I rely on it heavily for window management and navigation, and the Linux community is sorely lacking in this department atm.
easystroke-mt - Use mouse and screen multitouch gestures to initiate commands and hotkeys.
touchegg - Multitouch gesture recognizer
Obviously I can't tell how well those work and whether there are better projects...
It could use a magsafe-like power connector, though.
1. Ubuntu does not remember screen brightness after reboot.
2. Getting Flash properly installed so I could watch Amazon Instant Video was a struggle. Netflix over Wine works like a charm if not ideal (it's broken for me a couple of times but it's working again now) and HBO GO works even better.
3. Firefox does not seem to support high DPI screens for Linux yet. So you either have to zoom on each page or use an add-on such as NoSquint.
4. The SSD is apparently too fast for lightdm, the logon software, to handle. I had to change the default logon software to gdm.
5. Frequently, the feature which saves Facebook/Google/Twitter login info for desktop apps would forget my password and generate blank popups and error reports.
6. Random error popups every once and a while.
All of the above are minor gripes considering I am not paying anything for this software. Overall, I am very happy with the entire stack from Ubuntu to the Linux kernel. I choose to do most of my home desktop activities on Ubuntu when possible. I keep my Windows desktop around to run iTunes and that's about it. I like the Ubuntu/Linux experience but the above problems prevent me from recommending it to my family.
Issues with ZenBook Prime:
1. Touchpad is not great.
2. I have hardware problems with the keyboard and the power and I've had to send it back to ASUS for repair. Seems to be working fine now.
The zenbook looks like a competitor, but I'd need to be sure that it's built as solidly as the MBA. The MBA is even thinner and for about the same price you get hardware that is incredibly well designed and manufactured.
For me, I've learned the hard way that going by raw specs alone is a poor way to judge a laptop (desktops are another beast) -- it's the build quality and the little things that make or break the pleasantness of the experience.
ASUS and other manufacturers should be out with their Haswell refreshes soon enough. Then you can make a more meaningful comparison.
The previous generation Macbook Air (Ivy Bride) still gets more at 7 hours anyway.
Coming from a 12" ThinkPad with 1024x768 screen, the 1080p sold me on the ASUS. I'm sure the MBA will get "Retina" display screens soon though.
I spent years using Linux on the desktop. I wrote software for it, was active in the community, and was an active core contributor to well-known distribution. I love Linux desktops.
Yet I stopped using them when I got my Macbook Air (before you flame me for using that machine, Linus himself uses one [0]). It's an absolutely phenomenal machine for my use.
Sadly, however, running Linux on it is a majorly sub-par experience. Touchpad drivers are awful (as is software which can support it), battery life is abysmal, and overall it's a pain in the ass. This is coming from someone who happily spent days configuring Gentoo and Exherbo[1] on his desktop just for fun.
True, I could invest in a laptop which is known to play nice with Linux, but frankly, there exists no machine on the market today which can compete with the Macbook Air for my use (ultra-portability, durability, extreme battery life, great screen and solid performance).
In short, I "succumb" because the portable hardware is the best. Plain and simple.
[0] http://www.cultofmac.com/162823/linux-creator-linus-torvalds... [1] http://www.exherbo.org/