You want an XPS 13 then.

I just used mine on a Ryanair flight a few days ago, cramped in the middle seat for 3 hours. The XPS 13 fit perfectly on the very small folding table, the top of the screen just sticking under the bottom of the pocket-thing that is always full of useless flyers.

I believe it has the same footprint as a MBA 11. And of course, I'm running Linux on it :)

XPS 13 is amazing and with Linux support it is fine, but that keyboard though. You need to test it to see if it fits for you.

I use a Thinkpad X230 - it has a 12.5" display with 8 or 16GB RAM. The latest model appears to be X270 -- same size display.

http://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/Thi...

X1 Carbon series works great with Linux. Its a little bigger than 11", but still very light and slim and a nice display. I use a Gen 1 (2012) with 8GB ram. Installed originally Ubuntu 12.04, upgraded to 14.04 and 16.04. All worked great. I presently run Arch on it which was also easy to install and works great.

You just trampled over "doesn't sacrifice performance for thinness". And using on my lap in a plane or whatever, like maybe I would when laying on my couch, was never even considered. Are you sure it's a practical measure to judge by a product and isn't just an Apple-tailored one?

No I didn't, I'm saying that if a laptop doesn't have an acceptable form factor, its performance (or even existence) doesn't matter. I'm also saying that models in the T series do not offer form factors suitable for everyone, contrary to the GP's claim, and offering the Macbook Air 11" as an example of the kind of form factor not offered.

My wife has an X240, something in that series is equivalent to the Air. To be honest I would just go for the Apple, we have had quite a few problems with the Lenovo.

What problems? I have the same computer and love it.

The worst one is if I pick it up by the left side it crashes.

Ack. That's roughly where the CPU is, I wonder if some of the solder balls are cracking and it needs a reflow. I've never had to deal with Lenovo service, but it might be worth contacting them -- that is definitely a hardware issue.

Looking around the internet it seems a common problem with that model, we just pick it up by the right side.

Maybe x260?