Rumor: AMD to Undercut Ultrabooks up to $200 (Digitimes)

[AtenRa]

So, both can do the same things but,

One is $500 with better battery life, smaller form factor, lighter but with worst keyboard,

The other cost double at $1000, has weaker battery life, it is bigger and heavier but has better keyboard,

I chose the PAD

 

[Broheim]

So, both can do the same things but,

One is $500 with better battery life, smaller form factor, lighter but with worst keyboard,

The other cost double at $1000, has weaker battery life, it is bigger and heavier but has better keyboard,

I chose the PAD

of course there's a market for tablets and if a tablet is a better fit for you then you should definitely get one, but I view them more as gadgets rather than laptop killers.

the formfactor and battery life on ultrabooks is also going to improve thanks to the direction intel is going, just look at medfield.

 

[beginner99]

So, both can do the same things but,

One is $500 with better battery life, smaller form factor, lighter but with worst keyboard,

The other cost double at $1000, has weaker battery life, it is bigger and heavier but has better keyboard,

I chose the PAD

Try to code on a tablet without keyboard.

I don't get tablets anyway. Not usable for doing real work and if you can't stay of the net for your 20 min bus ride I guess you should better invest the money on "detox".

 

[AtenRa]

the formfactor and battery life on ultrabooks is also going to improve thanks to the direction intel is going, just look at medfield.

The same will happen with Pads, 28nm ARM chips will be faster and consume less power than current 40nm chips like Tegra 2/3.

 

[AtenRa]

Try to code on a tablet without keyboard.

I don't get tablets anyway. Not usable for doing real work and if you can't stay of the net for your 20 min bus ride I guess you should better invest the money on "detox".

I will agree that Pads were not mend for heavy work, but i believe most of the users that would like to have an Ultrabook would not use it for heavy work and instead they need it for everyday usage, for web browsing, chatting, lite office tasks, mailing etc.

IMO, for those tasks a Pad is better because it is cheaper, smaller and lighter.

 

[BD231]

I just can't find a reason spending $1000 for Ultrabooks.

You can thank those ignorant apple followers who were willing to spend $1,000 on under performing thin mac books in droves all those years based on aesthetic appeal, sons of b tch's got Intel/AMD trying to do the same damn thing .

 

[frozentundra123456]

Try to code on a tablet without keyboard.

I don't get tablets anyway. Not usable for doing real work and if you can't stay of the net for your 20 min bus ride I guess you should better invest the money on "detox".

Well, I just bought a tablet. It was an Acer 7" so it is not state of the art. But now after a few days of thinking how cool it is, I find myself wondering "What can I really do with this?."

The camera is nice, and it is convenient to surf in bed or without cords, and if you want to download a book that is nice. But I am glad I only paid 200.00 for it. At the 400-500 dollar price point, I think I would prefer a Brazos netbook like the HM dm1z. But since I bought it mainly to check e-mail while in a differnt lab away from my main computer, it will serve that purpose. But then again, even checking e-mail is a lot more clumsy on the tablet than it would be on a real PC.

 

[tweakboy]

I doubt is a rumor.. Its probably gonna be true.. good OP! gl

 

[MrTeal]

Well, I usually dont defend AMD on the CPU side, but it seems to me the ultrabooks are grossly overpriced relative to the performance they get. Most people may not agree with me, but I would give up a bit of weight savings and the SSD for a couple hundred dollar savngs. So an AMD platform might be competitive for the mainstream consumer. As I have said in other posts, I cant see the average consumer paying 1000.00 plus for an ultrabook when there are 300-400 dollar laptops that get the job done but just are not as portable. Ultrabooks might be popular in the business world though for those who travel a lot and need to have a stylish, super portable laptop.

You already have that, they're just laptops. You can get as much power in a $600 laptop as you can in a $1000 Ultrabook, and pocket the money if you don't care about size or weight. The entire point of Ultrabooks is that they're almost instant on (SSD) and extremely thin and light. Without those you might as well just buy a normal laptop.

I will agree that Pads were not mend for heavy work, but i believe most of the users that would like to have an Ultrabook would not use it for heavy work and instead they need it for everyday usage, for web browsing, chatting, lite office tasks, mailing etc.

IMO, for those tasks a Pad is better because it is cheaper, smaller and lighter.

Light office tasks are still much easier on a laptop than a tablet. As much as Apple's commercials would have people believe otherwise, trying to edit a spreadsheet on a tablet is a painful experience compared to a laptop. The majority of users might want a device that they can surf the web on, but that doesn't mean there's not a sizable market for thin, light, fully functional laptops. I would say that most people looking to spend $1000-1500 on an Ultrabook generally are aware of the benefits of them and wouldn't necessarily be better served by a tablet.

