
Ummm
Whooopee fucking 'd', nobody I know will be looking for new tin. 10%..? really? Too generous, they have priced themselves into the 'Apple do better zone'. Clap Clap....
Manufacturers are cutting their margins to the bone, and getting a subsidy from Intel, in an effort to make ultrabooks more affordable. Acer, Asustek Computer and Toshiba may be able to put out hardware below the critical $1,000 mark, unnamed sources told DigiTimes, and by 2012 prices could drop by up to 10 per cent. Intel is …
To be fair, the $999 MacBook air has 2GB RAM, not enough by most estimations for a good user experience, only a 64GB SSD and an 11 inch screen.
A 13" screen with 4GB RAM and a more useful 128GB SSD will set you back $1,300.
If the big box manufacturers can churn out 13" ultrabooks with 4GB RAM and a decent size SSD priced at $900, the MacBook air will be carrying a $400 surcharge. I'd say that still looks quite expensive.
You know, 2GB might be a bit scant for Windows 7 to give a good user experience, but I hear Mac OSX isn't utter crap that burns clock cycles and memory allocations like they're tainted sheets. People tend to really like their Macbook Airs, hence the logarithmic growth in their sales numbers.
Maybe these vendors should think about getting a less sucktackular software base and optimizing around that if they want to make money. Or they can continue compete with Apple at prices on par with Apple, but with bulked up BOM costs to support the Redmond crud and see what that gets them.
One way or another _somebody_ is going to keep offering us what we want, and we're going to keep throwing our money at them. Everybody else gets to go away now.
The winds of change, they're blowin'.
Common denominator is Intel. When Apple was a non-x86 vendor Intel wanted them, so they offer big discounts. Apple being pretty bright tie these prices in for several years. The Taiwanese were with Wintel, so pretty much had to accept whatever margins they could get, with Intel creaming off big margins.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Tegra3 based Android laptops from Acer, Asus and Lenovo??
Android laptops? I haven't been following all of this closely (not having a laptop or a generous employer) but I had thought Android is an OS.
As an OS, does it have apps that are industry standard (or at least compatible) such as Excel or Word? Does the MacBook Air use iOS?
Not disputin' whilst computin', but enquiring minds want to know.
But a great many others on this site don't. Ask your favourite search engine how many articles (on this site or elsewhere) mention the word ultrabook, then ask how few also mention the word trademark. For a bit of variation see how many mention Intel.
Who's on their high horse now?
Where is the marketing for these things? I like to think of myself as a relatively technologically savvy person, but I don't think that I have ever even heard the term "Ultrabook" mentioned outside of the articles that I read here on The Register. Where are all of the Ultrabook television ads? Why haven't I seen them featured prominently at large electronics stores such as Frys? If Intel and the Ultrabook manufacturers want to really succeed at selling these things, they really need to drive home the existence of these products into the minds of their customers and turn the term "Ultrabook" into a household name, just like how "MacBook" is a household name.
and as such you actually don't see it often, outside of sales channel and spec sheets.
However the train I'm commuting on everyday is all plastered with ads of Toshiba Z830. The point is that vendors matter, models matter, specific selling points that customers are willing to pay for ("thin" "light" "fast") matter.
It looks like Intel have a long term partnership with Apple as part of their survival plan.
Why sell anything to those who wish to supply the public with budget offerings?
It ain't worth it so by overpricing they may actually increase sales elsewhere!