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syphern

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 15, 2008
331
195
Well guys ok. I know alot of people are going to bitch and moan at me and will say well the macbook air is not for your market etc etc. I am sorry about it, please accept the following as my opinion and the basis for other people to respond to my choice.

I am a Med student and since september, this year, we have started to go into firms and hospital placements and well my current acer laptop (served me very well) is old and 4 kilograms too heavy. I have like 3-5 books to carry in my bag too so during lunch or any break I can open and revise them.

I had heard Macbooks were great for portability but then this rumor site came up in a search back in sept. I learned about a thinner more portable macbook! Got me excited. Now upon the launch of Macbook Air I am afraid I have chosen to go for the original macbook.

Simply the reasons are:
1. Ethernet - I know the "future" is all wireless but this was the first blow. My campus is old fashioned and wireless is a new tech to us (we dont even use PDA's in hospitals! Old fashioned Medicine from books!) so buying that USB ethernet would be a good idea. Plus I work in student halls to save money on rent etc and ALL the halls are wired...

2. It only has 1 USB slot which will be occupied by the ethernet so I cant really connect anything else to it while connected to the internet... This is not practical.

3. Medical software - now that mac can run windows some software out there which is amazing to use but most of them are on CD's for example I have this CD full of heart sounds etc well buying an external drive is not too bad.

4. But ultimately the price is what got me. With 3 years insurance it would cost me about £1,100 which is way too much for me. Plus the extras would make the cost go up to about £1,300...

But overall I personally feel that a light notebook would be AMAZING for my market as i am in need of a light notebook and I was willing to buy it as soon as it came out but this Sat ill get a Macbook for £770 with insurance. I am also thinking about a Dell but I heard vista was a pain and used too many resources. I think the Air is a good product but its TOO simple. Simplicity can be amazing but only if it doesn't lack functionality.
 
Get the Macbook. By far the better deal, and it'll be useful for far longer than the MBA will be. Faster processor, bigger hard drive, ethernet, more USB ports, Firewire, a *user replaceable battery*, and upgradeable drives/memory. Then there's the built-in optical drive, etc...there are very few practical reasons to buy an MBA over an MB.
 
We waited for my wife and are headed over to apple right now to get a macbook. Don't feel bad we don't.
 
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