Intel Having Problems Getting Those Ultrabooks Under $1000

By Marcus Yam
published

The super slim notebooks won't be so cheap.

At Computex 2011, Intel unveiled a new form factor of notebook it calls the Ultrabook. Essentially, it's an extremely thin and light notebook that's powered by Sandy Bridge-class processors – not unlike the new MacBook Airs from Apple.

While Acer and Asus have signed on to make Ultrabooks, they may not be able to hit that magical under-$1000 mark that Intel wants – despite having the platform already being subsidized by Intel.

Notebook Italia reports that Acer will launch its Ultrabook in Q4 2011, but it will arrive with a price of four digits. Another source told Slashgear that Asus UX31 and UX21 Ultrabooks will be over $1000 as well, unless a sacrifice is made to drop the CPU down to a Core i3. Models with Core i5 and i7, paired with SSDs, will range between $1000 to $2000.

It seems that the MacBook Air line isn't carrying as much of an "Apple tax" this time around.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tmk221
    it carry intel tax due to no competition from AMD

    am I the only one who starts to lose hope about bulldozer?
    Reply
  • well well, now that there's competition on the horizon, looks like Jobs is letting the ole Apple premium drop a little
    Reply
  • nebun
    ha ha ha.....get used to it....quality and form factor is going to cost...most companies don't know this...and the same goes for a majority of the people out there
    Reply
  • Thunderfox
    Or they could just make it 10% thicker and probably half the price...
    Reply
  • enewmen
    I like the basic idea of having large notebook power in a smaller package at a price near $1000. Hope Intel, Asus, Acer, and others can pull it off - but with more ports than the photo suggests. An 11" Llano Ultrabook will also be great.
    Reply
  • I just cant get over the Less is More theory!
    Reply
  • hardcore_gamer
    overpriced
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    There are people who work, and travel, but have a hard enough time lugging around their own luggage, and LOVE the idea of carrying '1kg less weight...'

    There is a market for this, even if some of the more vocal Tom's Hardware posters are hardcore performance buffs, and therefore don't understand this...

    I love my desktop. I pimp it out with the latest and greatest, no matter how much copper I have to strap on to my silicon to keep it cool... But I want battery life and portability (small weight/size) when I am on the road... Every ounce of spared weight counts...
    Reply
  • ojas
    i hope to be able to buy something like this or the samsung series 9 notebook (which is sort of like an ultrabook at a high price) at around 1K about 4 years from now, when intel get their 10/14mm processors going. Hopefully SSDs would have become cheaper and more reliable by then as well.

    What i really hope ultrabooks manage to do is have gesture support like macbooks (and the samsung 9 series) do, because that + win8 (or whatever)+ 1kg weight + great performance would be really stiff competition to Apple.

    I think a 13+ inch ultrabook with all this would just be sooo cool. And they'll be much more than just a fancy thing, they'd be bang for buck for a lot of people, imo.

    Keep innovating bitches! :D
    Reply
  • CoffeeDrinker
    I think Acer or Asus will be able to get the pricing down only if Intel stops making a huge profit on there products. Intel always has been overpriced. That is why they can try make demands of a lower priced laptop.
    Reply