Acer Says Intel Must Reduce CPU Prices to Compete with the MacBook Air

Acer, and many other notebook makers, have been pretty vocal when it comes to complaining about the prices pushed by Intel for components used in Ultrabook designs, and Acer Taiwan's president Scott Lin has recently made its opinion yet again known when it said that CPU prices need to go down to let their ultra-thin notebooks compete with the MacBook Air.

Lin insisted that Acer can't get below Intel's desired $1000 price tag with their Ultrabooks without a subsidy from the chip maker, if it wanted to maintain the original performance targets.

Without such help, Lin believes that the only way to offer competitive products is to use slower processors or reduce their marketing efforts.

The outlook of Acer's president on the Ultrabook platform is also shared by others involved parties, such as Compal Electronics, a Taiwanese ODM handling the production of notebooks computers for a variety of clients around the world.

According to the company's president, Ray Chen, the lack of discounts is seen as a threat to the Intel-Windows monopoly.

Chen believes that if its clients suffer from poor sales because of the high prices of Ultrabooks when compared to the MacBook Air, Apple will be the only one to enjoy a “strong profit.”

Despite the $300 million (220 million Euro) fund Intel has created for the development of Ultrabooks, unofficial sources say that the chip giant hasn't offered any price drops for the ULV processors and other components (such as SSDs) required by these notebooks.

In addition to high CPU prices, Ultrabook makers also have to use more advanced uni-body chassis, ultrathin display panels, and high-density Li-polymer batteries in their creations.

All these changes increase the production costs associated with Ultrabooks and significantly decrease the profit margins of the companies making them. (via Electronista)