Murtazin doesn't have the best track record for predictions, but his hindsight seems pretty good:

By controlling the resource, aluminum unibody production in this case, Apple left very little space for maneuver for their rivals and ensured low production costs. Other unibody manufacturers can now dictate prices to Apple's rivals who have to pay. But the production capacities are low so they can only use such chassis in flagship products while Apple is using them in mass products. Apple rivals go to great lengths trying to change this situation: Intel created a fashion for ultrabooks and aluminum bodies seem only natural for them but manufacturers are not able to get enough production capacity to satisfy the demand for aluminum bodies. Instead they use the old trick: they make 'aluminum sandwiches' – aluminum sheets cover a plastic chassis. Naturally, this solution is not very elegant though it costs slightly cheaper (applicable to laptops $1000+).

This solution is too expensive to be used in laptops in the below $1000 bracket so manufacturers are forced to use all sorts of plastic there. This is a result of insufficient supply of needed components.

Which explains a lot about ultrabooks and their pricing and Intel's venture fund for them. There's some interesting suggestions too that Apple is looking to tie up lots of plastic for its phones.

Acer plans to launch its second-generation ultrabook models in the second quarter of 2012 and more new models in the third, with ultrabooks to account for 25-35% of its total notebook shipments for the year, according to company chairman JT Wang.

Sales of Acer's first ultrabook, the Aspire S3, totaled about 250,000-300,000 units in the first quarter after launch, and the company expects sales for its new Aspire S5 tablet PC will be even better.

That sounds like a Windows 8 tablet PC, rather than an Android one. US and Europe are expected to see slow sales.

Services such as PayPass—which will allow users to make payments by tapping their credit cards to the device using NFC—and Nuance speech recognition are being incorporated into new Intel partner devices. The goal, said the chip giant, is not only to produce thinner and lighter machines, but laptops that are both fast and capable too, thanks to Intel’s forthcoming Ivy Bridge chipset.

"Acer plans to launch a 15-inch ultrabook model in early 2012 built using fibreglass cases supplied by Mitac Precision Technology. Asustek Computer is expected to follow suit, also adopting fiber glass cases from MPT, according to industry sources.

"Acer originally planned to release the 15-inch model in the fourth quarter but decided to delay the launch to 2012 due to unfavourable market conditions, noted the sources, noting that the fibreglass cases will help bring down unit costs.

"The price of fibreglass cases will be US$5-10 less than those made of aluminum alloy and US$20 cheaper for a whole ultrabook, the sources estimated."

Sounds like they're expecting slim margins.