This is for Windows users. Apple fans beware!!! (yes it's relevant to MBAs)

[ybz90]

I recently found a nice little macbook air substitute.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...ory-id=96EBC6A8C8EC47A59E95B3D5E300F333&tab=1

It's also available from amazon for $485 with free shipping and no tax: http://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-X120...LTA8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315266221&sr=8-1

I have been searching high and low for a good deal on a MBA when I finally gave up. I will shortly order one of these (open box) from another website for $385 shipped. For significantly less than the cost of a macbook air, I think this fills the same spot quite nicely. It comes with a dual-core AMD E-350 processor, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB HDD. It can also be easily upgraded to a max of 8GB RAM for about $50. (which I intend to do) Also, I personally love the famous durability of Lenovo, as well as the overall look of their Thinkpad laptops.

I have seen people play games like Modern Warfare 2, Team Fortress 2, Left for Dead 2, Portal, and Minecraft on this computer, and it handles the games very well. (with 4GB RAM)

So my point here is this: for someone who is fine with windows, this is a much cheaper, more practical option. Sure, you lose the sexy look of an apple computer, but I think spending twice as much for that is rather silly. I know there are other factors for why people buy a macbook air, but for half the price...look what you can get!!

I'm not trying to criticize the MBA here; just pointing out other options for the benefit of others.

I'd be glad to hear some other people's opinions on this, especially those of you who are dual-booting to OS X and win7.

This is NOT relevant to MacBook Airs, or this forum even.

And trust me, I used to have both the x100e and the x120e. Neither are even remotely comparable... I would describe them as grown up netbooks -- perfectly capable low-end ultraportables, but not in the class of the Macbook Air or the upcoming ultrabooks.

Criticize you may against any of the Apple products for their prices EXCEPT for the MacBook Air. It is the one device that PC OEMs cannot match in any category, not design, build quality, performance, OR price.

 

[3dflyboy1]

Sounds like a flaming turd /High 5 - it'sa Niceh!

I'm likea you - I like sexeh!

Enjoy and post a review!

That probably wouldn't be appreciated my most of the people here.

This is NOT relevant to MacBook Airs, or this forum even.

I think it's very related. I guess it's all how you look at it.

Criticize you may against any of the Apple products for their prices EXCEPT for the MacBook Air. It is the one device that PC OEMs cannot match in any category, not design, build quality, performance, OR price.

For the record, I didn't once criticize any apple product. In fact, I complimented the macbook air several times.

 

[coldmack]

You know in Europe and other parts of the world they make a version of this same exact model with the *cringes* intel i3 cpu and still windows is optional.

 

[Beanoir]

Lenovo do make very good strong laptops, I have one for work and it's far more bombproof than my MBA, however they are not really comparable in many other ways, and shouldn't be really considering the price differential...it's like comparing a £50k Porsche to a £25k Toyota Celica...

 

[alecgold]

Bottom line is that it isn't relevant to the MBA. And OP, you are either trolling or a bit daft.

If you want to spend 400-600 on a laptop, you're never going to look at a 999-1800 laptop.
Further more you're comparing an asthmatic processor to an i5 or i7 that's odd, an HDD to an SSD, full sized keyboard against a small keyboard, battery life that is double, super sleek design against a 1990's design (that I liked a lot at the time), metal housing against a plastic housing.
It is different on soooo many levels, I can't see it being an alternative in any way.
And I'm not saying this lenovo is bad, I think it is quite a good catch at this price point. But this whole thread has been about comparing my €20k station wagon against a €40k BMW. Totally different cars with totally different users, Apple's and pear etc. etc.

 

[chrono1081]

"trolling" would be if I posted a thread titled "MBA SUCKS!"

All I'm trying to do is suggest an alternative for MBA users who don't require quite so much processing power for light use. Please don't take this the wrong way.

No trolling is what this thread is you just put it under the guise of "suggesting an alternative for a MBA" when clearly no one asked. You haven't even attempted to come up with an adequate Windows machine for comparison.

