MacBook Air Versus PC Ultraportable Laptops
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The MacBook Air is a stunner, no doubt, but it's going to be up against stiff challenges from PC notebook makers. Here are a few of the top ones.
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One's a PC brain, the other's a Mac-head--two PC World editors strongly disagree about owning this week's must-have gadget.
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Practical issues Comment I was asked if I, as a Mac user, would recommend one to a business user who is buying a personal machine for business use. I am the proud owner of an iconic Mac PowerBook G4, an eye-catching brushed metal effort that I purchased back in 2004. I have never owned a Mac desktop, being strictly Intel/Microsoft, but I travel enough using the Mac as a main machine to attempt some type of comparison.â¦
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Macs are now stable, Intel-based workhorses that run Windows apps and make end users happy. Is that enough for entry to the enterprise?
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When Steve Jobs debuted the MacBook Air at his Macworld 2008 keynote, one notable fact emerged: Apple is using an extra-small CPU that Intel specially repackaged in order to accommodate the computer maker's needs for its ultraportable notebook computer.
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âWith the Intel Macs,â explains Brian Allen, director of technical support at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, âstudents now have the potential to have both systems on their machines, so they can run both Windows and Macintosh applications. They can easily switch between Appleâs iLife suite and AutoCad. Itâs the best of both worlds; theyâll really have two computers for the price of one.â In addition to offering students more flexibility, Allen and his team discovered that âWindows applications run faster on the Mac.â Best of all, dual-booting Mac computers offer BSU âthe potential to save $150,000 to $200,000 a year in lab hardware purchases.â Whatâs next for Boot Camp at BSU?
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Scott Finnie writes for Computerworld, âIf I decide to go back to Windows when this Mac trial is over, returning to my ThinkPad T60 Core Duo may be a very difficult move. Iâve settled into the MacBook Pro 17 [inch] and Mac OS X 10.4.8 as if I was born to them. If the Mac OS doesnât mesmerize me to the point that I lose all interest in Windows, this piece of hardware might just do that all on its own.â
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Apple's new Mac Mini made a splash at Macworld Expo, but fans are talking about using the low-budget PC in a myriad of ways. How will you use it?
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Apple&#39;s latest iMac G5 desktop computer once again raises the issue of style vs. cost. On the one hand, the iMac is more expensive than roughly comparable desktop computers running Windows -- therefore making Windows the better value.
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âWhat was arguably the best desktop computer on the market for the average consumer is slimmer, sleeker, and significantly faster,â says Mike Wendland (Detroit Free Press) of the new models of the iMac. And âperhaps best of all,â he notes, the iMac is less expensiveââby $200 to $300, depending on the model.â Wendland touts the new display:  âIts glossy glass finish means colors generally look brighter and bolder than with the matte finish of the previous models.â And he praises the new keyboard: âThe most revolutionary design associated with the new iMac is its super-slim aluminum keyboard.The keys are flat, not raised, much like on Appleâs MacBook notebooks, and the whole board is just a third of an inch thick. The keys are a tad bit wider than the old Apple keys, and very easy to type on.â
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Toshiba's sleek ultraportable laptop is an attention-getter that packs a ton of features into its compact package. Let's take a closer look.
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While some call the thinnest ultra-portable laptop the market has ever seen a boon for business travelers, others are doing benchmark testing that reveal the MacBook Air is slower than its sister laptops.
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The MacBook Air has arrived, a third MacBook model that brings incredibly small size to the MacBook line at a premium price.
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WiMax-capable products were on display all over the CES trade show, yet the announcement at Macworld of Apple's stylishly thin MacBook Air laptop made no reference to the high-speed newtork. Does Steve Jobs know something other vendors don't?
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Steve Jobs wowed viewers when he unveiled the super-slim MacBook Air at Macworld Expo, but will its slim feature set turn off buyers?
