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

[matticus008]

Also, there is no need to play trick and change subject, MBA is 13.3" screen, not 13.3" wide, and we are not talking about width here, everybody knows it.

I thought we were talking about footprint, which is length x width, not diagonal screen size. Since the MBA is the same length as similar ultraportables, width would be the missing dimension, so that's what I talked about.

exactly why do you believe "extremely small" fraction of ultraportable users care more about footprint than weight?

That's you. I believe thickness and weight are the top two factors. You're the one talking about "footprint" by which you clearly mean "width".

You just made that bold statement with no data support? extremely small fraction? please, discussion need to be honest.

"Discussion need to be" coherent and in English.

It's simple, really. Thickness and weight are the factors discussed in the text of reviews of ultraportables (i.e. notebooks under 4 pounds according to Sony, Dell, and CNet). Many reviews don't even list footprint dimensions. Further, a 12" ultraportable doesn't compete with another based on its width--I've never heard anyone say "I'm buying the Fujitsu instead of the Sony because it is 0.4" narrower"--once people decide to buy an ultraportable (11-13" screens) or a UMPC (~10" and under), there's absolutely no empirical reason to believe that width is more important than either thickness or weight.

Lots of people choose the Sony because it's thinner or the Fujitsu because it's lighter. Quibbling over a half inch of width wouldn't come into play unless thickness and weight were inconclusive.

 

[clevin]

i believe i made my point, you can put out whatever you wanna say. It won't change the fact the MBA, if you have to call it "ultraportable", has largest footprint than most, if not all, Ultraportables.

in case you forget, this is what you said

Thickness and weight are the key concerns--people who can't deal with a 13" notebook's footprint are an extreme minority of ultraportable users, themselves already a minority

and I simply repeat, above statement of yours is baseless. I do NOT guess what other people think, you can express your "guess" as well, but please don't throw it out as a fact.

 

[GfPQqmcRKUvP]

What is with all the arguing in here?

The EEEPC and the MBA aren't comparable. The MBA blows it away spec-wise, and thus blows it away price-wise. Look at the computers the MBA competes with, IT IS COMPETITIVELY PRICED. The Asus is going after a different type of consumer, someone who wants to sacrifice a LOT of power for a cheaper price. I'm not knocking it, but just get it straight guys....

Re-read.

 

[matticus008]

and I simply repeat, above statement of yours is baseless. I do NOT guess what other people think, you can express your "guess" as well, but please don't throw it out as a fact.

There's nothing baseless about it. Reviews don't talk about it, shoppers don't measure it--even on overzealous Internet forums, I've never seen threads fighting over the "least wide" machine (but plenty on the thinnest and/or lightest). It's never even entered into consideration that one machine might be 12" wide and another 11.5" and a third 12.5"--the number of people who would go for the narrowest machine before looking for the thinnest and lightest in a given category is pretty clearly quite small.

I've never, in all my years, met anyone who was shopping for a small notebook and prioritized width over thickness and weight. It defies common sense, it defies buying trends, it defies marketing.

If you're taking a position that millions of dollars in advertising and hundreds of professional reviews are somehow neglecting a factor important to lots of customers, that is where I'd like to see some data. In the interim, I'm comfortable siding with personal experience, professional reporting, and marketing dollars.

 

[LethalWolfe]

try remove all the apps, libraries developed under linux, see what do you have left with OSX. forget handbrake, isquint, perian, vlc, gimp, neooffice, forget cups, for example...

Well, yer pretty much left w/OSX. Last time I checked handbrake, isquint, and neooffice weren't required parts of the OS.


Lethal

 

[clevin]

Well, yer pretty much left w/OSX. Last time I checked handbrake, isquint, and neooffice weren't required parts of the OS.
Lethal

of course, VLC, Perian as well. enjoy your mac w/o them.

maybe Im ignorant about the cores of OSX, but im sure you at least heard about apple borrowing majority codes from OSS. Did u? now try remove those. and think again.

 

[LethalWolfe]

of course, VLC, Perian as well. enjoy your mac w/o them.

maybe Im ignorant about the cores of OSX, but im sure you at least heard about apple borrowing majority codes from OSS. Did u? now try remove those. and think again.

My point was that listing a handful of 3rd party apps is not the best way to illustrate your position that OSX itself would be a POS if Linux never existed.


Lethal

 

[Foxglove9]

I am definitely considering getting one of these now since Apple hasn't delivered something in this size. I'd kinda like to try it out first, but it doesn't seem like the big chains carry it.

 

[LethalWolfe]

I am definitely considering getting one of these now since Apple hasn't delivered something in this size. I'd kinda like to try it out first, but it doesn't seem like the big chains carry it.

I'd like to try one out first hand too. I don't have $3-400 just to drop on a gadget and I rarely use non-Mac machines at home or work so I feel like after the novelty wore off the thing would just collect dust 'cause it wouldn't integrate well w/the rest of my computing "lifestyle."


Lethal