I've been using a Dual core Atom Netbook as my portable computer for 3 years. 120GB SSD, 9 Cell Battery, 2GB RAM.
Total Price: $450.
Granted, not sexy looking at all. Not particularly thin.
Runs Windows 7 Ultimate like a champ. The only time the low processing power ever bothers me is when I'm unzipping large files.
It's cheap, made of plastic and plastered with stickers. I carry it in my man purse, and bounce it around with me pretty much everywhere I go. I've been doing that for years.
Everything is backed up to DropBox. It's so cheap as to be disposable. If it breaks, I don't care. I'll buy a new one. I have a full set of USB / Network, VGA ports, and I don't have to worry about buying extra dongles to connect things to a projector. The little brute has been stable as a rock. I can't remember a single crash in 3 years.
It has enough battery life for me to be able to Code from Barcelona to SFO on one charge, and I typically charge the little beast about once or twice a week.
Meanwhile, my main system is an Apple laptop which is not much older ... and my OS is now two versions out of date, since Apple stopped supporting it. The set of software I can run on it is becoming more and more limited, as more developers give up supporting my terribly antiquated operating system and hardware, and move on to the current thing.
This is the third time this has happened to me.
I don't care if PC makers can or cannot keep up with Apple. All I know is, this is my last Apple.
Why the MBA is better: faster CPU (meh), waaaay better screen (the 11" is the same resolution as the 13" MBP), big trackpad, nice keyboard, and nice speakers.
OK, it's also sexy, but who gives a toss?
And I've been unable to find a reasonably priced PC laptop with an SSD (when I last looked, the only Sony ones with SSD are the MacBook Air clones and the top-of-the-line business and gamer models), so that means swapping a hard drive. Most people don't swap hard drives in laptops.
I don't care about thinness and aluminium casing. I just care about the weight, battery, screen, keyboard, trackpad, and SSD. Apple is the only one that really delivered when I was looking, about 6 months ago.
If it was on a table next to an Air under a sign that said, "free computers" which one would you grab first?
Turns out $1,000 more isn't that much for a productivity tool these days; the dollar ain't what it used to be. Not to mention you'd probably get a much nicer screen and keyboard which helps a lot for coding.
That said, I'm still using my trusty Sony tr2a for trips just because of inertia and that it still works fine. But I won't pretend I wouldn't rather have an Air. ;)
I had almost the exact same setup, and ended up moving to a Macbook Air recently -- basically for a nice screen and a good trackpad. It's difficult to find decent screens in the sub-$500 price range.
Same, Asus EeePC 1000HE running Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04 like a champ. As responsive as a regular laptop for most things, and the heavy lifting I offload to AWS free tier. Everything redundantly backed up to Dropbox and SpiderOak. <3 it.
Having said that, I'll probably pick up 13" Macbook Pro or Air soon to start getting into iOS dev, and have to say I do look forward to running VMs locally again, even though AWS free tier obsoletes that now.
I recently bought a ThinkPad as my first laptop, but it's unfortunately got some technical issues (need to send it off for warranty). In the mean time I've been using my old ASUS Eee PC 1000HA, and I've really settled in. I'm surprised at how productive I am, despite the lack of horsepower.
Sorry, three years ago it was impossible to find dual core SSD based net books for that price... Care to tell us what model and where you bought this wonder of engineering in 2008? Something doesn't add up.
There used to be a saying about MS; that it took them three goes to get a product right
I was thinking about Apple products, and I think perhaps they deserve this now. Each new (1st gen) product from Apple is a bit short on features and a bit expensive, but they have commitment. 2nd gen is a decent product, and 3rd gen has typically been great. [Cases in point: iPhone, iPod, MacBook Air, Apple TV (3rd gen still to come)]
The difference (between Apple and HP et al) comes down to commitment to a product. Apple (like MS) gear them selves up for the long haul; they expect to spend lots and take years to achieve their vision. Other PC manufacturers (speaking very generally here) seem to have a bit of a half arsed shot at something and kill it if it doesn't fly.
I think you're speaking of the late 90's MS, they seem to have lost much of that edge.
Apple does something a bit different. It starts slow, getting the core features right and then builds on them. It doesn't pile on features, they are added slowly only as they mature.
Of course it also drives demand for several years, a very profitable formula.
