Cool. That answers my question pretty well. I wonder if the new year will see Apple catch up to these other companies?
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Asus Win7 ultraportable competitor to the MBA, 4GB RAM and discrete graphics!
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Cool. That answers my question pretty well. I wonder if the new year will see Apple catch up to these other companies?
i am really tempted to do that because it is really annoying me that i cannot watch 720p television shows such as Heroes on my Rev A MBA... while i know i got the first MBA ever and it is a pile of **** i expect it to at least run a freaking movie... it will not even run a movie on youtube - A SD movie at that!!! i haven't tried bootcamp because i cant freaking partition my disk even after fresh install of OSX... me and apple are going to have a big argument soon at which point i'll leave and windows 7 and Dell's Adamo will become my bitch lol
highly doubting that... like most non apple laptops... you get chucked through to a indian phone company for your service... no physical store to take your laptop too and get it repaired.... customer service is about the only thing apple does right.. oh and design the looks of the mba do piss all over every other laptop
Your first post is wrong. OS X has problems with Flash and Flash HD in particular. I've seen no problems with HD, as it's not one companies problem, it's a standard. .MKV files play beautifully in OS X, often better than my experiences in Windows 7 bootcamp.
My cousin who has an Asus called tech and he said he got an American tech support rep. I know with my Sony when I had to call tech I had to dial a number in Florida and they reasonably good. When I had an old HP I called tech I got India and it was too much waiting. At least on the plus side they did call me back after my problem was fixed to make sure it was still working right, I wish Apple did that.
The nice thing about that Asus is the fact that it has the Nvidia GT210m which can take fully advantage of the Cuda platform, which the 9400m and 9600 GT Apple's come with can not.
And +1 @scottsdale post.
You have been listening to too many Apple fanboys throwing out that terrible argument. This isn't Adobe's fault. Apple fans want to think their Holier than Though "Mighty Apple" would NEVER not help make the Internet great for its users... so the blame always gets deflected. Apple points the blame everywhere else but this solely rests on Apple's hands. Adobe has come out clearly in the past stating it wants to do the same thing for Flash on the Mac, but Apple will not let them; I believe that. It wants to provide Flash for the iPhone, but Apple will not let them. Why doesn't Apple care about providing the best experience of the Internet for its customers? What about the "FULL INTERNET" Apple exclaims iPhone users get? I have used it, what a JOKE!
Apple always thinks it can do better by going it alone. The Internet is NOT the place to go it alone. There are technologies used on the Internet that have become a "standard;" Adobe's Flash is one of them whether Apple likes it or not. Apple could move forward with its Web developments and hopes for the future to rid the world of Adobe, but the FACT IS THAT FLASH IS RELEVANT NOW, and WE DESERVE TO HAVE A MAC THAT CAN RUN THE INTERNET!
Again, I love my MBA, and my iPhone, but why cannot I have my Mac and proper Flash too? Why does Apple brag my iPhone has "full Internet" when Flash sites don't work at all on the iPhone?
This is Apple's finest having delusions of grandeur. Don't fall victim to believing its every word... as the truth is somewhere in the middle. We can be Apple fans and yet have our own opinions about what a Mac SHOULD BE.
Hey I got a solution, take you MBA, delete the hard drive, install Windows 7 . . . there done, enjoy!
-iGrant
I always used Dell computers before I switched to the Mac. I was quite frankly shocked at the terrible service of Apple. I am NOT impressed at all. With Dell, if anything goes wrong, they send a tech out the same day and have it fixed within 48 hours... not ever a problem and they come to you. Never did I have to go to the store. Sure, I sat on hold for 20 minutes initially on speakerphone while I did my other work and waited to speak to someone. Once I got through, there was someone at my door within hours.
Apple, NOTHING of the sort. Never going to come to you, not even for the first year... that shocked me??? What the hell is this great service everyone speaks of? This is Apple selling to you that you are required to do all the work and take it to the store which is far more hassle than waiting 20 minutes on a phone call being routed to India. And just because they have a punk "American" kid instead of an Indian on the phone the service is great??? I will take being routed to India any day over dealing with one of those f'ng "Geniuses."
So after you drive to the Apple Store after leaving work, for your computer that costs 3x the price of an equivalent Dell, you get treated like an inferior peasant by a punk kid who is 20 something acting like he rules the world. Nothing but a bunch of condescending jerks who know less than the average forum member here. I cannot stand those "geniuses." I have had to take them and show them on one of their own computers what AppleCare actually covers! They also like to place blame on people. A hinge breaks, oh "you" did it by pushing the lid too far back, "you" dropped it, "you" weren't careful - it's YOU YOU YOU... then they release a document stating that the hinge actually breaks through normal use as the customer stated. Shame on Apple. What's so great about that?
