Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Dell or Lenovo have
laptops running the third-generation of Intel Core i. They are sold with the
price of $650 to more than $1,500.
New Vaio E series of Sony uses veriety of chips in color
and screen size.
June and July are not
the time that market has good buying power, they are “bleakest” period in the
year. However, the manufacturers still launched to the market several new
product lines with nearly 20 different configurations using the latest
third generation of Intel Core i. The preparation for new buying cycle is about
to start at the time Intel upgrades processor annually. It is considered the
main reason for these releases.
However, the price
segments of the model running new chips are quite different
between domestic manufacturers. Because in the first launch, Core i processor with Ivy
Bridge platform has not included Core i3 chip, the manufacturers are
not able to put the chip on low price segment. Therefore, although there is
just one month more the new school year will start, Ivy Bridge laptop cannot
aim at student users.
Price of the lowest
models on the market using this processor is approximately $650, while many
distributors said only $500 products could be sold in the next 2 months.
According to a Toshiba representative, the company must focus on 2 current
segments: the $500 cheap segment as well as new processor segment to meet
diversified needs of the market.
“Price of the 3rd
generation Intel Core i (Core i5/i7 version) currently remains high,
so it will serve the mid range customers, who are technology enthusiasts and
have a stable financial platform”, said director of product and marketing
department, DGW distributor. According to him, the manufacturers are launching
many new products to repair for new procurement cycle of consumers starting in
next August and September.
Many big companies quickly launched laptop running Ivy
Bridge to dominate the market.
Among the early names
on the market, Toshiba is considered the most "aggressive" company in
low price segment. The company owns many models using new Intel Core
i chip with the selling price is just from $665 (no VAT included), such as
Satellite M840 or Satellite L840-1030 with $645 (no VAT included) . Also in
this segment but be more expensive than $10 to $15 are Lenovo IdeaPadZ480 and
Acer Aspire V3-471G models.
At higher price
range, the most prominent name is Dell. Series have name of supercars Audi A4
and A5 of the company are using Intel Core i5-3210M chip, 4 GB RAM and 500 GB
hard drive, even with removable graphics cards from Nvidia for about $750.
Meanwhile, in the
segment of $1,000, Dell Asus cooperates with many powerful configuration models.
With the XPS 14 or Inspiron 14z, Dell has many products with more modern,
beautiful designs while Asus has more powerful configuration though its style
is less prominent or diversified. This Taiwan manufacturer currently has two
models of K45VM and K55VM with quite strong configuration using Intel Core
i7-3610QM chip.
In addition to the
popular laptops, the new chip also appears in ultrabook with many options. The
cheapest is Sony Vaio T with the price of $950. More expensive segment of $1,500
is the Asus ZenBook Prime with 11-inch, 13-inch versions, running Intel Core
i5, i7 chip, while the Toshiba model Z930 runs Core i7 chip with $1,775 (no VAT
included), the model using Core i5 chip will soon be on shelves.
There are no cheap versions so that third-generation Core
i laptop cannot aim at the student segment.
According to the DGW
distributor, market is good, sales has been increased 10% compared with June
and 5% compared with the same period of last year. It was enough to help the
computer companies be happy when the quietest period of the year has ended.
New Intel Ivy Bridge
chip uses 3D Tri-Gate transistor technology in 22 nm production process. This
structure includes new Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics chip, which supports
DirectX 11. According to Intel, Ivy Bridge has 20% higher speed and graphics
than the previous generation Sandy Bridge.
