Intel’s new Consumer Ultra Low Voltage or CULV platform offers better performance than the company’s lower priced, lower power Atom chips. But CULV chips carry price tags of around $150 to $340, which makes them less than ideal for low cost laptops.
Now DigiTimes is reporting that Intel is offering deep, deep discounts to computer makers including HP, Acer, Dell, Asus, and MSI, with prices for low end CULV processors hitting the $65 to $75 range.
While those prices are still higher than the prices Intel charges for the Intel Atom chipset, they’re still pretty low and it’s clear Intel wants to spur adoption of this new platform. Does this mean we might see CULV-based netbooks soon? Probably not. The CULV platform is targeted at ultraportable computers, but it will likely show up in models that cost $600 or more. I suspect it’ll also show up in computers with 12 or 13 inch displays. In other words, the CULV platform is Intel’s answer to the AMD Yukon platform: It’s designed to bridge the distance between low price, low power netbooks and full sized laptops with superpowered chipsets.
via SlashGear