Does the Macbook Air have a legitimate competitor?**UPDATE** Bought MBA

[alfa147x]

Congrats!

 

[Pliablemoose]

I had my first gen MBA 11" for ~5 months before the fan came on for the first time, I thought the speaker was broken or there was bad audio n the NetFlix movie I was watching, LOL..

 

[TheStu]

I had my first gen MBA 11" for ~5 months before the fan came on for the first time, I thought the speaker was broken or there was bad audio n the NetFlix movie I was watching, LOL..

Wait, this thing has a fan? Dang. I almost never notice it, even when watching hd flash video.

 

[Kadarin]

Congrats on the purchase, enjoy!

I'm considering a maxed out 11", but just can't justify it since I already have a 15" MBP that work gave me.

 

[Pia]

I love my 2010 13" MBA - screen, weight, runtime, SSD snappiness. Would prefer 12" form factor at same resolution but that's about it. I don't even care about "just" having Core 2. I'll have this machine probably for two more years and sell it before Applecare runs out.

11" is cute but would pretty much force me into external screen and peripherals. 13" feels enough when it's sitting on a desk, and with no cables it's just grab and go. With that and the superior battery life, I feel the 13" has better mobility. If I was rolling in cash, I would consider the 11" and Thunderbolt display combo. But the display would have to have a second input. I don't want separate displays for desktop and laptop.

In lieu of a high battery life 11" and a TB display with multiple inputs, I think if I eventually "must" have a more compact device for auditorium/train/bus use, it will be a tablet or a mobile phone.

 

[nitsuj3580]

Looks like a competitor is finally coming out. The Asus Zenbook.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/10/first-ultrabook-to-market-meet-the-asus-zenbook.ars

 

[Ns1]

Looks like a competitor is finally coming out. The Asus Zenbook.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/10/first-ultrabook-to-market-meet-the-asus-zenbook.ars

...at practically the same price

yep, all macs are overpriced

:whiste:

 

[Kaido]

I had my first gen MBA 11" for ~5 months before the fan came on for the first time, I thought the speaker was broken or there was bad audio n the NetFlix movie I was watching, LOL..

Of course it comes on while watching Flash, haha

 

[alent1234]

netlfix is not flash

 

[runawayprisoner]

I had my first gen MBA 11" for ~5 months before the fan came on for the first time, I thought the speaker was broken or there was bad audio n the NetFlix movie I was watching, LOL..

Netflix uses Silverlight, which still doesn't support hardware acceleration for h.264 decoding. It's a good generation behind Flash in that regard. Now hopefully Silverlight 5 will remedy that... Silverlight on Mac sucks so much more battery than Flash. But to be fair, Silverlight on Windows also sucks battery equally bad.

On the other hand, you can completely eliminate fan noise using Coolbook. Provided you're not in Lion land, that is.

 

[alent1234]

Looks like a competitor is finally coming out. The Asus Zenbook.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/10/first-ultrabook-to-market-meet-the-asus-zenbook.ars

no backlit keyboard, major FAIL

at the same price point for similar features i'm going apple just because if i need support i'd rather go to the apple store than spend hours on the phone

 

[vi edit]

Looks like a competitor is finally coming out. The Asus Zenbook.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/10/first-ultrabook-to-market-meet-the-asus-zenbook.ars

Not an exceptionally flattering review. I bought the "new" MBA over the old one for the backlit keys. The Zen doesn't have it. The trackpad on the Mac is also unmatched as of yet.

 

[mountains]

Not an exceptionally flattering review. I bought the "new" MBA over the old one for the backlit keys. The Zen doesn't have it. The trackpad on the Mac is also unmatched as of yet.

I know I shouldn't base my purchases on this, but I have a hard time using a non-Apple laptop after being spoiled by my MBP's trackpad and swipe gestures.

 

[TheStu]

...at practically the same price

yep, all macs are overpriced

:whiste:

Blah Blah Blah, rabble rabble, Apple Tax

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I know I shouldn't base my purchases on this, but I have a hard time using a non-Apple laptop after being spoiled by my MBP's trackpad and swipe gestures.

Me too. Moreover, even if you prefer Windows, I like the ability to run OSX (which I prefer anyway).

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Haha I actually read your thread a little while back, it's good stuff. The MBAs sure are enticing though which is probably why I got the MBA in the first place when I was waiting for the refreshed MBPs.


Yeah the MBAs sure are sweet, especially the new ones. I'm jealous! If I did get a 13" MBP, I do have a Seagate Momentus xT 500gb that I could use to make it somewhat comparable speed wise.

Yeah, I have that drive in my MBP. It's nowhere near as quick as a real SSD but it is still a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[TheStu]

I know I shouldn't base my purchases on this, but I have a hard time using a non-Apple laptop after being spoiled by my MBP's trackpad and swipe gestures.

If you aren't basing your purchases on how much you like to use the system, then what would you base it on? I would much rather pay $1000 on a system that I will love almost every aspect of then $600 on a system that is subpar in every aspect except CPU speed.

 

[Red Storm]

The only thing my MBP doesn't do for me is play less popular games that don't have a Mac port (My most played games are TF2, EVE and Starcraft 2), which isn't that big of a deal as I didn't buy it to be a gaming machine anyhow. The Macbook's trackpad is unmatched, I have yet to see any other laptop come close. Also, I enjoy not having to deal with Windows on my mobile devices (Android phone, OSX laptop).

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

The only thing my MBP doesn't do for me is play less popular games that don't have a Mac port (My most played games are TF2, EVE and Starcraft 2), which isn't that big of a deal as I didn't buy it to be a gaming machine anyhow. The Macbook's trackpad is unmatched, I have yet to see any other laptop come close. Also, I enjoy not having to deal with Windows on my mobile devices (Android phone, OSX laptop).

Obviously if this were something you really cared about you could install the Windows OS of your choice as well. I have Windows 7 Ultimate installed on my MBP because my work occasionally requires me to use Windows apps.

 

[Red Storm]

Obviously if this were something you really cared about you could install the Windows OS of your choice as well. I have Windows 7 Ultimate installed on my MBP because my work occasionally requires me to use Windows apps.

I currently have Windows, Solaris, and Ubuntu all running virtually on my MBP. It's pretty neat being able to four finger swipe from one OS to the other. :awe:

But for basic web browsing, word processing, and media consumption, anything other than windows is preferable to me, which is one of the reasons why I went with a MBP.

 

[Bateluer]

I bought an 11in MBA last month myself, its a nice little machine. The PC competitors are coming, but not quite on the market in that price range yet.