The line is remarkably blurry. There's a modern breed of "multiaxis machine" which are capable of both milling and turning. Nobody really knows what to call them, I imagine because they have more in common with industrial robots than a traditional machine tool. Lathe is probably the wrong word for the type of machine in question, but milling machine isn't that much more accurate.
I can confirm that there is a global shortage of certain types of CNC machining capacity. CNC machining is much less common than you might imagine in volume production. It's an expensive process that designers are usually desperate to avoid. Apple raised the bar for fit and finish with the Unibody Macbook and rather caught the rest of the industry on the back foot. A lot of designers and engineers still just don't see why you'd manufacture a housing in such an expensive and convoluted manner. Laptop OEMs are certainly not equipped for it, presenting substantial logistical problems.
He's spot on with one thing: manufacturers shouldn't let their customers tell them what to build. The general public usually doesn't know what it wants until it has already appeared.
I agree. You learn about your customer's pains, then build a product to ease them. Asking your customer what features they want is lazy product management and gives you " me, too" products.
So ive always been a pc guy. But more and more lately ive been playing around with linux distros. It's about time to get a new laptop, and ive been looking around the market causually for a bit. i really want one with only linux (system 76 looks kinda good). but the more and more I look around, the more i'm drawn to macbooks. they are just SO.FUCKING.SEXY. Their case is perfect. the gui looks incredible. they just work. im pretty much to the point where im going to have to build my own to get what i want, or buy a mac. and its going to be hard to find any kind of case thats as sexy as macs, mostly cuz nobody makes anything like it.
pc companies, listen up. I want linux, on an ssd, in a case that SEPERATES itsself from all your other plastic junk, IN A GOOD WAY. dont be average, dont be consertive, do be a perfectionist. dont try to please everybody. I think this is macs biggest weapon, they dont try to please everybody, they build what steve wants. tfa hit the point perfectly with the hp calc comparisson, and i feel the same way. fucking grow some balls. this goes for cell phones too. Fuck I hate motorolla.
I mostly agree but I also think it has been done. You couldn't give me an Air for free and get me to give up my Sony VAIO Z. I also have a VAIO TZ here which was way ahead of the Air in its time. To me Sony is one of the few companies building truly innovative PCs but unfortunately they aren't moving enough volume to make them really price competitive at the low end. When you buy them fully loaded they are often slightly cheaper than a high end Macbook (with Apple's killer upgrade prices) but they just don't compete mass market wise in the cheaper price ranges.
I know it's not the point of your comment, but I'll point out that one of the major reasons I don't buy Apple products is how uncomfortable I am with the idea of Apple having more control over the tech industry...I simply don't trust them to do right by consumers when given a very strong market position.
Sony is one of the few hardware companies that I trust even less than Apple; actually I have a pretty strong dislike for Sony, not merely distrust. So, I'd be more likely to buy an Apple product than a Sony product if all other things were equal (and all other things aren't equal; Sony products look pretty ugly to me, while Apple products are beautiful).
> You couldn't give me an Air for free and get me to give up my Sony VAIO Z.
Right, but you paid considerably more than the price of an Air for that machine. That's the point. You wouldn't switch, but for anyone looking for an ultraportable now, it's hard to beat the Air in any capacity.
As someone who was looking for a great ultraportable for years and kept a very close eye on Sony, I snapped up the 11 inch Air ASAP. Nothing can step anywhere close to it when it comes to offering a well rounded ultraportable.
Also Sony did a few things that make them a difficult choice, like distributing root kits. Last time I tried one of their notebooks it was also loaded with crapware to the rim - and it was a high end model, too.
> one of the main reasons people don’t buy a Mac these days is because they can’t buy one for less than $1,000, pricing your Mac alternative well above that price doesn’t do you any favors.<
I'm not in the US, but isnt the Air $999?
Not much less than 1k, but an odd statement considering the focus of the article. Am I missing something?
I personally have a Samsung Series 9. Besides the price tag and battery life (about 3-5 hours), I am happy with it. Unlike the Air, this thing has quite good linux support (the graphics work, but could be better; this is true of all sandy bridge computers). I know someone who used to run linux on his Air, but he gave up after all the crashes. These were related to his Broadcom wireless card, I believe. I used to have a Broadcom in my computer, it worked but I replaced it for a card with dual-band support.
On an Air, a lot of components (like ram and ssd) are soldered on the board. On the Samsung, they are easily replaceable. In fact, I have already put in a new wireless card and added more RAM. It comes apart easily with a Phillips-head screwdriver. In the future, I will probably upgrade the SSD (it has 128GB at the moment). A new 'msata' standard has emerged from all these Ultra-portables, which use the pcie plug.
