Back in May, when we first got hands-on with ASUS' UX21 and UX31 laptops, it was to be one of our first encounters with the kind of ultrathin PC that Intel's now marketing as Ultrabooks. Since then, a lot's happened -- we've seen a handful of similarly skinny notebooks, with Acer's Aspire S3 beating them all to market. Now, more or less on schedule, ASUS is ready to follow suit. The company just announced that its line of Ultrabooks -- make that Zenbooks! -- will go on sale in the US tomorrow, October 12, starting at $999 for the 11.6-inch UX21 and $1,099 for the 13.3-inch UX31. That's a hundred bucks more than the S3, but then again, that guy has an HDD combined with a small amount of flash storage.

If you'll recall, they weigh in at 2.4 pounds and 2.9 pounds, respectively, and thanks to those aluminum alloy bodies, glass trackpads and all-metal keyboards, they just happen to be two of the finest-looking Ultrabooks we've seen to date. Other specs include 4GB of RAM, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0, a SATA III SSD (starting at 128GB), stereo speakers with Bang and Olufsen's ICEpower technology, ultra low voltage Core i5 and i7 processors and a two-second resume time -- the same claim Acer's making with its Aspire S3. While the 11-incher has 1366 x 768 resolution, the 13-inch model steps up to 1600 x 900. And when it comes to battery life, the UX21's rated for five hours of runtime (or seven days), while the UX31 lasts a longer seven hours (or ten days) on a charge. Oh, and they come with a free sleeve. Not too shabby.

All told, there will be two UX21 configurations and three UX31 models, with the highest-end UX31 fetching $1,449 and packing 256GB of solid-state storage. You heard the company -- these are landing tomorrow -- but until then feel free to revisit our hands-on for your requisite close-up shots and video.

If your laptop spends more time spinning Netflix hits from yesteryear than yomping around campus, you'll probably love these new offerings from ASUS. It's launching the 15.6-inch N55SF and 17.3-inch N75SF laptops -- depending on budget, you can select an Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 chip and a variety of displays that go up to 1920 x 1080 on the high-end units. Each model gets a HD webcam, instant-on (which picks up where you left off in under two seconds) and USB Charger+, a USB port powered directly from the battery for hasty, direct charging. The company is pushing these as multimedia machines, bundling in Bang & Olufsen's ICEpower tech and a standalone SonicMaster subwoofer as standard -- the latter isn't recommended for those frequenting the library, of course. 15-inchers will arrive later this month, with pricing to start at around €1,100 / $1,500; meanwhile, the larger ones will arrive in early October and begin closer to €1,350 / $1,800. Oh, and we've got some press shots to whet your appetite. They're below.

Remember this classic from way back at CES in January? We had such high hopes for the ASUS NX90 Jq. The 18.4-inch multimedia laptop boasts dual large touchpads and was designed by Bang & Olufsen's chief designer... and that shows. This beauty also has (in case you forgot) B&O ICEpower speakers, a Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 334M graphics, and can house up to 1280GB of storage. Now, we knew this thing wasn't going to be cheap from the first time we touched it -- $2,500. However, we didn't really expect to have to wait quite so long for it to hit retail. Well, if you don't mind purchasing things on the "internet," it looks like you can actually get one at a few retailers now for about that $2,500 price. Hit up the source link if you're ready to put down some cash or if you just like to window shop.

It's CeBIT time again kids; a chance for the world's vendors to show off much of what was already unveiled at CES in Las Vegas to Europeans for the first time publicly (what, the internet's not good enough?). Just announced in Germany is a trio of N-series laptops -- N43, N63 and N73 pictured above -- with USB 3.0, Intel Core processors, and Bang & Olufsen ICEpower audio that seems to contradict itself by offering affordable, yet "unflinching" audio quality. ASUS also unveiled its VG236H and PG276H Full HD 3D displays to augment its 3D laptops. No details were provided but we'll guess that we're looking at roughly 24-inch and 27-inch displays based on those model numbers. No pics of the displays but we've got a backside shot of the N63 after the break.