Intel May Drop Prices for Core i5 ULV to Push Ultrabooks

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oj88

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10% discount is really nothing for Intel, who does this routinely every summer as the back to school sale. I would expect another 20% discount in Q2'13 when AMD's 28nm APUs coming out in volume.
 
It's about time though. I think Ultrabooks are having issues because A) a lot of people still have netbooks, B) Ultrabooks are expensive compared to most computers, and C) the MacBook Air attracts more people since you get a better user experience for the same price as a Windows-based Ultrabook. Intel really needs to push the price angle if they want to really sell well against the Air and AMD's offerings.
 

Blandge

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[citation][nom]boiler1990[/nom]C) the MacBook Air attracts more people since you get a better user experience for the same price as a Windows-based Ultrabook. Intel really needs to push the price angle if they want to really sell well against the Air and AMD's offerings.[/citation]

No really. Intel doesn't gain anything from undercutting the MacBook Air. I'd say it's more because of AMD.
 

kcorp2003

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i want a quad core ultrabook but everything is dual core. i need an ultrabook‬ that can run oracle, VMware, selenium, Komodo Edit, NetBeans & few other tools running in the background.
 

iceman1992

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[citation][nom]boiler1990[/nom]C) the MacBook Air attracts more people since you get a better user experience for the same price as a Windows-based Ultrabook.[/citation]No you don't..
 

neoverdugo

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when will intel learn? How about a 60% price reduction? that will guarantee a better pricing for the UB. Also, give the customer the choice of having either an SSD o HDD. That way the UB won't be that much expensive as long as the SSDs remains pricier than typical HDDs. My only hope is that someone finds a way to make cheaper yet higher capacity volume SSD for the general public.
 
[citation][nom]boiler1990[/nom]It's about time though. I think Ultrabooks are having issues because A) a lot of people still have netbooks, B) Ultrabooks are expensive compared to most computers, and C) the MacBook Air attracts more people since you get a better user experience for the same price as a Windows-based Ultrabook. Intel really needs to push the price angle if they want to really sell well against the Air and AMD's offerings.[/citation]

Macbook Air at the same price point? Did I miss something here?

[citation][nom]kcorp2003[/nom]i want a quad core ultrabook but everything is dual core. i need an ultrabook‬ that can run oracle, VMware, selenium, Komodo Edit, NetBeans & few other tools running in the background.[/citation]

Ultrabooks are portable, not very high performance. There might be some sleek books with a quad core Trinity APU and maybe some very expensive Ultrabooks with a quad core i7, but like you said, dual-core CPUs are much more prevalent in these machines. Laptops are much easier to get with higher performance and for the money if portability is important.
 

fidgewinkle

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I've read this rumor elsewhere and I don't get it. Intel pushed the Ultrabook concept to increase their sales of expensive processors, and it has worked. Reports suggest that the high end notebook market has grown 30+% year over year. That is huge for Intel. It doesn't matter if the whole market is Ultrabooks. It just matters if more high priced processors and motherboards are going out the door.

One might think that tablets are a threat, but that is covered too. There will be a low end Intel tablets with Atom and a high end tablets that will essentially be an Ultrabook. There is no need to drive the price of a processor that is better than anything AMD produces down. It just doesn't make any sense. Of course, there will be price drops, because there are always price drops on processors. However, the view of the market reported here makes no sense.
 
math is a funny thing....
dropping the price of i3 processors by $25 does not equate to a 10% discount on a $250 i5. It is a 0% change on the i5, and a larger than 10% drop on the i3 as they would be cheaper to begin with.
 

trnddwn33

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[citation][nom]boiler1990[/nom] Intel really needs to push the price angle if they want to really sell well against the Air and AMD's offerings.[/citation]

Keep in mind the Air uses Intel chips as well... Thus Intel doesn't really care if you buy an Air or an Ultrabook. It is simply trying to capture a portion of the market currently occupied by AMD.
 

hector2

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I don't know. Maybe the EU will fine Intel another $1B for playing hardball and cutting prices to give AMD some tough competition.
 

willard

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[citation][nom]neoverdugo[/nom]when will intel learn? How about a 60% price reduction?[/citation]
You don't ask for much, do you?