 

[Chiropteran]

So, both can do the same things but,

One is $500 with better battery life, smaller form factor, lighter but with worst keyboard,

The other cost double at $1000, has weaker battery life, it is bigger and heavier but has better keyboard,

I chose the PAD

I don't get your point. The cost of an ultrabook is largely due to the performance it offers, which blows away tablets. If you just want to compare tablets to laptops, compare to $400 netbooks, which are not as fast as ultrabooks but still wipe the floor with any tablet.

For anyone with a tiny bit of tech skill, you can replace the hard drive with an SSD in a cheap netbook and still sit under the cost of most tablets.


Tablets have a place- there is a certain convenience to them, and some applications lend themselves wonderfully to a touch interface. But for general browsing, typing, writing- basically doing any real work, a netbook or ultrabook is superior. IMO, tablets are heading towards the kindle fire model- smaller, cheaper, and not directly competing with $400 computers. I don't really see a point in spending more than $300 for a tablet when it can't do half the things a $300 computer could do.

 

[sawtx]

If the non-CPU specs are close I could see this doing well. You are sacrificing CPU performance but should trade that for gains in GPU, personally with how powerful CPUs are now that is a trade I would make. As long as these have SSDs standard I would be more interested in it than Ultrabooks, but as said before they probably have to cut a couple corners to get it that much cheaper.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

If the non-CPU specs are close I could see this doing well. You are sacrificing CPU performance but should trade that for gains in GPU, personally with how powerful CPUs are now that is a trade I would make. As long as these have SSDs standard I would be more interested in it than Ultrabooks, but as said before they probably have to cut a couple corners to get it that much cheaper.

This.

 

[PowerYoga]

tablet's good for reading e-books and angry birds, and pulling up emails and meeting notices. Good for movies too, but nothing else. If you want to do any work, get a laptop/ultrabook.

 

[dma0991]

I chose the PAD

I'd do better with a low end laptop or netbook and an Android phone for $1000. Any tablet or any device with a touch interface is a PITA to type especially for any serious work. Handheld devices has its place when it comes to battery life and convenience but I doubt it would be replacing laptops anytime soon as it simply lacks a lot of functions compared to a proper laptop.

 

[grkM3]

I dont know about some of you but I want a fast lean light and powerfull laptop.IM done with towers and in the next 5 years or so people wont be even able to buy them in B&M stores.

Check out this new acer ultrabook with a sandy I7 240gb ssd and only half inch thick for 1199.they also have the I5 for 999 and a version for both with a reg hard drive for 300 cheaper.

IM waiting for this to come out with an ivybridge and this little power house wieghs under 3lb

Its at bestbuy right now but its a sandy version...trying to hold off becasue I need a laptop but the wait for ivy will be worth it for the extra power savings and gpu increase.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Compute...55100050017&searchrequest=1searchterm=acer+s3

 

[jihe]

You already have that, they're just laptops. You can get as much power in a $600 laptop as you can in a $1000 Ultrabook, and pocket the money if you don't care about size or weight. The entire point of Ultrabooks is that they're almost instant on (SSD) and extremely thin and light. Without those you might as well just buy a normal laptop.



Light office tasks are still much easier on a laptop than a tablet. As much as Apple's commercials would have people believe otherwise, trying to edit a spreadsheet on a tablet is a painful experience compared to a laptop. The majority of users might want a device that they can surf the web on, but that doesn't mean there's not a sizable market for thin, light, fully functional laptops. I would say that most people looking to spend $1000-1500 on an Ultrabook generally are aware of the benefits of them and wouldn't necessarily be better served by a tablet.

I really don't understand all these talks about instant on. Do people not use sleep these days? My laptop hardly ever reboots unless for windows update.

 

[Arachnotronic]

With quad core ARM, SSD and Win 8/Android 4, i believe a $500 10-11" Pad will be much better than any Ultrabook. It will have longer battery life, smaller form factor, lighter and it will do all the things an ultrabook can do.

I just can't find a reason spending $1000 for Ultrabooks.

Except it'll be much, much slower.

 

[grkM3]

I really don't understand all these talks about instant on. Do people not use sleep these days? My laptop hardly ever reboots unless for windows update.

instant on is sleep but its "its instant on coming from it" my moms sony laptop came with only 3gb of ram and a slow as hell hard drive with vista.By far the worst ever setup and it even has a bluray drive(one of the first to have one)and it barely can play a movie it takes about 3 min to load up and I dont know what sony was thinking putting only 3gb ram and a slow hard drive with vista when vista is known for hogging resources.We dont even shut this laptop off anymore because it takes about 10 min to be able to use it once its booted up

It litterally takes 30-45 seconds to be able to use from coming from sleep and the harddrive is trying to keep up.

with instant on within a few seconds you are 100% up and running smooth as silk.

