Apple's New MacBook Air Is Its Cheapest One Ever

[wilbso]

Ok, I'm going to do a full comparison of the important bits.

 

So, $899 is about £533 where I live. £533 WILL get you a decent laptop that you can use for gaming, Graphics, Work etc with WAY higher specs. I drew up a terrible little thing in photoshop just so I could compare what we could get instead of a macbook. 

 

Yeah, the picture is a little big, sorry. But anyway, I found an Asus laptop on amazon for nearly the exact same price. Comparing time;

Notice how on the Macbook you have Intel HD Graphics 5000. I have focused alot of my research time on to this as I though for a £500 laptop this was an absolute rip-off. 

• The Asus uses a Nvidia GeForce GT 720M, which is capable of running Crysis 3 & Battlefield 4 on medium to low settings, whereas the Macbooks HD 5000 will make the game look like a conference slide show. 
• The Asus contains 8GB of DDR3 RAM, capable of playing a lot of high end games. But Apples attempt is just Lazy and in my view scammy. Apple haven't made an attempt on producing a affordable Macbook that is worth your money.
• Asus have used a Core i5 3337U, which is good, great for gaming and many other tasks. Apple have used a similar processor, but it still isn't as good as the Asus. However, I'm not going to complain with the processor, as it isn't to bad for what people usually do.
• One thing I am happy about with the Macbook is the storage option. I like the fact they are using flash storage, IMO it's more reliable and faster. But it's only 128GB, which doesn't even compare to the hefty 1TB HDD.
• I don't have anything to complain about OSX as it isn't that bad, my friend has an iMac which I used once, and the OS was very well made, and was very smooth. So I suppose I support both systems. 

 

Also, I think the 11-inch display is a little to small for the majority of our liking's. I can't use anything below 13 inch anymore. I used to have an 11 inch netbook, which was fine when on-the-go but eventually got to small for the work I was doing. But for some people, 11 inches i big enough for them. I don't know who, but it's there for a reason. 

 

I guess that's all my points on why NOT TO BUY a Macbook unless there is something specific you can only have on an Apple product. Still, it's your choice if you wish to purchase the product, I'm just pointing out a few reasons why not to. Hope this helped somehow. Feel free to add more points. 

[solosdk]

And here are reasons why you SHOULD get a MacBook Air over that Asus laptop:

- That Asus laptop is not even an ultrabook. The Air is a light, portable and speedy ultrabook.

- The GT720M doesn't matter, the MacBook Air is not meant for gaming. Besides the HD 5000 is not even THAT far behind the 720M.

- I agree 4GB RAM may be low by today's standards, but it's still sufficient since OSX is more efficient at memory management. Again, the Air is not meant for anything serious to be done on it, such as video editing or gaming

- The processor difference is negligible

- 128GB SSD vs 1TB HDD. It's like comparing apples and oranges. They have different use cases and in this case, the Air is meant for speedy operation 'on the go'

- Yes Windows is less user-friendly than OSX, but Windows dominates for Gaming and more program availability

- The MacBook Air is thin, light, fast and lasts VERY long. The battery life is better than a lot of ultrabooks out there

- The design of it is better, although this is arguable. They both look nice but wouldn't you prefer that all-aluminium unibody design, with a simplistic look?

- One big point - support. Apple's support is unrivalled. You simply cannot beat it, it's just better than almost all companies out there. With Asus, can you go to a physical store and get your laptop repaired or swapped with ease? Do you get an extensive online support as well as phone support? No.

But anyway these are my points. Just for that extra resale value and support alone, I'd get the MacBook Air any day of the week as an ultrabook.

[wilbso]

And here are reasons why you SHOULD get a MacBook Air over that Asus laptop:

- That Asus laptop is not even an ultrabook. The Air is a light, portable and speedy ultrabook.

- The GT720M doesn't matter, the MacBook Air is not meant for gaming. Besides the HD 5000 is not even THAT far behind the 720M.

- I agree 4GB RAM may be low by today's standards, but it's still sufficient since OSX is more efficient at memory management. Again, the Air is not meant for anything serious to be done on it, such as video editing or gaming

- The processor difference is negligible

- 128GB SSD vs 1TB HDD. It's like comparing apples and oranges. They have different use cases and in this case, the Air is meant for speedy operation 'on the go'

- Yes Windows is less user-friendly than OSX, but Windows dominates for Gaming and more program availability

- The MacBook Air is thin, light, fast and lasts VERY long. The battery life is better than a lot of ultrabooks out there

- The design of it is better, although this is arguable. They both look nice but wouldn't you prefer that all-aluminium unibody design, with a simplistic look?

- One big point - support. Apple's support is unrivalled. You simply cannot beat it, it's just better than almost all companies out there. With Asus, can you go to a physical store and get your laptop repaired or swapped with ease? Do you get an extensive online support as well as phone support? No.

But anyway these are my points. Just for that extra resale value and support alone, I'd get the MacBook Air any day of the week as an ultrabook.

I can see,in that light, why people would purchase it. Seems sensible if they don't care about gaming etc. Its just The price that bugs me.

But, I understand why people would buy it with the points you made. I would actually test it for a month or so, as an ultrabook, as it does look interesting.

I guess im kind of on both 'sides' as it does have both ups and downs.

[pk-man]

Apple has never been about providing "the best bang for the buck".  They position themselves as a premium consumer electronics brand. Most people who buy istuff aren't really interested in comparing spec for spec. They just want something well designed and cool looking. Plus, there's the "hip" factor of owning an apple product. 

 

I'm not saying Apple products are bad.  There are things they are good at such as good battery life. However, if you are looking strictly for best performance per dollar, then there are better options elsewhere.

 

Most ultrabooks don't have a ssd at this price point though (some have hdd + small ssd), so I guess it's a trade off between ssd and touch screen. Personally, 11 inch is too small for my liking.