Intel Earnings Call Details $200 Windows 8 Touch Devices Based on Bay Trail Atom

Intel’s Paul Otellini is on his way out as CEO, but before he steps down a month from now, he dropped some news about what Intel is planning to roll out in the near future during an earnings call with investors. Specifically, he said that soon, consumers might be seeing touch-enabled Intel-based notebooks running Windows 8 for as low as $200.

Otellini had previously noted in his remarks that he believed OEMs might start rolling out new notebook form factors based around upcoming Haswell (4th-generation Core processors) or even the new Bay Trail Atom chips at price points as low as $300 to $400, and one person on the call pushed him on that number.

Otellini
Paul Otellini with Intel-based tablets

Otellini responded by saying, “If you look at touch-enabled Intel based notebooks that are ultrathin and light using non-core processors, those prices are going to be down to as low as $200 probably.”

He also clarified that there’s a difference between ultrabooks and notebooks, and that he was talking about price points for the latter. It’s almost unbelievable to imagine notebooks costing so little, unless you harken back to the netbook days. Hopefully, Intel isn’t planning to reboot the netbook, which was a mostly failed attempt at super-portable yet inexpensive laptops, although Bay Trail seems like it might be designed for that sort of thing.

In any case, Intel-based ultrabooks in the $599 range--and even as low as $499--will be in the offing, as well, which is perhaps the most notable bit to take away from Otellini’s last Intel earnings call.