Jun 6, 2011 13:03 GMT  ·  By

Presented for the very first time at the Computex 2011 fair, Asus' MacBook Air competitor, the ultra-thing UX21 notebook is going to have a starting price of less than $1000 US, according to a recent report that hit the Web.

While the notebook's final pricing hasn't been revealed yet, the Commercial Times publication states that Asus is aiming to set the MSRP for somewhere between 80 to 90 percent of the cost of Apple's MBA.

In addition to the lower cost, the UX21 also features improved hardware when compared to the MacBook Air as it's powered by Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processors.

Users can opt for quite a few low-voltage CPU models, starting with the not-yet-released 1.7GHz Core i5-2557M and going to the 1.8GHz Core i7-2677M.

All of these processors have a TDP of 17W, dual processing cores, 3 or 4 MB of Level 3 cache memory and support both the Hyper-Threading and the Turbo Boost technologies.

The fast Intel CPUs can be paired with 64GB or 128GB SATA 6Gbps solid state drives, and Asus claims that the notebook can resume from a sleep state in just two seconds.

All around the edges of the UX21, users will find one USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, a mini-DisplayPort as well as a mini-HDMI connector. The UX21 display measures 11.6-inch is diagonal and is LED back-lit.

All of these are housed inside a thin and light anodized aluminum uni-body chassis that measures no more than 17mm at its thickest point.

The keyboard and touchpad were also designed to accentuate the style of the unit, as the former comes with all aluminum keys, while the latter is made out of glass.

The Asus UX21 ultra-thin notebook is expected to in September 2011.