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Best Macbook Air Copy I've seen yet

redache said:
Have you got evidence to back that up? I've never seen Windows be that resolution independent.
Click to expand...

I'd guess that below is what he means, default is 96dpi with preset option of 120dpi, though you can adjust using the ruler util (in XP that's under Display Properties, Advanced, General Tab)

Or if you dont want a system wide change of all elements you can just adjust font sizes, scroll bar widths etc with Display properties Appearance
 

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check out the battery life comparison picture techcrunch just posted!

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If the battery life is really that good, then they have something good going on there, the battery life is the only thing that don't impress me on my 11" Air...
 
The more I read about these UltraBooks, the more I think the Air was a heavy collaboration between Apple and Intel, and Intel just let Apple be first to market with them. If you notice Intel was the first heavily promoting UltraBooks before Asus and Acer had even demo'd anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Air was an Intel idea, they pitched it to Apple and let them have the initial market for it. The timing just sounds weird that Apple releases the Air then Intel starts talking UltraBook, and then a few come out around the same time.
 
LordVic said:
The first decent really competitive choice to the MBA.

price is about right, though i'd like to have seen them try and undercut apple in order to really push their product.
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They already do.

The Asus 11in is $1,199(Amazon), the same specs on the 11in Air is $1,349.
Both i7, 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM.

Also I saw mentioned the Asus comes with a sleeve or carrying case, not sure which.
 
CardboardGiant said:
the 13 inch model has 1600 x 900 resolution :eek:

that's insane!

And here I'm thinking, 1440 x 900 was crazy enough on my MBA 13
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I'd definitely go for something other than a Mac if I wanted 13" then. 1440x900 is such an itty bitty screen resolution. I don't know how anyone can manage with that.
 
altecXP said:
The more I read about these UltraBooks, the more I think the Air was a heavy collaboration between Apple and Intel, and Intel just let Apple be first to market with them. If you notice Intel was the first heavily promoting UltraBooks before Asus and Acer had even demo'd anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Air was an Intel idea, they pitched it to Apple and let them have the initial market for it. The timing just sounds weird that Apple releases the Air then Intel starts talking UltraBook, and then a few come out around the same time.
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Pretty sure it was the other way around...Apple threatened to walk out on Intel.
 
Risasi said:
Pretty sure it was the other way around...Apple threatened to walk out on Intel.
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And go where? AMD or ARM? neither would be able to pull off the Air like Intel's chips can. If Apple walked on Intel then the Air just wouldn't exist.

A friend of mine works at Intel on the team that produced SandyBridge, then moved to the R&D and testing group to work with OEM's. From how he makes it sound Intel did most the actual engineering on the Air and Apple just designed a case for it.
 
altecXP said:
And go where? AMD or ARM? neither would be able to pull off the Air like Intel's chips can. If Apple walked on Intel then the Air just wouldn't exist.

A friend of mine works at Intel on the team that produced SandyBridge, then moved to the R&D and testing group to work with OEM's. From how he makes it sound Intel did most the actual engineering on the Air and Apple just designed a case for it.
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I'm not saying it was smart, just what apple threatened to do. But to answer your question, they would go ARM, and still might in a few years. We will see if Haswell lives up to the hype. If Apple can't achieve 20 hour battery life on their Air by 2013 I expect them to go ARM.

And thanks for proving that Intel was a tool for Apple. The entire ultimatum was about battery and performance. Or so I've heard, and that makes sense. everyone is only now catching up, and not doing a very good job at it either.
 
nexsta said:
check out the battery life comparison picture techcrunch just posted!

Image


If the battery life is really that good, then they have something good going on there, the battery life is the only thing that don't impress me on my 11" Air...
Click to expand...

A pre-unibody MacBook Pro is hardly an ultrabook... Especially since they only came in 15" and 17" sizes.
 
alan111 said:
That really looks beautiful.
At least it has a black border around the LCD. That is my #1 peeve about the MacBook Air. I want the black border like the Pro!
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Black border looks ugly and tacky without the slab of glass over the front, but that then adds more glare, meaning the silver border wins.
 
warfed said:
According to this site: http://tweakers.net/reviews/2333/4/asus-ux31-kloon-of-koning-scherm-en-accu.html

The MBA beat the Asus in battery test, although the Asus destroyed the Air in screen brightness... 520nits... wow.
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Now, what would be interesting is for them to match screen brightness for screen brightness against the same screen size Air and THEN see what the battery life works out to be between the two of them...I would half expect it to be pretty much equal.

Regardless, there are now a few ultrabook choices out there if you want to run Windows only. But if you're like me and want both operating systems there is only one choice. And don't even mention hackintosh. I ran one already for a year. Updates suck. I'll pass...


