At a glance: Asus ZenBook ultraportable vs. MacBook Air

The challenge

Apple’s long dominating MacBook Air ultraportable laptop is to get a gigantic Windows 7 competitor in Asus ZenBook. The Taiwan technology maker has announced its Intel Core powered ZenBook Ultrabooks much recently. Getting through the specs, dimension, and weight of ZenBook, some analysts are certain that it can raise real threat to MacBook Air. According to Intel, Asus ZenBook Ultrabooks are extraordinarily responsive, stylish, and thin. Certainly, it is capable to beat MacBook Air in a fray with these incredible features. Here is a comparison of the common features of Apple MacBook Air and Asus ZenBook.

Asus ZENBOOK ultraportable vs MacBook Air

1. Screen Size

MacBook Air’s low-end model is featuring an 11.6-inch TFT active matrix LCD display. It works on LED backlight technology and has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Asus ZenBook UX21E is with the same 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 resolution LED backlight display. Asus has really designed its Ultrabook notebook for a direct fight with MacBook Air.

Winner: There is no winner. Both MacBook Air and ZenBook are up with the same display technology, size, and resolution.

2. Software

Actually, Asus ZenBook remains different from MacBook Air. You have Microsoft Windows 7 in ZenBook. Apple runs its own Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on its flagship MacBook Airs. Apple and Microsoft have been in a tussle for several decades in name of their PC operating systems, Mac OS X and Windows. Here it may energize the battle between two ultraportable laptops indeed.

Winner: There is no winner. Both Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion are the latest updates of their series. Therefore, we are unable to say one is winner and other is not because both the platforms have many specific consumers out in the market.

3. Price:

To get a MacBook Air 11, you have to pay just $999. However, pricing details of ZenBook have not been yet announced by Asus. The Taiwan technology firm indents to roll out the products for the year-end holiday season. Quite possibly, Asus will be pricing its Ultrabooks lower than MacBook Airs to drive customers away from Apple’s Ultrabooks.

Winner: There is no winner. Pricing details of ZenBook are not available.

4. Target audience:

Target audiences of both Ultrabooks are the same. Apple rolled out its MacBook Air with a goal to gain market over those costumers, who want ultraportable laptops with high performance. The company recently upgraded its MacBook Air lineup with Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and Thunderbolt ports. The major goal was to win over the customers, who look for ultra-portability and super performance.

It seems Asus also has designed its Intel Core powered laptops eying at the same market. You have ZenBook with Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, 4GB RAM, and many other outstanding features to get influence over Apple MacBook Air’s ruthless domination in global markets.

Winner: Thanks to the popularity and brand name of MacBook Air, it is the winner over Asus ZenBook, which also tries to knock at the same market.

The verdict: Winner

As a whole, we are to get one more incredible Ultrabook laptop. Different from Apple MacBook Air, Asus ZenBook is on Windows 7, doubtlessly the world’s top computer operating system. A battle between MacBook Air and ZenBook is indeed looming. MacBook Airs have been standing atop of the market with some incredible innovations every year. For example, this year only, Apple upgraded its MacBook Air line with the most advanced components like Intel Core processors and Thunderbolt ports. The Cupertino firm, which is known for innovations, prepares products as per the industry demands. Of course, MacBook Air is a result of such an attempt.

It is now up to the costumers. There are people who adore Windows and Mac OS X. Certainly there was a shortage of Ultrabooks on Windows OS. It is now to be met with the products like Asus ZenBook. Many other companies also are in development stage of similar MacBook Air killers. In future, we will be enjoying computing quite faster on more highly portable devices like ZenBook.