 

[dma0991]

IM waiting for this to come out with an ivybridge and this little power house wieghs under 3lb

I wouldn't buy the Acer S3 if I were you. I managed to look at a demo unit and I can tell you that it feels cheap in a sense that it is mostly plastic. The exterior is nice with aluminum but the interior is just silver painted plastic. I wouldn't have perceived the S3 this way if I didn't have the Asus Zenbook side by side. Overall the Zenbook feels much better constructed and no plastic interior.

I have nothing against Acer because I've used Acer in the past and still am but the S3 is just not appealing at all. The Timeline Ultra however is very nice compared to previous version in blue and silver. I hope that Acer ditches the plastic interior with the S5 and it might just be a good alternative to the Zenbook. link

 

[grkM3]

I wouldn't buy the Acer S3 if I were you. I managed to look at a demo unit and I can tell you that it feels cheap in a sense that it is mostly plastic. The exterior is nice with aluminum but the interior is just silver painted plastic. I wouldn't have perceived the S3 this way if I didn't have the Asus Zenbook side by side. Overall the Zenbook feels much better constructed and no plastic interior.

I have nothing against Acer because I've used Acer in the past and still am but the S3 is just not appealing at all. The Timeline Ultra however is very nice compared to previous version in blue and silver. I hope that Acer ditches the plastic interior with the S5 and it might just be a good alternative to the Zenbook. link

Ill def wait and see what others bring to the table as Ididnt really look into what else is out now or soon to be released.

I just like how the acer dont have a optical drive and is very thin and light.I can live with the plastic but I will def look at it up close at best buy before I choose.

The guy from idf and compudex was right about ultra thin and powerfull for the future and that is where intel is going with ivy and haswell.

I didnt even know about the s5,Im asuming that will be out mid year?

 

[dma0991]

I didnt even know about the s5,Im asuming that will be out mid year?

You probably should look at the S3 before buying it. I don't really mind the plastic as laptops in the past were made with plastic anyways but to me the plastic really stands out with the S3. They could have masked it with a brushed metal feel plastic but the texture that the S3 has is pretty bland.

Ultrabooks are a nice concept but unless they could achieve the 8 hours battery life that most notebooks could achieve, I'm still sticking to slightly thicker laptops like the Timeline Ultra. The Acer S5 should be out after IB arrives and the black color should make it more appealing.

 

[Sunburn74]

I don't think most notebooks are achieving 8 hours of battery life. About 4-5 is what I would consider average.

The timeline is a culv laptop built specifically for exceptional battery life.

 

[dma0991]

I don't think most notebooks are achieving 8 hours of battery life. About 4-5 is what I would consider average.

The timeline is a culv laptop built specifically for exceptional battery life.

Not all but in light usage it can reach nearly 7 hours in an ideal, light usage scenario. I know that 8 hours is just marketing speak and usually I would translate that to be 1-2 hours less on average. The newer Timeline series are built with regular processors, not the CULV variant which used to be popular back then.

Still, I'm pretty impressed with what laptops these days could achieve considering that my old C2D laptop with a full charge wouldn't even go beyond 1 1/2 to 2 hours with light browsing. :\

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

My first laptop was 8lbs. with an Intel® Pentium 4 2.8GHz processor that would eat batteries for lunch. The beast had a boot times of around 2:30 minutes and I dreaded the idea of taking it with me when I travelled.

My second laptop came in at 4.8 lbs with an Intel Core™ 2 Duo P8400 that gave it around 3.5 hours of battery life but still took too long to boot up even with Windows 7. I didn’t have any problems travelling with it but it would get heavy carrying the pack over my shudder.

I have been waiting to get a new laptop for a while now. Since I heard about the upcoming Ultrabook™ I have almost been drooling over the thought of getting one. Ultrabooks fit in right where I want in my laptop to be. They are fast, light and have a long battery life and will have fast on features that will allow me to get to work quickly. I can’t wait to pick one up in April with my tax return.

 

[AtenRa]

Except it'll be much, much slower.

Much slower in what ??? browsing ??? mailing ??? playing movies/youtube ?? writing on word ?? facebook ?? those are the everyday tasks users do, a quad core ARM with SSD and Android 4/Win 8 will be perfect for those tasks with all the plus i said earlier.

There are users that do need higher performance but IMO the majority of the users that will buy an Ultrabook they jdont.

Dont get me wrong, if you need the higher performance with high battery life and you do travel a lot and you need a slim, lightweight fast Laptop then Ultrabooks are for you, but those users are the minority