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The world's thinnest notebook Macworld Expo For once the rumour mills were right. "There's something in the air," said Steve Jobs. And then he hit us with the MacBook Air. Itâs aluminium, has black keys, is super, super thin, and Steve held it easily with his fingertips.â¦
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A new wafer-thin laptop and a movie rental service for iTunes starred in this year&#39;s keynote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs at Macworld Tuesday.The notebook, called the MacBook Air, wasn&#39;t the ultraportable that pundits had predicted, but it is &quot;the world&#39;s thinnest notebook,&quot; according to Jobs, who produced it from a manilla office envelope to make his point.Priced from $1,799, the notebook has a 13.3-inch widescreen display and a full-sized backlit keyboard. To keep the MacBook Air compact, it uses the same 1.8-inch hard drive found in the iPod and a smaller version of Intel&#39;s Core 2 Duo processor built especially for Apple, Jobs said.The model shown at Macworld was in brushed silver. It is three quarters of an inch thick at its thickest part and just 0.16 inch along the front edge, Jobs said. He compared it to another popular thin laptop, the Sony TZ series. At 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms), it is about the same weight, he said, but the new Apple notebook is about half its thickness.&quot;To fit an entire Mac in this thing was a major feat of engineering,&quot; Jobs said.The MacBook Air will ship in about two weeks. It lacks an optical disk drive, which could make it tricky to load software. To get around that, Apple developed a program called Remote Disk, which allows users to download software from the optical drive of a nearby computer using its built in 802.11n wireless connection.The standard configuration comes with an 80GB hard drive, 2GB of main memory, and a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo. Options include a 64GB solid-state drive and a faster 1.8GHz processor.Intel developed a Core 2 Duo chip package for Apple that is 60 percent smaller than the standard version, according to Jobs. &quot;It&#39;s the width of a dime and as thick as a nickel, with 400 million transistors,&quot; said Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who joined Jobs onstage.Apple will sell an optional portable optical drive for $99, Jobs said. He promised a battery life of 5 hours while surfing the Web and with Wi-Fi enabled.Many had expected Apple to announce an ultraportable notebook, which would have filled a gap in Apple&#39;s notebook product line, noted Robbie Laughlin, an assistant retail manager with Apple reseller Carbon Computing in Toronto.&quot;They had a 12-inch PowerBook a few years ago, and I&#39;d like to see something small like that reintroduced,&quot; he said before Jobs began his speech.Still, Apple&#39;s computer business is riding high from the popularity of its iPods and iPhone, Laughlin said. &quot;They&#39;re still on an upswing. We&#39;ve seen a huge uptick in switchers the last six months, people who wouldn&#39;t normally walk into an Apple store.&quot;The other big focus of Jobs&#39; speech was movies, including a movie rental service for iTunes and a new version of Apple TV that allows renting and downloading movies directly to a TV without using a PC.Apple signed major film studios -- Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, Universal, and Paramount -- to sell movies through the store. Rentals are $3.99 for a new release and $2.99 for older films, or a dollar more for high-definition versions.The movie rentals are available in the United States from Tuesday, and later this year internationally, Jobs said. Apple pledged to have 1,000 films available by the end of February, and films will come to iTunes 30 days after their DVD release, he said. Users will have 30 days to watch a film after renting it, and 24 hours to finish watching it after they have started.Apple TV wasn&#39;t more successful because it was sold as &quot;an accessory for your computer,&quot; Jobs said. &quot;That&#39;s not what people wanted. ... So we&#39;re back with Apple TV 2. It still syncs with your computer [if you want it to], but no computer is required.&quot;Apple TV also received a price cut to $229 from $299. The new version will be available in two weeks, Jobs said, and existing customers will be able to update to the new software.He didn&#39;t show a 3G iPhone as some had expected, but he did announce software updates available from Tuesday, including the ability to map an iPhone user&#39;s location with Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers. The iPhone update also lets people send a text message to multiple users.The iPhone shipped 200 days ago and 4 million have been sold since, Jobs said. The software developer kit for the iPhone will ship in February, he said.Jobs also introduced a wireless backup product called Time Capsule, a companion to the&#160;Leopard operating system&#39;s Time Machine, which constantly backs up work to a desktop hard drive. Time Capsule will ship in February and is basically an Airport Extreme base station plus a hard drive, Jobs said, &quot;so you can back up your notebook wirelessly.&quot;Time Capsule will come in two models, with a 500GB offering for $299 and a 1TB version for $499.