Soon the ultra-thin Apple‘s MacBook Air may have to face some stiff competition with the new Ultrabooks from Asus, or maybe not.

Due any day from now, Asustek, the maker of Asus computers, will reportedly launch half a dozen of the new super-thin and powerful personal computers, which Intel, the promoter behind the Ultrabooks, hopes will account for 40 prevent of new PC sales in 2012.

Both DigiTimes and The Financial Times reported that Asus is now near the official release of the UX21 Ultrabook that was first seen at Computex in Taipei, and another five additional models that will range from 11.6-inch to 13.3-inch screen size.

Asus will retail their super-thin notebooks cheaper than Apple’s MacBook Air. The prices will apparently be ranging from $799 to $1999.

The UX21 seen at Computex had very similar specs to Apple’s Air. The Asus laptop will have a Sandy Bridge processor or maybe even the 2012′s Ivy Bridge, a Solid State Drive, glass trackpad and metal keyboard. The machine looks really good but it looks like a MacBook Air copycat.

There’s just one thing that can stop Asus new Ultrabooks from being a real competitor to Apple’s MacBook Air: Apple’s lawyers.

On June 27th Apple was granted, by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the patent for the MacBook Air design.

If Apple has sued Samsung for slavishly copying the iPad, just look at the pictures of the UX21 and tell me what you think.