Intel made the bold claim that by the end of 2012, 40 percent of the laptop segment will be made up of super-thin and light notebooks called Ultrabooks.
One of the first to market with such an offering will be Asus with the UX21 Ultrabook, which it is showing off at Computex. The slim and sleek form factor houses up at a full 2nd Generation Core i7 CPU that's packed with a SATA 6Gb/s SSD.
The real standout feature, however is its measurements, which is 17mm at its thickest point – the same as the current MacBook Air. Apple's offering today packs a Core 2 Duo, though it's expected that Apple will move to Sandy Bridge sometime this year.
Asus says that the UX21 will have an "up to 7-hour battery" and an Instant On feature for resuming work in seconds.
Engadget has a hands-on video with comparison against an 11-inch MacBook Air. Check it out below: