Is there any reason to buy a Macbook Air?

[Surf314]

I'm looking for a light and small laptop for classes. I want a 13" (could go smaller) and I am pretty much sold on apple. I like the sturdyness of the cases and I prefer OSX for the types of things I will be doing (office programs and web browsing). My biggest problem with apple is they are really only worth the price when they refresh, since they keep the price sticky even when parts get cheaper in the time between refreshes. So the macbook pro seems like a bad deal now since it is due for an update soon. The air just got a decent update and it will do exactly what I want it to do but I can't help feeling like I'd be paying mostly for the size of it. Are there any advantages that would make the Air worth it's price?

And yes I know I'm buying a mac and PCs are so much better and cheaper, etc. So please keep it on topic. If you really think I should buy a PC instead then you can try to sell me on one that has a small sturdy case, although I'm still not convinced W7 is better for low powered computers than OSX.

[Vandamguy]

there's really not much of a discussion about what you should purchase if you're (mostly) firm on apple.

[Didzo]

Check out the Alienware M11x.

[WaR1761]

I have a 6 year old Lenovo Thinkpad T60 and its a beast still. Case wise I have always considered Thinkpads top of the line, only down side I have heard from users is think vantage software which can be uninstalled.

X series are small
T series are normal sized laptops
W series are the mobile workstations that are larger.

You main issue is OS, you can always duel boot or virtualize windows on a mac but its a lot harder the other way around. If you like the OS that much then you have made your choice.

[Surf314]

there's really not much of a discussion about what you should purchase if you're (mostly) firm on apple.

My experiences with laptops so far have been that my MBP is still great 4 years old (just too big and heavy) while every PC laptop we buy for my wife starts getting really slow and bloated a year or so in. I know I should be doing clean windows installs to clean it out but my wife doesn't want to let me and I'm not sure if I'd want to go through the hassle of it myself. I also know that that is partially the users fault, but I'm not sure that realistically I will be much better than her. Since I'm in the market for a "low power" laptop this time I'm concerned that a PC will be a bad choice.

I can't make any decisions until about a month when my loans come in, and like I said I can be swayed to PC. But from a size, weight, and what I want to use it for perspective it seems like apple is my best choice. Although Didzo's suggestion seems pretty good, I think I'd want to see it first since it seems to be bigger and heavier.  Weight is also a factor because law books are heavy and right now I can really only carry my laptop and maybe one book in my backpack before it starts being a strain on my old feeble spine.

[CaffeinePowered]

My experiences with laptops so far have been that my MBP is still great 4 years old (just too big and heavy) while every PC laptop we buy for my wife starts getting really slow and bloated a year or so in. I know I should be doing clean windows installs to clean it out but my wife doesn't want to let me and I'm not sure if I'd want to go through the hassle of it myself. I also know that that is partially the users fault, but I'm not sure that realistically I will be much better than her. Since I'm in the market for a "low power" laptop this time I'm concerned that a PC will be a bad choice.

Its both the users and the manufacturers fault, it comes loaded with garbage you don't need and irresponsible use ends up adding more garbage ontop of it.

Id advocate an Asus laptop, but Im also a fanboy for them. However, they have done over $500 in repairs to my laptop and I didn't pay a dime, and they gave me a free video card that I really should not have gotten.

Is it really that difficult to wipe and fresh install windows to remove all the crap? I think there are some laptops you can buy with no pre-installed OS, then you'd have to do a fresh install

[HeK]

Can't really beat Asus for this customer service.

I personally love the shit out of my 2010 13" MBP. It's the best crafted laptop I've had and I've had a lot of laptops. This is my 8th.
The 13" Airbook is fairly powerful and still manages to keep small and light.

If money isn't an issue, Airbook is a decent product. There are cheaper options however.

[Surf314]

Can't really beat Asus for this customer service.

I personally love the shit out of my 2010 13" MBP. It's the best crafted laptop I've had and I've had a lot of laptops. This is my 8th.
The 13" Airbook is fairly powerful and still manages to keep small and light.

If money isn't an issue, Airbook is a decent product. There are cheaper options however.

Yea, that is what I'm thinking. The MBP, even though it's older refresh wise, has better specs for about the same price as the Air. But the SSD might give the air better performance for most of the things I will need it for. I have a 2008 17" MBP and it's the best laptop me or my wife have ever owned, so that's why I'm thinking I wouldn't mind paying extra.

[KarthXLR]

Only things you'd really have to consider are the lack of usb ports and a CD-Drive. Otherwise, it's a mac. Expensive, but solid.

[HeK]

Only things you'd really have to consider are the lack of usb ports and a CD-Drive.

What the hell is a CD-drive? Is it like a dvd? Do people still use those?


PS, the Air has two USB ports, just as many as the same sized MBP.

[Surf314]

Got my hands on a 20% off coupon to amazon so I ended up getting the Air for $987. What really swayed my opinion was I went and played with an old one at the campus bookstore. I opened a bunch of programs and switched between them and it was fairly responsive. Considering it was a great size and weight and better performing then the one I was playing with I was pretty much sold.

[Kirby]

[quote author=Karth link=topic=5841.msg217904#msg217904 date=1312517837]
Only things you'd really have to consider are the lack of usb ports and a CD-Drive.

What the hell is a CD-drive? Is it like a dvd? Do people still use those?

