Acer says it's going to cut Ultrabook prices. But you're going to have to wait until Q2 2012 for the skinny notebooks to become cheaper - and a year for them to get really low-cost.

Company president Jim Wong apparently said Acer will knock $100-200 (£64-128) off the $999 (£637) pre-tax price tag in the second quarter of 2012, DigiTimes reports.

Undoubtedly, that's a consequence of the introduction of Intel's 'Ivy Bridge' platform, developed to soup up Ultrabooks. Either Intel is set to knock the platform's price, or - more likely perhaps - the arrival of Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks will allow Acer and co. to reduce the price of existing, Sandy Bridge-based machines.

According to Wong, Ultrabooks will begin to go mass-market in 2012, paving the way for the price of the slimline systems to fall to $499 (£318) in 2013. ®