To me service is believing your customer until you have PROOF to the contrary. I definitely don't get the whole Apple is best in customer service thing... I believe people are mislead in what they should receive in service. That's what a company like Apple does, and it's good to be a shareholder. But I am disgusted by it.
I have to quit talking about it... but it's wrong! All of it.
Seriously dude if you are so unhappy with you Apple experince, sell the MBA and all you other macs and go buy a Dell.
Dell only does in house repair if you pay extra for this, I know because I never do and I have to talk to someone on the phone and then mail the laptop myself to Dell.
At least when I have done it with Apple, and I wasn't near an Apple store they would pay for shipping and I would usually have my laptop back in 3 days. That 3 days to ship it off, fix it and get it back, seems pretty good to me.
If you weren't happy with an Apple Genius then complain . . . all the ones I have talked to are never knowledgeable and polite.
I've had Apple hinges twice with no complaints as well . . .
-iGrant
Are you sure you aren't just acting like a fanboy? Do you understand that this is "constructive criticism" of what Apple needs to do to in good faith to its customers?
With all of the hype of OS X and performance gains, you wouldn't expect its OpenGL performance to drop by 25% would you? That's what happened. Our already underpowered graphics got worse the day we installed Snow Leopard. How about 64-bit computing? Do you think Apple was very honest there? Macs that are 64-bit capable aren't even running 64-bit kernel because it's crap or not ready. Why would 64-bit be slower for all of those who are deemed "worthy" by Apple's standards of using 64-bit kernel? Does that make any sense to you? Really?
How about not only throwing PPC users under the bus, but Apple also through Intel Mac owners under the bus from Macs sold less than two years ago when it couldn't even write drivers for graphics to take advantage of the very point of OpenCL and Snow Leopard. I don't own one of those Mac, but it sure makes me understand exactly how much Apple appreciates my business. How about the people that buy a new Mac waiting for their Snow Leopard disk for over a week when people who just bought a retail disk for $29 getting it the day of release via next day shipping. See, $29 now is better than $2000 spent by a consumer a few days or weeks ago. That is not the kind of company I would aspire to be a fanboy of.
Apple does one thing REALLY GREAT - it designs incredible looking computers and uses low cost technologies as added features not available in PC counterparts like aluminum frames, glass trackpads and led backlit keyboards to make people happy paying 3x the price for a "pretty" Mac computer. It uses a nice display and glossy materials to look enticing to buyers. It provides an excellent feel and appearance. It sells it as "it just works," and that's all that is required from the average Mac user. This MBA is beautiful, but owning it is a big compromise. I have to compromise on performance for this lightweight beautiful Mac. That's the thing though, should all Mac Users have to compromise so dearly to run OS X? We are already paying 3X the price for the computer, cannot Apple care a little to not just make the user interface easy but to also care about performance? Is video/graphics performance really of no concern to Apple? It sure seems like Apple just doesn't give a damn about its customers. I am a business "pro" and not a "pro" who needs a Pro powered Mac, and that's why I am happy with the MBA but I don't think Windows should run so much better on the same hardware as OS X, and that's the problem. Why can't OS X at least run video, Flash, and etc as good as Windows can on my MBA? Why cannot I get the full Internet experience on a Mac that I can on a PC? I cannot imagine being a true "pro" and having to settle for an MBP... how people can settle for two or three year old technology is beyond me... that's where Apple has truly letdown its customers. But they sure are pretty.
I am done writing this now, because I really love my MBA... I just wish Apple cared a little more for all of its users and did the right thing for the customers that drive its growth rather than often throwing us all under the bus. Whether it's an iPhone, iPod, or Mac I believe we should get exactly what we paid for... and I am a little disappointed lately... I hope it changes.
What are all of your thoughts? True thoughts on where Apple is, how it conducts business, what you expect from your Mac, what you expect for service, are you happy with Snow Leopard, and is Apple's interaction with other companies like Adobe appropriate or should Apple care a little more about its users? Should we consider ultraportable alternatives to the MBA when they are so much more capable? I pointed out this ASUS not to bash the MBA, but to say why cannot Apple provide this? For $799 we can get this Asus with Windows 7 or for double the price we can get an MBA. I am even willing to pay more, I just want the power and performance of newer technologies in the MBA.
Again, you're missing the point here. I think you need to read some more threads about what others have complained about if you don't understand anything I have written. I don't want to go buy a Dell, I want Apple to give a damn about its customers. I want OS X to run a video somewhat close to the performance on a PC. I want Macs to be able to run Flash without using 100%+ of the CPU power, as Flash runs amazingly on PCs.
It's because I care about Apple that I point these things out. I want Apple to do better. I feel extremely let down over Snow Leopard, and I am sick of Windows users being able to do everything so much more efficiently with Windows than OS X can on the Mac. It's a disappointment.
