Report: Intel to Pay for $100 of Your New Ultrabook

[exfileme]

Ultrabook prices will begin to fall next quarter partially thanks to a $100 subsidy finally offered by Intel.

Report: Intel to Pay for $100 of Your New Ultrabook : Read more

 

[aodknifer]

bout time Intel realized that they are the reason manufacturers have trouble staying under that 1,000 dollar ceiling.

 

[Kaiser_25]

I love hearing people complain about the costs of logic chips, and most everyone of them has no idea what goes into the manufacturing of them, 200$ for a chip really isn’t unreasonable, and noone is forcing you to buy the flagship 1000$ chips

 

[ragenalien]

As a salesman I can honestly say that everyday people will not buy these. Most people who come into a store looking for a computer go strait for the 300-400 dollar price point. They'll see these computers vs. a macbook air and ask me what the difference is. The difference is (for whoever doesn't know) that the airs are made with better parts, they come with more software (aka mac stuff), they have a better battery life, and they have an overall better build quality all for a similar price.

 

[drfan]

That $100 could make a huge difference. It would encourage more manufacturers to jump to ultrabook wagon thus drive the price down even futher due to the benefit of economy of scale.

 

[Guest]

mean that their CPUs are $100 more

 

[Guest]

*means

 

[Supermuncher85]

Awesome " replacing the magnesium alloy chassis for one made of fiberglass". News in 3 months time: New Foxconn workers died due to insufficient health and safety regulations after switching production to fiberglass.

 

[AznCracker]

I checked out the ultrabooks and they are AWESOME!!! So freaking thin!! But at that price point, the Mac Book Air is just a little more.

 

[AznCracker]

I would like to retract my previous statement. The Mac Book Air is $400 dollars more with the same specs. what a shiny pos

 

[ojas]

I doubt it matters to Intel, they keep 65% profit margins anyway...

 

[willard]

[citation][nom]ragenalien[/nom]As a salesman I can honestly say that everyday people will not buy these. Most people who come into a store looking for a computer go strait for the 300-400 dollar price point. They'll see these computers vs. a macbook air and ask me what the difference is. The difference is (for whoever doesn't know) that the airs are made with better parts, they come with more software (aka mac stuff), they have a better battery life, and they have an overall better build quality all for a similar price.[/citation]
As a person who actually knows a thing or two about computers, I can honestly say you don't. Apple components aren't magically better because Apple has stamped them with their seal of approval. In fact, many of the parts are literally identical to non-Apple counterparts, they've just been digitally signed by Apple.

In some areas, components are actually inferior to what you can get on a Windows machine (particularly, video cards) because Apple sometimes lags behind a generation on adopting the new hardware. It's actually pretty rare for Apple to offer new hardware before retailers like Dell or DIY builders can get their hands on it for a Windows build.

And Apple computers are most certainly not a similar price, with the exception of the ultrabooks. The phrase "Apple Tax" exists for a reason, and that reason isn't because Apple hardware is similarly priced.

 

[livebriand]

How can Intel afford to do that, given the prices of their CPUs?

 

[nebun]

wow cheap materials....thanks but no thanks

 

[Guest]

The difference is (for whoever doesn't know) that the airs are made with better parts, they come with more software (aka mac stuff), they have a better battery life, and they have an overall better build quality all for a similar price.

spoken like a true apple "genius" and i use the term genius loosely....The airs are not made with better parts at all infact the only manufacturer to produce everything in house is samsung...Apple source most of there gear externally and as willard posted stamp it with a little half eaten apple and call it theres...

"As a salesman I can honestly say that everyday people will not buy these"

I can see your speaking for every consumer on the market....nice to see your actually talking about the benefits of an ultrabook to a customer as opposed to get that quick sale to boost your commission...ultrabooks are a great category for the PC market. It finally has something to upstage the macbook air muppets and bring some attention back to ever decreasing pc sales...

but as a salesperson i wouldnt expect you to know this.

"As a person who actually knows a thing or two about computers, I can honestly say you don't"

LOL

 

[dtemple]

[citation][nom]ragenalien[/nom]As a salesman I can honestly say that everyday people will not buy these. Most people who come into a store looking for a computer go strait for the 300-400 dollar price point. They'll see these computers vs. a macbook air and ask me what the difference is. The difference is (for whoever doesn't know) that the airs are made with better parts, they come with more software (aka mac stuff), they have a better battery life, and they have an overall better build quality all for a similar price.[/citation]
I really hope you don't work for Best Buy. I do, and I would hope someone who makes those kinds of generalizations is not a coworker of mine.
Most people who come into the store looking for a computer are just that... looking for a computer. You don't know if they want an ultrabook or a mac or a desktop or a PC laptop or a tablet until you talk to the customer and ask them their intended uses. You have to figure out what they want the device to do for them. Macbook Air isn't made with better parts. The chassis is very sturdy, I'll give it that - the screen has less flex than a lot of the Ultrabooks do. But honestly you're paying extra for it being an Apple, in order to have their support. If you have a question or a problem with your Mac they tend to be very helpful at an Apple store, and that along with the better chassis and the easier-to-use interface for first-time computer users and computer illiterate people, those are the reasons a Macbook Air would be worth the extra expense.
Ultrabooks are great for people who are familiar with Windows and want to continue using it, who want something that will perform very well but be extremely light, and want a very long battery life.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]Kaiser_25[/nom]I love hearing people complain about the costs of logic chips, and most everyone of them has no idea what goes into the manufacturing of them, 200$ for a chip really isn’t unreasonable, and noone is forcing you to buy the flagship 1000$ chips[/citation]

ok, a 300mm wafer has 70685.8mm to work with
here are numbers from wiki
2 core - 139-141mm
4 core - 216
lga 2011 - 435

lets not go into all the numbers and variables, and just look at these facts i have heard in the past, and also not worry about chip placement, also assume that 100% work, 50% work, and 25% work, and finally 10%

i have heard that from start to finish a wafer costs 50000$

508-501 = 98$ - 99$ a chip
327 = 152$ a chip
162 = 308$ a chip

thats the base cost of manufacturing from wafer to cpu, not including r&d and not including the fab plants.

r&d costs about 1billion per architecture, fab plants cost about 2-3 billion but this was 45nm when i knew about this cost.

on that note, bulldozer has 223 chips and 224$ per chip

 

[Guest]

Stop whining. First of all, it's tough creating a new company and a new product, hence why you losers don't have a company, and will never create anything of your own. I create a company, my company, to make a profit. That is the whole point, to make a product, and to make a profit, and then to spend that profit on what you believe is right, research or whatever. It's not a charity, its a business. Without people like me, you losers would still be in caves, using stone tools... most likely in your parent's caves, drawing on walls, pretending that you're hunting mammoths, instead of real men who are hunting mammoths (in other words, you gamers are pimple faced losers, living with your parents, and have zero to contribute to society, and all you do is whine like women).

 

[stevenrix]

*yawn* time to go to bed; I'll never buy an ultra-book.

 

[de5_Roy]

Ultrabook prices will begin to fall next quarter partially thanks to a $100 subsidy finally offered by Intel.

thank you intel!
but you could do even better by not jacking up cpu prices not so high in the first place!

 

[martel80]

[citation][nom]Gorodon1[/nom][/citation]Please... While I agree with that business part, I'm a weekend gamer myself and I'm not anything you described.

I don't run a company - I would likely have no weekends then and no time for gaming.
I'm a regular but loyal and hard-working employee and you should realize that without people like me, your company would be screwed (in case you're not a one-man "company").

 

[thesnappyfingers]

hopefully increase demand and production of these ultrabooks, will decrease cost in complimentary parts, mainly SSD.

 

[Kaiser_25]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]ok, a 300mm wafer has 70685.8mm to work withhere are numbers from wiki2 core - 139-141mm4 core - 216lga 2011 - 435lets not go into all the numbers and variables, and just look at these facts i have heard in the past, and also not worry about chip placement, also assume that 100% work, 50% work, and 25% work, and finally 10%i have heard that from start to finish a wafer costs 50000$508-501 = 98$ - 99$ a chip327 = 152$ a chip162 = 308$ a chipthats the base cost of manufacturing from wafer to cpu, not including r&d and not including the fab plants.r&d costs about 1billion per architecture, fab plants cost about 2-3 billion but this was 45nm when i knew about this cost. on that note, bulldozer has 223 chips and 224$ per chip[/citation]


Those are fairly accurate numbers but in the ‘fabs’ the overhead there... not the fab construction (the building alone) but the machines inside to make the wafers, photolith, etch, implant etc, photolith machines alone can cost up to 100 Mill $ each….and intel/amd has…HUNDREDS of theres machines, the overhead is insane. Not to mention the employee cost…

 

[pocketdrummer]

Or they can beg the SSD makers to focus on price and capacity instead of speed...

I still don't understand why they aren't trying to go mainstream before going for absolute speed. Most people can't afford an SSD of any worthwhile capacity.

 

[leandrodafontoura]

Whats the point for Intel of wanting ultrabooks to get cheaper and cheaper? Mac Airs have intel too, right? And normal notebooks are mostly Intel, right? So whats the diference for Intel wich model sells?

and besides, since when Intel is the only part of a ultrabook? What about the other components manufactures lowing their price too, heh?

Btw, besides the Air, there is another model wich the Apple tax does not apply to, it is the macmini. You cannot build a similary priced configuration with any hardware combination.