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firewood

macrumors G3
Jul 29, 2003
8,141
1,384
Silicon Valley
Note that Apple beats this product on price, as well as shipping months earlier, the opposite of the way it was many years ago.

With the Air and the iPad 2, Apple is now the price leader at many spec levels.

Who wudda thunk?
 

gwsat

macrumors 68000
Apr 12, 2008
1,920
0
Tulsa
I dunno, when you look at it form the side, it doesnt look so great anymore.
I believe the reason the Samsung Series 9 laptop doesn't look as good from the side as the MBA is because the Samsung's leading edge, .62 inch, is basically as thick as its back edge, .64 inch. At its thinnest, the MBA is only .11 inches thick and at its thickest, .68 inch. Thus the average thickness of the MBA is significantly less than that of the Samsung.
 

BENJMNS

macrumors 6502
Dec 28, 2005
449
0
good to see the big boys stepping up their game. this is good for us, the consumer. the 13" air is still king. display res just not there and ssd size.

i wonder how it does with boot up times and sleep mode.
 

fyrefly

macrumors 6502a
Jun 27, 2004
624
67
At the bare minimum, this laptop may give us an idea of the performance of a potential Sandy Bridge MacBook Air revision - as it's using the 17W i5 processor, with the 350-900Mhz Intel HD 3000 Graphics.

I'm eagerly awaiting some reviews/benchmarks to see how the HD 3000 performs vs. something like the 320m. If the LV version isn't too far of a step back (the standard clocked HD 3000's perform slightly worse than the 320m) than we might be seeing a SB MBA sooner, rather than later! *fingers crossed*
 

ufkdo

macrumors 6502
Oct 30, 2010
344
3
Turkey
Macbook Air base 13 inch model is the best computer I have ever used. Powerful enough and ultra portable. Also, mac os x is irrevocable :) So, why would I need a windows alternative to this?
 
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hilarystone

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2011
8
0
Bristol, UK
-It's made of Duralumin which is supposedly ”twice the strength of aluminum”

Duralumin is just an alloy of aluminium – Apple certainly does not buid Airs from pure Aluminium because if they did they would fold in two when picked up... I would be certain that Apple is using a high strength Aluminium alloy...
 

bsolomonny

macrumors regular
Jan 10, 2007
148
0
Taiwan
There are lots of nice looking windows machines ...Admittedly this is one of them (Air is still nicer). However it is the OS that makes Macs so much better.
 

hilarystone

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2011
8
0
Bristol, UK
The positive is duralumin (sp) . I had hoped Apple would use this in the next round of Mac notebooks. It is twice as durable as aluminum and lighter weight too. I think it's a more realistic solution than Liquid Metal. Now it might be difficult for Apple to go that path as it will not want to look copycat.

Duralumin is just one high strength alloy of aluminium – it is no lighter than other alloy of aluminium. Duralumin covers quite a number of aluminium alloys some of which are high strength but we do not know what aluminium alloy Apple is using. There are some Aluminium metal matrix composites which will be stiffer and higher strength than standard Aluminium alloys (all standard aluminium alloys have the same stiffness) and could offer significant improvements but Duraluminum certainly does not do so – it was used on bicycle frames and components as long ago as the 1930s so is not anything new. I am certain Apple is using a good quality high strength aluminium alloy identical or similar in performance to a Duralumin alluminium alloy...
 

kamalds

macrumors regular
Dec 16, 2010
243
91
Samsung has poor customer support. They forget their customers once they have sold the product. See what is happening to the poor 7-inch Galaxy Tab users - not even Android 2.3 upgrade for them.
 

philxor

macrumors regular
Dec 21, 2010
181
0
I think everyone was impressed with the machine until they saw the price tag Samsung put on it.

I also think the screen resolution on the 13" model is a dealbreaker.
 

stockscalper

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2003
917
235
Area 51
Its not like Macs dont have their share of problems.

Generally, no. I've been using Macs since 1986 in my business and at home and have never had one go down. But my colleagues that use PC's are constantly dealing with viruses and broken Dells and HP's.
 

