Windows 8 laptops to drop to $200: Intel CEO

12 years ago

Outgoing Intel CEO Paul Otellini believes touch-enabled laptops powerd by Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system will be selling as low as $200 a unit by Christmas.

Otellini’s prediction follows a string of earlier analyst reports and technology executive statements blaming the lackluster sales of Window 8-powered computers to the slump in PC sales. Both Otellini and Stacy Smith, Intel CFO, also earlier said that computers powered in Intel’s Bay Trail due later this year will sell in the $300 range.

“I you look at touch-enabled Intel-based notebooks that are ultrathin and light using non-core processors…Those prices are going to be down as low as $200, probably,” Otellini told reporters during Intel’s first quarter earnings call.

Stacy said touch-enabled thin notebooks using the Bay Trail, Intel’s Atom system-on-a-chip, will be selling for about $300.

As the holidays approach, Intel expects touch-enabled Ultrabooks being priced at around $499 to $599.

Intel initially said that the first generation of Ultrabooks would be priced at $1,000 but early releases actually failed to meet that price point.

Analysts firms IDC and Gartner Research have both released reports indicating that dismal PC shipments for the first quarter of 2013. Both companies said lack of consumer interest in Windows 8 was partly to blame.

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