Its posts like yours that bring this site down by trying to get people riled up and I wish the mods would take notice.

 

[minnus]

I disagree that this is a troll post. The OP brings a very fair point. You also have to recall the age of this machine. Compare this machine to the last generation of MBA, and you will quickly see that this machine rivals it quite well.

This really was a good alternative in terms of performance, size, and most importantly, price.

I own both. I think the x120e is a great alternative to those looking for a similar 'form factor' experience at a fraction of the cost. Of course the Air is better - but the x120e is not to be laughed at either. This thread is really for people who have not yet purchased an Air - just thinking about it. If you already own it, well, price was obviously not an issue for you.

 

[TheUndertow]

That probably wouldn't be appreciated my most of the people here.

It's not, I'm joking and totally!

----------

I disagree that this is a troll post. The OP brings a very fair point. You also have to recall the age of this machine. Compare this machine to the last generation of MBA, and you will quickly see that this machine rivals it quite well.

This really was a good alternative in terms of performance, size, and most importantly, price.

I own both. I think the x120e is a great alternative to those looking for a similar 'form factor' experience at a fraction of the cost. Of course the Air is better - but the x120e is not to be laughed at either. This thread is really for people who have not yet purchased an Air - just thinking about it. If you already own it, well, price was obviously not an issue for you.

It's just no where near an "Apples to apples" comparison that it's being made out to be. The Air is a more premium machine and costs more...why this Leveno is being compared and "Apple fans beware" is what I'm trying to understand and what is bringing out my inner Borat.

 

[coldmack]

You know the keyboard is pretty much full size on the Lenovo, and then there is those silly Wind'ohs fans that talk about how that nub is where it's at, shameful. What you fail to realize is the fact that the i5 or i7 in the MBA isn't much better(they both can do HD but barely when you really think about it). Then when you look at the stats the gpu on this is ever so slightly better than the MBA(wouldn't have happened if they were using ARM or PPC architecture). Plus again in Europe there is an even more cursed model with a full voltage i3 and I am sure i5 option.

 

[minnus]

It's just no where near an "Apples to apples" comparison that it's being made out to be. The Air is a more premium machine and costs more...why this Leveno is being compared and "Apple fans beware" is what I'm trying to understand and what is bringing out my inner Borat.

You haven't done your homework. Take the specs from the last Macbook Air and compare them to the x120e.

Now, upgrade the x120e with an SSD and additional RAM with off the shelf components. You know have a Windows version of an MBA that has an SSD, 8GB of RAM, 3-5 hours of battery life (depending on the battery size). Of course, a very literal trade off is that while the machine I just describe cost $500 (yes, SSD and RAM included), it weighs anywhere from .5 - 1LB more than the 11" MBA.

Given this, I think it is a very reasonable ALTERNATIVE to the MBA. Do you want to pay double to shave .5 - 1 LB? For some, yes, for others, no. At 3 LB, this machine is still very light and only slightly heavier in the overall scheme of things.

Btw, my Air is off and I am typing this on my x120e. I actually like the keyboard on the x120e better. If only it was backlit as well...though, I'm a touch typist anyways.

 

[kettybear]

I just bought the 2011 13" macbook air because of one thing--unibody one piece design with no moving parts (not considering the fan) and a decent sized screen (no dinky 10"/11" screens here). Sure there are other ultra portables out there, sure there are ones with better specs, but no other computer is made of one piece of metal and no moving parts. I really hate the pliable feel of plastic computers and the sound of internal drives/disks clinking when moved. It just feels so unsettling like the whole thing's going to crack or die on me. I'm saying this coming from a plasticky HP laptop. At one point, the bezel on my laptop MELTED because I put it too close under an incandescent lamp.

However, the software on the MBA is a different story. Being a long time Windows user and a big fan of 7 (since Beta), I really dislike OS X Lion for it's idiosyncratic features. Windows 7 is a solid operating system.

----------

You haven't done your homework. Take the specs from the last Macbook Air and compare them to the x120e.

