Asus Aims At Apple's MacBook Air With Ultra Thin, "Cheap" ZX Netbook

That is going to be Uber interesting. Asus is planning to launch a 12-inch ultra thin notebook that will be using the same chassis as the EEE PC S101 laptop and aimed squarely at the high end of the market.

Priced at around £575, it will be a potent rival to Apple's Macbook Air with a 12-inch, 16:10 screen and is expected to be launched around Christmas. 

Its main selling argument will be its price which is roughly half what the MBA costs.

The S101 has a 10.2-inch display, which means that you can expect the ZX-series laptop to feature a very thin bezel while the rest of the configuration should be rather similar to the S101.

So you can expect the laptop to come with an Atom processor, 1GB memory, a 64GB SSD and a close attention to details (brushed aluminum enclosure anyone?).

It will be interesting to see how Apple reacts since Asus is one of Apple's closest ODM partners and is turning out to be one of its most serious competitors across several key segments.

See also Asus Touts EEE PC S101 Laptop as Macbook Air Slayer, Asus S101 Ultimate EEE Laptop Targets Sony Vaio and Macbook Air.