$699 Ultrabooks coming this summer, according to Intel

Shawn Knight

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Intel believes that we will see Ultrabook prices as low as $699 this summer as a slew of new products are expected to lower prices across the board. In total, the chip giant claims there are 75 new Ultrabooks currently in development that will join the 21 existing models already available for purchase.

General Manager for Intel’s PC Client Group Kirk Skaugen told PC World that prices will dip below $700 in time for back-to-school sales, or roughly about $100 cheaper than existing entry-level models sell for today. Furthermore, Skaugen said that select Ultrabooks will feature touchscreens and convertible displays to accompany Windows 8. The Lenovo Yoga hybrid we saw at the 2012 CES is a perfect example of this.

Intel introduced the Ultrabook initiative last May with the goal of creating super thin notebooks that feature extended battery life and increased speeds thanks to solid state drives. The company has invested $300 million with manufacturers to get the ball rolling in an obvious attempt to compete with Apple’s MacBook Air.

Furthermore, the chip giant has launched a “multi-hundred million dollar” ad campaign that includes television and Internet spots. There will also be “Ultrabook experience zones” in retail stores that will better highlight the differences between these new ultrathin notebooks and traditional laptops.

If you’re in the market for an Ultrabook, it might be best to hold off until models featuring Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge processor are unveiled. The new chips feature a 22nm manufacturing process that will allow them to be more powerful while at the same time consuming less power and producing less heat.

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I'm waiting for the lenovo thinkpad T430u at the very least, but I eagerly await what will hopefully be an "exciting" year for notebooks and ultraviolet.
 
If they manage to do a convertible multi-touch ultrabook, I will be first in line -- assuming that the price is not going to be $2K+...
 
inventix1136 said:
If they manage to do a convertible multi-touch ultrabook, I will be first in line -- assuming that the price is not going to be $2K+...
It's not an "ultrabook" if it's over $1000~
 
Im looking to get one of these soon, as college is just around the corner for me.
Not looking for much under the hood. a good cpu and the 4gb of ram most are getting sounds perfect.
Alonge with a good sized SSD, probably like 150gb and i'll be ok.
I'm just hoping the onboad can handle movies well. but i guess we'll see.
I'm likely going to look for a long battery life, hopefully one with around 10-12 hours pops up.
 
What's the point of spending $699 for an "ultrabook" full of **** low-end components? I don't like Intel's arbitrary price ceiling. It's artificially pushing OEMs to cheap out on components like useless 1366x768 TN screens that bleed and smear horribly, small and slow SSDs, crappy keyboards and poor trackpads, all because the $699 mostly needs to be spent on the shiny chassis, midrange CULV Intel CPU, and useless copy of Windows home premium.

People who think $999 is expensive for an ultraportable already have their own market segment, they're called netbooks.
 
The price doesn't have any relation to the OS does it? If so,I'd rather buy mine without an OS :|
 
I don't understand why Intel is doing this and not Windows but okay. I'm waiting for a $700 intel ivy bridge ultrabook, then I'll buy.
 
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