I love my MBA. I love all of my Apple products. I love my APPL stock. I JUST WISH APPLE CARED FOR ITS CUSTOMERS AND PROVIDED US WITH THE EXPERIENCE WE ARE SO DEARLY PAYING FOR WITH EVERY PURCHASE. That's the point, we aren't getting everything we are paying for...
I consider myself a fan . . . but I will admit Apple screws from time to time . . . but I don't use Open GL and I don't use Flash much which from experience is videos and only games . . . however I think they missed a hell of a market were the USB Superdrive only works with the Macbook Air . . . I can't tell you how many people would have bought it for Mac Minis, Macbooks, Macbook Pros, etc.
Also the AppleTV was and still is a major disappoint . . .
I don't see a problem with PPC losing support . . . I've been a Mac user for a very long time, I have also been a Windows 95, 98, 98 Me, XP, and I have used several flavors of linux, personal, I like doing a base Debian install and going from there. Yet still without a doubt Mac OS X is my favorite period.
As to your question about Snow Leopard, I love it, especially since 10.6.2 came out.
As for the iPhone, I wish it was offered on something other than AT&T . . . I wish you could get it for all carriers and let people decide which they want.
As for the iPod Touch, I love, it works great, and has been great, I have a First Generation iPod Touch 32gb and I absolutely love it, the only thing that would be a nice addition is a camera but I think that will come at some point.
As for the comprise . . . I got a boost in performance when I got my Rev. A Macbook Air from my Rev. A Macbook . . . I went from a Core Duo to a Core 2 Duo, the MBA is silent compared to my MB, the MBA runs cooler then my MB ever did and the battery life on MBA is about double from my MB.
I just see why people expect Macbook Pro and even Macbook performance, you are paying for portability and design (which to your credit you did say).
Back the PPC really quick, it was a dying technology. I remember when Apple promised to have G5 Powerbooks but it never happened because of power and heat issues. The G5 Power Macs were amazing computers that sacrificed efficiency and the G5 ran HOT to the point that they had to make the system liquid-cooled. Oh and good luck if you liquid cooling system broke . . . parts were never available . . .
Also the last PPC Mac made was January 2006, yeah so those computers are just over 3 years old but at the same time everyone knew Apple was switching to Intel. I had a chance to get a steal on a 15" Powerbook but ended up waiting for the 13 Macbook because I wanted Intel.
Lets put it this way I have been using Mac since it was using the Motorola cpus and I remember using Mac OS 6.
Moving to Intel was one of the best decisions Apple ever made.
Yeah 10.6 was not as perfect as everyone hoped for, but I did get a nice amount of disk space which was promised and that was the most important to me.
I do hope Apple improves on the MBA, but I have the a feeling it will be like the Mac Mini update . . . which took forever.
Surprisingly you argument reminds me of the G4 Cube, the computer that was small, and silent, and expensive but a regular Power Mac G4 could run circles around it.
I was a G4 Cube owner, I loved it, but high performance was not my thing, being able to use a computer for the first time and not fell and hear like I was using a computer is why I bought it. I could listen to music and work and not hear the humming and all the noise all the other Macs at the time made.
Its one of the single most important reason I got a Macbook Air, I wanted to have a Mac laptop where I didn't feel like I was using a loud, heavy laptop that needed to be plugged into the wall. Yeah I could have replaced my Macbooks battery, but there was nothing I could about the weight or how load it was . . .
You make good points, but flash and Open CL is not what EVERYONE does, yeah flash is a biggie for most but for most its not a problem.
Just my two cents and ramblings . . .
-iGrant
i think i'll share my opinion on this as i've owned quite a few macs in the past (MBA, original UMB, 13" MBP) and now a UL30A-X5...
First off, here is what my ideal laptop would be:
-Small form factor (Max 13")
-Light (Less than 4 lbs.)
-High Resolution
-Long Battery Life
-Ease of upgradeability
-Multi-touch trackpad
-Solid build
-Good level of performance for my needs (browsing, office docs, HD video)
-Low cost
-Something in between a netbook and full-fledged notebook
The MBA is a beautiful machine hardware-wise. It's skinny, light, and has the best keyboard/trackpad I've ever used. However, with this comes a ton of compromises: short battery life, not easy to upgrade, graphics isn't too good for hd, still pretty expensive.
The UL30A is just as beautiful hardware-wise considering the material it's made of (aluminum lid + plastic bottom). It's not quite as thin and light, but it's the thinnest/lightest PC laptop I've used that doesn't compromise on performance and function. The keyboard is island-style and very comfortable. The multi-touch trackpad is also pretty good (ASUS has been using multi-touch for a long time). The max battery life I can get is 10 hours.
