@Michael C
Or perhaps they are riding the wave of interest in the 11.6 inch form factor which the previously rumoured Mini Air (TM, give El Jobbie my contact details if he wants to use that name... y'all heard it here first, folks!) was introducing to the fruity fastboot funtoy? However, the Mini Air still wouldn't be covered here as none are out being reviewed yet, from what I can see out there on the net.
I've been a big fan of this size of machine for work travel, getting the original subnotebook when it came out, the 10.6 inch Vaio TR, and wishing that Sony would come up with a replacement for the TT what was discontinued but a year ago to make way for the stupidly overpriced, underpowered X series. That having been said, I like the look of the carbon fibered goodness (keep your dumb alumnium block!) of the Z series in the 13.1 inch form factor as it is stupidly overspecced, with a stupid price as well, but what a machine! Steered clear of netbooks for that very reason as the performance compromises were just not needed, and with old machine relegated to a secondary purpose, it filled that "don't care so chuck it into the bag willy nilly" niche that netbooks were meant to fill, but with a lot more functionality and, importantly, with a decent screen.
Unfortunately, none of the machines on this list float my boat...