Ultrabook parts could cost PC makers as little as $475

[Shawn Knight]

Intel may have already cleared a potential roadblock recently reported regarding development of sub-$1,000 Ultrabooks. Citing notebook makers, DigiTimes now claims that Intel has produced a revised BOM (bill of materials) that would significantly lower the pre-manufacturing cost of Ultrabooks.

Concerns were raised when Asus said they wouldn’t hit the sub-$1,000 price point unless they outfitted their Ultrabook with Core i3 processors. The latest update claims the revised BOM is between $475 and $650 for 0.8-inch models and $493 to $710 for thinner 0.7-inch portables. DigiTimes says that Intel has created five templates for the thinner notebooks and plans to meet with manufacturers in Taipei next week to discuss the new BOM.

Intel’s BOM doesn’t include manufacturing cost, marketing efforts or anything else. Even still, manufacturers should be able to meet the $1,000 price point to compete with Apple’s MacBook Air. Undercutting the thin Apple notebook has been a key goal for Ultrabooks.

In addition to thickness restrictions, base specifications for Ultrabooks include second-generation Intel Core processors, solid state drives and no optical drive.

Asus could be the first to launch an Ultrabook as early as September. The UX21 was shown earlier this year at Computex and impressed most onlookers. Acer and HP also have Ultrabooks in the works but no release dates have been announced from either company.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/44979-ultrabook-parts-could-cost-pc-makers-as-little-as-475.html

 

[gwailo247]

Something like this is just a recipe for disaster. I know they mean well, but setting this kind of artificial limit on something means that somewhere a corner will be cut, and you'll just end up with a bunch of crappy products that will all be inferior to the Mac.

 

[matrix86]

Agreed, gwailo. As soon as I saw this, my immediate thought was "well that'll break pretty easily." And I do wonder how thin is too thin for these people. I honestly would not trust putting this in my backpack...i'd want a hard cover case for it.

 

[Mindwraith]

I dont see any reason to pay for a MacBook when these hit the shelves, especially if the price is a significant undercut.

 

[Guest]

I dont see a need to buy a mac at all.

 

[magaman598]

I'd wax it and use it for sun bathing.

 

[Guest]

Intel needs to get out of it's monopolistic mindset of dictating to manufacturers what they can build, what screen sizes and form factors are allowed, etc. Intel and Microsoft killed the netbook (despite what the ipad-lovers claim) by hobbling them with arbitrary restrictions on things like screen size, memory capacity, which OS can be bundled, etc.

 

[Guest]

hahaha - wax it and use it for sunbathing.