Asus is going to have a special event in New York next week to show off their “real Ultrabook” models, the UX21 and UX31. However, it seems that might not be all they’re unveiling on October 12.
The writers at Notebook Italia saw that if you sign up to be notified about the announcement, at the top of that e-mail submission page is a title, “Zenbook Countdown” (it actually shows up there after you’ve entered your name and e-mail address):
So what does this mean? Is Asus just looking to further differentiate themselves from the increasingly crowded field of Ultrabook manufacturers? Or are they be looking for a way to transition into making their own brand of Ultra-thin and light notebook that would possibly use non-Intel processors in the future? If the latter is the case, we probably won’t get confirmation of that at the October 12 event since Ultrabooks are still in the fledgling stage. Next year we’ll see a lot more Ultrabooks come into the market, and see whether consumers warm up to the product category. However, with all the jockeying to get component and material prices down to sub-$1000 retail prices for Ultrabooks, it’s entirely possible that Asus is setting up a “Plan B” to make Zenbooks with a different, less expensive processor at the core, once all the design and material alternatives for Ultrabooks have been exhausted.
Via Engadget
