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Ultrabook Manufacturers Limiting Initial Shipments in Face of MacBook Air Popularity
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Well, it's definitely PR spin. What isn't?
But on the chain....Why not? That would really be a strange reason. If nothing else, if Sony expected more subnotebooks to sell, they could simply reduce the number of "regular" notebooks and increase the smaller ones. If this was the problem.
As I hinted above, these types of computers have usually had a higher margin, so it would make sense for any particular company to favor them over their more traditional designs.
I think pretty much everyone knows Apple didn't invent the thin notebook.
Also, that Sony is a very nice computer in a lot of ways but costs a lot more than a MBA.
I got the 11 inch i7 256GB model. I'd say 256GB is a pretty good size
Of course, I can appreciate huge hard drive sizes. I took the DVD drive out of my 15 inch Macbook Pro and put in two 1TB hard drives. I put my entire video collection on it and now I have a portable video station
Cause Apple created an artificial point, otherwise they'd gladly charge whatever they could, saying, "it costs more to build things tinier". Which is true, but they seem to up the price more, anyway. I could be wrong about the margins and it could be changing, but I think the comment is historically accurate.
Personally, I was amazed when the first $1000 Air came out. The very first Air was what, $1700?
I want that Asus UX21
But I will wait for Ivy Bridge.
I think a lot of people are waiting for Ivy Bridge too.
Even New Air buyers
But I will wait for Ivy Bridge.
I think a lot of people are waiting for Ivy Bridge too.
Even New Air buyers
Yeah, why bother?! Let Big Brother be the only choice. While were at it, lets all vote communist in the next elections.
Good call.
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It's interesting that just by looking at the picture it is soooo obvious which one is the MBA... such a clean design, beautiful!
It's interesting that just by looking at the picture it is soooo obvious which one is the MBA... such a clean design, beautiful!
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Good idea, vote Communist!
wikus said:
Yeah, why bother?! Let Big Brother be the only choice. While were at it, lets all vote communist in the next elections.
Good call.
Good idea, vote Communist!
Toshiba's are not magical, just Macs. You must be having a bad day, you really want a MBA but just don't realize it yet. Give it a day or two and you will.
If they all go out of business, Apple will become even more Apple-like. More control, more dominating, and the most important thing to us consumers, more profits.
The MBA is a work of art and an excellent performer now that it has Sandy Bridge. I can only image the improvement when the Ivy Bridge models are released.
Plus the Asus has a keyboard and an lcd too and it's rectangular shaped, just like the MBA. Asus is a copycat.
I did notice on the toshiba one it was thin and had ethernet still and USB 3.0 of course because
"Thunderbolt not taking off at this time. Limited support from manufacturers at this point."
Of course it may be 3cm thicker which absolutely ruins it. You are supposed to go over PC's with a magnifying glass and do that hand thing where it looks like you are making a movie screen. Not really knowing that its the logo and it wouldnt matter in the first place.
I thumbs downed myself to get the jump on the bunch
Ethernet and USB 3 are bad. Until Apple includes them, then they will be good.
Finally, someone who gets it. Choice is bad. People are not capable of making choices. Apple takes this dilemma away from us by making the choices for us. Heaven forbid we had to think for ourselves.
Why would you want prices to go down?
The higher the prices, the more profit that Apple makes. That is what is truly important. I invented the word Appleonian and it is NOT dumb. And it isn't used in defense.
Competition is bad. Apple is good. Whatever they produce is all we need or want, even if we don't need it or want it.
Applejacks?
But it's not Apple aluminum. End of story.
But how can it go over their heads? I thought Apple users were way more intelligent than regular people?
Not it's not. Apple knows best. No sense having other companies around to confuse people.
Steve personally invented the thin notebook. Just ask him.
You do NOT want an Asus. You want an Ivy Bridge MBA running Windows 8.
After much effort at avoidance, at long last I had to plunge into Win7. Within minutes it was pestering me with a continuing stream of "The website you're on wants to open a website you trust. Are you sure?" Wait, what? No obvious way to shut it up; why yes I'd like to go from page X to page Y - that's why I'm on page X and clicked on page Y! now do it already! My word Win7 is gonna suck...ok, I grok that some viable security attacks happen thru such paths, but that's like building a car which, upon turning the key every time, asks you "by driving this car you might die in a fiery wreck - are you sure?" or "by turning the wheel, you may swerve into oncoming traffic and die - are you sure?" GAH! rant over.
