Sometime during the second quarter of 2011 notebook manufacturers are expected to start launching their own ultra-thin ultra-portable notebooks to compete with the likes of the Apple MacBook Air and Samsung 9 Series notebooks according to Digitimes. These extremely thin computers starting under $1,000 are selling well, and other manufacturers are hoping to cash in on the consumer appetite for small affordable notebooks that can get things done on the road.
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The Acer model will come in the Timeline series, similar to one we previously reviewed, and made for Acer by Wistron. The model we reviewed was not an ultra-thin, but the Timeline X series is Acer’s business line. The Asus notebook will be in their U-series line with 13-14 inch sizes and manufactured for them by a company called Pegatron Technology. That same company will manufacture Lenovo’s ultra-thin IdeaPad starting in the third quarter.

Apple’s pace setting computers sparked a design revolution with the original MacBook Air, which was billed as a luxury computer. Dell responded with their Adamo, neither of which sold that well. When Apple re-released the MacBook Air starting at $999 for one with a 64GB SSD and 2GB of memory paired with an Intel Core 2 Duo, they started to fly out of the Apple Stores. Samsung answered with the 9 Series announced earlier this year. Acer, Asus and Lenovo are following suit both in form factor and price point.
Below is hands-on video at CES 2011 of the Samsung 9 Series by our Chuong Nguyen:

