Portability is nice, but unless you are super-rich and really have a need for such a small machine, might as well stick with something cheaper and more powerful
I have to agree with the opinions of everyone else who has posted on this topic that the MacBook Air is not a laptop that the corporate world would deploy in the quantities of hundreds. A Windows machine will by far be easier to distribute to managment and mobile workers which Mac cannot compete against.
On the side note the new Dell XT Tablet is more of a eye catcher than the MacBook Air but that's my perspective:
Portability is nice, but unless you are super-rich and really have a need for such a small machine, might as well stick with something cheaper and more powerful
I don't agree that it's that portable because it looks too fragile to even carry. It's not tough enough to be portable. I have a smaller laptop that's very portable (Dell Latitude X1 12.1" 2.4lbs) and I wouldn't trade it for a Macbook Air.
"The thing with the Mac Air is that they didn’t have room for a replaceable battery or an optical media drive. Or a firewire port. Or an ethernet port. Or more than one USB port. But being that it’s an ultraportable, it’s not the sort of thing that really is supposed to stand alone- it’s a supplementary computer, meant to travel with you and then sync with your home computer. It’s for the type of Apple consumer that doesn’t worry about money- the ultraportable market, really.
The thing is, though, the ultraportable market has just recently been turned completely on it’s head by the Asus Eee PC. For 1/6th of the price of the $1800 Macbook, you can get a tiny Eee PC. It has a small keyboard and a small screen, but thanks to it’s portability and low pricing point, thousands of people are making it their mobile PC. It’s widely considered to be a well-designed little fellow."
I have to agree with the opinions of everyone else who has posted on this topic that the MacBook Air is not a laptop that the corporate world would deploy in the quantities of hundreds. A Windows machine will by far be easier to distribute to managment and mobile workers which Mac cannot compete against.
On the side note the new Dell XT Tablet is more of a eye catcher than the MacBook Air but that's my perspective:
You guys clearly understand nothing about design. DESIGN...The very principle that has propelled Apple to phenomenal success in the consumer electronics field over the past several years. The very principle that has influenced ALL other electronics makers out there. The very principle that has effectively revolutionized the way we interact with our digital world. There's a reason that there have been 4 million iphones sold as of January, yet there's plenty of people on here that dislike iphones too. It's a dream phone, and if you haven't experienced it, your missing out! Sorry for sounding so defensive, but Apple is an innovative and very SMART company unlike a lot of others, which rely more on marketing tricks and consumer stupidity to sell their products.
jaydub: how can you possibly compare asus to apple...asus is bargain quality electronics...you get what you pay for
You guys clearly understand nothing about design. DESIGN...The very principle that has propelled Apple to phenomenal success in the consumer electronics field over the past several years. The very principle that has influenced ALL other electronics makers out there. The very principle that has effectively revolutionized the way we interact with our digital world. There's a reason that there have been 4 million iphones sold as of January, yet there's plenty of people on here that dislike iphones too. It's a dream phone, and if you haven't experienced it, your missing out! Sorry for sounding so defensive, but Apple is an innovative and very SMART company unlike a lot of others, which rely more on marketing tricks and consumer stupidity to sell their products.
jaydub: how can you possibly compare asus to apple...asus is bargain quality electronics...you get what you pay for
Design's important, but it's not the be-all end all. Apple products are successful because of a combination of design, innovation, marketing, exclusivity, timing, and many other factors. Contrary to what you might want to believe, apple's products are not always superior. In fact, most of apple's mobile products have been lacking at least one feature that's widely supported by other so called "bargain" products. Just because a lot of people use a product doesn't testify at all to its actual quality. I'm sure you haven't forgotten the VHS-BetaMax debacle? And for a more recent example, see Windows.
Oh and Asus is a very high quality brand, in case you haven't noticed. Apple products are overpriced, in case you haven't noticed this either.
Apple is NOT overpriced. They serve both the high-end and low-end demographic. I've had my ipod shuffle for over two years, and I can throw it up against the wall and it won't break...not to mention the insane battery life.