I'm sure ARM and partners have the ability to think past the next 24 hours.
ARM probably already has equipment that will blaze through "real" desktop software with ease. Apple's already on it.
Windows hasn't and won't change fundamentally. Because the people who initially made it into the mess that is is today are still there, and one of them is now running the whole show.
Yes, I remember those Sony's. The nice thing was their form factor. The bad thing was the price and the specs. This Vaio had a 1.1GHz ULV Pentium M running off a 400 MHz bus. 512MB DDR RAM which was not expandable. Video was a Intel 855GM integrated chipset driving a 10.6" 1024x768 screen. Storage was a 1.8 inch hard drive. No integrated WiFi. Ethernet dongle. Two hour battery. $3,700.
LOL.
I agree, but by the time Microsoft gets their horse out of the barn Apple will so completely own the slate/tablet market by virtue of its product base in enterprise and education that no one will care that a Windoze version is available, especially since they will need to upgrade all their software to be touch aware and optimized for a touch interface.
In addition, the Apple iCloud will make syncing between their old PC dinosaurs and the iPad/iPhone so seamless that a Windoze slate/tablet doesn't have anything to offer. It can't/won't run any legacy programs, and many companies will have already made their needed custom apps for the iPad/iPhone. Life has moved on and MS will arrive at the prom when the janitors are cleaning up.
...and I haven't even gotten started on the Apple ecosystem that will only get more encompassing by the time Ballmer reprises his monkey dance.
Which New Air buyers?
The Average User thinks "Ivy Bridge" is a a place over a river somewhere. Which it actually is. The last thing they understand or even care to know are processor code names and how an upcoming one will affect their purchase. When they have the $$ for a Mac and are ready, they'll get one.
Most Air buyers, as you will see, are the same folks who make up the majority of the Mac market: average users. The only distinction you'll probably see with any clarity is income brackets, and maybe age.
I think that the Toshiba one is actually ugly, but its specs aren't too bad.
Now the Samsung - that is nice. It's sad they have to steal their ideas from Apple (i.e. direct rip-off of multi-touch track pad and keyboard), but they did design a nice looking piece of hardware there. The style looks fantastic. I would definitely check it out...
The Samsung Series 9 is attractive for sure, but under-spec and more expensive than the Air. Its screen resolution is quite a bit less, has a smaller SSD, lacks Thunderbolt & MagSafe power connector and runs Windows (of course). It is a tiny bit thinner at its thickest point, but comes nowhere near the taper point of .11 inch that the Air does.
Since the Air also has the advantage of MacOS X plus the ability to run Windows like any PC, why would anyone choose the Sammy with those limitations and a higher price? Sure does look good though.
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/laptops/NP900X3A-A03US
First: To each his own. I actually do not find the MBA design that attractive. Especially not the black border-thing on the bezel.
Second: You do know that the the aluminium/black look has existed in laptops for like, ten years - right? As for the track-pad, ill respond in Apple-fan fashion: Why didnt Apple patent it? Dont tell me? They didnt invent it? Ouch...
Third: I think id take windows over osx pretty much everyday, if the choice was only up to me (which it really isnt).
Fourth: When you say: "Ability to run windows like any pc" you're factoring in the cost of buying a windows license, right? Also, out of curiosity - cant pc's run osx nowadays anyway?
Fifth: people were talking about design, not speccs or price. these are, of course, interesting from a consumer point of view, but not the object for discussion.
/D.
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+1
nice try
Nice try. The Vaio Z is more comparable to a MacBook Pro than the Air. And it's $3k.
Nice try. The Vaio Z is more comparable to a MacBook Pro than the Air. And it's $3k.
Yeah, Sony has made good-looking laptops for a long time, but, like you pointed out, their specs usually sucked air in one way or another. They further complicated things with horrible meaningless product names. The VAIO VGN-X505VP was one good example. No way could a potential customer wrap their mind around such a name. What happened to a company that once named their product a "Walkman" and people could ask for it by name?
I don't think Apple took a long time to match the Sony form factor, they just didn't want to make a portable computer that needed to be plugged in for most of the time it was being used. The original MBA met the desired form factor, but at a high cost and limited performance. By now, it has grown into being at an excellent price-point with much better specifications, while even shrinking more.
It's no wonder that the competitors are struggling to match Apple's form factor, specs, and price. Apple didn't get there overnight either. Playing catch up is a b*tch.