14 DAY TRIAL // Intel has some strong expectations when it comes to its new Ultrabook concept, but it now seems like not all of these can be met by laptop makers as Asus has stated recently that they can't sell these for prices bellow $1000, as the Santa Clara chip giant desired.
“Unless we use Intel Core i3 chips [the Ultrabooks will not be less than US$1,000]. The price tags will have to go beyond US$1,000 if [more advanced] i5 and i7 chips go into the notebooks,” a person familiar with the Asus UX development said to Taipei Times.
The source continued by stating that only the Core i5 and i7 chips plus the operating system and SSD used for these designs would account for 50% of the cost of these notebooks.
As a result, Asus was forced to reconsider the pricing for its upcoming UX series of Ultrabooks, which will most probably cost between US$1,000 and US$2,000, said the source.
Asus has announced the UX-series of ultra-slim laptops in May of this year, and the Taiwanese company will deliver two models, one featuring a 11.6-inch screen, while the other packs a 13.3-inch display.
Both of these notebooks will be powered by Intel Core i5 and Core i7 ultra-low voltage processors, which can be paired together with 64GB or 128GB SATA 6Gbps solid state drives.
All of the components are housed inside a thin and light anodized aluminum uni-body chassis that measures no more than 17mm at its thickest point and also features an aluminum keyboard and glass touchpad.
Asus has recently confirmed that its first Ultrabook model, the UX21, will come to market in September of this year.
Apart from Asus, HP and Acer have also recently expressed its plans of launching an Ultrabook by the end of this year, but none of the two companies released any information regarding the pricing of their solutions.