Also, I don't think Intel needs to "learn" anything. They've posted record profits something like four years running now. With $12.9 billion in revenue in the first three months of this year alone, I don't think they need business advice from you.
 

shafe88

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[citation][nom]hector2[/nom]I don't know. Maybe the EU will fine Intel another $1B for playing hardball and cutting prices to give AMD some tough competition.[/citation]
Intel give AMD tough competition, are you serious, it's more like AMD gives Intel tough competition. It doesn't matter if Intel does cut their priceses some or not, AMD is still gonna be cheaper with better graphics performance.
 
[citation][nom]boiler1990[/nom]It's about time though. I think Ultrabooks are having issues because A) a lot of people still have netbooks, B) Ultrabooks are expensive compared to most computers, and C) the MacBook Air attracts more people since you get a better user experience for the same price as a Windows-based Ultrabook. Intel really needs to push the price angle if they want to really sell well against the Air and AMD's offerings.[/citation]
a) people have netbooks because they cost $300, not because they 'want' them... it is simply affordable
b) all new platforms are super expensive at first. Laptops use to cost 3-5x a similarly fitted desktop, then notebooks came out and they were 2x the cost of a comparable laptop, even netbooks started in the $500+ range when they first came out with absolutely terrible processors, 256MB or ram, and winXP. Even smartphones have seen dramatic price drops with huge performance improvements over the last ~5 years they have been arround. So ultrabooks are still in their first year of existence, and will drop in price dramatically over the next year before they hit their $700 bottom and start selling for a price point and just upgrade hardware per price point just like every other hardware platform has done.
c) Macbook Air is something between a glorified netbook and a gutted laptop. They are clearly more powerful than a netbook, and thinner than most netbooks, but also with a larger screen than most netbooks. However, if you compare them to a traditional 13" laptop they are absolutely gutless trash. What you are paying for is something that has the screen real-estate of a 13" laptop, but the footprint of a netbook, and all of the performance sacrifices that come with that. Ultrabooks try and take the 13" Air form factor, and cram a real laptop in there for a smaller price range.
For example, a base model 13" Air with an i5, 4GB of ram, and 128GB SSD goes for $1200. While a similarly spec Ultrabook from Acer goes for $1000, Dell is $980, and there is an HP is on sale now for $800 with a bigger SSD. On the 13" laptop side you can grab a $1000 laptop that has a 32GB SSD, 500GB HDD, a real i5 cpu, 8GB of ram, and much more connectivity and higher buss speeds between devices.
If you upgrade to a real processor and useful sized SSD (512GB) that same Air jumps up to $2100, while the 'competition' crams much better hardware in an Ultrabook while still near the $1500 range. And again, if you stick with a laptop form-factor you get a full on Desktop preplacement.
In short, saying that PC Ultrabooks are expensive, and that macs are somehow not expensive is dumb. There is always a $2-400 price difference per hardware spec on the low end, and a $500-1000 difference in the high end between PC and Mac. I'm not saying that the macs are not worth it, because much of that price difference (on the low end at least) goes into the case, keys, mice, display, and webcam; but when it comes to what you pay, compared to what the machine can do, the PC will win every time.
 
[citation][nom]hector2[/nom]I don't know. Maybe the EU will fine Intel another $1B for playing hardball and cutting prices to give AMD some tough competition.[/citation]

That fine was for Intel bribing OEMs to not use AMD CPUs a few years ago. Intel simply didn't pay it when they were supposed to pay it and the EU isn't allowing them to get away with it.
 

lamorpa

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[citation][nom]boiler1990[/nom]...the MacBook Air attracts more people since you get a better user experience for the same price...[/citation]
- "you"? You must be referring to yourself singularly in the 3rd person. It's not true in general (except for Apple cool-aid drinkers)

- "same price"? You mean same price + 50%
 
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