Asus laptop computer series that attacks Apple Macbook Air ultrathin laptop computer market slice

Computex 2011 is the place where the worthy adversary of Apple MacBook Air ultrathin laptp computer was shown by Asus. UX Asus laptop computer series is announced to weigh 1.1 kg and slimmed to 3 to 17 mm with a aluminum Unibody design. Asus also stated that it will resume from sleep mode to last working state in 2 seconds. Asus UX ultrathin laptop series will perform with 2nd generation Intel Core I7, I5 and I3 CPU's, super-speed with USB 3.0 with USB charger+ and will be the first notebook computer with new fastest Sata III SSD harddrive.
We have a video from Engadget with Asus UX 21 ultrathin laptop computer at Computex 2011 and a live measurements comparison with Apple MacBook Air.

For future Apple laptops online buyers

When I was searching thru customer reviews about Apple MacBook Air laptop on Amazon.com I found this comment that I believe it will be helpful for future Apple online customers. It’s about an undisclosed written internal policy regarding online orders that cannot be canceled once launched and not delivered. (quote)“I purchased this item direct from Apple. I discovered that the MacBook Air did not have a changeable battery. Now for the worst part. About 30 minutes after I ordered the laptop I called back to cancel. Apple told me that the order cannot be cancelled that it had already been processed for shipment. Needless to say they told me it was part of the sales "agreement". I was not informed of any such sales "agreement" nor could the sales supervisor produce it. Then it turned into "well its more of a internal policy". But they are not allowed to show me the policy. My point is BEWARE of the hidden and written policies of Apple. I know this review will not deter those people that already are familiar with MAC's but for those of you who are considering switching from a PC, this is a whole new "ball game" I will never deal with anything Apple again, nor would I ever recommend them. Companies, who charge a premium for a product should ensure that customers are satisfied, not cut them off once they get your credit card number.”

Today's top 15 best selling laptops on Amazon.com (to check versus my previuous post top 15 most popural laptops on PriceGrabber.com)

In my today’s previous post I presented the top 15 Most Popular laptops on PriceGrabber.com. To compare lists I will give you now the top 15 best selling laptops on Amazon.com, which also is monitored by PriceGrabber.com for price comparison:

1) ASUS Eee PC 4G Surf (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Hard Drive, Linux Preloaded) Galaxy Black
2) Apple MacBook MB403LL/A 13.3" Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive) White
3) Apple MacBook Pro MB133LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
4) Asus Eee PC 8G (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB Solid-State Disk, Linux Preloaded) Pearl White
5) Asus Eee PC 4G (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB Hard Drive, Linux Preloaded) Galaxy Black
6) Apple MacBook Air MB003LL/A 13.3" Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive)
7) Apple MacBook Pro MA895LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
8) Apple MacBook MB404LL/A 13.3" Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive) Black
9) HP Pavilion Artist Edition DV2890NR 14.1" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T5550 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Vista Premium)
10) Apple MacBook MB158LL/B 13.3" Laptop (2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 8x Super Drive) Black
11) Asus Eee PC 8G (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB Solid-State Disk, Linux Preloaded) Black
12) Sony VAIO VGN-NR240E/S 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium) Granite
13) Apple MacBook Pro MB134LL/A 15.4" Laptop (2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
14) Asus Eee PC 2G Surf (7" Screen, 800 MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512 MB RAM, 2 GB Hard Drive, Linux Preloaded) Galaxy BlackToshiba Satellite A205-S5812 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium Dual Core T2330 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium)

Apple's MacBook Air MB003LL/A notebook main features

Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor with 800MHz frontside bus, 4MB shared L2 cache and 1.6GHz processor speed
2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM for multitasking power
Note: Optical drive not included; compatible with optional MacBook Air double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW SuperDrive (model MB397G/A, not included)
The next-generation Intel® Core™2 Duo processor is based on the innovative Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, so it runs faster and is more energy-efficient for cooler, quieter operation
13.3" TFT-LCD widescreen display with 1280 x 800 native resolution
80GB Parallel ATA hard drive (4200 rpm)
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 graphics with 144MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared video memory; support for DVI and VGA interfaces (with included micro DVI-to-DVI and micro DVI-to-VGA adapters); dual display and video mirroring capability
S-video and composite video output support (requires optional adapters; not included)
1 high-speed USB 2.0 port; built-in Bluetooth 2.1 technology + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) networking; optional USB Ethernet Adapter (model MB442Z/A, not included) for connection to wired networks; optional USB Modem (model MA034Z/A, not included)
Built-in iSight Web cam and omnidirectional microphone
Touchpad with multitouch gesture support allows you to use specialized touch gestures to navigate your applications, zoom in on text, advance through a photo album or adjust an image with ease
Weighs 3 lbs. and measures only 0.8" thin for lightweight portability; lithium-polymer battery for up to 5 hours of battery life
Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" preinstalled; software package included with Time Machine, Quick Look, Spotlight, iChat, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools, iLife '08 (with iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand).