Apple spends the LEAST on marketing. The only marketing you've probably seen? PC vs. Mac commercials, which are popular because they are creative and humorous. Their best (and free) marketing ploy? MACWORLD adresses by Steve Jobs himself, which spread by word of mouth because the products they present are SUPERIOR.
im not dissing mac either, i have a macbook and had several ipods, the ipods i did find to be quality objects, albeit they have a few flaws, my macbook, i like it, its good quality albeit compatability issues are a bitch
the macbook air, sure its sleek, fashionable, i like sleek an fashionable, style over function....but that hard drive is less than to be desired, id love a macbook air if someone would give me one but its not something id buy
I never claimed Apple spent lots of money on marketing. I don't know the statistics and I don't care to. I'm saying, their marketing is often underhanded. How many other computer companies put out commercials that say "our competitor's products really suck". I admit, some of the ads are funny, but they give the impression that Apple has to stoop to the level of bashing others to make themselves look good.
The thing I hate most about Apple is their exclusivity and elitism. Mac owners often have the attitude that they are somehow better than people who don't use Macs. People tend to submit to this "Cult of Mac". The Mac is their God and Steve Jobs is their Jesus. They may as well be kneeling in pews at the Apple keynote speeches. Apple revels in this cult atmosphere too. They love it. They charge people an extra $200 to have their macbook coloured black instead of white, and the goddamn mac zombies happily pay it!
It's not Mac vs PC, as if PC's were owned by Microsoft or some company. No. PC's are the regular computer/electronics market. PC's are open to having a hard drive made by one company, a monitor made by a different company, and the keyboard made by yet another.
Finally, you claim their products are "SUPERIOR". I say bullshit. Superior to what? You show me any Apple product, and I could probably put together something with similar or even better specs with a lower price tag.
Repent from the Church of Mac before it's too late!
(Apple does make quality products. I will admit, I have owned a few ipods, and they've never broken. However, I have had to put up with apple's proprietary iTunes ridiculousness. I can't just transfer files over, noooo they have to be renamed to something obscure and converted to some weird format. God/Steve forbid I want to transfer them back to my computer. I'd have to use some "illegal" non-Apple program for that.)
That's all you guys could come up with? Apple is NOT overpriced. They serve both the high-end and low-end demographic. I've had my ipod shuffle for over two years, and I can throw it up against the wall and it won't break...not to mention the insane battery life.
Last time I checked iPods all had shitty battery lives. At least compared to my trusty Sony. Have things changed?
I dunno, depends on your definition of a good battery life. My shuffle lasts twelve hours which I find is pretty decent. My old 4th gen iPod lasted eight hours and now I believe they last up to twenty? But I could be wrong.
I totally agree Mac has this sort of elusive cult aura to them, that they look down on you for not having a mac.
it'd b interesting to see what apple has in their pipeline, hard to imagine they can sustain that level of innovation and continue to pump out revolutionary products like ipods
but on the other hand, thats what they are good at, and i do agree that its a good thing they are comin out with things like the macbook air (despite what i think is a narrow market they are after here)
Apple is NOT overpriced. They serve both the high-end and low-end demographic. I've had my ipod shuffle for over two years, and I can throw it up against the wall and it won't break...not to mention the insane battery life.
Apple spends the LEAST on marketing. The only marketing you've probably seen? PC vs. Mac commercials, which are popular because they are creative and humorous. Their best (and free) marketing ploy? MACWORLD adresses by Steve Jobs himself, which spread by word of mouth because the products they present are SUPERIOR.
Not overpriced? Not overpriced? REALLY?
Three hundred dollars extra is not overpriced? For the price of apple's lowest offering I could get one from Dell that's better than Apple's second lowest offering, this is not overpriced?
Do you want to know why Apple doesn't need to spend much on advertising? It's because fanboys like you spew their bullshit for them.
p.s. In case you haven't noticed, I gave Apple an advantage by using the colour white, instead of black, which would have cost Dell nothing (white costs Dell $25 extra), but would cost Apple $200 more. After you take into account the larger HDD, the black configs sit at $1,131 for Dell and a whopping $1,518 for Apple. $400 difference, that's just about enough to buy one of Dell's lowest offering.
That chart fails to make a decent case against Apple. There are a few things wrong.
1. The screen size is bolded as if 14' is better than 13'. In fact, smaller laptops are generally considered more desirable and are usually more expensive than larger ones, so the macbook wins that round.
