With disappointing sales levels, big prices become even bigger problems

Oct 31, 2011 14:00 GMT  ·  By

If anyone was actually expecting Ultrabooks to astonish the world with their success, their hopes will be fairly thoroughly dashed as soon as they find out that sales were disappointing.

Notebook makers were hoping for Ultrabooks to turn into the new wonder child of the market that would, like netbooks, once again spark interest in the product type.

As it happens, however, this did not come to pass, and it wasn't because of tablets this time.

Instead, the items are simply too expensive and, with how things are going, this issue will not be resolved any time soon.

Intel's refusal to lower the prices of CPUs employed in these machines is the primary cause and, with no change to this in sight, things will stay slow.

Granted, Ivy Bridge chips should be cheaper, but they won't show up until March 2012.

Go here for the more in-depth report.