Is the Apple MacBook Air truly the "world's thinnest" notebook ?

As I promised before I am back with more info about Apple MacBook Air MB003LL/A, one of the best selling laptops on Amazon.com. Today is the 7th place on best selling laptops list and on the 3rd place in best selling Apple laptops. This post is the first from a series of post that I will write about this product and his family. I think I need to do that in order to find why at this price is one of the best selling laptop on Amazon.com. Apple MacBook Air MB003LL/A was made to cover the market rising need for ultra portable notebooks. Until recently many of the laptops were too bulky and heavy to satisfy the customers need for easy and comfortable portability and work on the road.
And now back to the post title. I will try to answer to this question. Is the MBA truly the “world’s thinnest notebook?
The company press release for the MacBook Air states in its headline that the MacBook Air is the "world's thinnest notebook" and in the copy that (quote) "its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks".
However, I found on everymac.com and as noted by Wired and CNet, that the Mitsubishi Pedion released in 1998 was 0.7244 inches thick (1.84 cm) and the Sharp Muramasas released in 2003 was a mere 0.54 inches thick (1.3716 cm), both smaller than the thickest point on the MacBook Air.
The Pedion and Muramasas were uniformly thick rather than tapered like the MacBook Air, however, so some might note that the average thickness of the MacBook Air is smaller or that these systems from many years ago are not "competing notebooks" so the point is regardless.
Basically, the MacBook Air is an extremely thin notebook, with the cost of sacrificing the connectivity, optical drive, performance ( not the most powerful processor in the Apple MacBooks class ) and the loss of possibility of changing the battery, but whether or not it is truly the "world's thinnest" notebook is largely up to interpretation. In conclusion we hope that notebooks will continue to get thinner and thinner after this MacBook Air dimensions challenge.

From (quote) "The laptop and the notebook: A fable" and some comments

"Once upon a time there was a Laptop (AAPL) that belonged to a mid-sized wazir of the realm. It was a rather large laptop as laptops go, with a big, roomy heart filled with all kinds of good things, an impressive collection of ports, and big, strong hardware that could stand the test of any ....."- teaser for a nice fable published by Stanley Bing on his blog with Apple MacBook Air as one of the main characters. MacBook Air notebook is depicted more like a starlet than a star of the story, where slender shapes and sweet lines trumps functionality . With this fable he draws a smile on our face and, arguing some good points, he reminds us the power that marketing and trends have over our buying choices. In the comments to this fable I noticed two issues. The USB hub that helps surpassing the lack of connectivity options that many are not aware of it's existence and the now forbidden possibility to bring spare batteries on carry-on luggage when we travel by air.
And now, for the big finish, I will reproduce a comment by Oz Crosby about what MacBook Air we dream to be (quote): “ … The Mac Book Aire is like an interesting concept car. Has some features i REALLY like, but it’s not ready for the streets i drive. What i wan to see, in the same case as my current MacBook Pro:More battery life, partially achieved by having a 500 gig hard drive with a 64-128 gig solid state drive sitting on top of it. the solid state drive will have the operating system and my every day tasks (email, word processing, etc) on it. Pictures, movies, music, TV shows, big spreadsheets etc will reside on the hard drive. There will be one more USB port, a 10-key pad in the setup (there’s room, just re-think the keyboard), and everything innovative the iPhone has brought to the party. And a truly faster, more efficient processor - not just another 6% incremental gain. Give us an entry level model, Apple, to keep that magic price point, then let us road warriors put about $1,000 of extras on to make the laptop of the future.” Now I will end this post about what MacBook Air notebook is not, and what we dream it to be and I want to announce a latter a short review about Air notebook the 14th place keeper in the today's best selling laptops list on Amazon.com.