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Asus Ultrathin Laptop - Good Competition?
- Thread starter KylePowers
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whats all the talk about unibody and not flexing and build quality about , if you like myself need a semi rugged small laptop then like myself order a Panasonic cf c1 , you can spill all sorts of liquids on it , you can throw it in the car boot without it getting a dent or drop it from your lap on some concrete floor ,things which void your apple care ,its a 12" laptop and offers a i5 processor and a 11 hour batttery life ,in terms of reliability it is a panasonic toughbook , its definitely better build and designed to be used and not only for show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEsiGdMVMJs&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEsiGdMVMJs&feature=player_embedded
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So its slim which makes it a competitor to the MBA? No. It runs Windows. That disqualifies it as a competitor immediately unless you think people only buy Airs because of the size. The Asus also has lesser build quality and support.
Why people call something an Air competitor just because it is slim is beyond me.
Why people call something an Air competitor just because it is slim is beyond me.
People buy computers to complete different tasks. Both, Windows and OS X are able to do that. I would bet that only a fraction of MBA owners are these diehard Apple fans for whom OS X is a "need". I would also say that the reason why 2010 MBA has been so successful is that there hasn't been any competing products and people are clearly interested in ultraportables.
Windows has roughly 90% market share so the potential market is huge. Believe it or not, this ASUS may and most likely will, take sales away from MBA because not everyone wants OS X. For quite a few people, OS X is not even an option due to their workflow.
Care to back that up with evidence?
That graph is useless without providing market shares or how many notebooks they sold in that time frame, not to mention the demographics and their usage. Because, if 10,000 grannies are buying Asus, vs 15,000 students buying a Macbook then that graph means duck sauce.
*As a side note if you look at older graphs from the PPC day you will see how much quality has gone down since the Intel move.
*As a side note if you look at older graphs from the PPC day you will see how much quality has gone down since the Intel move.
It's a directional proof. The thing is, there are no better studies out there, at least I haven't found any. You can argue this and that but unless you can provide evidence that says otherwise, you can't say that the graph is wrong. SquareTrade conducted the study, you can read the details here.
Even though it is not perfect, it's more than enough to bash DarwinOSX' claim that ASUS has worse build quality, unless he has some evidence that shows otherwise.
no doubt the MBA looks gorgeous , but in essence its just a pimped MacBook (the 13" )as it shares most of the hardware with the polycarbonate MacBook minus a optical drive , and because of a not existing OD and SSD instead of a HDD it can be thinner and lighter just logical
and as a lot of people do run windows on their Mac's for various reasons the question has to be asked WHY do they buy a MacBook Air to run windows on it instead of a ASUS ...
the answer is simple ....because it is "in" to own a iPhone , to own a iPad , iMac .....MBA
...but it backfires , if you sit in a restaurant in your lunch break with a ASUS laptop people think of you as a business man , if they spot you with a MBA most think ...hmmm another yuppie who does not know where to put his money
i mean i bought my panasonic cf c1 and it did cost roughly double what a MBA would have cost me , but it does not look like money because the little apple is missing
and as a lot of people do run windows on their Mac's for various reasons the question has to be asked WHY do they buy a MacBook Air to run windows on it instead of a ASUS ...
the answer is simple ....because it is "in" to own a iPhone , to own a iPad , iMac .....MBA
...but it backfires , if you sit in a restaurant in your lunch break with a ASUS laptop people think of you as a business man , if they spot you with a MBA most think ...hmmm another yuppie who does not know where to put his money
i mean i bought my panasonic cf c1 and it did cost roughly double what a MBA would have cost me , but it does not look like money because the little apple is missing
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Quite frankly I am sick and tired of reading this crap over and over again. The pompous attitude displayed by some on here is disgusting and you are not the only one and certainly not the only one in this thread.
What is the Macbook Air's Unique Selling Point? To me its size and portability and in my opinion it is that for the majority of people, it certainly isn't because it runs Mac OS X and anybody who thinks that is deluded.
This is an Air competitor because it is slim in my opinion and I welcome the competition and you should too if you ever want to be able to afford a Mac.
I agree. I bought an mba ultimate because of its looks, size and portability but if this laptop had been available available when i bought the mba, i would have seriously consider buying it instead. I really love my mba but competition is always good for consumers.
I bought the air becuase of it's size and comparitive battery life. I don't care about OSX, in fact I think it's inferior to Windows 7.
