Though owning a tablet has been the hottest trend among tech geeks in the last one year, yet this has not stopped notebooks from making a splash.

Not long after Apple had introduced the MacBook Air into the market, Ultrabooks ushered aggressively into the scene as well.

Intel's ambitious strategy in developing fully functional razor-thin laptops at affordable prices may well pay off, with many hardware partners championing those efforts.

As of now, technology giants such as Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba and Acer have brought forth a wave of Ultrabooks into the market this year, leaving Dell and HP far behind with their heavy duty laptops.

As a potential challenger to the high and mighty MacBook Air, this entirely new category of lightweight laptops might well be the future of tomorrow (as Intel pushes it). But the question is if Ultrabooks stands a chance to replace Apple's MacBook Air as the current King of ultrathin laptops.

Let's find out starting with the MacBook Air.

Although the price tag is a turn off for a lot of customers, there are enough reasons to give the svelte MacBook Air worth a second look. The device wins hands down for graphic performance and runs on a low-voltage version of Intel's Core i5. In addition, the MacBook Air features the new OS X Lion, which is often touted by Apple as the the world's most advanced desktop operating system.

With too many Ultrabooks hitting the shelves this year, it's tough to single out the frontrunner. But take note of the latest to enter the Ultabook department these past months: Acer Aspire S3, Asus Zenbook UX31-RSL8, Toshiba Portege Z835-P330, and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s.

Check out the comparison chart below which covers the most essential specs that show how all five stack up against each other. All systems have some aspects in common though: They all run on Intel HD 3000 graphics and claim to give around 7 hours or so of battery life.

Dell HP Macbook Dell