I love my Air (and my other Apple products); aside from excellent hardware and software, one of the big advantages for me is that there are Apple retail stores all over -- I can walk in and have a pretty consistently good experience (buying accessories, or getting service, or buying a replacement if necessary); far better than any other computer retail store or mail order process.
For a company, being able to fairly easily get ~30 correctly-configured machines instantly is great too -- with Dell, I'd be stuck waiting until they build and ship, and with HP or other vendors, trying to find a store which stocks them.
Really? My experience with Apple stores has been so consistently terrible (long wait times WITH an appointment, techs that can't do anything but send it away for a long wait) that one reason I'm going back to a Thinkpad is the overnight mailers Lenovo drops off when you need something fixed.
I have to agree with you. I've tried phone support with other brands and it's been terrible.
With Apple, I can take a 20 minute drive and speak with somebody who is knowledgeable, polite and actually able to authorise almost anything on the spot, even if it's not exactly in line with policy.
Point in case, my brother's MacBook battery died about a month out of (non-AppleCare) warranty. The genius did some diagnostics and replaced the battery for free.
has anyone else noticed horrible dithering on the new macbook air's screen? i will say that i absolutely love the machine otherwise, but - especially when e.g. watching a movie - i find this problem terribly distracting and have even thought about returning it as a result.
[+] [-] iamelgringo|14 years ago|reply
Total Price: $450.
Granted, not sexy looking at all. Not particularly thin.
Runs Windows 7 Ultimate like a champ. The only time the low processing power ever bothers me is when I'm unzipping large files.
It's cheap, made of plastic and plastered with stickers. I carry it in my man purse, and bounce it around with me pretty much everywhere I go. I've been doing that for years.
Everything is backed up to DropBox. It's so cheap as to be disposable. If it breaks, I don't care. I'll buy a new one. I have a full set of USB / Network, VGA ports, and I don't have to worry about buying extra dongles to connect things to a projector. The little brute has been stable as a rock. I can't remember a single crash in 3 years.
It has enough battery life for me to be able to Code from Barcelona to SFO on one charge, and I typically charge the little beast about once or twice a week.
Yup. PC makers just can't keep up.
[+] [-] Cushman|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thaumaturgy|14 years ago|reply
This is the third time this has happened to me.
I don't care if PC makers can or cannot keep up with Apple. All I know is, this is my last Apple.
[+] [-] wisty|14 years ago|reply
OK, it's also sexy, but who gives a toss?
And I've been unable to find a reasonably priced PC laptop with an SSD (when I last looked, the only Sony ones with SSD are the MacBook Air clones and the top-of-the-line business and gamer models), so that means swapping a hard drive. Most people don't swap hard drives in laptops.
I don't care about thinness and aluminium casing. I just care about the weight, battery, screen, keyboard, trackpad, and SSD. Apple is the only one that really delivered when I was looking, about 6 months ago.
[+] [-] mixmastamyk|14 years ago|reply
Turns out $1,000 more isn't that much for a productivity tool these days; the dollar ain't what it used to be. Not to mention you'd probably get a much nicer screen and keyboard which helps a lot for coding.
That said, I'm still using my trusty Sony tr2a for trips just because of inertia and that it still works fine. But I won't pretend I wouldn't rather have an Air. ;)
[+] [-] pangram|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SkyMarshal|14 years ago|reply
Having said that, I'll probably pick up 13" Macbook Pro or Air soon to start getting into iOS dev, and have to say I do look forward to running VMs locally again, even though AWS free tier obsoletes that now.
[+] [-] Auguste|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Auguste|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] r00fus|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cubicle67|14 years ago|reply
I was thinking about Apple products, and I think perhaps they deserve this now. Each new (1st gen) product from Apple is a bit short on features and a bit expensive, but they have commitment. 2nd gen is a decent product, and 3rd gen has typically been great. [Cases in point: iPhone, iPod, MacBook Air, Apple TV (3rd gen still to come)]
The difference (between Apple and HP et al) comes down to commitment to a product. Apple (like MS) gear them selves up for the long haul; they expect to spend lots and take years to achieve their vision. Other PC manufacturers (speaking very generally here) seem to have a bit of a half arsed shot at something and kill it if it doesn't fly.
