In June, AMD will launch a new platform codenamed Ultrathin to compete against Intel-based Ultrabooks, according to an unconfirmed report in Taiwan's Digitimes. It claims that systems based on AMD's Trinity platform will have "an overall cost 10-20 percent lower than that from Intel", and that manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Acer and Asus could place orders.
The Digitimes story, AMD to launch ultrabook platform with lower cost, says there could be about 20 Ultrathin models this year, compared with about 75 Ultrabooks.
AMD is due to launch three Trinity chips this summer: a 100W chip for desktop PCs, a 35-45W chip for notebooks and a 17W low voltage chip for ultrathin machines. AMD also reckons that the 17W Trinity chip should perform as well as today's 35W A-Series Llano notebook processor.
While this may be true, AMD's "APUs" (which combine a CPU and GPU) do not have anything like the same mindshare as Intel's enormously successful Core iX range.
An AMD spokesman demonstrating the Trinity platform at CES 2012 used the words "ultrathin" and "ultrathin notebooks" several times. Spoiler: the demo shows a mainstream laptop running three screens (see reveal at 1'10" in the video below). However, the Ultrathin platform could still be launched under a different name.
Price matters
Intel is hoping that Ultrabooks can take around 40 percent of the laptop PC market, and last May, Intel vice president Sean Maloney told me that Intel was committed to "lowering the price [of Ultrabooks] , not so much immediately, but over time."
AMD Ultrathin machines could undercut Intel Ultrabooks by $100 to $200, making them more attractive, but success is not assured. As I pointed out in an earlier post here (Can Ultrabooks push up laptop prices?), one of the reasons the latest MacBook Air has been relatively successful is that it's the cheapest MacBook users can buy. By contrast, Windows users buying Ultrabooks will see them as one of the most expensive options.
There are clearly some users who will pay two or three times the price of a mainstream Windows laptop in order to get a MacBook. How many Windows users will pay twice the price of a mainstream Windows 7 laptop for a very thin Windows 7 laptop is open to question.
@jackschofield
AMD Trinity demo @ CES 2012
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@Jack,
> one of the reasons the latest MacBook Air has been relatively successful
> is that it's the cheapest MacBook users can buy
You're right: the cheapest Air is a whole 50 British pounds cheaper than the cheapest Macbook Pro! And for that 50 GBP you get a bigger screen, double the RAM and a faster processor.
So, I don't think cost is a factor for users choosing the Air over the Macbook Pro.
At the Apple Store, MacBook Airs start at £849 and MacBook Pros at £999. The difference is £150, not £50.
Oops! My bad. I thought the Macbook Pros started at £899.
Time for that eye test...
Apple can afford to undercut the price of their 'pro' unit to sell the air, simply because its overpriced anyway. A PC user spending that kind of money would want all the bells and whistles and accessories thrown in for the price.
That said, someone will always pay it, otherwise Apple wouldnt have sold any!
Back to the issue though. Because PC's are inherintly made my many companies, there would be differences from one brand to another just as there are now. I personally use AMD laptops, but it was the price I decided on, not whether its Intel or AMD. As for my desktop machine, Thats AMD all the way simply because the upgrade path is much simpler and cheaper over the life of the machine. Pity laptops couldnt be built that way instead.
Overpriced? Maybe so, if you all you look at is the raw specs. But you get an awful lot more than that when you buy Apple.
I won't go into Mac OS X vs Windows Whatever. We all have our opinions on that. And, of course, you can easily run Windows on your Mac, (albeit at extra expense).
Support
Apple's support is legendary. You can take any Apple product into any AppleStore in the world, and they will try to fix it on the spot for no charge. You don't need to produce any receipt or proof of ownership. And they know their shit! Sure, if it needs real work doing on it, then you need to produce your receipt, or pay up if you're out of warranty. But they'll genuinly try to fix it for free first, unlike...
... the pc world or even the PC World! A £230 charge for a "new motherboard" when all they did was push in a memory chip on the old one? Your personal photos copied and passed around by a bunch of perverts? Attempted hack-ins of your bank account? Read it and weep:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/262978/exposed-the-pc-repair-shops-that-rifle-through-your-photos-and-passwords
How much is all *that* worth to you?
Ongoing Costs
What's Windows 8 going to cost you when it arrives? As a guide, the upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium (from XP or Vista) is £85 on Amazon. And don't forget to multiply that by the number of Windows PCs in your possession. Mac OS X costs £21 on apple.co.uk and for that one purchase you can install it on as many Macs as you own.
Depreciation
Your Mac will hold its value way better than a generic PC. Have a look on ebay.co.uk. I found nearly 5-year old Macbook Pros going for £400-500! You'd be lucky to *give* away PC that old! Subtract that money from the cost of a new one when you want to upgrade, and suddenly it doesn't seem so expensive, does it?
