Now lots of ultrabooks are very thin and light, use SSD and have 7+ hours battery life. They also start instantly from sleep.
So does it still makes sense to buy a Macbook Air?
Ultrabooks offer same features as MBA and slightly cheaper than Apple's.
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Ultrabooks came about because of the Macbook Air. They are the response of other companies.
You will always pay more for an Apple equivalent. If you wanted a Windows computer (or Linux) then an Ultrabook would be the choice. If you'd like to try Apple's MacOS X then try out the MB Air. You also get some great software included with all Apple Mac's such as the iLife 11 suite.
Note all laptops start instantly from sleep. So do desktops for that matter.
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When comparing like with like, the Apple premium is not as high as some people imagine.
This £840 Asus is an Air clone, although it's probably plastic, might be slightly chunkier and probably doesn't have the oh-so-important backlit keyboard.
A 128GB SSD Air is £999.
www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Asus_ZenBook_UX21E_Ultrabook_1129138.html
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>> This £840 Asus is an Air clone, although it's probably plastic,
Its spun aluminium.
>> might be slightly chunkier
Its not
>> and probably doesn't have the oh-so-important backlit keyboard.
It doesent.
I have had my hands on one, it is utterly gorgeous, and out apples apple.
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...and probably doesn't have the oh-so-important backlit keyboard...It doesent...
Pah, that's worth the extra £160 on its own.
Then there's the Apple OS which is worth at least twice that.
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>>
>> >> This £840 Asus is an Air clone, although it's probably plastic,
>>
>> Its spun aluminium.
>>
>> >> might be slightly chunkier
>>
>> Its not
>>
>> >> and probably doesn't have the oh-so-important backlit keyboard.
>>
>> It doesent.
>>
>>
>> I have had my hands on one, it is utterly gorgeous, and out apples apple.
But I have just had an opportunity to purchase a barely used two month old Macbook air (11.7" 128gb model) for just over 1/2 price. So I have. Cant detach the iTunes account from it tho so I will have to reload the OS
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>> Now lots of ultrabooks are very thin and light, use SSD and have 7+ hours
>> battery life. They also start instantly from sleep.
"Ultrabook" is Intel market speak. It means nothing, rather like "instant on" is a lie. Its just another netbook. like the MBA is just another netbook, its never made sense to lashout that amount of money on a MBA, unless of course you have the money and you like the look and feel of it and prefer apples OS.
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>> you like the look and feel of it and prefer apples OS.
This two points are key. I prefer MacOS X but many will much prefer Windows.
I have the money to buy a MacBook Air (or Pro.... and there's rumours of a 15" MB Air)... but I cannot justify it. It would be more of a case want than need.
I can't believe Intel is saying Ultrabooks have instants on (from sleep) and imply nothing else does. Windows XP on a desktop has instant on from a sleep state.
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My Dell has a backlit keyboard ...
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One reason I resisted buying an MBA so far is because I can't run my Windows applications* on it. That's why Ultrabooks offer the convenience (light weight + battery life) of MBA in Windows world.
What surprised me though, is the price of ultrabooks - they are almost as expensive as MBAs.
* = I am aware of Bootcamp but now I don't have the time to experiment with different things.
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I can't see the point of putting Windows on a Mac when it's possible to get machines which have most of the other features of 'Macness'.
That Asus is a good example, just a shame about the keyboard. :)
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>> But its a dell.
>>
My experience with Dell has been generally positive.
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>>
>> >> But its a dell.
>> >>
>>
>> My experience with Dell has been generally positive.
>>
>>
So have mine, positively awful.
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Movilogo, if you'd like to run MacOS X for most things but still need access to some Windows applications for which there are no Mac equivalents then check out VMware Fusion. You install a copy of Windows to run in a virtual machine inside MacOS X. But you then have the option to run it in Unity mode with the Windows desktop hidden and the Windows application windows appearing on the Mac desktop.
You can cut/paste and drag and drop etc. You can even place Windows application icons on the mac dock.
But you'd want a Mac with a decent amount of memory.
www.vmware.com/products/fusion/features.html
Easier than dual booting MacOSX and Windows. I use it for work mainly. Don't expect to run Windows games in it - it will work but slowly.
Edit: VMWARE Fusion 4 is currently only $49.99. Less than £40 when price is converted.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 20 Dec 11 at 14:02
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Well I've just put my money where my mouth is and ordered a Macbook Air 13" with 1.8GHz i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.
I got a discount for ordering online, but with the Microsoft Office Professional, the VGA connector and a silicone keyboard cover (killed a Dell Latitude with a glass of mineral water) it was not cheap.
I'm on business next week so hopefully it'll be here at the weekend for me to play with. It'll be my work computer and my personal computer combined, so It'll be interesting to see how this works in real life. I was a bit concerned about the screen size, but I worked extensively with the Latitude before I killed it, and that had a 12.5" screen. Important for me is small size (up to a point) and weight.
I mentioned in the thread where I asked for help that I can offset the purchase price against income tax which just about made the manmaths work sufficiently so that the financial controller (the one at home) authorised the purchase.
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Welcome to the macbook Air club
Still getting to grips with mine.
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Ultrabook vs Macbook - rtj70
