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So who will be getting an Asus EEE instead of a Macbook Air?

zimtheinvader

zimtheinvader

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 10, 2005
203
0
the capitol
I think I will. It ships standard with a SSD, which, frankly, combined with a 16GB SD card and my ipod is about as useful to me for Word, Firefox, itunes ect. as a 64GB. Plus the screen is non-glossy which imho is better for photo work, plus it is borderline pocketable and $2700 cheaper. Where is Apple's head? I really wanted to like the MBA and I for one do indeed need an ultraportable.
 
I've been looking at the eee since summer, but waiting to see what Apple came up with. The air is not at all what I wanted. Thin is not the same as ultraportable. It's also about double what i would consider paying. I was hoping for something more like a 10 inch widescreen macbook in the 1000-1500 dollar range. The eee still seems a bit underpowered for me though. Maybe when their 8.9 inch model comes out, it will be what I'm looking for, but until then I'm sticking with my 12" ibook.
 
its $299~399, not really a big problem, even if you want MBA eventually, a tiny extra is fine.

plus, its truly "portable"
 
I'm looking at the eee too.

I've seen people putting osx on it too.

Might buy later this year when they release the v2. (and price drop?)
 
I like the air.

It's specs look great for a thin laptop. It's also more affordable than the other thin notebooks.

I'm sorry it wasn't aiming for the market that you were hoping it would go for. I agree that an Eee style notebook would be amazing. An apple laptop in the $500 range would be an amazing PC killer. Nobody would have an excuse not to buy one;but, thats not what apple was trying to make. I think we can all agree that we're being silly trying to compare an $1800 laptop to a $400 dollar one and then saying the $400 one is better. Apple didn't make a low cost, low performing, ultra portable; you can't compare them.

I will admit that I would have bought a new macbook air within the month if it was a low cost ultra like the eee but it's not
 
zimtheinvader said:
I think I will. It ships standard with a SSD, which, frankly, combined with a 16GB SD card and my ipod is about as useful to me for Word, Firefox, itunes ect. as a 64GB. Plus the screen is non-glossy which imho is better for photo work, plus it is borderline pocketable and $2700 cheaper. Where is Apple's head? I really wanted to like the MBA and I for one do indeed need an ultraportable.
Click to expand...

I would buy an EEE over an MBA for basic stuff, but apart from the portability, you cannot compare them. They're two different products.

Oh, and BTW, if you're considering doing "photo work", glossy=-2 points, and EEE=-100 points... seriously. Plus, I bet the screen on the MBA, albeit glossy, is ten times better than the EEE one.
 
I dont know why anyone would get an Air over a MBP or MB unless they have tons of money to waste. Its still 13" so its not that portable, thin does not equal portable, and the real laptops are not thick at all. The price is completely hilarious. The Air is just a toy for the rich, it has no real practicality.

The EEE on the other hand can be hacked like crazy, is actually small, and its cheap.
 
RedTomato said:
I'm looking at the eee too.

I've seen people putting osx on it too.

Might buy later this year when they release the v2. (and price drop?)
Click to expand...

I did not wait. OSX is not suitable for the eee, since the Celeron only supports SSE2, not SSE3 as required by OSX. Both the default Xandros and WinXP run fine on it, and since it will mostly be used for web browsing and light office work, the OS is less of an issue than with a real workhorse computer. After all, Openoffice and Firefox work pretty much the same on whatever OS you install them on.

For £220, it is almost an impulse buy and since supplies are so short, you will get all your money back if you decide it is not for you and sell it on.

If not in a hurry, I would wait for the next revision. The mooted Penrhyn version is said to be fanless, which would make this computer completely silent.

Needless to say, I love mine to bits.
 
RedTomato said:
I'm looking at the eee too.

I've seen people putting osx on it too.

Might buy later this year when they release the v2. (and price drop?)
Click to expand...

People have successfully installed osx on it but with some problems such as lack of networking and such. So if you want to use osx without internet that's your option.

I actually have an eee that I bought about a week ago. I was going to wait till today in case I wanted the macbook air but I'm glad I bought the eee instead. I have a powerbook that I hook up to my cinema display and just wanted an ultraportable to carry around school and in the living room so that I could keep the other laptop as a permanent desktop setup.

Overall it's very impressive. Programs are pretty snappy and it's a joy to use. My only complaints are that it's linux (I'm not very linux literate and am very used to osx) and the 3 hour battery life.

If you know what to expect it really is exceptional for something at that price.
 
Mac on SSE2

Just so you all know, Mac OS X runs fine on SSE2. I didn´t get my network or sound to work under Leopard, but when I tried Mac 10.4.10 - network and sound worked after some hacking.

I use an Acer laptop, but just wanted to let you all know that Mac can run on SSE2 - not just SSE3 as someone said in an earlier post.
 
So tell me, because I am confused. Back in the day when there were no LCD screens only CRTs, the CRTs had glossy screens. They were just fine for doing photo work! So why isn't a glossy LCD screen not good?

Just got a 2.8 24" iMac with glossy screen and I see no differences in working in Photoshop and manipulating color in photographs and they print just as I see them on the monitor. (Previously had a 22' ADC matt monitor.)

Anyone want to explain why a gloss CRT was fine but not an LCD?
 