Now, upgrade the x120e with an SSD and additional RAM with off the shelf components. You know have a Windows version of an MBA that has an SSD, 8GB of RAM, 3-5 hours of battery life (depending on the battery size). Of course, a very literal trade off is that while the machine I just describe cost $500 (yes, SSD and RAM included), it weighs anywhere from .5 - 1LB more than the 11" MBA.

Given this, I think it is a very reasonable ALTERNATIVE to the MBA. Do you want to pay double to shave .5 - 1 LB? For some, yes, for others, no. At 3 LB, this machine is still very light and only slightly heavier in the overall scheme of things.

Btw, my Air is off and I am typing this on my x120e. I actually like the keyboard on the x120e better. If only it was backlit as well...though, I'm a touch typist anyways.

Now that you mention it, I do believe the OP's laptop is a very reasonable alternative to the 11" MBA since I consider the 11" MBA a netbook due to the screen size. I can't do any serious work with that small screen at the 1366 by 768 resolution. However, I don't think any computer has the edge over the 13" MBA based on the reasons I posted above.

 

[Shadoobie]

The Lenovo looks like a great low-cost alternative to the MBA if you're looking for a capable laptop in a small package. I like my MBA, but I bought it so I could run VMWare Fusion and Windows 7 Ultimate. I want 8GB of RAM, but alas, no go. Of course, the fanboys will defend Apple's RAM limitation, too. I travel for work, so power and portability are critical.

I don't *need* OS X, but I do like having it. I *need* Windows for work. With my maxed 11" MBA, I can come close to having it all. (I could really have it all with another 4GB of RAM.)


I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

This thread is absolute proof why people love Apple products and hate Apple users.

The original post was not a troll. He even warned Apple fanboys in the title.

 

[ybz90]

For the record, I didn't once criticize any apple product. In fact, I complimented the macbook air several times.

Read my post again -- I said "criticize you may against any apple product ... for their prices". I'm referring to prices, and your entire post is that the MacBook Air is pricey compared to computers like this Lenovo.

I argue instead that this is untrue. My Lotus Elise will be more expensive than my Toyota Camry, but they're in disparate classes. If you look at the nascent ultrabook market, the MacBook Air rules in all categories INCLUDING price. It is nonsensical to compare non-ultrabooks and computers from other mature markets to the inchoate one in which the Air (and computers like the Samsung Series 9, etc reside).

 

[surjavarman]

Actually the OP is quite close. But the true competitor is the x220.

You can get one with an IPS screen and an i7 CPU (standard voltage) for around $800. It can dual wield a ssd and a hdd at the same time. A 256gb msata ssd + 1tb scorpio blue + 8 gigs of ram + ips screen + core i7 is still probably cheaper than a 256gb MBA13. It has more usb ports and they are on both sides, fingerprint reader, has a higher resolution screen and higher pixel density, 3g, more than 1.5x more battery life.

Notice that you can actually get one with an IPS screen. I almost went for the x220 myself but in the end I bought the macbook because it was made out of aluminum and that agrees with my new philosophy.

No need to look at the ultraportables like the samsung 9 and 7 series. The thinkpad X2xx series has always reigned supreme in this segment.

 

[scarred]

This thread is absolute proof why people love Apple products and hate Apple users.

The original post was not a troll. He even warned Apple fanboys in the title.

Give me a break. First, I'm barely an apple user. I run Windows all day, program on Windows all day, play games on Windows. I just bought this Macbook Air a couple months ago. So if you think I'm delusional because I own a single Mac, you are clueless.

Second, this post is on a Apple Fan site. Title screams troll with "Apple fans beware!!!". Then he posts about a netbook and goes on to say how it is an alternative to the air. Most of us have the Air because there is nothing else out there at the moment that competes. A few posts in he corrects himself and says this is an alternative for those who don't need the performance, weight or thinness of an Air. Gee thanks... like we didn't know heavier slower and cheaper machines existed?? That is why this thread is marked as a troll.

