Expect MacBook Air clones from Acer and Asus early next year. Lenovo too.

On past form, we can't see it, and we suspect that while the rumoured "ultra-thin" 13.3in and 14in notebooks from these suppliers will be skinny, their need to build in as many ports as possible, plus removable batteries and hard drives rather than SSDs will mean their offerings challenge the Air neither on thinness nor looks.

But they'll surely try to, as they have in the past, so the insider claims cited by DigiTimes aren't entirely surprising.

There's no word on specs other than the use of Intel's 'Sandy Bridge' next-gen 32nm processors. The Air alternatives will be out by the end of Q1, the moles claimed. ®