MacBook Air competitors coming to market

[billy12]

this is great. I hope every pc manufacturer enters this ultra book market and commits to it. would be wonderful in pushing good tech further. I don't care about who is copying who and don't know why people get so offended when companies do either. They ALL (yes, including ) copy each other all the time and has been doing so forever. that's how tech works, that's how its supposed to work.


still gonna get me an air though



actually no, that would be the thinkpad

I agree; I love Thinkpads!

Though the trackpad is nice on the Macbooks, certainly the nicest ones I've used on laptops, I still miss the Trackpoint when I use my Macbook Air.

 

[Ijustfarted]

I agree; I love Thinkpads!

Though the trackpad is nice on the Macbooks, certainly the nicest ones I've used on laptops, I still miss the Trackpoint when I use my Macbook Air.

yeah the trackpads on macbooks are just amazing, words can't even describe. I could say the same about the thinkpad keyboards, good lord they're fantastic...

Can Apple somehow buy the design/patents/whatever from Lenovo? A macbook with a thinkpad keyboard would be great.

 

[whatlifeforme]

I am checking out the Thinkpad X220, and it is actually really nice. I like the button designs, and it is a very solid feeling laptop. It definitely has the functionality of a typical lenovo with decent aesthetics.

I must say, for a first time apple user, my macbook pro has underwhelmed me. The battery life, inability to upgrade battery, and speed of workflow has been less than impressive. It seems I am more concerned with it not breaking, and "looking cool," than getting the job done, as a college student!

I have an old thinkpad, r61i, that is much less impressive than the new X220 and T420 models, and coming to the University, I expected apple to be be a requirement, but I have seen mostly thinkpads. The newer models are loaded with features, have acceptable designs, and people can throw them around without worrying about them!!!!

I sure wish I could afford an X220 to supplement; still don't think I would replace my MBP right now for it though.

 

[Sounds Good]

Check out the upcoming Toshiba Ultrabooks (z830 and z835). Very impressive looking.

 

[Dunbar]

Though the trackpad is nice on the Macbooks, certainly the nicest ones I've used on laptops, I still miss the Trackpoint when I use my Macbook Air.

I've been a long time Thinkpad user and just got a MBA to replace my X60s. The trackpad is nice but when you factor in all of the multi-touch gestures in OSX I find the MBA much faster for my usage. The two finger L/R swipe is a revelation when web browsing. I am finding it tricky to get used to the keyboard on the MBA.

 

[Poindexter333]

I am checking out the Thinkpad X220, and it is actually really nice. I like the button designs, and it is a very solid feeling laptop. It definitely has the functionality of a typical lenovo with decent aesthetics.

I must say, for a first time apple user, my macbook pro has underwhelmed me. The battery life, inability to upgrade battery, and speed of workflow has been less than impressive. It seems I am more concerned with it not breaking, and "looking cool," than getting the job done, as a college student!

I have an old thinkpad, r61i, that is much less impressive than the new X220 and T420 models, and coming to the University, I expected apple to be be a requirement, but I have seen mostly thinkpads. The newer models are loaded with features, have acceptable designs, and people can throw them around without worrying about them!!!!

I sure wish I could afford an X220 to supplement; still don't think I would replace my MBP right now for it though.

First person I have ever seen that actually admits to being "more concerned...with looking cool" versus learning what has to be learned to optimize one's speed of workflow. I believe that this slightly subjective and undefined concept: "speed of workflow" and all that it entails for me, is the singularly most important reason behind my choice of Apple products.

 

[DarwinOSX]

If it runs Windows it s not a MBA competitor.

Read some interesting articles today about MacBook Air competitors. Toshiba and Lenovo are debuting their ultrabooks. Not bad looking machines...if I had to choose between the two I'd pick up the Toshiba. Looks like everyone wants their piece of the ultra book laptop market.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/01/toshiba-unveils-its-first-ultrabook-another-macbook-air-killer/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2392228,00.asp

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent...s_new_ultrabook_thinner_than_macbook_air.html

 

[2IS]

If it runs Windows it s not a MBA competitor.

As far as you're concerned... There are plenty of people who can easily interchange between the two.

 

[coldmack]

If it runs Windows it s not a MBA competitor.

But, the MBA can be soiled to run Wind'ohs, and these competitors can illegally run OSX seeing as they essentially have the same specs as the MBA.

 

[aeboi]

You'd need specific parts and drivers, having perfectly compatible desktop rigs (custom built) that run OSX is much easier than finding laptops that do the same.

 

[coldmack]

You'd need specific parts and drivers, having perfectly compatible desktop rigs (custom built) that run OSX is much easier than finding laptops that do the same.

You'd be surprised. I took a gander at that nuisance of a site osx86 and they have OSX running reasonably well on x86 notebooks that shouldn't run it, with little to no driver issues. Heck, I had a guy try to show me his dual core netbook running OSX smoothly, but I don't touch garbage like that.

 

[aeboi]

You'd be surprised. I took a gander at that nuisance of a site osx86 and they have OSX running reasonably well on x86 notebooks that shouldn't run it, with little to no driver issues. Heck, I had a guy try to show me his dual core netbook running OSX smoothly, but I don't touch garbage like that.

I know a few netbooks have no problem running it but I'm not rocking a netbook.

 

[mrsir2009]

My only peeve are the terrible trackpads used in most other mfgs laptops. Apple has the only trackpad that I can use without frustration. However, even in Windows 7, on both of my Apple laptops, I find the trackpad drivers to be lacking. Other than that, good luck to the other mfgs making MBA competitors.

+1 on the trackpad thing.

 

[KPOM]

It looks like the UX21 and UX31 will be launched in NYC on October 11.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4870/asus-to-launch-ux21-ux31-ultrabooks-on-october-11

Anyway, according to a French website, the specs are comparable to the MacBook Air line (1.6GHz i5 in the 11", 1.7GHz i5 in the 13" with a 1.8GHz Core i7 option), and the prices undercut Apple's by €150 in France. The SSDs are also purported to be 6Gb/s. If this is true, this would be nice from a hardware perspective (meaning ASUS didn't cut corners to undercut prices, but is simply not trying to match Apple's 30+% margins).

I don't expect a formal move from Apple, but would not be surprised by a quiet spec bump to a 6Gb/s SSD mid-cycle before next year's Ivy Bridge update. By the time this is out, Apple will have had the "Ultrabook" market to itself for the past 3 months, and heading into the holiday season they probably don't need to do much to ensure good sales of the MacBook Air in the upcoming quarter.

 

[mrsir2009]

yeah the trackpads on macbooks are just amazing, words can't even describe. I could say the same about the thinkpad keyboards, good lord they're fantastic...

Can Apple somehow buy the design/patents/whatever from Lenovo? A macbook with a thinkpad keyboard would be great.

A thinkpad with a macbook trackpad would be good too.