[+] [-] mixmastamyk|14 years ago|reply
Apple does something a bit different. It starts slow, getting the core features right and then builds on them. It doesn't pile on features, they are added slowly only as they mature.
Of course it also drives demand for several years, a very profitable formula.
[+] [-] mhb|14 years ago|reply
This sounds crazy not least of all because they use milling machines to make cases and not lathes. But I'm willing to be educated.
[+] [-] jdietrich|14 years ago|reply
I can confirm that there is a global shortage of certain types of CNC machining capacity. CNC machining is much less common than you might imagine in volume production. It's an expensive process that designers are usually desperate to avoid. Apple raised the bar for fit and finish with the Unibody Macbook and rather caught the rest of the industry on the back foot. A lot of designers and engineers still just don't see why you'd manufacture a housing in such an expensive and convoluted manner. Laptop OEMs are certainly not equipped for it, presenting substantial logistical problems.
[+] [-] spacemanaki|14 years ago|reply
There's a comment re: lathe vs mill over there too. Is this some kind of "submarine" article from Mitac Precision, the fiberglass manufacturer?
[+] [-] anigbrowl|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SoftwareMaven|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ImprovedSilence|14 years ago|reply
pc companies, listen up. I want linux, on an ssd, in a case that SEPERATES itsself from all your other plastic junk, IN A GOOD WAY. dont be average, dont be consertive, do be a perfectionist. dont try to please everybody. I think this is macs biggest weapon, they dont try to please everybody, they build what steve wants. tfa hit the point perfectly with the hp calc comparisson, and i feel the same way. fucking grow some balls. this goes for cell phones too. Fuck I hate motorolla.
[+] [-] r00fus|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 51Cards|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SwellJoe|14 years ago|reply
Sony is one of the few hardware companies that I trust even less than Apple; actually I have a pretty strong dislike for Sony, not merely distrust. So, I'd be more likely to buy an Apple product than a Sony product if all other things were equal (and all other things aren't equal; Sony products look pretty ugly to me, while Apple products are beautiful).
[+] [-] shinratdr|14 years ago|reply
Right, but you paid considerably more than the price of an Air for that machine. That's the point. You wouldn't switch, but for anyone looking for an ultraportable now, it's hard to beat the Air in any capacity.
As someone who was looking for a great ultraportable for years and kept a very close eye on Sony, I snapped up the 11 inch Air ASAP. Nothing can step anywhere close to it when it comes to offering a well rounded ultraportable.
[+] [-] Tichy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Anti-Ratfish|14 years ago|reply
I'm not in the US, but isnt the Air $999? Not much less than 1k, but an odd statement considering the focus of the article. Am I missing something?
[+] [-] mixmastamyk|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] keeperofdakeys|14 years ago|reply
On an Air, a lot of components (like ram and ssd) are soldered on the board. On the Samsung, they are easily replaceable. In fact, I have already put in a new wireless card and added more RAM. It comes apart easily with a Phillips-head screwdriver. In the future, I will probably upgrade the SSD (it has 128GB at the moment). A new 'msata' standard has emerged from all these Ultra-portables, which use the pcie plug.
[+] [-] Tichy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdl|14 years ago|reply
For a company, being able to fairly easily get ~30 correctly-configured machines instantly is great too -- with Dell, I'd be stuck waiting until they build and ship, and with HP or other vendors, trying to find a store which stocks them.
[+] [-] jbellis|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alastairpat|14 years ago|reply
With Apple, I can take a 20 minute drive and speak with somebody who is knowledgeable, polite and actually able to authorise almost anything on the spot, even if it's not exactly in line with policy.
Point in case, my brother's MacBook battery died about a month out of (non-AppleCare) warranty. The genius did some diagnostics and replaced the battery for free.
[+] [-] FireBeyond|14 years ago|reply
Nope. "We only stock the HDD models in store here." Not "we're out of stock".
Hmm, okay... well maybe I could just buy an SSD from NewEgg, and sell the HDD...
"What about with 8GB... I only see 4GB prices out here." "Yeah, we don't stock 8GB models. We can install 8GB and give you the 2 x 2GB chips."
Yeah, not so much.
[+] [-] mikhael|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gte910h|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] krakensden|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] IanDrake|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mahyarm|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] r0s|14 years ago|reply
http://windows7themes.net/windows-7-mac-theme.html
Or maybe you mean some other way OSX is innovative, besides aesthetic?
[+] [-] xtrimsky_|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Anti-Ratfish|14 years ago|reply