why cant air achieve this

How's the price? Is it treating you as nicely the air does?

 

That's quite a computer. I would remove Windows and put Ubuntu on it in a second.

1920x1080 on a 13" screen? That's gonna suck under Windows. I have a 15" laptop with 1920x1200 resolution, and it's too small.

 

It skimps elsewhere, such as the use of a hybrid HDD rather than a full SSD.

It's also a bit thicker and heavier, and gets worse battery life than the 13" Air or the higher-end ASUS Zenbook UX31E.

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/ultrabook/asus_zenbook_prime_ux32vd-db71-review.aspx

 

I actually like the Asus Ultrabooks looks for a Windows computer and would consider one if I had to use one

I would be interested in seeing real life battery performance though

 

I've been looking into this as it hasn't been released yet, but it does not come with an SSD. If this was priced closer to $1K in that configuration or if it came with an SSD standard for the proce of $1300, it would be a worthy contender to the MBA.

 

Yes, I saw the old versions at the Microsoft store and they looked pretty good. The Samsung Series 9 looked the best, though. Price no object, that would be the Windows Ultrabook I'd recommend.

 

At 150% DPI, the text seemed fine on the Sony Vaio Z I was playing around with a month ago.

 

It's possible, but at the expense of battery life (note that the ASUS uses the 1.7GHz i5, as well), thickness, and weight. Perhaps Apple doesn't want to make those compromises. Remember also that the hybrid drive ASUS uses is cheaper than the all-flash storage of the higher end Zenbook and Air.

 

The X1 coming from Lenovo next month could be interesting.

 

apple isnt even putting in a gpu in the 13" pro when they have done so in the past. yet they still call it a pro.. i just dont see why they are cutting on the graphics when it should be possible to do. at least make it an option for people who are willing to spend the $ on it.

and i dont play games. graphics cards are very useful for creative professionals.

 

the 13 has never had a dedicated gpu

 

not bad at all, but it has an hybrid HD and not SSD, and also a slower i7, 2ghz on mba vs 1.7ghz, so that might be where they got the TDP out to be able to use a dedicated video card.

it's also quite a lot less tapered, so it's not as thin. the Air starts to taper almost immediately whilst this one seems to taper only at the very end to be able to claim it's very thin. seems like it has 40% more volume than the air.

from what i've read on notebookcheck it also runs hotter than the air when pushed (full load, games, etc)

 

Interesting. Looking into it, though, it is very similar to the 1.8GHz i5 that the base 13" MacBook Air uses.

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/93...-3427U_vs_Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-3517UE.html

The i7 has 1MB more of cache, but the i5 has a 100MHz higher base speed. The turbo speeds are identical, so likely they will perform very similarly.

 

You're correct, I'm thinking of the days when the 13" had integrated Nvidia 9400 and the 320m chips. Then the next version of the pro had a HUGE downgrade in graphics when they went to intels integrated chip.

Anyway, if they can fit a gpu in that Air knockoff, they should be able to fit it in the 13" pro.

 

For that price it would blow the MBA out of the water, actually. The UX31a is the worthy contender that doesnt have dGPU just like the MBA doesn't.