The real issue for intel is 7W is not worth 100$ to most consumers. OEM's have been selling good plenty of 400$ laptops for a while and tablet manufactures can always down-clock a laptop CPU from AMD.
However, this is the reason Microsoft is trying to stick to the 800$ price point for as long as it can. Cheaper options are more popular and they don't want most people to hear how 'crap' Windows 8 tablets are based on hardware anytime soon.
>The real issue for intel is 7W is not worth 100$ to most consumers. OEM's have been selling good plenty of 400$ laptops for a while and tablet manufactures can always down-clock a laptop CPU from AMD.
This is the kind of logic that says selling one million of $1 products is better than selling 100.000 of $10 products. I beg to differ...
The number of units sold is capped by the market size. If someone else is selling $1 devices and you are selling $10 but the $1 device meets the need, you won't be selling much. Microsoft/Intel might bank on those markets being "distinct" - but that's getting more tenuous each year.
The markets compact over time and $1 devices will kill $10 devices.
However, this is the reason Microsoft is trying to stick to the 800$ price point for as long as it can. Cheaper options are more popular and they don't want most people to hear how 'crap' Windows 8 tablets are based on hardware anytime soon.