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Lenovo and Fujitsu Siemens have already placed orders for the same 65nm Core 2 Duo processor used in the MacBook Air, according to reports, with other manufacturers sure to follow suit.

It means we could see a slew of MacBook Air-alikes arriving on the market shortly, with PC manufacturers likely to undercut the price

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of the £1,199 Apple machine - not least because of the success of Asus's low-budget ultraportable, the Eee PC.

The new chip is based on Intel's Merom processor, but is 60% smaller and cooler, allowing manufacturers to shrink the size of notebooks.

However, the processor only accounts for a fraction of the MacBook Air's space savings: the lack of external ports and optical drive contribute greatly to its ultraslim dimensions.

The good news is other manufacturers aren't sacrificing as many features from their latest ultraportables. PC Pro is currently testing a notebook from a major manufacturer that is only a few millimetres thicker that the Air, but sports an optical drive and a handful more ports.

We'll be bringing you a full review on this website before the end of the month.