The much anticipated UX31A and UX32VD Ultrabooks from Asus are finally available from Amazon US and . The UX31A, which starts at a very reasonable price, is being marketed by Asus as the ‘Zenbook Prime’ which we’ve been hearing about over the last few months. According to Asus, a Zenbook achieves the ‘Prime’ denotation as long as it has the 1080p IPS display, SSD, and a backlit keyboard. The UX32VD is thus being marketed simply as a Zenbook because it lacks the SSD.

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Update: Session is over. Videos of the session are available here.

Link to Live Video and Chat: Ultrabooknews.com/live

Tonight: Acer S3 (Core i5), Asus UX31 (Core i7), Toshiba Z830 (Core i7)

Join for Chat, Video and some fun. Bring your favourite tipple because it’s the last live session of the year.

Start: 2100 CET (Berlin – Your Timezone listed here) Duration: 2.5hrs. Agenda below.

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The Lenovo Ideapad U300s matches the ASUS UX31 almost spec-for-spec and both appear to be ready to go. Pre-order pages are up (see our information page for the Amazon affiliate links that are available) and at least one website has one for testing. The first statement from James Kendrick, the reviewer for ZDNet was that the Lenovo U300s is “already the best Windows laptop I have ever tested.” Let’s hope there’s no showstoppers as the testing progresses.

While the U300s only has a 1366×768 resolution screen against the UX31’s 1600×900 screen, there are other differences deeper in the specifications. Customers are going to have a hard time deciding between the two…

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Amazon are usually a reliable source of true specs and recommended retail price so when new devices go into their system, we take note!

Today we see the ASUS UX21 and two variants of the ASUS UX31 at Amazon Germany now available for pre-order.

The UX21 11.6”, the cheapest of the three models (KX004V) is now available for pre-order for €999 That’s more than we expected. €200 more than we expected. For €999 you’re getting the Core i5 with 128GB of SSD , 4GB of RAM and Windows Home Premium.

The jump to the UX31 will cost you, well, we can’t tell because the pricing is all messed up right now with the Core i7 + 265GB (UX31E-RY010V) costing €999, less than a UX31 with Core i5 and 128GB!

Given the errors we’d say wait for a day or two before they get the information sorted out. Or, get in there and try and order a Core i7 with 256GB for 999!

Update: Amazon.de have removed the Asus Ultrabook products. Maybe we should have kept it quiet!

You can track some German pricing for all the models here. (Geizhals)

ASUS UX21 information page

ASUS UX31 information page

We’ll see these events all over the place over the next few months as all the Ultrabooks filter into the market but given the pricing and specs of the UX21 and UX31, the Asus models could generate the most interest.

Blogeee.net (link below) are highlighting a New York event for the 11th Oct

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Well how about that. Despite all the moaning by OEMs that they can’t reach the target prices, up pop some very interesting prices for the Asus UX21 and UX31.

€799 for an 11.6″ Core i5 laptop in 1kg undercuts every option out there under 1.5kg. Given that Asus is unlikely to be commiting to a huge production run and that the specs and brand will trump Acer’s S3 offering, it could be that availability will be tight.

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Here’s what I hope will be the start of a series of posts on the Asus UX31 Ultrabook from Ritchies Room. Ritchie has some time with th UX31 so if you’ve got questions, head on over and ask.

Of all the Ultrabooks, the UX21 and UX31 have the most striking design and compared to the others it feels a touch more solid all-round. Ritchie praises its rigidity.

The UX31 has a full-size SD (HC or XC?) port and a USB 3.0 port making it useful for photo and video editing in my opinion. The weight, at 1.1kg, is almost too light to believe. Get it on the scales!

Ritchie echoes something I’ve been telling people too.

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Coming in at exactly the expected price-point, Asus’ Ultrabooks, that’s the UX21 and UX31, will launch in October at a US-based event.

This news comes from Digitimes who say that the entry level price will be $899 but the prices will be rising to a lofty $1999. At that price expect the Core i7 and 256GB of SSD storage!

$899 is $100 below the target price given by Intel in previous statements.

The bad news about the price is that $899 is only likely to get you a non-Turbo-Boost Core i3 (given that it has been listed as an option.)  11″ devices based on this platform are already available at 50-60% of the price.

Based on this news, it’s unlikely that we’ll see more than just production samples at IFA this week. We’ll do our best to get some hands-on though so stay tuned.

[Chippy is reporting from IFA this week. You can follow near-live and behind the scenes via Twitter here. Watch out for the Twitter-only mini podcast announcements too.]

Via
http://www.netbooknews.com/33988/asus-ultrabooks-to-launch-in-october/

[ Posted via the Galaxy Tab. Ultra-Mobile at IFA 2011. For more IFA coverage, follow me on Twitter. @Chippy ]