 

[2IS]

Except that most Air users will never max out their CPU... I'd wager that many Air users would rather a descent CPU and a descent GPU instead of a great CPU and a sucky GPU.

Whats your defination of "many?" I wager than a SB CPU is more beneficial to most MBA users than AMD fusion.

 

[orfeas0]

but reviews on amazon say that people have upgraded it to 8GB...



The macbook air sure is a powerhouse, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't use it for very labor-intensive tasks. I think Lenovo has accurately hit that spot between netbook and full-fledged laptop.

Erm, no, apple did that with their macbook air.
The lenovo you showed has no SSD and has a crappy processor (compared to sandy bridge i5-i7).
It has no more power than a netbook (exept the ram, but still...).

crappy cpu + HDD (instead of ssd) = sucky pc.

 

[Goratrix]

The lenovo you showed has no SSD and has a crappy processor (compared to sandy bridge i5-i7).
It has no more power than a netbook (exept the ram, but still...).

crappy cpu + HDD (instead of ssd) = sucky pc.

And what about the one that I posted?

Core i3-2357
4 GB RAM (upgradable to 8 GB)
3xUSB, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, Card Reader
optional 3G module
Matte screen 11.6"
320 GB HDD (at 7200 rpm, which makes quite a difference in real use to the 5400 apple users are used to)
8-9 hours battery life
smaller footprint than the Air, somewhat thicker, 500 grams heavier

630 euro

 

[orfeas0]

And what about the one that I posted?

Core i3-2357
4 GB RAM (upgradable to 8 GB)
3xUSB, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, Card Reader
optional 3G module
Matte screen 11.6"
320 GB HDD (at 7200 rpm, which makes quite a difference in real use to the 5400 apple users are used to)
8-9 hours battery life
smaller footprint than the Air, somewhat thicker, 500 grams heavier

630 euro

cheaper than the air, but core i3 and no ssd.
Good battery life (if it's really 8-9, cause i've never seen a windows laptop reach its advertised battery life).
Then again, I think the i5-SSD+OSX lion are worth the money difference.

 

[KnightWRX]

No trolling is what this thread is you just put it under the guise of "suggesting an alternative for a MBA" when clearly no one asked. You haven't even attempted to come up with an adequate Windows machine for comparison.

Chill. The guy thought he was posting an alternative to a MBA at a cheaper price point. No one asks anyone to post here, last I checked, anyone is free to start any threads they like as long as they are on-topic.

Now, we've pointed out why this laptop is not a MBA competitor, the OP understands it, what's the problem ?

Not everyone knows that AMD's Fusion line-up are not full powered processors, they don't quite understand the nuance between Sandy Bridge class and Atom class processors, etc.. Once explained, any reasonable poster can understand that the suggested Lenovo is not competition to the MBA and that their more approprietaly specced offerings are quite similar in price to the MBA.

Not being a tech junky doesn't make you a troll nor was your comment fair to the OP.

 

[Goratrix]

if it's really 8-9, cause i've never seen a windows laptop reach its advertised battery life).

Yes, it is. I'm using it at 2/3 brightness, wifi and bluetooth on, and getting around 7.5 hours. No doubt that with less brightness, bluetooth off, and a power-saving plan, I would get more. And if I find out I need an SSD, I can put it in myself, it takes about 2 minutes.

 

[Shadoobie]

Give me a break. First, I'm barely an apple user.

Then you should measure your words.

Second, this post is on a Apple Fan site. Title screams troll with "Apple fans beware!!!".

Being an Apple fan doesn't mean being a fanboy to the exclusion of everything that isn't Apple.

This thread is legitimate, and there are reasoned responses within. The Lenovo is roughly half the cost of the MBA Air in a smallish package with decent performance for most things the average user might need. Is it an MBA replacement? No. An alternative? Yes. Without question. The MacBook Air is now the entry point for Apple laptops. This would be aimed at who?

 

[annk]

This thread has been closed due to off-topic bickering and insults.

I'd like to remind everyone that it's perfectly ok to discuss competing products, as long as they're in the most closely-related forum.