A weight of 3.1 pounds is still light, but it's a tad heavier than the MacBook Air, Acer S3, and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s. The bladelike teardrop shape of the Zenbook is even curved like a MacBook Air, but it's slightly more bulbous: its 0.71 inch of maximum thickness is cleverly concealed, but I could tell the difference when I slipped it into a messenger bag. Brushed metal on the bottom is only interrupted by a rear speaker grill and four black rubber feet. Inside, the metal surfaces are brushed in a subtle vertical pattern.

Radial metal lines on the back catch light and give the Zenbook an industrial-design flavor. The Zenbook, made of unibody aluminum like the MacBook Air, has a darker gloss to its back lid and a heft that makes it almost feel more like magnesium or steel. The experience is that similar, down to the square plastic wall charger with a removable plug tip. Take the Asus Zenbook out of its foam-lined jewel-box packaging, and you might think you'd accidentally bought a MacBook Air. If your idea of an Ultrabook is a Windows version of a MacBook Air with a slightly lower price, then consider the Zenbook your product: just be forewarned that the keyboard, touch pad, and battery life are less impressive than the audio/visual bells and whistles. If I were buying a Zenbook, I'd stick with our $1,099 review model and live with the limitations, glad that I had a MacBook Air-alike that saved me a few dollars along the way. The 13-inch Zenbook UX31 gets more expensive in 256GB SSD and Core i7 configurations, climbing up to $1,449 at its highest price. Those are somewhat minor issues for what's otherwise a very solid and impressive thin laptop, but at a price north of $1,000, these are issues anyone would pay attention to.

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