Ultrabooks to fall to $699, Intel promises

Ultrabooks will fall in price to $699 by the end of this year, Intel has claimed.

At the moment, the cheapest slim laptops to carry Intel’s Ultrabook brand, such as the Toshiba Portegé Z835-P330, are priced around the $800 mark – while the Acer Aspire S3 is about £629 in the UK.

Speaking at a developers conference in China, Intel’s head of client said the chip maker was working with manufacturers to drive prices down.

The $300m fund Intel set up to push Ultrabooks will be used for “reducing the cost of the components over time to hit aggressive mainstream price points,” said Kirk Skaugen in a keynote at the Beijing Intel Developer’s Forum.

“By the end of this year, think about it in terms of $699 and above,” he added.

He reiterated Intel’s claim that 75 Ivy Bridge models were in the works, saying 21 had already been released on the current range of processors, nicknamed Sandy Bridge.

Skaugen also said devices that don’t meet requirements won’t be allowed to use the Ultrabook label. He said if a devices is too “thick it won’t be called an Ultrabook” and said Intel would “protect the trademark”.