@BrownieBoy
> You can take any Apple product into any AppleStore in the world,
> and they will try to fix it on the spot for no charge. You don't need
> to produce any receipt or proof of ownership.
Works really well for thieves....
> Mac OS X costs £21 on apple.co.uk
True, but it requires a £1,000 dongle.
> Your Mac will hold its value way better than a generic PC.
Yes, you can pay £1,500 for a machine that lasts 6 years. This is a much better deal than buying a new machine for £500 every two or three years (though in my experience, Windows laptops last a lot longer than that....)
Still, it's great to hear you speaking up for a closed proprietary company that is currently being attacked for using sweatshop labour to build its $100 billion cash pile ;-)
@Jack,
> Works really well for thieves....
Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally irrelevant, even it were true. And by that, I assume that you concede that Apple's support is good.
> True, but it [Mac OS X] requires a £1,000 dongle.
Actually, an £849 dongle for the type of product that your article was about.
> Yes, you can pay £1,500 for a machine that lasts 6 years. This is
> a much better deal than buying a new machine for £500 every two or
> three years (though in my experience, Windows laptops last a lot
> longer than that....)
Nothing like doing your bit for the environment is there!!
Again, for the kind of products described in your article, your price comparison (x3 for Apple) simply doesn't apply. If you can get an MacBook Air starting at £849, are you really going to get a Windows-based Ultrathin equivalent for £283?
@BrownieBoy
> Works really well for thieves....
>> Nice attempt to deflect the argument by tossing in a point that's totally
>> irrelevant, even it were true. And by that, I assume that you concede that
>> Apple's support is good.
I'm told it's somewhat annoying when people have their Macs stolen and Apple stores treat the thief as the owner, but there you go.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/26/us-iphone-thefts-idUSTRE80O27P20120126
And yes, Apple support is pretty good if you buy Apple Care and live near an Apple Store.
> True, but it [Mac OS X] requires a £1,000 dongle.
>> Actually, an £849 dongle for the type of product that your article was about.
You must feel your arguments are weak when you have to get pedantic about ball park figures. Add enough RAM to run Mac OS X reasonably well plus Apple Care and you'll get there.
> Nothing like doing your bit for the environment is there!!
For illustrative purposes only. My IBM X31 lasted me 6 years...
> are you really going to get a Windows-based Ultrathin equivalent for £283?
No, but you're deluded if you think most MacBook Airs will last six years. The battery will probably fail two or three times by then (or become effectively unusable) and I'll be amazed if the SSD lasts anything like six years. By the time you've taken it in to your Apple store four or five times and bought another two or three OS upgrades then you'll be way over the top in costs and wish you'd been a bit more rational in your choice of computer.
Not that Apple cares. Its business model is that people replace their kit after 18-24 months because even if it doesn't fail, their fellow hipsters will sneer at them in Starbucks.
Apart from that, yes, I bought something better (for me) than a £1,000 MacBook for £349 from Carphone Warehouse. It has better battery life than an iPad, and I can actually buy a second battery or replace it myself. I can also replace the hard drive.
By the way, does your show of support for the proprietary monster with $100 billion in the bank and sweatshop manufacturing in China mean you've abandoned Linux fanboyism?
> I'm told it's somewhat annoying when people have their Macs stolen
> and Apple stores treat the thief as the owner, but there you go.
Ouch, that's not good. I can understand why Apple doesn't check though. I have to book at least two days in advance for an appointment at my local Genius Bar. I'd dread to think how long the queue would be if Apple were checking documentation in order to answer every stupid question that they get on every product that they see. That's no excuse for not returning the correct owner's iPhone, however.
I'd still take that over the PC world any day. I refer you again to the Sky News article. I guess it's a case of which side of the counter would you prefer the thieves to be on?
> does your show of support for the proprietary monster with $100 billion
> in the bank and sweatshop manufacturing in China mean you've
> abandoned Linux fanboyism?
I'm not sure if Apple's any worse or better at "sweatshop manufacturing" than any other company. Do people know or care how/where their training shoes are made, or their shirts, or their cars? With all of their money though, I'm sure there's more that Apple can do.
I'm no fan of Apple the company, as I have posted here before. I don't like their BS patent law suits against Android/Linux in particular, although Microsoft gets away with doing exactly the same thing… for the time being, at least; I think the wheel's going to fall off Microsoft's wagon against Barnes & Noble. The difference is that Apple makes good products and Microsoft makes trash.
FYi, I'm currently triple booting between Kubuntu 11.10, Mac OS X and Windows 7 on a generic core-i3 PC that I put together myself. The Windows partition is mainly to play the splendiferous Arkham City for which I use a wireless Xbox 360 controller.
I'm not sure where all that leaves me in the "fanyboyism" stakes!