Intel Claims Over 20 Atom Based Tablets & 140 Ultrabooks Are Being Designed By OEM’s Right Now

Intel Claims Over 20 Atom Based Tablets & 140 Ultrabooks Are Being Designed By OEM’s Right Now

Here at Maximum PC we love to refresh our hardware with a new OS. Windows 8 is controversial, but given time who knows, we might actually warm up to it. Most consumers on the other hand don’t typically upgrade just software, they will pick up Windows 8 on a new PC. Hardware makers usually count on a new version of the OS to spur a new round of consumer spending, and according to Intel, OEM’s have over 20 Atom-based Windows 8 tablets coming down the pipe, along with 140 new Ultrabooks. 

The admission came during their quarterly investor call, where Intel CEO Paul Otellini had to explain why they only made $2.8 billion in profits on sales off $13.5 billion in revenue. On a side note, Paul Otellini has the easiest job in the world (yes I’m exaggerating). The 140 ultrabook designs in the queue include 40 “touch-enabled” models, and a dozen convertible machines that promise the blur the distinction between laptop and tablet. The 140 ultrabook design number is also up sharply over this time last year, when only 110 competing designs were being brought forward.

Otellini also addressed the price issue with regards to Ultrabooks, and claimed the industry appears on track to sell $699 versions by the fall. Of course we are summarizing a bit, so here is the full quote should you wish to dissect it line by line yourselves. 

“Ultrabooks continue to build momentum, and achieved our volume goals in the first half. We are very pleased with the level of innovation and invention being brought into this category, and are now tracking over 140 Ivy Bridge-based designs in the pipeline. Of those, more than 40 will be touch-enabled, and a dozen will be convertibles. With visibility into this many designs, we are confident that we'll see $699 systems at retail this fall. We are also tracking more than 20 Windows 8 tablet designs based on our low-power and low-cost Clover Trail Atom SOC, in addition to a number of Core-based tablets.”

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