2. Mac OSX ships with a lot of extra software that you wouldn't find in Windows. Most of that software is actually useful, unlike MS Works. Who the hell uses MS Works?
3. So Dell ships you a tree, or plants one somewhere, or whatever. The fact that Dell is trying to jump on the environmentalism bandwagon is not relevant to the price of the computer.
Still, there are some serious problems with Apple's pricing. I was in future shop today and walked by two nearly identical macbooks. I fired up "about this mac" on each of them and checked out the specs. It turned out that the newer macbook, with much better specs was $200 cheaper than the other macbook which was one year older. I told one of the salesmen that they must have had their signs switched. The salesman explained to me that the pricing was correct and that the older, crappier mac was indeed $200 more than the newer, better one.
That chart fails to make a decent case against Apple. There are a few things wrong.
1. The screen size is bolded as if 14' is better than 13'. In fact, smaller laptops are generally considered more desirable and are usually more expensive than larger ones, so the macbook wins that round.
2. Mac OSX ships with a lot of extra software that you wouldn't find in Windows. Most of that software is actually useful, unlike MS Works. Who the hell uses MS Works?
3. So Dell ships you a tree, or plants one somewhere, or whatever. The fact that Dell is trying to jump on the environmentalism bandwagon is not relevant to the price of the computer.
Still, there are some serious problems with Apple's pricing. I was in future shop today and walked by two nearly identical macbooks. I fired up "about this mac" on each of them and checked out the specs. It turned out that the newer macbook, with much better specs was $200 cheaper than the other macbook which was one year older. I told one of the salesmen that they must have had their signs switched. The salesman explained to me that the pricing was correct and that the older, crappier mac was indeed $200 more than the newer, better one.
1. That depends on what you use it for, and unless you carry it around all day 14" is indeed better than 13".
2. Like what? And at least you can actually do something with MS Works, as opposed to nothing for Apple. You might also want to keep in mind that you could run not only Windows, but also any one of the hundreds of flavours of Linux, along with the thousands of softwares available to it. And this should also be possible with the new Apples (I never tried), so software really isn't much of an issue (which is why I didn't include OS in the chart).
3. The tree thing was purely a joke, I'm surprised you actually took it seriously. Also if you get rid of the tree, it's another $2 savings for Dell.
So let me grant your first objection, it's really up to personal preference. Still doesn't change the fact that Apple is overpriced.
I never said they weren't overpriced. The Dells are still way cheaper.
I'm running Linux on an HP laptop right now..
As far as I can tell the Mac comes with about the same software as Windows does, just of a higher quality. That and apple's ass isn't being sued off yet.
The MS Works thing wasn't a joke though, it was free from Dell, and it does count for something if you're not willing to spend the money for Office.
It did not come with a word processor that was functional, it came with one that crashed when I would try to make bulleted lists....
So I had to shell out another 200 for MS word since i didnt know anyone who could give me a copy...coulda pirated it if I was on a windows OS easily
Further the built in webcam has no functionality on msn, this is because of microsoft but i mean it defeated the entire purpose of a webcam for me, since I already have a digi cam to take photos...
i regret not getting something like a VAIO for the price i paid for a mac, with the increased harddrive capacity and processor I ended up paying 1500 after tax + 200 for software, my mac is nice but i do wish i had gotten something windows
i use a 13.3 in laptop, i'd trade it in for an 12.1 any day of the week (10.1 sounds nice too, but i havnt played around with them too much so i dont know if i'll like it)
there is no substitute for portability and the functionality of a laptop and i can only imagine this is even more important for business travellers
edit: i used the eee for a bit at work too, but the resolution and the lack of multitasking power turned me away, love the size and weight though
I have a Dell Latitude X1, and in terms of portability, it's an A+. It's durable, it's light at 2.4 lbs, it has a 12.1" screen and it fits in my purse. I find that anything heavier is such a burden and you really notice it. It's also super super quiet.
Sure it's only 1.2 Ghz, 80 GB hard drive and 1.24 Gbs of ram, but it does the job, it never lags, nothing has crashed yet, and it's been in use since 2005. It's still super fast. It doesn't have an optical drive, but more portable ones don't either. And besides the primary OS installation, I don't use it anyways.
