I went from 2011 MBA 11 inch to a 13inch Zenbook and...
BOY DID I REGRET THAT
The build quality of this thing is sooo lousy, I can hardly believe it. I'm currently trying to sell it at a huge loss. To no avail so far...
Stick with MBAs for the love of god.
Personally, I think you'd be crazy to get anything but another MBA 11" (it's what I own currently), but I do have a friend that isn't an Apple person and I looked at all the Wintel options at the time and convinced him to buy one of the tiny Sony computers (VAIO T I think it was). That laptop was tiny and every time he brought it with him on holidays I was so envious (I'd pull out my work IBM ThinkPad) - his Sony was so small and so portable, very lightweight, but of good quality. He bought an extended battery (which actually elevated it in the back and made typing even nicer than it being flat) and that thing would run for hours and hours on a single charge. Recently, I looked at them again, they are nice, but wow depending on the model and options you choose, they can be expensive. Still, if you're going to go Wintel, from the experience of my friend, the Sony is a very nice system, and has lots and lots of options. He just replaced that old machine and went for a Toshiba, but I don't think it's nearly as nice as the Sony, and I don't think he likes it nearly as much as the Sony (he's actually talking about trying an MBP!). Good luck in your search!
Surface Pro is a good option because battery life is similar and it has similar specs. Don't know why it's less of a machine.
I'm in the same boat as the OP, currently have a 2012 i7/8GB and love it. The MBA is just the most complete package out of all the ultraportables and its tough to find others that stack up. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new MBA brings at WWDC.
That said, the closest competitors to the 11" MBA (IMO) are:
Disclaimer: Ignoring OS differences, and placing higher value on DisplayPort for high resolution desktop monitor usage.
Surface Pro - very different, but has close to equivalent computing power. No 8GB RAM option, slightly smaller screen (but higher resolution). Does have some narrow usage scenario pros (tablet use, stylus).
Toshiba Kirabook - screen on par with rMBP 13" but bigger form factor, decent looks. No DisplayPort, new product so I'd be hesitant to try it out.
Asus UX21A Prime - Good aesthetics, no 8GB RAM option, no DisplayPort. 1080p. Has been around for a few iterations so should have some polish to it.
Dell XPS 13 - Seems to be best of the bunch. 13" screen in form factor slightly larger than 11" MBA, has equivalent processor options and 8GB RAM, DisplayPort, 1080p, good aesthetics.
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To the OP: the XPS 13 has matured into what appears to be the most complete competitor to the MBA, and with Windows 8.1 + Haswell it will be very good. It still remains to be seen what 10.9 and the 2013 MBA will bring, but the OS-agnostic user searching for a new computer has 2 very good options to choose from.
Ipad with keyboard cover. It's the only real alternative. Most of the 'high' end ultra books are expensive, flakey, stuck with windows 8, and knock offs of the Air!
To tell the truth it still works fine, I had saved the money for something else that is not going to happen and the next thing in my list was upgrading it. It is my main workstation and I will enjoy the performance update for sure. Also, the 64Gb hard drive has become a hard limitation. If I upgrade, I will get the top option this time.Unless to need to save money, I do not see the need to look elsewhere given your requirements. Out of curiosity, is your current 11" faulty? We have one from launch and it is still a very capable machine for what it is, as they were never intended as power machines.
I have tried it, but the constraints of iOS (no real multi-tasking, lack of direct hdd access, extremely closed OS, etc) and the limited software offering made everything more cumbersome and time-intensive.
Do you use that combo or know of anyone who does? If so, I would love to read about the experience. So far, I have learnt that my ageing 11" Air is better than the iPad 3 + keyboard.
Some new alternatives : Acer Aspire S7 with Haswell, Asus Zenbook Infinity, Dell XPS 11. It is pretty clear competition have caught up in terms of hardware.
Apple better have something good up their sleeves on WWDC 2013.
So I like everything about the 11in MacBook Air and I will most probably renew mine with the upcoming June 10 update.
However, just for the sake of being thorough and not buying only based on past experience, what would be some alternatives at the moment? I am most interested in small form-factor and most importantly smallest possible weight and longest battery-life.
Ultrabooks are for people who are on a budget constraint, or already heavily invested in Windows.
Let me bring you up to speed.
Let me bring you up to speed. It's not just the hardware.
To repeat what I said above, perhaps in a few hours Apple can show us if they are able to compete?
If you want an ultrabook that runs OSX, there are only 2 alternatives, MBA11 and MBA13.
Looking at Windows based ultrabooks is not being thorough.
OSX is magnificent and I prefer it to Windows, but Windows is a good and perfectly useful OS too. I am more interested in responsiveness, portability (mostly lightness) and battery life.
With the new update promising 9h battery life, I'm sold as long as the weight stays the same.
All of those PCs were more expensive than a Macbook Air with similar specs and some were more expensive than a Macbook Air with superior specs.Let me bring you up to speed. These are what I would call high-end Ultrabooks that are the best you can probably buy:
Sony Pro 11 & 13
http://store.sony.com/c/Pro-Series-Notebooks/en/c/S_PRO_SERIES_PAGE
Samsung Series 9
http://www.samsung.com/us/topic/pushing-the-envelope
ThinkPad X1 Carbon
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon/
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/x-series/x1-carbon-touch/
There's dozens more coming. This is out later in the year:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/asus-zenbook-infinity-gorilla-glass-3/
You can buy most of the above for less than the current MacBook Air range and every single one of them is far more advanced than the current MacBook Air models.
Perhaps in a few hours Apple can show us if they are able to compete?