ASUS was the first company to release an Ultrabook, which is a product concept created by Intel for ultrathin notebooks at an acceptable price, good performance long battery times. It sounds almost too good to be true, and according to ASUS it is, as it tells Taipeitimes it can’t meet with the suggested price.
We wrote about ASUS UX21 becoming the world’s first Ultrabook yesterday, as it will launch this quarter. To be classed as an Ultrabook it has several design requirements – as well as the price. ASUS says it can’t deliver what Intel seeks for less than $1000.
The problem lies in the extra costs required to make a computer really thin: ultrathin panels, metal casing and high-density batteries. A contributing factor is that also the Windows license, but the ball is Intel’s court right now. Most companies wants a SSD at 64-128 GB (also a must for Ultrabooks), and a dual-core Intel “Sandy Bridge” Core i5/i7. The problem with the processors is that they cost $200-300 and more.
Thin
ASUS says that the only way for them to go below $1000 is by using Core i3 processors. The drawback with these is that you get lower clocks on both CPU and GPU, and less cache and the idea with Ultrabooks was to offer good performance in a ultrathin format. ASUS says that a more realistic goal is $1000 to $2000.
Intel says that it will work with the companies to make sure Ultrabooks become reality and that it is planning to lower prices of its 17W processors. It sounds very good to begin with, but the manufacturing costs became a concern from the very start, which has made many companies hold off its Ultrabooks while waiting for the market reaction.
Source: Taipeitimes
Relaterade nyheter:
- Världens första Ultrabook, ASUS UX21 tillgänglig under Q3 i år
- Intel ser Ultrabooks som en av 2000-talets största PC-lanseringar
- Apple släpper nya MacBook Air – avslutar MacBook
- Intel kämpar med att få tillverkarna att tro på Ultrabook-konceptet
- Haswell blir en SoC-design från Intel med större fokus på grafik
- ASUS planerar på att prissätta UX21 aggressivt mot Apple MacBook Air
- Intel Ultrabook – ultratunn bärbar utan att tumma på prestandan
- ASUS UX21 mäter 17mm i profil och drivs av Core i7 CPU
