14 DAY TRIAL // Competing against Apple in the field of ultra-thin notebooks is not exactly a very easy task, but it seems that the people over at Asus accepted it gladly, since they've just taken wraps off a new portable computing system that will certainly go directly against the MacBook Air in the coming months, namely the U36 model.
While the new U36 notebook from Asus doesn't really match the paper-thin dimensions of the MBA (who's just around 2.7 mm thick at its thinnest point), it's nevertheless one of the most ultra-portable and super-slim computing solutions released on the market over the past couple of months, given the fact that it's only 19mm thick and weighs only 1.44 kilograms (a feat partially achieved with the help of the U36's aluminum magnesium alloy case.
As TCMagazine informs us, similar to some of the other ultra-portable systems available on the market, the Asus U36 will come equipped with a 13.3-inch display, delivering a relatively standard 1366 x 768 pixels resolution with the help of the built-in NVIDIA graphics card.
And since we're reached this particular topic, it's also interesting to mention that Asus has also thrown in the mix the NVIDIA Optimus technology that automatically switches between integrated graphics and dedicated graphics card, thus helping the built-in 4-cell battery achieve up to 10 hours of operation.
In terms of processing power, we'll have to mention that the new Asus notebook will be based on Intel's Calpella platform (a choice of Core i3 or i5 CPUs will be available) and will also sport a dual-heatpipe cooler.
Sadly, no word on storage just yet, but we certainly hope Asus used an SSD on the U36, in order to keep it as thin as possible.
This is just about every bit of info available on the U36 for the time being, since the Taiwan-based manufacturer has not provided yet any significant details on either the pricing or the availability of this MacBook Air contender.