EDIT: Nevermind, I see they did try to match screen brightness for the battery test. My statement has been stricken, carry on...
 
altecXP said:
The more I read about these UltraBooks, the more I think the Air was a heavy collaboration between Apple and Intel, and Intel just let Apple be first to market with them. If you notice Intel was the first heavily promoting UltraBooks before Asus and Acer had even demo'd anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Air was an Intel idea, they pitched it to Apple and let them have the initial market for it. The timing just sounds weird that Apple releases the Air then Intel starts talking UltraBook, and then a few come out around the same time.
Click to expand...

didn't you watch the 2008 Macbook Air debut keynote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYV0P1-HVos&feature=related

in 2007, Intel made special C2D CPU that is 60% smaller exclusively for Macbook Air. Intel let Apple have such technology half year before everyone else, part of the reason Apple ditched IBM. There's no doubt Apple and Intel have special bond, Thunderbolt is another good example.
 
this is all cool, but i'll probably just buy my wife a MBA this year. Mac's are good quality, apple support is good. way better than what you get with asus and geek squad or whoever.

why buy brand x unless it's a lot cheaper?
 
I'm sure it is nice, but at this point I would have a hard time going back to Windows after using OSX.

For folks that are OK with Windows, this will be a viable option for sure. Hopefully this will push Apple to keep innovating on the Air line. Everyone wins.
 
alent1234 said:
this is all cool, but i'll probably just buy my wife a MBA this year. Mac's are good quality, apple support is good. way better than what you get with asus and geek squad or whoever.

why buy brand x unless it's a lot cheaper?
Click to expand...

Toshiba for years has produced quality notebooks. Lenovo much the same. Sony ... even HP lately.

Nothing wrong though with my ( new and first apple ) mba late 2011 13 i5 256 gb samsung ssd!
 
Sequin said:
I'd definitely go for something other than a Mac if I wanted 13" then. 1440x900 is such an itty bitty screen resolution. I don't know how anyone can manage with that.
Click to expand...

I'm confused. Do you mean that you find the resolution to be poor, or you find text to be too small?
 
altecXP said:
And go where? AMD or ARM? neither would be able to pull off the Air like Intel's chips can. If Apple walked on Intel then the Air just wouldn't exist.

A friend of mine works at Intel on the team that produced SandyBridge, then moved to the R&D and testing group to work with OEM's. From how he makes it sound Intel did most the actual engineering on the Air and Apple just designed a case for it.
Click to expand...

ARM was the threat. Not for 2011, but in the future. Supposedly Apple gave Intel an ultimatum that if it didn't improve the power consumption of its mobile chips, it would go to someone who could. Remember, IBM's inability to deliver a low power G5 is what brought Apple to Intel in the first place. They have pulled off 2 successful processor architecture changes in the last 17 years. If anyone could do it, Apple could. There were even reports that Apple designed a MacBook Air using an A5 just to see how much work needed to be done to get OS X working, and they found that it didn't run as bad as they thought it would.

My guess is that Intel made its promises to Apple to significantly improve power management in Ivy Bridge and Haswell but concluded that Apple alone wouldn't be enough to sustain such a business. That's why they need the Ultrabooks to succeed. Right now, Apple is the main user of the ULV Core i5 and i7 chips.
 
snorkelman said:
I'd guess that below is what he means, default is 96dpi with preset option of 120dpi, though you can adjust using the ruler util (in XP that's under Display Properties, Advanced, General Tab)

Or if you dont want a system wide change of all elements you can just adjust font sizes, scroll bar widths etc with Display properties Appearance
Click to expand...

I has been a while since I played with Windows font DPI setting, and if I am not mistaken, not much has changed: it's not really a good solution - just a bandaid. You end up with larger text (if you go that way), but it doesn't look right because other elements that contain the text (menu, dialog box, etc.) remained the same. In many cases, the text get cut off because there is no enough room.

Ideally, resolution independence sizing should mean making sure things scale to screen physical size, so that a one-inch postage stamp appears to be one inch regardless it's viewed on a 27" or 13" display. Higher resolution screen would then serve to make sharper images and text. User then have the choice to choose different level of magnification to view the content, like one would a pdf file.
 
i like it

but i like the OS on my MBA.. the swipe gestures and multiples desktops really makes it easy to multitask fullscreen apps and multiple windows of the same program (like safari)

i really prefer my small MBA over my schools regular computers coz of that

and i wouldnt use a windows pc for work unless i had multimonitor option (like i do at home) i really really love it

the asus zenbook copy can't :<

It's nice they're getting in on the market.. apple should get some competition :p
 
lol on battery life comparison.

I like that they come stock with 128GB the stock 11in has 64GB for the mac version. But I would much prefer the 13in, which is what $100 more for the air copy?

Once the ivy bridge air is released I would be willing to trade my 2008 15in pro + some cash for such a machine!
 
Am I the only one not in love with the tapered design? Make the whole thing the thickness at the back. Add a few more toys, some more battery, whatever. It's just ugly.
 
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