually break even during the quarter. To pull itself out of the red, the company began to aggressively diminish its European inventory during the second quarter of the year, reducing the level down from 80 day's worth of stock to just a mere 20 to 30 days.
As of December, the company still resides as the #4 notebook supplier. However Wong believes there's still a good chance to return to its former #2 position in 2012 by focusing on product quality and consumer demand rather than pushing shipment volumes. The company will also need to focus on its performance in China.
On Thursday, the Acer president addressed the current shortage of hard drives, stating that he expects the company to suffer a supply gap of only 10 to 15-percent in the fourth quarter. Additional sources indicate that this may be due to hard drive manufacturers prioritizing brand vendors, leaving retailers scrambling for the remaining units. Manufacturers have estimated an overall supply gap of 30 to 35-percent globally.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
-
nao1120 Guess we'll wait till 2013 - Are these guys stupid to announce such things. Same thing with the bluray player, or dvd player at launches. Ridiculous prices at first, then ohhh, 200, then 50 bux.Reply -
de5_Roy yeah, that'd happen only if intel reduces prices of their overpriced cpus down to reasonable level. otoh, amd could help bring down ultrabook prices by using llano and trinity apus.Reply -
CaedenV makes it hard to justify buying a $1000 computer next year when it will be $500 the following year. At least this form factor stands a better chance at surviving than the tablets do.Reply
As for Acer, I'm glad to hear they are going to be back in the black! Talk about turning a company around. They use to be absolute crap just a few years ago, and I would never have considered purchasing anything with their name on it. Now I have a netbook of theirs that I am quite happy with, as well as 120 newer netbooks at a school I work for, and am regularly suggesting their desktops to people looking for a pre-built machine. Sure, they are not top of the line. But they are cheap, and built with quality. Kind of like what eMachines was supposed to be in days gone by. -
zybch I just got an email from acer (after I foolishly registered another acer product) trying to get me to part with $999 for one of their ultrabooks.Reply
Not a chance guys, not a chance. -
zybch CaedenV they are cheap, and built with quality. Kind of like what eMachines was supposed to be in days gone by.Aren't eMachines now a division of acer?Reply -
iceman1992 I don't want them to be $499 with a poor build quality. I'd rather they make it a reasonable $800-ish but with brilliant quality, and more performanceReply -
alidan de5_royyeah, that'd happen only if intel reduces prices of their overpriced cpus down to reasonable level. otoh, amd could help bring down ultrabook prices by using llano and trinity apus.Reply
they aren't nearly as over priced as you think, id love to know the exact per waffer chip volume, and the exact yeild spec. -
slabbo he's probably assuming, zero inflation also...seeing as how that's not going to happen as long as the Fed Reserve gets to print money out of thin air.Reply