might be on the way, but we’ve been hearing talk of cheaper ultrabooks for a couple of years now.

This time around though, it might be different. Speaking at the Intel Solutions Summit in Los Angeles, Intel exec Kirk Skaugen said cheaper Ultrabooks are indeed on the way and they should be available in time for the holiday season. Skaugen said the starting price for Haswell based Ultrabooks will be $599.



In addition to the lower price tag, Haswell Ultrabooks should also offer a range of new features, including high resolution touchcreens, voice and facial recognition and all-day battery life. Of course, we don’t expect all these features to end up in entry level $599 SKUs, but it’s a good start.



Skaugen pointed out that Haswell was designed from the ground up to best suit the Ultrabook, and he pointed out that users won’t need to carry around battery packs with them, which isn’t a new idea at all, since that is the whole point of ultraportables.

Ultrabook shipments are still unimpressive and analysts have already slashed their forecasts for 2013.



More here.



