Acer has been dipping into the red over the past year. Its sales have slumped and profitability on what it is making is careening into the floor. The answer? Stop making netbooks. Read more
Tagged ‘intel’
Still pining for an ultrabook, but put off by the prohibitively high price? Well, good news is afoot. See, major ultrabook players, including Acer, Asus and Toshiba, look set to cut costs by up to 10 per cent at the start of 2012. And that’s after they’ve slashed prices below the $1,000 mark in the US by the end of the year.
Today’s news that Lenovo is working towards a cheaper ultrabook is by and large good news. Intel’s new laptop standard, meant as a riposte to the MacBook Air and an attempt to claw back falling market share as tablets surge ahead, has had a difficult first few months on shelves. Reports emerged last week that Acer and Asus were slashing orders after global sales failed to match expectations.
Asus has since told us that its ZenBook ultrabook is in “high demand”, with an unnamed UK retailer asking for more units ahead of Christmas. It also says it’s “performing very well” on these shores. But without hard figures, it’s difficult for us to judge. Anecdotally, it seems, the ultrabook category is already doomed to failure. Here’s why.
Asus and Acer have slashed their ultrabook orders by a whacking 40 per cent, just weeks after the superslim laptop range was officially rolled out. Word is that high prices are to blame, with first month sales well below expectation. The question is, can the Ultrabook, billed by Intel as a laptop saviour, survive? Read on to get all the details.
Ultrabooks, a new category of super thin, but not underpowered laptops that’s being pushed through by Intel, have been all the rage this week at IFA 2011. Laptop manufacturers are falling over themselves to show off stupidly skinny rivals to the quite frankly peerless third-gen MacBook Air, and we’ve got them all right here for you in our guide.
How will Asus battle Apple’s MacBook Air? By launching up to six Intel Ultrabooks ranging in screen size from 11.6 to 13.3-inches. The news came straight from Asus chairman Jonney Shih who also confirmed pricing would start at $899 (£552). Depending on screen size and features, this price could sky rocket to $1999 (£1228). All thing considered, Asus might have what it takes to give Apple a run for its money.
Intel is getting serious about its Ultrabook concept. We heard last week that it has developed a list of Ultrabook materials for manufacturers to help them undercut the MacBook Air on price and saw the extremely Apple-like Acer Aspire 3951 Ultrabook leaked yesterday. Now Intel Capital, the company’s investment group, has announced a $300m Ultrabook fund to invest in technologies destined for the new class of laptops.
In a statement, Intel said the fund is designed to help companies “building hardware and software technologies focused on enhancing how people interact with Ultrabooks, achieving all-day usage through longer battery life, enabling innovative physical designs and improved storage capacity”.
In other words, it’s a big stash of cash to compete with Apple’s research might. It’s a good move and we’re excited to see how that investment encourages laptop makers to get creative with Ultrabooks. After all, there’s more to life than the MacBook Air, right?
Out now | £NA | Intel
The new Intel Ultrabook class of laptops is aimed squarely at battling the MacBook Air but lots of reports have suggested PC makers are struggling to keep the cost of components down.
Now DigiTimes is reporting that Intel has put together a reference list of materials to show potential Ultrabook creators how to bring their models in at under $1000. Will it be able to get them onside?