Carbon-fiber fetishists, Inhon's got an ultrabook for you
Taiwanese newcomer to the laptop scene Inhon debuts with an impressive ultrabook made of carbon fiber that bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain Apple laptop.
LAS VEGAS--There's not much that we know about new Taiwanese laptop maker Inhon, but what we do know should get those who crave a lightweight carbon-fiber ultrabook reaching for their wallets.
The company debuted its first laptops, the InBook 11.6 and InBook 13.3, at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show today. Both are carbon-fiber deals that look like MacBook Airs stuck too long in the dryer. The keyboard layout is nearly identical to the Air's, the back of the lid has an empty black circle where the Apple logo is, and even the feet on the underside are in the same place as on the Air.
As you can see in the First Look video above, the 11.6 is light enough to comfortably toss in the air.
It's got some other similarities to Apple's best-selling ultrathin laptop, most notably its lack of heft and ports. The 11.6 weighs in at 0.9 kg (1.98 pounds), it's got two USB ports, a SIM card slot, an HDMI-out, a power jack fitted with a magnetic connector, and it will run Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 chips, depending on which model you get. The internal hard drive is an SSD, scalable up to 256 GB, and it will run Windows 7. We don't have details on the 13.3 at this time, although specs ought to be similar.
Until now, Inhon had been making only handheld device covers made of carbon fiber and plastic.
No retail price has been announced, although it wouldn't surprise me to see it priced competitively in the $500 to $800 range. It's also unknown which markets the laptop will ship to. Inhon has said that the laptop is due to ship in March 2012.