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What is the most MacBook Air-like Windows machine?

stchman said:
My biggest problem with the Zenbook Prime is Asus does not even offer an 8GB configuration.
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I don't think I have seen any 13" ultrabook with 8 GB RAM beside MBA at all. It also appears most Windows ultrabooks seem to use a slighty less speced CPU with a tad lower frequency, a tad lower GPU bandwidth an no HW support for virtualization. But on the other hand, few of the ultraboos like the Samsung have stunning displays.

All in all I was also tempted by a Windows ultrabook back in July, but looking under the hood I concluded I got more bucket for the money buying an MBA.
 
tekno said:
And with Apple always talking about the post-PC era and not updating their desktop Mac line, I think the time has come for me to start looking elsewhere for my next laptop.
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Why do you care what they've done with their desktop line when you're shopping for a notebook? If I'm car shopping, I don't care what anyone's doing with their trucks.
 
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I have a samsung series 9. got it yesterday. its a nice laptop, I have owned a 2010 and 2011 air. The air is nicer, the battery life and screen on the samsung are better, it is thinner and lighter which is nice also, however the biggest issue that I have is the trackpad on the samsung is too sensitive to taps and there is no way to change it. It constantly highlights text when trying to move the cursor (thinks it should be drag locking instead of just moving) and then you try to scroll with two fingers it constantly is bringing up the right click menu. I don't know why they haven't updated the driver on it because other than that it is a descent computer. I will be returning it and buying a refurb air because it was $949 and for that price I know that a refurb 2011 air will work perfectly (although I may spring for the 2012 instead to get 8gb ram, too bad none of those are on the refurb store)
 
newdeal said:
I have a samsung series 9. got it yesterday. its a nice laptop, I have owned a 2010 and 2011 air. The air is nicer, the battery life and screen on the samsung are better, it is thinner and lighter which is nice also, however the biggest issue that I have is the trackpad on the samsung is too sensitive to taps and there is no way to change it. It constantly highlights text when trying to move the cursor (thinks it should be drag locking instead of just moving) and then you try to scroll with two fingers it constantly is bringing up the right click menu. I don't know why they haven't updated the driver on it because other than that it is a descent computer. I will be returning it and buying a refurb air because it was $949 and for that price I know that a refurb 2011 air will work perfectly (although I may spring for the 2012 instead to get 8gb ram, too bad none of those are on the refurb store)
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The i7/8gb/256 13 MBA does show up quite often, but they are also snatch up pretty quickly, so you will have to keep an eye out for it.

It just shown up, if you quick you might get it in next few minute, i doubt it will last long:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0ND1LL/A/refurbished-macbook-air-20ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i7
 
gordon1hd1 said:
The i7/8gb/256 13 MBA does show up quite often, but they are also snatch up pretty quickly, so you will have to keep an eye out for it.

It just shown up, if you quick you might get it in next few minute, i doubt it will last long:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0ND1LL/A/refurbished-macbook-air-20ghz-dual-core-intel-core-i7
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I just went to snag that unit but it is a i7/8GB/512 which is too costly because of the 512 SSD cost....

[EDIT:] Mistake on my part as read the specs too quickly though I must admit that when I searched absent that specific link the described unit did not appear...strange to say the least
 
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Mrbobb said:
But are the Trackpad Windows drivers just as good as for OSX?
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Yes.

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The best MacBook Air-like Windows machine is a MacBook Air running Windows. Unlike other PCs, high-end ultrabooks tend to be similar in price to Macs, while often being less or similarly powerful. In my opinion, while other ultrabooks may exceed in some areas, none of them deliver the overall package that the Air does. I run Windows 7 as the primary OS on my Air and I couldn't be happier.
 
Mrbobb said:
The grapevine says the i7 fan comes on sooner, so if golden silence is more important perhaps an i5 is good enuff. This can always be tweaked of course if u got the patience.
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Interestingly i never seem an i5/8GB/256GB 13 configuration, or for that matter 11 configuration. Must not have that many people order i5 with ram and ssd upgrades.

For the most part my fan doesn't become audible until about 4000 rpm, and for most of day to day activity, it doesn't go above that speed. However i do see my cpu temperature spike above 100c often. I am guessing Apple is prioritizing battery life and fan noise over CPU thermal. Hopefully in the long run this won't lead to burned out CPUs

JoelBC said:
I just went to snag that unit but it is a i7/8GB/512 which is too costly because of the 512 SSD cost....
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JoelBC, are you sure you looking at the same link i am, it took me to the 13 i7/8GB/256GB page. Although looks like someone already grab it now. OOS again.
 
gordon1hd1 said:
JoelBC, are you sure you looking at the same link i am, it took me to the 13 i7/8GB/256GB page. Although looks like someone already grab it now. OOS again.
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I have corrected / edit my post as the i) the posted link was indeed for the i7/8GB/256GB unit but when I went directly to the MBA 13" refurbished page which I have as a "favorites link" (as I do check throughout the day) the only June 2012 i7 I found was a 512GB unit hence my posting....so, as you suggest, someone scooped it rather quickly...
 
The Zenbook is almost an exact carbon copy of the Air, has a better sceen, and the trackpad is not bad. Never could figure out why Win trackpads in general were so bad. I guess the PC OEMs don't own the TP software stack, and don't have full control over its development.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrbobb
But are the Trackpad Windows drivers just as good as for OSX?

na1577 said:
Yes.

Not true. Trackpad in Bootcamp Windows is too quick and too sensitive and that is very irritating. There is a third party solution but even that does not come close to the trackpad experience on OSX.
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I don't know why the 1080p screen is even a selling feature it makes everything look so damn small it is practically unusable. As it is the 1600x900 on the series 9 makes things look pretty small (not unusable but I can't imagine any smaller)
 
calvol said:
The Zenbook is almost an exact carbon copy of the Air, has a better sceen, and the trackpad is not bad. Never could figure out why Win trackpads in general were so bad. I guess the PC OEMs don't own the TP software stack, and don't have full control over its development.
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Yeah its remarkable how bad Windows machines trackpads are. You'd think they could make that work a lot better.
 
mrsir2009 said:
I had a look on Amazon and it turns out it's dropped in price since I last checked. It's now $1,250 US or $1,500 NZ :)
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Right.

I had sticker shock, and went, why pay more for a Mac-wannabe, when the original article is cheaper! Apple made a good move of lowering the Air's price.
 
Mrbobb said:
Right.

I had sticker shock, and went, why pay more for a Mac-wannabe, when the original article is cheaper! Apple made a good move of lowering the Air's price.
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Yeah, for you U.S folks the MacBook Air is cheaper than the Samsung Series 9 by about $50 - And you get pretty much the exact same specs. i5 processor on both, 128GB SSD on both, 4GB RAM on both, Intel HD Integrated graphics on both... The ultrabook/netbook market is one place where Apple actually beats the Windows based competition be being cheaper! :D (Oh, and the smartphone & tablet market, but that's not computers).
 
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