[/quote]



They're for when your .iso is <= 800MB

[HeK]

[quote author=HeK link=topic=5841.msg217905#msg217905 date=1312518001]
[quote author=Karth link=topic=5841.msg217904#msg217904 date=1312517837]
Only things you'd really have to consider are the lack of usb ports and a CD-Drive.

What the hell is a CD-drive? Is it like a dvd? Do people still use those?

[/quote]



They're for when your .iso is <= 800MB
[/quote]

Thats when you use your usb stick and daemon tools, right?

[at0m]

[quote author=Kirby, the FaNspyPyro link=topic=5841.msg218227#msg218227 date=1312733000]
[quote author=HeK link=topic=5841.msg217905#msg217905 date=1312518001]
[quote author=Karth link=topic=5841.msg217904#msg217904 date=1312517837]
Only things you'd really have to consider are the lack of usb ports and a CD-Drive.

What the hell is a CD-drive? Is it like a dvd? Do people still use those?
[/quote]They're for when your .iso is <= 800MB
[/quote]Thats when you use your usb stick and daemon tools, right?
[/quote]On a mac? wat.

[HeK]

[quote author=HeK link=topic=5841.msg218235#msg218235 date=1312736768]
[quote author=Kirby, the FaNspyPyro link=topic=5841.msg218227#msg218227 date=1312733000]
[quote author=HeK link=topic=5841.msg217905#msg217905 date=1312518001]
[quote author=Karth link=topic=5841.msg217904#msg217904 date=1312517837]
Only things you'd really have to consider are the lack of usb ports and a CD-Drive.

What the hell is a CD-drive? Is it like a dvd? Do people still use those?
[/quote]They're for when your .iso is <= 800MB
[/quote]Thats when you use your usb stick and daemon tools, right?
[/quote]On a mac? wat.
[/quote]

Oh silly me.
You would just mount the ISO as a volume, without additional tools.

[Surf314]

I just got my air in and I love it. It does everything I wanted it for really well and is the perfect size. The only thing that sucked was apple migration assistant. Hung twice after hours so I said eff restarting it again I'll just start over.

[HeK]

The only thing that sucked was apple migration assistant. Hung twice after hours so I said eff restarting it again I'll just start over.

Don't use that shit.

[KorJax]

Macbook air always seemed rather pointless to me when you could just get a tablet with dock functionality for half the price but the same overall form factor, plus being able to do more

At least for the uses you described. Granted tablets won't run word (unless you get Documents To Go, but even then you'll want to finish your editing on a normal PC), but I just can't fathom spending $1k on a netbook with more limited functionality than equally quality products at half the price.

[HeK]

Macbook air always seemed rather pointless to me when you could just get a tablet with dock functionality for half the price but the same overall form factor, plus being able to do more

At least for the uses you described. Granted tablets won't run word (unless you get Documents To Go, but even then you'll want to finish your editing on a normal PC), but I just can't fathom spending $1k on a netbook with more limited functionality than equally quality products at half the price.

So there is a tablet with a keyboard, i5 processor, a month of standby batter power, HD camera, aluminum case, and doesn't get hot... ever?
Even compared to available netbooks, the base model Air is pretty impressive.

[KorJax]

I'm not saying the Air isn't bad, I'm just saying that the whole point of a netbook in my eyes is cheap, battery life, form factor. All of which you can get easily under $600, and the Air only satisfies two of those. The fact that the case is aluminum doesn't justify the $400 price increase in my eyes - you'd be better off just doing a hackentosh on a sleek windows netbook, which will be able to do more out of the box from a hardware perspective.

And technically an iPad with a keyboard dock, while not really designed for it, you get all of those things at around $700 or so total instead of $1k. Exception is the i5, but lets be honest - who really needs an i5 for a netbook? iPad/Android Tablets all have the hardware to run 720p video easily plus some 3D games that aren't bad looking (while also holding an excellent battery life while doing so, as the processor is designed for it). You really don't need much else beyond that unless you want to run stuff like final cut or photoshop. Which, let's be honest - you'd probably be better off getting a legit MBP instead if you wanted to do those things.

I know I'm somewhat of a fanboy, but the TF basically does all you mentioned as well, sans the aluminum case (negligible) and specifically the i5 processor. It also has a better battery life when being used as a netbook, around 15hours or so in active usage. Except you can also use it as a sleek tablet, or as a netbook with a high degree of functionality built into it - at the cost of $500. Not to mention the screen is a very impressive IPS which makes colors pop. Not sure what screen the Air uses, but I'm willing to bet its a standard TN screen as I think the only apple products that use IPS are the iPads.

I'm pretty sure the Air though is super light, which is nice. I mean, netbook/tablets are light in general but in its class I think the Air is the lightest. In any case, I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way - the Air is a nice device and its not a bad product to have at all. But its something I can't imagine spending $1k on personally when compaired to the other stuff out there.

Reminds me of an online friend I know who's AMD motherboard died recently, and wanted to get bulldozer when it came out in a month or two. Instead of just buying an AMD motherboard that works with his current lower-end processor and would be compatable with bulldozer, he instead wastes money on a fancy intel setup with RAM and everything that he only plans on using for a month or two before getting bulldozer, and he just plans on giving away his intel mobo to a friend who asked. As someone who would make a good jewish man, stuff that like makes me cringe :\