Ultrabook Price Check (Top-end Configurations) 4/12

Posted on 01 April 2012, Last updated on 08 March 2020 by

Intel’s vision for Ultrabooks is to bring consumers high performance laptop computing in a sleek package with good battery life. So far we’ve seen just that, but the price component is important as well. Intel’s target price for Ultrabooks is around $1000. Thus far, the distribution of prices has been somewhat significant. Here I’m going to do a quick survey of Ultrabook prices so that we can follow the overall pricing of the category and see how it changes over time. I’ll also be looking to see how the prices of existing Ultrabooks have fallen since their release. To do this, I’ll be looking at top-end configurations of Ultrabooks from six major companies. A little while down the line I’ll take another look so we can get a grip on how prices in the Ultrabook market are changing.

Samsung

Series 9

NP900X3A (13.3″)

  • MSRP: $1399
  • Current Price: $1,049
  • Change: -26%

Series 5

NP530U3BI (13.3″)

  • MSRP: $1099
  • Current Price: $1,049
  • Change: -5%

NP530U4BI (14″)

  • MSRP: $949
  • Current Price: $879
  • Change: -8%
Average Current Samsung Ultrabook Price: $992
Average Change from MSRP to Current: -14%

HP

Spectre

14-3010NR (14″)

  • MSRP: $1,899
  • Current Price: $1,899
  • Change: 0%

Folio

13-1020US (13.3″)

  • MSRP: $949
  • Current Price: $895
  • Change: -6%
Average Current HP Ultrabook Price: $1,424
Average Change from MSRP to Current: -3%

Dell

XPS

13 (13.3″)

  • MSRP: 1,999
  • Current Price: $1,999
  • Change: 0%

Acer

Aspire

S3 (13.3″)

  • MSRP: $1,299
  • Current Price: $1,199
  • Change:  -8%

Asus

Zenbook

UX31 (13.3″)

  • MSRP: $1,849
  • Current Price: $1,429
  • Change: -23%

UX21 (11.6″)

  • MSRP: $1,199
  • Current Price: $1,094
  • Change: -9%
Average Current Asus Ultrabook Price: $1,524
Average Change from MSRP to Current: -18%

Lenovo

IdeaPad

U300 (13.3″)

  • MSRP: $1,999
  • Current Price: $1,499
  • Change: -26%

U400 (14″)

  • MSRP: $1,549
  • Current Price: $1,279
  • Change: -18%
Average Current Lenovo Ultrabook Price: $1,774
Average Change from MSRP to Current: -22%

Totals:

Average Current Ultrabook Price (of the above models): $1,370

It’s good to see that even though there are some particularly pricey Ultrabooks, the average price for top-end configurations is actually not far off from the target of $1000. Of course this is only a sample of the market, not the entire thing, but it’s still encouraging to see that genuine Ultrabooks are available with and average price of $1,370. I’ll be back with another price check in the near future to keep an eye on the trending prices.

7 Comments For This Post

  1. Ahan says:

    This is a good one. I have been waiting to see a report like this. I mean the price trend of the ultrabooks.

  2. Michael says:

    “Intel’s vision for Ultrabooks is to bring consumers high performance laptop computing in a sleek package with good battery life,”

    What good battery life? All the ultrabooks are giving is only about 5 to 6 hours. That is good?

  3. Ben Lang says:

    5-6 hours is not only better than the 3-4 hour battery life of the laptops of yesteryear, but given the size of the Ultrabooks, the battery life is quite good!

  4. Chippy says:

    Its challenging to find anything as efficient as an Ultrabook. The HP Folio chooses to have a bigger battery in it and thats getting amazing battery life. Especially for 1.5kg and the price.

  5. Michael says:

    Ben, my Asus UL20A “yesteryear” notebook which was also about 1.5Kgs gave me nearly 7 hours with wifi on. And that was well over 2 years ago. I would expect to see substantial improvement since.

    Also, in the era of tablets, people are now looking for devices (ultrabooks) that last at least 10 hours.

  6. James says:

    Common Michael, like there is no difference in a Core 2 Duo laptop to a modern Core i3/i5?

    Or a big replaceable battery versus a usually smaller internal one. While battery technology hasn’t really improved yet.

    Really, if you’re going to compare them then adjust for the differences to make it relevant.

    Higher resolution screens especially use more power as they need more back lighting to provide the same brightness as lower res. screens.

    While there have been performance improvements since the UL20A came out.

    Ultrabooks still have a long way to go before fulfilling their promise but it’s not that bad of a start considering the limitations they still have to work with…

  7. Nico says:

    The HP envy 14 spectre now sells for 1298$ on amazon …

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