I know Macs that have crashed unexplainabley within 6 months of use. Not rigorous use either.
It did not come with a word processor that was functional, it came with one that crashed when I would try to make bulleted lists....
So I had to shell out another 200 for MS word since i didnt know anyone who could give me a copy...coulda pirated it if I was on a windows OS easily
Further the built in webcam has no functionality on msn, this is because of microsoft but i mean it defeated the entire purpose of a webcam for me, since I already have a digi cam to take photos...
i regret not getting something like a VAIO for the price i paid for a mac, with the increased harddrive capacity and processor I ended up paying 1500 after tax + 200 for software, my mac is nice but i do wish i had gotten something windows
pwned! oh and by the way, never get a sony laptop. They are the definition of "ripoff"
Buying a sony laptop is an expensive choice, but it is never a wrong choice.
No, it's never a wrong choice, but buying a Sony anything is always a bad choice because Sony's unethical business practise is far more severe than any other company.
Comments
Worst of all, it's heavy and won't fit in my purse.
Then again, I hate apple.
On the side note the new Dell XT Tablet is more of a eye catcher than the MacBook Air but that's my perspective:
It's not tough enough to be portable. I have a smaller laptop that's very portable (Dell Latitude X1 12.1" 2.4lbs) and I wouldn't trade it for a Macbook Air.
"The thing with the Mac Air is that they didn’t have room for a replaceable battery or an optical media drive. Or a firewire port. Or an ethernet port. Or more than one USB port. But being that it’s an ultraportable, it’s not the sort of thing that really is supposed to stand alone- it’s a supplementary computer, meant to travel with you and then sync with your home computer. It’s for the type of Apple consumer that doesn’t worry about money- the ultraportable market, really.
The thing is, though, the ultraportable market has just recently been turned completely on it’s head by the Asus Eee PC. For 1/6th of the price of the $1800 Macbook, you can get a tiny Eee PC. It has a small keyboard and a small screen, but thanks to it’s portability and low pricing point, thousands of people are making it their mobile PC. It’s widely considered to be a well-designed little fellow."
jaydub: how can you possibly compare asus to apple...asus is bargain quality electronics...you get what you pay for
Oh and Asus is a very high quality brand, in case you haven't noticed. Apple products are overpriced, in case you haven't noticed this either.
Are you kidding me? Apple is the king of marketing tricks.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant
Why do you think people continue to buy ipods that break every 1/2 a year?
Apple is NOT overpriced. They serve both the high-end and low-end demographic. I've had my ipod shuffle for over two years, and I can throw it up against the wall and it won't break...not to mention the insane battery life.
Apple spends the LEAST on marketing. The only marketing you've probably seen? PC vs. Mac commercials, which are popular because they are creative and humorous. Their best (and free) marketing ploy? MACWORLD adresses by Steve Jobs himself, which spread by word of mouth because the products they present are SUPERIOR.
the macbook air, sure its sleek, fashionable, i like sleek an fashionable, style over function....but that hard drive is less than to be desired, id love a macbook air if someone would give me one but its not something id buy
it does look great though
I never claimed Apple spent lots of money on marketing. I don't know the statistics and I don't care to. I'm saying, their marketing is often underhanded. How many other computer companies put out commercials that say "our competitor's products really suck". I admit, some of the ads are funny, but they give the impression that Apple has to stoop to the level of bashing others to make themselves look good.
The thing I hate most about Apple is their exclusivity and elitism. Mac owners often have the attitude that they are somehow better than people who don't use Macs. People tend to submit to this "Cult of Mac". The Mac is their God and Steve Jobs is their Jesus. They may as well be kneeling in pews at the Apple keynote speeches. Apple revels in this cult atmosphere too. They love it. They charge people an extra $200 to have their macbook coloured black instead of white, and the goddamn mac zombies happily pay it!
It's not Mac vs PC, as if PC's were owned by Microsoft or some company. No. PC's are the regular computer/electronics market. PC's are open to having a hard drive made by one company, a monitor made by a different company, and the keyboard made by yet another.
Finally, you claim their products are "SUPERIOR". I say bullshit. Superior to what? You show me any Apple product, and I could probably put together something with similar or even better specs with a lower price tag.
Repent from the Church of Mac before it's too late!