FreqFlyer said:
Just so you all know, Mac OS X runs fine on SSE2. I didn´t get my network or sound to work under Leopard, but when I tried Mac 10.4.10 - network and sound worked after some hacking.

I use an Acer laptop, but just wanted to let you all know that Mac can run on SSE2 - not just SSE3 as someone said in an earlier post.
Click to expand...

It can run. Just not very well. I got it running on an old Dell with SSE2 just for yucks, but it took a lot of hacking to keep it stable. Leopard depends a lot more on SSE3, so it is not surprising that you had problems. If you stick to Tiger, you should be ok.

Having said that, my old Dell ran rings around my top of the range Powerbook at the time, so performance is relative to your experience.
 
Leopard is not the best OS to run on the EEE, support for non intel SSE3 processors is minimal at the moment, plus its a big ass install compared to Tiger. I would stick to Tiger or XP on the EEE until the next revision which should beable to handle Vista and Leopard easily.
 
Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think there are GMA900 drivers for Leopard, if you want QE/CI you have to use Tiger.
 
lol

you compare the air and the eee?

the eee is more like the iPhone.... only not as nice.... lol!
 
shen said:
you compare the air and the eee?

the eee is more like the iPhone.... only not as nice.... lol!
Click to expand...

lol, do you actually tried eee? Its a computer!

can iPhone do skype video chat?
can iphone do 8G expansion SD card?
can iPhone run Ubuntu?
can iPhone run all the different IMs?
can iPhone run image editing?
can iPhone run openoffice and editing M$ office documents?

please, get some facts first.
 
sure thing...

look at the pathetic little toy screen on that thing.

and oh shiny it runs linux! i bought a mac cause i was sick of fighting linux to run rather than be a lifetime customization.

and it "runs" image editing about as well as my old 486 "runs".

i have some facts, i have used it. it is a toy. sorry, just the way i see it.

if the iPhone could edit word docs it would be an upgrade from that toy across the board.

....how long after the SDK you think we will have to wait for that? :p
 
The EEEPC definitely has potential, and looks like a nice little work horse.
I think it might be hard to compare features between the two because of the closeness of the macbook air case, and less user-manipulation.

Before the updates come out for the eeepc, most of the wireless, ssd, 3g, ect, were done by modifying it after market.
 
haha, finest fanboy style. your 486? lol, your "facts" are quite interesting, I must say.
go ahead, it happens that they both ask for $399. ppl can make their own judgments.
 
shen said:
sure thing...

look at the pathetic little toy screen on that thing.

and it "runs" image editing about as well as my old 486 "runs".

i have some facts, i have used it. it is a toy. sorry, just the way i see it.

if the iPhone could edit word docs it would be an upgrade from that toy across the board.
Click to expand...

I have both. The eee has a both a larger screen and a larger resolution than the iPhone/iPhone Touch and a far better cpu. Likening a Celeron-M to a 486 kills any credibility you might think you portray.

How you reckon from that the the smaller device is better suited to editing docs with its non-responsive keyboard is beyond me. Must be fanboyism. Sorry, just the way I see you.
 
Mac Software, Open Hardware?

I don't have the inclination to create a hackintosh at present - it's just too messy. But if it were to get less messy, I might be tempted.

Frankly, I find Apple's portable hardware line up a little restrictive. The MacBook is good, but it's a bit pricey as a second computer, and its graphics card is still pretty crap for a main computer. I'm not a gamer, but I would like to have the option.

The MacBook Pro is a great machine, but it is seriously expensive, too large to carry around, and I'm not fond of aluminium casings (my 17" Powerbook got a lot of dents before its screen packed up and it became a desktop).

I don't see how the Mac Air solves any of those problems. Nor does it solve the problem of what to do if you want to carry a Mac in your pocket.

I've repeatedly read over the years how Apple will become a software company at some point in the future, though it has never come true.

If they continue to miss the boat hardware wise, and if the hackintosh community makes it easy enough to run OSX so that a script kiddie like me can stomach it, maybe more of us will start running Apple software on generic hardware.

Just a thought.

Until then, much as the Eee appeals (and who complained about the name MacBook Air?), I think I'm tied to Mac hardware. I'll probably buy a MacBook - best compromise.
 
Benwiles said:
Sorry, that should read EEEPC, not Eee. Much better name. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

indeed, I consider both MBA and EEEPC as "secondary" laptop, means that if you need a primary laptop, they can't meet your need.

and Since you like Mac as well, MB is indeed your best option.
 
I've looked at the eee and all I can say is this.

My eyesight is not worth the portability option.

I prefer a bigger screen in a laptop. If I wanted to surf/write docs/flip through albums/chat/or anything like that on a screen that small, I'll get an iPhone.

It all boils down to, 'to each his own'

I won't get a MBA either simply because I need more power even when working portable at customer locations. My wife likes it and for what she uses her MB for the MBA is a nice option.

The screen of the eee reminds me of the old portable computers from the late 80's. Might as well dig out my old pocket watch PC with the snap on keyboard if I feel I need an eee. (yes I still have one of those somewhere in my attic)
 
I refuse on principle to even own anything that is windows driven. You could give it to me and I would not use it.

The air is a great product and I will get one when my pro finally quits.
 
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