Will HP, Dell, Sony answer 11-inch MacBook Air? | Nanotech

After new arrival 11 inch macbook air,Will HP, Dell, Sony answer 11-inch MacBook Air? Neither Dell nor Hewlett-Packard nor Sony have laptops that compete directly with the 2.3-pound, 11.6-inch MacBook Air. Is this a new market segment that those three laptop leaders and others will have to address?Sony has the Vaio Y series, but that hardly compares with the 11.6-inch MacBook Air.Sony has the Vaio Y series, but that hardly compares to the 11.6-inch MacBook Air.(Credit: Sony)Apple has a knack for creating new markets, the iPad being the most recent example. Though not as groundbreaking or broadly market-defining as the iPad, the smaller Air is clearly unique: wrapped in aluminum, while considerably lighter than a typical 3-pound 11.6-inch laptop. And it packs higher-end silicon--and better performance--than Netbooks. (I spent some time in three different Apple Stores in the Los Angeles area right after the new Airs were announced, and from what I saw, the 11.6-inch MBA elicited the most oohs and aahs--hands down.)I would submit that the Air has wedged itself (pun intended) into an elite sub-2.5-pound laptop segment where little direct competition currently exists. There are hordes of 10-inch class Netbooks out there. But, again, a $350 Windows 7-based Netbook is a very different class of laptop. Then there are products like Dell's 11.6-inch Inspiron M101z. But that is a low-end plastic Netbook-class product.2010 MacBook Air2010 MacBook Air(Credit: Apple)Lenovo--though not listed up top--warrants an honorable mention with its IdeaPad U160 11.6-inch laptop, which has the screen measurements to match the 11.6-inch Air but is about a pound heavier and for all intents and purposes is a fairly conventional Intel Core i series-based laptop that's been squeezed into a tight form factor. And Acer has the 11.6-inch TimeLineX series, but this is three pounds and really not in the same class as the Air.