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Intel says get ready for $99 tablets, $299 Haswell notebooks, $349 2-in-1 hybrids

Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich says that he expects OEMs to push prices down over the coming weeks, and that this will result in $99 tablets, $299 Haswell laptops, and $349 2-in-1 hybrid tablets and notebooks.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer
Intel

Hoping for some tech bargains for the holidays? Yes? Then read on, as Intel has some good news for you.

Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich says that he expects OEMs to push prices down over the coming weeks, and that this will result in $99 tablets, $299 Haswell laptops, and $349 2-in-1 hybrid tablets and notebooks.

Speaking during a conference call yesterday, Krzanich told analysts that touchscreen-based notebooks based on the company's new Haswell processors will be at the heart of this year's holiday PC line up.

Intel is pinning a lot of hopes on its Haswell silicon, and that the 50 percent better battery life offered by the chips, combined with double the graphics power will tempt buyers away from spending their money on Android and iOS tablets and instead encourage them to give the PC a second chance.

For devices built around the Bay Trail silicon, Krzanich believes that there will be eight to 10 clamshell models available at the $299 price point.

These are the sorts of price points that will put pressure on the Android tablet market (it could be bad timing for Amazon and it's new Kindle Fire HDX tablet), and could even start to cannibalize Apple, especially at the lower end of the iPad line. It could also be bad new for Microsoft and its new Surface 2 tablets.

"We continue to see touch adoption come along," Krzanich. This will no doubt be good news to Microsoft, which bet the farm on touch adoption when it made Windows 8 a touch-first platform.

Intel's third quarter earnings were better than expected, buoyed by improved server and cloud revenues.

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