Asus Ultrabook due Tuesday

Asus is due to release its Ultrabook lineup on Tuesday, as vendor momentum in this new Windows laptop category gains steam.

Asus is expected to announce a raft of Ultrabook models Tuesday including the UX21.
(Credit:
Asus)

The Asus "Real Ultrabook" line is expected to start at under $1,000 and be populated with 11- and 13-inch models ranging up to $1,499.

The UX21 model, for example, will come with an 11.6-inch display, a Core i5 Intel Sandy Bridge processor, and a 128GB solid-state drive. The high-end 13.3-inch UX31 will have a Core i7 chip and 256GB SSD.

Models are also slated to come with beefed-up sound and USB 3.0 ports. The latter feature is not on the $899 Ultrabook announced today by Acer. But don't expect to see USB 3.0 ports on many Ultrabook systems priced below $900. It's expensive to implement in the cheapest models at the moment.

Other specs include a weight starting at 2.2 pounds (11.6-inch models), brushed metal surface, display resolutions up to 1,600x900 (13.3-inch models), a SandForce-based SSD, and a card reader. [Read more]