Why all the comparisons?

First of all, let me say that I completely agree that the Air is in a class of it's own. However, for me the reason for that is down to it's style and slim form factor. Remember that it does have compromises.

Whilst the Air is clearly well suited to your personal requirements, it won't suit everyone's. There are plenty of people out there who simply won't consider the Air. There are plenty of people for whom the Air is the obvious, or even perhaps the ONLY choice.

However, I would suggest that there are far more people out there who just haven't made up their minds yet. For those people, the comparison threads are a valuable resource for seeing what else is on the market which may suit their personal needs and requirements.

It's also a natural instinct to see what else is available. This is in part to draw objective conclusions, and in part to satisfy oneself that the Air is in fact the right choice.

For the record, I bought an Air the moment I laid eyes on it. It suits my requirements 90% of the time. For the remainder, I can work around the compromises.

But, I'm still interested in seeing comparisons.

Just my humble opinion.

 

it's human nature..
we always compare..

 

Yeah, comparison is something humans do.

My feeling about the MBA ultimately boils down to this: If you have to ask if it's the right notebook for you... it probably isn't. I knew just from reading the specs that it would be a much better notebook for me than my MBP... and so far, I've found nothing whatsoever to change that opinion.

And in case you doubt me, bear in mind that Apple Store employees have been specifically instructed to be very, very careful about who they sell an MBA to. They're supposed to err on the side of caution every time and make sure the customer understands everything, because the last thing they want is for a customer to get their MBA home and then be ticked off at Apple because of the lack of built-in optical drive, lack of superfluous USB ports, lack of FireWire, limited hard drive space (compared to MBs and MBPs), etc. More than any other notebook Apple (or probably anyone else) makes, the MBA is a precision instrument: It lives at the far-right end of the Bell Curve.

 

It's a pretty dead-on comparison with the Lenovo X300. They're very close in size and weight (fractions of an inch and tenths of a pound, depending on the model) and very close in price (when comparing the X300 to the SSD MBA).

Obviously, if you decide that they need to both have OS X to be comparable, then nothing is (unless you decide to Hackintosh it, which is an activity of questionable legality).

 

The first time that I saw the MBA at my local Apple store, I played with it, asked a few questions of the sales associate standing at the table, hugged the MBA and left the store knowing I'd be back when they had them actually in stock for purchase. A week later, I went in there and announced to the sales associate who had immediately approached me and offered his assistance that I wanted an MBA, the SSD model, plus the external drive and the ethernet dongle. He seemed a bit surprised -- I think because I hadn't even gone near the MBA table, hadn't asked any questions, had just stated what I wanted. While waiting for my MBA to come out to me from the back room, I looked over at the table where they were displayed and saw several people there, including a sales associate......

Right, the MBA is not for everyone, and I think Apple realizes this. Those who are in an Apple store who have the opportunity to touch and play with all the various models are definitely at an advantage as compared to those who cannot physically see and touch a machine until it arrives on their doorstep from the Apple.com site.

For me, the MBA fulfills a specific purpose and need, and I have other Macs in the household which will fulfill any needs that the MBA cannot.... I left the Windows world a couple of years ago and there is no way that I'm ever going back there, so comparisons between the MBA and any new machine that runs Windows are just not of interest to me. But that's just me.... and for others it may well be significant to see and analyze/compare the differences between various computers, whether it be the MBA vs the MB or MBP or the MBA vs some machine which runs Windows. Differences make the world go 'round......

 

You certainly have a point, but - regardless of personal preference - computers with Windows and OS X have similar capabilities, so I think, generally, it's fair to compare them.

Leopard has its appeal, but I honestly don't think it's so much better than Vista to make comparisons invalid. My desktop has Vista, and I can't honestly say it's given me any grief other than some compatibility issues with a 6 year old printer/scanner I have (sometimes it recognizes the printer, sometimes it doesn't..).

 

I think unless Apple fails miserably, I would not pick up any notebook that does not have Leopard on it. So the question is moot in my case, but of course that is for me personally. And I agree that comparison is very important in driving the market and technology forward.

 

I like to know what I get for my money. As has been mentioned, the differences between Vista and Leopard are pretty negligible for the average user so it really comes down to what you're more comfortable with.

For me, if I was looking for a lightweight laptop, I would go for the Dell XPS M1330 at the moment because it's less than 4lb, has up to a 2.6GHz Penryn and the option of an SSD. But people differ which is great - imagine how boring it would be if we all liked the same things.

 

I have three laptops, one with XP, one with Vista and a new Air with Leopard. I hate Vista and much prefer Leopard, despite the learning curve and unfamiliarity with it. JMO

 

Always remember that it is YOUR money and YOUR computer that YOU are going to use. So you should read the comparisons but at the end of the day, it is your computer.