Asus UX21E-KX004V 11.6 inch Ultrabook (Intel Core i5 2467M 1.6 GHz, 4GB RAM, 128 GB Solid State Drive, LAN, WLAN, Webcam) - Silver

Looks first of all (most likely the reason you will be looking at this laptop)
The brushed aluminum finish, the build quality and the styling is fantastic and is up there with any of Apples products. It has a tapered edge but even at the screen hinge it is very, very thin. The design is admittedly ripped off from the macbook air but do you ever hear Jaguar drivers moaning because their car looks like an Aston Martin?

It is quite heavy for its size, and heavier than an MB-Air. That said I carry mine around in a laptop bag all day but it doesn't make my shoulder ache like my old 15" laptop used to. It feels very solidly put together and I don't worry about it bending in my bag despite it being so thin.

It has a good selection of ports considering there is virtually no edge to it, 2x usb 3.0, display port, mini hdmi and headphone. It comes packaged with a USB LAN adapter and a display port to VGA adaptor.

Under the hood it is a very capable little machine with very respectable specs. The Core I5 CPU is 2nd gen but it is a mobility version so does not quite have the power of its bigger desktop cousins. Still you will have to be running a lot to trouble it. The 4gb of RAM included is standard now for a 64 bit operating system (which this has installed). Occasionally it stutters when there is a lot going on but in general it will glide through whatever you can throw at it. I've had Photoshop, Illustrator and a few games running on it with no problems.

The hard disk is a solid state drive, its the first time I've used one and I am impressed, it will boot from sleep instantly and from off to windows fully loaded takes around 20 seconds. Booting programs from the disc is also much quicker as you would expect.

Word of warning though, you only have 128gb to play with which runs out quick. I bought an external USB 3.0 hard drive. USB 3.0 is so fast! I have installed lots of software I dont use as much like Steam and some games and they run very well over USB 3.0.

Graphics are nothing to write home about but are respectable. It only has the I5's integrated intel HD graphics chip but I've been able to run games like Call of Duty 4, Borderlands and Left For Dead 2 on low settings but at a decent frame rates. It can suffer though when trying to do large projects on Photoshop as it does not have dedicated VRAM. All of this runs on a 1366x768 LED screen which is bright and crisp but does not have a very wide viewing angle.

Battery life is the only place this laptop is sub par. I haven't messed around with the default power saving settings but I get about 2-3 hours of battery life while using the computer. Sleep mode however seems to use no power at all so is safe to leave in sleep mode all day. It does charge very quickly though, a full charge can be done in just under an hour.

So all in all, with the UX21 you are getting a netbook sized laptop with all the benefits of portability but with tech specs that match most mid-high end full size laptops. Its a netbook I can use for work!

And did I mention it looks amazing!

The Asus UX21 is beautiful crafted. The compact solid aluminum body is gorgeous. The pictures don't do it justice. This ultra book has a similar compact build to the Macbook Air. However the lid color is a more metallic dark grey compared to the silver finish of the Air. Asus have really gone out of there way to compete with the Macbook Air in asthetics. The way the stickers are silver and don't stand out, shows how much they care. Out of the box. The UX21 comes with a power adaptor which comes in two parts and is very solid (The windows licence key is on the adaptor so don't lose it), especially compared to the Asus transformer prime adaptor which is rather flimsy. Also Asus have supplied a envelope pouch free which is a nice brown with a magnetic closer.It also come with manual, cable tie, cleaning cloth and pouch for the free vga adaptor and ethernet usb dongle. Apple charges for all these extras so its nice to save some money. (Its come to my attention from a verified purchaser that these extras were not include in the Amazon package. So consider wisely where to purchase this from. I got mine from Ballicom.)

The Asus UX21 comes with an I5 mobility processor, 4Gb Ram and 128 Solid State Drive. This is comparable to the latest Macbook Air, but with a price of up to 100-150 pounds less if you look around. For the same specs.

The Asus UX21 comes with Windows 7 installed and some pre-installed software from Asus. The software installed are Asus utility which includes live updates. (After boot up its best to install these for critical updates for drivers or bios updates etc). Asus vibe, Asus web storage for cloud, Life Frame for taking and editing video and Trend Internet Security trial. It also comes with Windows office 2010 starter which consists of word and excel.
The Asus suite includes additional software (including others not mentioned) which in my opinion is just taking up unnecessary space. These should be uninstalled to free up space also Asus have decided to back up the system onto your hard drive. For best results I would back up the contents onto an external dvd or hard drive. As out of the box around 65 gb of 103gb space is only available.

The Asus Ux21 can take as little as 45mins to an hour and a half to get a full charge. The battery on UX21 can vary from 3 to 5 hours depending on use. There are 4 modes which can be set under the power4gear software supplied. They are battery saving, quiet office, entertainment and high performance. Under the Power4Gear Hybrid setting there are additional power management software that can be configured.
These also affect over all battery life and performance. I have found the Macbook Air to have a slightly longer running time with day to day use. However,this is most likely due to the Mac o/s and no flash enabled, with windows 7 installed on the Macbook Air. I have found battery life is around the same.
Boot up times are less then 15 seconds from cold boot for the Asus UX21 and standby times uses very little power for the Asus UX21.

The only minor down sides compared to my Macbook Air is the lack of a backlit keyboard and also I feel the Macbook has a better screen.
I have found the track pad okay on the Asus UX21 it may not be as good as the Macbook Air but is adequate. Just make sure you update to the latest drivers.
The Asus UX21 main overall weakness is graphical performance. However, it is adequate to play games such as Starcraft 2 and 3rd person shooters on lower settings. Personally if your looking to game neither the Macbook Air or Asus UX21 are what you should be looking for. The Asus has the edge over the Mac in regards to gaming as Windows utilises better performance over the Mac o/s.

The Asus UX21 has two usbs ports, one with USB 3. The usb3 port speeds gives you at least a minimum of 3 times the transfer speed over usb2. The Macbook Air has 2 usb ports utilising usb2 and one Thunderbolt port which is said to be at least twice the speed of usb 3. However, Thunderbolt for me has been useless as the devices needed to utilise the speed are too expensive.
So in terms of practical use. I prefer the Asus connectivity as usb3 is more widely supported. The usb3 can also be used to charge mobile devices when power usb is enabled.

To sum up if your looking for a Macbook Air equivalent for Windows this is it. The Asus is light compact and very solid. It is ideal to carry where ever you go. It may not be quite as good as the Macbook Air in some instances, but for me these are less relevant when comparing the lower cost of the Asus Ux21. If you compare the difference in prices between the Air and Asus UX21 plus the extras such as ethernet dongle and case cost. The Asus UX21 is well worth the money.

This laptop is brilliant. It's perfect for home and business use. I run windows 7 ultimate and I use a lot of intensive programming software on it. Its super light, sleek and never gets hot. I have been using it for 6 months and had 0 issues.