CULV NOTEBOOK PRICES started falling a while back and in Taiwan “high-end” models with SU7300 processors have been sold at what must be close to cost from less well known notebook manufacturers such as ViewSonic. Now the big brand names are following suit and we should see this price and stock dumping take effect in other markets as well within the near future.
The cheapest of the cheap models are going for as little as $620, which isn’t bad when you consider that it was only six months ago that these same models were going for about $930 or more. It appears that sales of these low power, consumer oriented notebooks with extended battery life didn’t prove popular enough with the uneducated masses and the notebook manufacturers are now cutting their losses and re-focusing on Intel’s mobile Core i processors instead.
All the Taiwanese manufacturers have started to offer significant discounts on CULV notebooks by as much as $3-400 depending on model and features. Acer, Asus and MSI, as well as Lenovo are reportedly dropping their prices in the Taiwanese market according to Digitimes, although as we mentioned ViewSonic was the first company that we saw offering huge discounts on its models.
The Taiwanese manufacturers are instead looking at bringing us standard Wattage Core i based notebooks and judging by what we’ve seen in terms of battery life, this might not be a terrible choice as thanks to larger capacity batteries, you’re still looking at 4-5h of usable battery life on machines that offer twice the performance. However, some CULV notebooks are good for 10-12h, which is hard to beat.
Digitimes is also suggesting that the Taiwanese manufacturers aren’t too keen on bringing out ultra low Voltage Core i notebooks, especially as the CPUs are quite costly and the companies don’t want a repeat situation of what is currently transpiring in the CULV market space. We might still see additional price cuts of the CULV notebooks, as it looks like it’s stock clearance time. MSI is reportedly flogging its X320 Atom Z530 13.4-inch “netbook” for as little as $400 now, that’s some $259 less than the launch price. If you’re shopping for a bargain and want a notebook with great battery life, it looks like the time has come for some great deals to be had.S|A
Lars-Göran Nilsson
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