Editor's Note:
Going smaller has never been more savvy than it is today, as not only are tablets all the rage, new "Ultrabooks" are taking the notebook world by storm. The Ultrabook concept of ultra-thin and light, tablet-like notebooks, which will be powered by Intel Corp's newest chipset, was coined by the Santa Clara, California-based chip giant, in May at the Computex computer show in Taipei.

Challenged by sagging PC demand, the chip giant is touting the Ultrabook to take direct aim at Apple Inc's Macbook Air, which dominates the current market for ultra-thin and light notebooks, as well as win the hearts of those demanding users of highly-portable PCs that can boast of higher performance than tablet devices.

Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air, measures in at a thickness of 17mm, while the Ultrabooks vow to offer consumers the same size at a lower price and with even more powerful tech specs.

Many major PC manufacturers have shown their interests in capitalizing upon the new notebook segment, with some of them having already launched their Ultrabook products. It might be too early to say that Ultrabooks could take the market by storm and prove real rivals to the Macbook Air and the iPad, but there's no doubt that the concept has already gained attention from end users.

This week's Tech page introduces you into some of the Ultrabooks that are expected to storm the market in the near future.

Acer Aspire S3

Taiwan-based Acer launched its Ultrabook product, Aspire S3, last Friday, the first Ultrabook gadget to enter the mainland market. The 13-inch Aspire S3 looks remarkably similar to the MacBook Air, featuring an aluminum-magnesium alloy exterior that measures up at 17.5mm at its thickest point. The new laptop weighs in at less than 1.4 kilograms. Sporting second-generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors as well as a hard disk drive choice of 240-gigabyte SSD or 320/500-gigabyte HDD with embedded SSD, the laptop can support battery lifespan of up to seven hours. The product will go on sale in the mainland market at the end of the month, with a price tag starting at 7,999 yuan ($1,250).

Holding firm to the belief that the Ultrabooks will take over the notebook market in the near future, Intel Executive Vice President Sean Maloney said in an interview with The Guardian while unveiling the concept at the computer show that "if we do it right, the Ultrabook will comprise 40 percent of the notebook market in about 18 months."

While this is still a long-term goal, considering that the market for such a new concept remains immature, it is very likely that its market share could reach 20 percent of the total PC market by the end of next year, according to Oliver Ahrens, president of Acer China.

Acer will release a series of Ultrabook products ranging in size from 11 inches to 14 inches next year, with prices likely to drop to a minimum of 5,999 yuan at that time, Ahrens revealed.

Lenovo ideapad U300s

Domestic PC giant Lenovo also announced its Ultrabook products in Shanghai earlier this month. Boasting a maximum thickness of only 14.9mm, the new notebook weighs in at 1.3 kilograms and is one of the slimmest Ultrabooks around.

The laptop will run the Intel Core i7 processor and come with 4 gigabytes of RAM, as well as a 256-gigabyte SSD hard drive or a smaller 128-gigabyte version. The product also features battery life of up to eight hours. Lenovo has not disclosed the release date or price of its Ultrabook products for the domestic market.

Asus UX21

Fellow Taiwan-based PC maker Asus is also one of the earliest in the world to launch an Ultrabook product. Unveiled at the Taipei show, the UX21 sports a 13-inch display with a maximum thickness of 17mm, also built from aluminum alloy weighing only 1.1 kilograms.

 Boasting the ability to wake up within just two seconds, about the same as Acer, the product has no optical drive and no removable battery but does feature SATA III SSD and USB 3.0 connectivity. Asus had projected that the new laptop will be launched in September, though there remains no confirmed information about its release date or price for the mainland market.

Asus UX21

Fellow Taiwan-based PC maker Asus is also one of the earliest in the world to launch an Ultrabook product. Unveiled at the Taipei show, the UX21 sports a 13-inch display with a maximum thickness of 17mm, also built from aluminum alloy weighing only 1.1 kilograms.

 Boasting the ability to wake up within just two seconds, about the same as Acer, the product has no optical drive and no removable battery but does feature SATA III SSD and USB 3.0 connectivity. Asus had projected that the new laptop will be launched in September, though there remains no confirmed information about its release date or price for the mainland market.

Toshiba Portege Z830

Japanese PC maker Toshiba's Portege Z830 series, unveiled at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin early this month, is no doubt at the moment the world's lightest among its 13-inch Ultrabook peers. The new laptop, with its magnesium-aluminium alloy body and with an 8-cell 47Wh battery inside, is 16mm at its thickest point and weighs a flyweight 1 kilogram. The notebook also comes with an SD card slot and three USB ports, two USB 2.0 ports as well as a USB 3.0 port. Similarly, no information from Toshiba regarding release date or price of the new laptop was available.