Computers

Apple may be aiming at metalheads with its thin MacBook Air, but Asus is chasing the leather crowd. Asus' ultralight laptop, the U2E, has black pebbled leather on the top and the palm rest. The refined look is meant to evoke the days when travelers wouldn't leave home without their leather valises and trunks.

The U2E is lighter than the Air, about 2.7 pounds versus three, in part because of its smaller screen, about 11 inches versus 13, and a tighter keyboard. The sides aren't tapered to an edge like those on the Air, because the U2E comes with all of the standard connectors and a DVD-R drive.

The U2E costs $1,999 now, but in a few weeks a version with a 32-gigabyte flash drive will go on sale. At $2,699, that will be more expensive, but also 0.66 pound lighter because it sheds the heavy metal of the hard disk drive.