Cons:
-No back-lit keyboard
-Wireless is pretty weak
-No bluetooth
The UL30VT will have dedicated graphics, bluetooth, a better wifi card, and and overclocked CPU. I'll be returning my UL30A for the UL30VT when it is released within the next few weeks.
First off, here is what my ideal laptop would be:
-Small form factor (Max 13")
-Light (Less than 4 lbs.)
-High Resolution
-Long Battery Life
-Ease of upgradeability
-Multi-touch trackpad
-Solid build
-Good level of performance for my needs (browsing, office docs, HD video)
-Low cost
-Something in between a netbook and full-fledged notebook
The MBA is a beautiful machine hardware-wise. It's skinny, light, and has the best keyboard/trackpad I've ever used. However, with this comes a ton of compromises: short battery life, not easy to upgrade, graphics isn't too good for hd, still pretty expensive.
The UL30A is just as beautiful hardware-wise considering the material it's made of (aluminum lid + plastic bottom). It's not quite as thin and light, but it's the thinnest/lightest PC laptop I've used that doesn't compromise on performance and function. The keyboard is island-style and very comfortable. The multi-touch trackpad is also pretty good (ASUS has been using multi-touch for a long time). The max battery life I can get is 10 hours.
Cons:
-No back-lit keyboard
-Wireless is pretty weak
-No bluetooth
The UL30VT will have dedicated graphics, bluetooth, a better wifi card, and and overclocked CPU. I'll be returning my UL30A for the UL30VT when it is released within the next few weeks.
I'm sorry, but welcome to the world of technology. Every company in the tech world does this. Apple is no exception, it's all part of the business scheme known as "planned obsoleteness." If every thing worked "straight away" or as apple claims "out of the box" all the time, then no one would need to replace their computers for like 5 or 6 years.
Is it a crap practice? Yep. But it's also a little idealistic to think that one of the biggest money generators in the techworld would not adhere to this practice. It's no surprise that apple products don't work with certain things, flash and HD movies being examples. But those who can do flash and hd movies trade off stuff too, mostly an OS which is dependent on a text file.
There is no universal "oh everything works" system, and it'll never happen, because if "everything works" then no one would upgrade for a very long time, and that's not a sustainable business model.
Apple products look great, and are designed well, but to insinuate that they might be 'perfect' or that they will be 'perfect' is a little naive and misses the point of the whole exercise: making money, and lots of it. The best way of doing that? Dole things out in little chunks and dole it out to the most lucrative segment of the market. Force them to pay for things that they might need.
Microsoft, dell, asus, sony, blah blah blah, they all do it. It's not surprising that they do. And I'm not hoping that Apple will make a technological panacea which answers all our woes, I will however still enjoy my products, just as Scottsdale here does.
Constructively criticise all we want, apple isn't going to change their business model.
I want a MBA badly, in willing to cancel xmas for one but not in its current offering. I want the whole 4GB/256GB ram/SD thing as i stated on another thread 2 GB is fine for me now. Thats what i use in my iMac and have used for over a year but as i want to keep my MBA for over 2 years i doubt if the ram will be enough for then.
Snow Leopard seems to run a lot better under 2GB and its fast becoming the norm now so i don't want to limit myself. 4GB i feel would last over 4 years without a worry.
but not in its current offering. I want the whole 4GB/256GB ram/SD thing as i stated on another thread 2 GB is fine for me now. Thats what i use in my iMac and have used for over a year but as i want to keep my MBA for over 2 years i doubt if the ram will be enough for then. Snow Leopard seems to run a lot better under 2GB and its fast becoming the norm now so i don't want to limit myself. 4GB i feel would last over 4 years without a worry.
I agree with pretty much everything Scottsdale just said.
Having said that though, I went through pretty much every company of PC notebooks looking for the perfect one, and haven't found it yet. Apple still makes the best notebooks due to one simple thing - the multitouch trackpad.
When I have to use my Dell notebook I almost always plug in an external mouse. After being spoiled with Apple's glass touchpad, I can no longer bear to use any other trackpad.
I won't consider another PC notebook again until they make a GOOD multitouch trackpad. The ones claiming to be multitouch capable on the PC side still suck pretty badly.
Until then, my Apple notebooks remain much more pleasant to use.
Having said that though, I went through pretty much every company of PC notebooks looking for the perfect one, and haven't found it yet. Apple still makes the best notebooks due to one simple thing - the multitouch trackpad.
When I have to use my Dell notebook I almost always plug in an external mouse. After being spoiled with Apple's glass touchpad, I can no longer bear to use any other trackpad.
I won't consider another PC notebook again until they make a GOOD multitouch trackpad. The ones claiming to be multitouch capable on the PC side still suck pretty badly.
Until then, my Apple notebooks remain much more pleasant to use.