Competing UltraPortables?

barefeats said:

I am trying to gather info on Windows UltraPortables that can be considered competitors to the MacBook Air. Two candidates are the Alienware M11x and Toshiba Portege R700-ST1303.

Configured similarly to the best 13" MBA, they price out very close.

I am trying to keep an open mind, but there does not appear to be anything in the PC world quite like the MBA.

Can any of you dispute that? Are there other candidates?

Click to expand...

The m11x has better hardware, but not the size, but also gets better battery(than the Air11).

Most have the availability of the same CPU as the Air13, but not the GPU I believe because it was assumed that a GPU would be useless in them as its only Internet, email and Office that will be used. So battery was made a priority. But most the PC ultra-portables have not been refreshed in over a year

PC's suck. I don't know how you can even consider others as real bona fide 'competitors' to the MBA, or any mac for that matter.

I owned a m11x and it was to thick, weighed to much, and had terrible ergonomics. It would cut off circulation to my wrists.

falconeight said:

I owned a m11x and it was to think, weighed to much, and had terrible ergonomics. It would cut off circulation to my wrists.

Click to expand...

Need I say more?

PC's suck

but there does not appear to be anything in the PC world quite like the MBA

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by that. There are plenty of PC ultraportables that wildly outclass the MBA in performance (you can get an Acer 11.6" with a mobile i5 and more RAM for less money).

What the MBA has going for it is aesthetics, of course. And no, there's nothing in the PC world that looks like it. But looks alone don't make the machine.

sparkie7 said:

PC's suck. I don't know how you can even consider others as real bona fide 'competitors' to the MBA, or any mac for that matter.

Click to expand...

This isn't a question about whether PCs suck or not, it's if there is something comparable to the MBA. Not all PCs suck actually.

ok, I'll repeat myself in case you are deaf, blind and dumb

PC's SUCK

sparkie7 said:

Need I say more?

PC's suck

Click to expand...

wow, looks like you've completed 5th grade with that logic

PsyD4Me said:

wow, looks like you've completed 5th grade with that logic

Click to expand...

Yep, got a dual degree too. Do I need any more qualifications for your smary self?

acer 1830t is a very good deal for what you get. spec wise it beats the air in everything. hardware isnt as good though but not bad either.

Specs don't mean diddly squat when you have a POS OS like Windose

sparkie7 said:

Specs don't mean diddly squat when you have a POS OS like Windose

Click to expand...

Will you get off windows? Win 7 is actually pretty good, and now it's just getting obnoxious and extremely off-topic.

How can it be off-topic when the 'competition' are on completely different OS's?

Chill fella. Life is short.

I do have to kind of agree with Sparkie. I never understood the "compare across OS's" thing. It will always be impossible to compare performance of hardware across OSs.

I've seen people on this board say dumb things like "A 3.0ghz processor is still a 3.0ghz processor" Um..yes it is but depending on the OS you will get much DIFFERENT results using that 3.0Ghz processor.

For MBA, there is no competing ultraportables since its Apples only ultra portable. If you are comparing hardware only, then you can compare a macbook air to a voodoo envy or Dell adamo which are also ultraportables. But the comparison won't really tell you much since they are windows OSs not Mac OS on the machines.

barefeats said:

I am trying to gather info on Windows UltraPortables that can be considered competitors to the MacBook Air. Two candidates are the Alienware M11x and Toshiba Portege R700-ST1303.

Configured similarly to the best 13" MBA, they price out very close.

I am trying to keep an open mind, but there does not appear to be anything in the PC world quite like the MBA.

Can any of you dispute that? Are there other candidates?

Click to expand...

altecXP said:

The m11x has better hardware, but not the size, but also gets better battery(than the Air11).

Most have the availability of the same CPU as the Air13, but not the GPU I believe because it was assumed that a GPU would be useless in them as its only Internet, email and Office that will be used. So battery was made a priority. But most the PC ultra-portables have not been refreshed in over a year

Click to expand...

falconeight said:

I owned a m11x and it was to thick, weighed to much, and had terrible ergonomics. It would cut off circulation to my wrists.

Click to expand...

IMO the MBA 11 and m11x can't be compared because the m11x weighs twice as much and quadruple the volume!

the m11x weighs 1.5x the MBA 13 and has triple the volume

really the MBA is the überportablist notebook everer, portable to the point of ridiculous

sparkie7 said:

How can it be off-topic when the 'competition' are on completely different OS's?

Chill fella. Life is short.

Click to expand...

MBA 11" running Windows 7, now the run same OS so we can compare

i've always wanted a sony vaio x. of course, that used an atom processor, and had a one hour battery life. ($1,400-$1,600)

the 11" macbook air fits it nicely and has better battery life and a lower price. ($1,400 for 1.6 c2d, 4gb,128gb)

PRIOR to the last three posters, I thought I was typing to a bunch of muppets

I know a bit as I was in the market for 11in laptop, last year, that had more power than your standard netbooks, so I know a bit.

The discontinued Vaio TT has the same cpu options as the 11in MBA; however, gpu isn't as good. The Vaio TT weighs a bit more at 2.7lbs, but some of that is due to the extras it comes with like mini-firewire, optical drive(BD optional), express card slot, and HDMI(optional depending on region). Best part is despite bing a business model, the screen is a 6bit matte-ish display, and up to 10 hours(seen a couple of users get that on standard battery and SSD) of battery life with 6-7 the norm. There is also the handy battery care function were you can limit max charge to 50% or 80% to save battery life when you know you are going to be plug in a long time.
Sony also has a 12in G series line, but that lacks a web cam, but it suppose to be lighter and even more business oriented.

Then there is also the older 12in Toshiba R600, which has the same specs as the Vaio TT, and comes weighs in at like 2lbs w/o optical drive(something like 2.3lbs with). It also comes with express card slot couple of usb ports, and optional GPS. Only downside is the screen is average, and the keyboard as a light flex from what I read.

There is the also the X200 line, which can be had a with a variety of cpu options and the newer i core X201 also with a few cpu options(ulv to standard), and a host of other features previously mentioned. Plus, it the only one with a tablet option.

HP has the 12in Elitebook 2530 and newer i core 2540, with ulv to lv cpu options on both. Again same options and specs as the others listed here. Then there is the consumer 11.6in DM1 that comes in either AMD or intel models, with intel models being a bit faster atm, and AMD models having the better ATI IGP.

Acer also has the 11.6in Timeline series which comes in SU line and LV i core cpu, and I think I read in Asia and parts of Europe an optional ATI gpu. There there is the AMD models, which like the DM1, better gpu, slower cpu. Build quality is a bit iffy there.


Only downside to all of these is the fact they don't come with the better gpu option of the MBA line standard. But, they all have express card slot so if you wanted to you could use an external desktop gpu, and express card vid-dock solution, but that requires you use an external monitor, but that option is there. Looks are subjective, but imho the Vaio TT looks very nice for a PC and equal to the Air in terms of looks.