I think there is a better study, the one that takes the so called reliability study, then compare it to market share, user base, and usage then we could make a fair assessment. Again if Asus is being purchased from let say the elderly or the consumer who always has their laptop stationary vs the Apple use who younger and more active when using their PC then that makes a huge difference in reliability.
Perfect example of this would be the Automotive reliability studies that are done every year. Every year certain auto brands do better than their sibling brand that have an identical car but with a different name, and slightly different sheet metal(for ex. Buick does better than Chevy or Lexus does better than Toyota). Why do these brands do better their sibling brands? Simple, demographic, and market shares(for ex. Buick smaller market share, while having an older demographic). So again that graphic means ducks sauce to me with out seeing knowing what their market share is and demographic base.
Then find a better one and link it to us. I'm tired of people who can criticize everything but cannot provide anything better. SquareTrade tested over 1000 machines per manufacturer so most likely their user bases are wide and similarly divided. It's one study and ASUS won there. You can question the credibility of everything if that is your goal but it won't change the result of that study.
Kudos to Asus. I've enjoyed Asus products for years, and I am really impressed with this new product. It is beautiful.
Of course it is competition for the MBA. This OSX argument is absurd. It may not be an alternative for YOU (because you use and like OSX), but that is a brand loyalty issue. We are talking here about competition in the marketplace, where there are a variety of potential consumers who likely have more familiarity with Windows and may actually see OSX in MBA as a liability. Potential customers will be comparing the two products. That's the point. At the moment, Windows users who go into the store and see the old MBA will definitely not be tempted to give Mac a try.
Nothing to worry about, though. I bet the upcoming MBAs will be equally as impressive.
Besides hardware and design, MBA also has other qualities to recommend it. It has OSX. For those of us who have bought into the Apple ecosystem, this is a factor to consider.
MBA also has the backing of Apple customer support. Speaking as an Asus owner, I can say that the customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
Also, don't buy into the hype quite yet. Asus has produced some of the worst keyboards and trackpads in the past (poor quality control combined with poor design). It looks like they got it right this time, but we'll have to wait until we get our hands on a real live one to find out for sure.
Of course it is competition for the MBA. This OSX argument is absurd. It may not be an alternative for YOU (because you use and like OSX), but that is a brand loyalty issue. We are talking here about competition in the marketplace, where there are a variety of potential consumers who likely have more familiarity with Windows and may actually see OSX in MBA as a liability. Potential customers will be comparing the two products. That's the point. At the moment, Windows users who go into the store and see the old MBA will definitely not be tempted to give Mac a try.
Nothing to worry about, though. I bet the upcoming MBAs will be equally as impressive.
Besides hardware and design, MBA also has other qualities to recommend it. It has OSX. For those of us who have bought into the Apple ecosystem, this is a factor to consider.
MBA also has the backing of Apple customer support. Speaking as an Asus owner, I can say that the customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
Also, don't buy into the hype quite yet. Asus has produced some of the worst keyboards and trackpads in the past (poor quality control combined with poor design). It looks like they got it right this time, but we'll have to wait until we get our hands on a real live one to find out for sure.
the problem here seems to be that some just think because there is a little apple on the lid then it just is superior to everything on this planet , and no doubt apple is good when it comes to customer support and warranty issues if you buy apple care for up to 3 years
but fact is every laptop and even netbooks (because those can run OSX even if some dont like those cheap things) are competition for Apples MBA if they are comparable in screen size and processing and graphics performance and even if they offer less performance , as the size is the factor to consider as nobody buys a MBA just because it is superior in performance to any laptop ...
you get a 13" MBP for less offering a lot faster processor , better gpu, more ram and a unibody case too , so processing power and gpu power or unibody case are not the selling factor obviously , and size/weight cant be a selling factor either as the MBP is just a little bigger and the ssd in the MBA you canget in the MBP too which makes the MBP a tiny bit more expensive if you wish , but only a couple pound , that difference is neglectable as you get double the ram which levels it out in my opinion
so the only real selling factor is the little
and the design , so all comes down to one thing and that is your taste , as you dont buy the MBA because of its performance or unibody case if you buy a 13"
if you buy the 11" MBA you even have to ask yourself if you would have been not better off by just getting a netbook as performance was certainly not the factor to decide as the unibody polycarbonate MB offers the same performance and is equally expensive if ordered with a ssd
so it all comes down to just personal taste
and i compared it to Apples other laptops because even if they are a tiny bit bigger or tiny bit heavier , you still cant put a MBA in your pocket , they cost roughly the same ,but offer the same or even a lot better performanceand, same goes for most of the other laptops or ultra portables around the 11"-14" screen size...not to mention all the MacBook Air clones form china costing a fraction of the MBA (some can be had brandnew for less the $300 including newest atom processors dual core and ion2 GPU which is good enough for even 1080p videos and as fitted with hdmi out you can hook them to your tv too
but fact is every laptop and even netbooks (because those can run OSX even if some dont like those cheap things) are competition for Apples MBA if they are comparable in screen size and processing and graphics performance and even if they offer less performance , as the size is the factor to consider as nobody buys a MBA just because it is superior in performance to any laptop ...
