Ultrabook Prices Go Down As the Second Generation Nears

There seems to be quite a bit of fuss about ultrabooks, just as Intel hoped for, and the latest reports on the matter should be just what prospective customers want.

Ultrabooks have begun to steadily drop in price, according to a recent report posted by news and rumor site Digitimes.

HP, Lenovo and Acer have are all said to be reducing the prices of their respective products.

There is a catch to this latest development, though, as there always seems to be.

Since these are all first-generation models, they aren't getting cheaper because of lower manufacturing costs, but due to the approach of their successors.

The first batch of ultrabooks did not actually impress people in terms of sales, because they were hard to make and needed special components.

As such, the Acer Aspire S3, Lenovo's IdeaPad model and HP's Envy Spctre 14 sold for up to $1,399.99 (1,100 EUR) beyond.

Intel and its partners have promised that the average price of these super-thin and light machines would drop to a maximum of $700 / 534 Euro this year (2012).

Thus, since there is little chance that the first-generation products will ever get to this price range, all bets are on the second wave.

People will still have to give the aforementioned PC makers credit for trying, though: as surprising as it sounds, the Acer Aspire S3 can be found for $799 / 610 Euro. That said, HP's and Acer's offers dropped in price by 25% and 21.5, respectively.

It is unclear how well this tactic will work. On the one hand, the $699-799 (534–610 Euro) price range is much more appealing than the $1,000-$1,400 one (763-1,068 Euro). On the other, many people may just decide to hold off on buying one of these until the cheaper and also better ones show up in the second quarter.