Intel, who is keen to get the cost of Ultrabooks in Australia to under $899, is set to meet with manufacturers in an effort to get costs downIn Australia recently, the General Manager of Intel Australia Kate Burleigh, said she was confident Ultrabook costs could hit sub $899 by the last quarter.

Recently Apple moved to lower the price of their new MacBook Air equipped with Ivy Bridge processors by US$100, forcing several Ultrabook manufacturers to rethink their pricing in Australia.

Intel has confirmed they will hold a conference in July to discuss with Taiwan-based supply chain makers about how to minimize ultrabook production costs, according to DigiTimes.

Intel aims to decrease retail prices for ultrabooks to US$699 in the second half of 2012, and thereby reach target global sales of 20-30 million units for the year.

Intel will focus on solutions to reduce component costs, including adoption of fiberglass-reinforced plastic cases in place of expensive aluminum-alloy, 16650 cylinder-shaped batteries or prismatic lithium-ion batteries in place of Li-polymer batteries and hybrid-HDDs in place of SSDs, the sources said.