Scorecard

macrumors member
May 26, 2010
33
0
It's a step in the right direction for Samsung, at the end of the day it creates better Mac products for us to enjoy in the future. As for the title of this thread it's quite misleading, It's 2.89lbs to 2.9lbs. So yes you could say it's lighter 0.01lbs is negligle, plus I find windows machines to have huge power bricks. Also it's thickest point is .64inch while the MBA is .68in but it's thinnest point .62 while the MBA is .11 So you can't really claim it's thinner.

Plus for roughly similar specs the MBA is a way better deal overall. Normally we're used to paying more for Mac products with similar design/specs but not this time! Plus graphics are a huge thing an the 320M is still better than anything Intel offers.

There still is no laptop that really matches MBP and it's form factor/price/quality build. Also many manufactures aren't up to speed yet with Sandy bridge so the MBP line is a hell of a deal!
 

Serenity64

macrumors newbie
Sep 18, 2010
24
0
Sweden
Does it run OS X?
Does it have a multitouch glass trackpad that has usefull gestures?
Will it play along with my other MBP's screensharing and file sharing feature?

Thought not :)
Even though it has ok specs and looks almost as good as a MBA/MBP I could never ever ever -ever- go back to Windows. Sure I have just used OS X and Macs for 3 years; But after 3 iPhone generations, 4 different macs I have found a setup that works for me and I can't imagine running Windows again, even if it doesnt have the same specs.

For me the user experience matters, not the specs. End of story :)

End of offtopic :)
 

67bmer

macrumors member
Feb 27, 2011
51
0
What would be really sweet is if they came out with a 15inch one and it became their top seller!

hint hint
 

yanksrock100

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2010
673
245
San Diego
But its $100 more than the 13 ultimate.
It only has a 1.4 ghz processor, has pretty much the same resolution as the 11 IN AIR, and has less storage.

And the icing on the cake.......
Windows.

So, is it really "better"?
no


AND, would you rather be walking into a coffee shop with the MACBOOK AIR? Or something thats called the "series 9" or whatever.
 

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
May 28, 2005
9,240
3,499
Pennsylvania
Apple Innovates, others copy.

Name one product that's a copy of an Apple product this is "better". There isn't.

Will this Samsung knock off be the exception? No.

It's just another company flip flopping in Apple's Jet stream with no clue of how to invent or design their own ultra light notebook so they copy the Air.

Damn foolish to support knock off scum, imo.

Erm, Zune > iTunes, Windows Phone 7 > iPhone, and Microsoft Surface and the xbox 360 + kinect doesn't even have an Apple branded competetor.

All you've managed to do is solidify your position as an Apple fanboy. :D

meanwhile, this is a nice looking laptop.
 

hcho3

macrumors 68030
May 13, 2010
2,783
0
Let' see..

They copied Apple's drop off port from first gen MBA. It's a shame that apple has drop ports no longer because it was not a good idea.

No matter. No matter. Copycats will just copy.

It's priced more than MBA.

No matter. No matter. Copycats deserve more money.

Samsung doesn't offer customer service like apple store because... they don't have their own freaking store. You have to buy this from best buy and buy warranty from there.

Pass.
 

yanksrock100

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2010
673
245
San Diego
Erm, Zune > iTunes, Windows Phone 7 > iPhone

Well, Zune is a product, and iTunes is the software.
I suppose you mean Zune (which is discontinued because nobody wanted it) vs the iPod. And, as we ALL know, the iPod beats the Zune.

And Windows Phone 7 (COnfusing name because there hasnt been 7 windows phones yet....) does not beat out the iPhone 4.
Im pretty sure there isnt anything "retina" about the "Windows phone 7".
 

ghileman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 4, 2008
148
0
Also it's thickest point is .64inch while the MBA is .68in but it's thinnest point .62 while the MBA is .11 So you can't really claim it's thinner.

good point. it would be more precise to say the Air is fatter.
 

anthro

macrumors newbie
Mar 7, 2011
14
0
Samsung Series 9 could be the best non-Apple laptop out there. Not better than Air for many people, though. People like me.

The software side is obvious. Let's go to hardware. Air's industrial design is still unmatched. The Samsung may have a better material, but that's no MacBook unibody. Spec-wise, I'd choose Core 2 Duo + NVIDIA 320M over Sandy Bridge + Intel intergrated.

And again, price.
 
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