(Apple does make quality products. I will admit, I have owned a few ipods, and they've never broken. However, I have had to put up with apple's proprietary iTunes ridiculousness. I can't just transfer files over, noooo they have to be renamed to something obscure and converted to some weird format. God/Steve forbid I want to transfer them back to my computer. I'd have to use some "illegal" non-Apple program for that.)
I totally agree Mac has this sort of elusive cult aura to them, that they look down on you for not having a mac.
but on the other hand, thats what they are good at, and i do agree that its a good thing they are comin out with things like the macbook air (despite what i think is a narrow market they are after here)
Three hundred dollars extra is not overpriced? For the price of apple's lowest offering I could get one from Dell that's better than Apple's second lowest offering, this is not overpriced?
Do you want to know why Apple doesn't need to spend much on advertising? It's because fanboys like you spew their bullshit for them.
p.s. In case you haven't noticed, I gave Apple an advantage by using the colour white, instead of black, which would have cost Dell nothing (white costs Dell $25 extra), but would cost Apple $200 more. After you take into account the larger HDD, the black configs sit at $1,131 for Dell and a whopping $1,518 for Apple. $400 difference, that's just about enough to buy one of Dell's lowest offering.
1. The screen size is bolded as if 14' is better than 13'. In fact, smaller laptops are generally considered more desirable and are usually more expensive than larger ones, so the macbook wins that round.
2. Mac OSX ships with a lot of extra software that you wouldn't find in Windows. Most of that software is actually useful, unlike MS Works. Who the hell uses MS Works?
3. So Dell ships you a tree, or plants one somewhere, or whatever. The fact that Dell is trying to jump on the environmentalism bandwagon is not relevant to the price of the computer.
Still, there are some serious problems with Apple's pricing.
I was in future shop today and walked by two nearly identical macbooks. I fired up "about this mac" on each of them and checked out the specs. It turned out that the newer macbook, with much better specs was $200 cheaper than the other macbook which was one year older. I told one of the salesmen that they must have had their signs switched. The salesman explained to me that the pricing was correct and that the older, crappier mac was indeed $200 more than the newer, better one.
2. Like what? And at least you can actually do something with MS Works, as opposed to nothing for Apple. You might also want to keep in mind that you could run not only Windows, but also any one of the hundreds of flavours of Linux, along with the thousands of softwares available to it. And this should also be possible with the new Apples (I never tried), so software really isn't much of an issue (which is why I didn't include OS in the chart).
3. The tree thing was purely a joke, I'm surprised you actually took it seriously. Also if you get rid of the tree, it's another $2 savings for Dell.
So let me grant your first objection, it's really up to personal preference. Still doesn't change the fact that Apple is overpriced.
http://www.apple.com/getamac/awesome.html has an overview of some of their included software.
I never said they weren't overpriced. The Dells are still way cheaper.
I'm running Linux on an HP laptop right now..
The MS Works thing wasn't a joke though, it was free from Dell, and it does count for something if you're not willing to spend the money for Office.
It did not come with a word processor that was functional, it came with one that crashed when I would try to make bulleted lists....
So I had to shell out another 200 for MS word since i didnt know anyone who could give me a copy...coulda pirated it if I was on a windows OS easily
Further the built in webcam has no functionality on msn, this is because of microsoft but i mean it defeated the entire purpose of a webcam for me, since I already have a digi cam to take photos...
i regret not getting something like a VAIO for the price i paid for a mac, with the increased harddrive capacity and processor I ended up paying 1500 after tax + 200 for software, my mac is nice but i do wish i had gotten something windows
there is no substitute for portability and the functionality of a laptop and i can only imagine this is even more important for business travellers
edit: i used the eee for a bit at work too, but the resolution and the lack of multitasking power turned me away, love the size and weight though
Sure it's only 1.2 Ghz, 80 GB hard drive and 1.24 Gbs of ram, but it does the job, it never lags, nothing has crashed yet, and it's been in use since 2005. It's still super fast. It doesn't have an optical drive, but more portable ones don't either. And besides the primary OS installation, I don't use it anyways.
I know Macs that have crashed unexplainabley within 6 months of use. Not rigorous use either.
oh and by the way, never get a sony laptop. They are the definition of "ripoff"