you get a 13" MBP for less offering a lot faster processor , better gpu, more ram and a unibody case too , so processing power and gpu power or unibody case are not the selling factor obviously , and size/weight cant be a selling factor either as the MBP is just a little bigger and the ssd in the MBA you canget in the MBP too which makes the MBP a tiny bit more expensive if you wish , but only a couple pound , that difference is neglectable as you get double the ram which levels it out in my opinion
so the only real selling factor is the little
and the design , so all comes down to one thing and that is your taste , as you dont buy the MBA because of its performance or unibody case if you buy a 13" if you buy the 11" MBA you even have to ask yourself if you would have been not better off by just getting a netbook as performance was certainly not the factor to decide as the unibody polycarbonate MB offers the same performance and is equally expensive if ordered with a ssd
so it all comes down to just personal taste
and i compared it to Apples other laptops because even if they are a tiny bit bigger or tiny bit heavier , you still cant put a MBA in your pocket , they cost roughly the same ,but offer the same or even a lot better performanceand, same goes for most of the other laptops or ultra portables around the 11"-14" screen size...not to mention all the MacBook Air clones form china costing a fraction of the MBA (some can be had brandnew for less the $300 including newest atom processors dual core and ion2 GPU which is good enough for even 1080p videos and as fitted with hdmi out you can hook them to your tv too
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Hmm you know, I almost jumped for a slim Sony laptop (now discontinued) because of its sleek look, though it wasn't as slender as this Asus or the MacBook Air.
Now that I'm in love with the Air and waiting for the revision, there's nothing drawing me to the Asus because it's just such an outright copycat. Come on, America, surely the creative design engineers don't ALL work at Apple... Right? Please?
Now that I'm in love with the Air and waiting for the revision, there's nothing drawing me to the Asus because it's just such an outright copycat. Come on, America, surely the creative design engineers don't ALL work at Apple... Right? Please?
That's the fanboy talking. So, you don't buy computers based on the work you'd like to do on them but what draws you to a specific manufacturer is actually something that doesn't have anything in common with what computers do.
I say, if I had still liked Windows and have used the software compatible with it I'd have seriously considered the new Asus and wouldn't have touched the MacBook Air. No need to buy the same software twice.
I'd beg to differ. Its not running OSX and its still stuck with a cpu and gpu combo that is dull as a door bell, so its barely going to have an affect of MBA specs.
So? This has been discussed like 10 times in this thread already, it's getting very lame. Lack of OS X is only problem for fanboys and a small group of professionals whose workflow may be dependent on OS X.
Sandy Bridge is the best what is available today. MBA will most likely use the same hardware, so 10-20% lower price tag will definitely strike Apple and affect MBA sales.
I may be reading this wrong, but are you stating that unless you need OS X specifically, you're just a fanboy for using it? Or is that a statement about this thread? I use OS X out of preference, not because of a specific piece of software I need it for, or because I'm a fanboy....?
I didn't say anyone is a fanboy because they use something. However, if you think lack of OS X is a big problem and you can't buy something because of that, then IMO you are achieving the gates of fanboyism. Basically, I'm targeting these people who say there is no competition because the ASUS does not run OS X.
When your prefrence is so deeply rooted that you apply it on the general public by saying things similar to "it's not running OSX so it's no competition to the MBA" then yes, you're a fanboy.
I see what you're saying, but the bottom line is that if I want a computer that can run my existing stable of Mac OS X applications and maintain compatibility with other Macs in the house, then I should buy a MacBook Air, and as nice as this Asus is, it simply won't fit my needs. Not without changing over a lot more than just an Apple logo.
I don't think that's being a fanboy, I think that's just trying to keep things simple.
It is good, however, to keep tabs on the competition because if the Asus is priced aggressively lower, it can give pause to ask "So what could I save if I switched to Windows?" I might just get the Asus, for example, to complement my MacBook Pro, and consider my computing life enriched because I now have one of each.