Asus debuts ZenBook, a sub-$1,000 ultrabook

Asus has unveiled its first ultrabook, called the Asus ZenBook, a sub-$1,000, thin, brushed-steel laptop computer aimed to compete with Apple's MacBook Air, as well as with the emerging tablet market.

"ZenBooks are a perfect balance between strength and beauty," said Asus Chairman Jonney Shih, explaining the decision to name the new ultrabook after the Buddhist school of practice. He spoke at the launch event in New York.

At first glance the ZenBook, which costs $999, resembles the MacBook Air. The 27.9-centimeter ZenBook has a brushed-steel exterior and weighs only 1.09 kilograms. The thinnest part of the ZenBook is only 3 millimeters, or about .13 of an inch, thick.

In constant standby mode, ZenBook can boot within two seconds, and it can stay in standby mode for up to two weeks between charges, Shih said. It has a 128GB hybrid solid-state disk, which can ensure against data loss even when the data hasn't been saved to disk.

The device comes with a set of high-performance components: The SSD can ingest or read data at a rate of 6.6GB per second. It features USB 3.0, which is, according to Shih, 10 times faster than USB 2.0. It also features graphics capabilities that are 34 percent better than a competitor, Shih said, but did not name the competition. The unit also has Intel's Core 1.6Ghz i7 processor, comes with 4GB of RAM and runs Windows 7.

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