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Samsung's Core i5 Laptop Is Lighter, Thinner Than Air
- Thread starter ghileman
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Yes, they sell expensive netbooks, the MBA.
To be accurate, even in this case the PC hardware is better, as they don't have gigabit Ethernet, which is essential.
Yes, it is nearly a disease with me too (endless excitement and hope for the next upgrade).
In what way would Apple's bottom line be reduced if they sold 'luxury' MBAs ($3k to $4k) to those who want to spend their excess money on advanced machines?
Where is capitalism when you need it?!
I have yet to see a laptop that matches MBA's form factor and specs with an optical drive. ODDs take a ridiculous amount of space and are more or less useless.
No. MBA is an ultraportable, not a netbook. Netbook is something extremely cheap and limited and usually not even light or small (besides the small screen).
What is the point of an ultraportable if you have to keep it plugged in?
In what way would Apple's bottom line be reduced if they sold 'luxury' MBAs ($3k to $4k) to those who want to spend their excess money on advanced machines?
Where is capitalism when you need it?!
Adding extra options costs a lot more than just the added hardware. You have to think of the extra stockkeeping in the factories, warranty stock in local countries, testing, more complicated manufacturing processes, managing extra supply streams, support, refurb/rework etc.
That's why they only go for the options that deliver some volume. If you offer an option that is only taken by 1% of the customers it's usually not worth the trouble at all. Raising the option price to cover the cost is not possible either because that reduces that percentage even more.
As a related example, I just set up a Sony Vaio X1 for a junior faculty of mine. While it is incredibly light and thin, the entire Windows 7 experience on this computer is entirely different than a MBA. I forgot how frustrating the whole experience of computing can be.
It's not the specs--it's the entire experience of computing for what you do most. Software and hardware integration.
I cannot see Sony or Samsung competing on the basis of user experience, as much as they may try. The only thing left is specs, which is so last decade.
It's not the specs--it's the entire experience of computing for what you do most. Software and hardware integration.
I cannot see Sony or Samsung competing on the basis of user experience, as much as they may try. The only thing left is specs, which is so last decade.
There are ultraportables with very thin optical drives.
Any laptop that does not have an optical drive is a netbook. If in addition, it doesn't have ethernet, it is an uber-netbook.
Why would you have to keep an ultraportable plugged in if it has an ethernet port?
Hellhammer -- I admire your patience but my advice would be: Don't feed the trolls.
I agree that the MBA's esthetics are remarkable and also that there is nothing in the same world among Windows laptops. I run Windows 7 in emulation on my MBA because I must. Windows 7 is extremely flexible and probably gives very, very savvy users greater ability to customize it than does OS X. But, as you noted, OS X integrates seamlessly with Apple's hardware and is exponentially less frustrating to use than Windows 7.
Problems: It only has the screen resolution of the 11", it runs Windows only, and the cheapest model costs more than the most expensive MBA 13".
So it won't take any MacOS X customers away from Apple. Question is how many they will sell to Windows users; good luck to them. Dell's Adamo (headline: Dell Adamo is a super slim laptop all set to blow away the AIR) isn't for sale anymore, due to overwhelming success in sales
On the other hand, Samsung _does_ make nice looking stuff (two TVs and one colour laser printer here, all looking very nice and working just fine), so if you were looking for a very, very nice laptop to run Windows, and have no interest in MacOS X whatsoever, and your eyesight has reached the point where the pixels on the MBA 11" are too small for you, then it may compete reasonably well with the MBA in that market. Especially when you add the cost of a Windows license to the MBA.
It doesn't say anywhere that you cannot run OS X in a virtual machine. The MacOS X license does however say that you can only run it on an Apple-branded computer and only once. So Mac Pro, ten VMs, ten separate copies of MacOS X, that looks quite legal to me (the family license unfortunately says that you can install it on five _different_ Macs, so two family packs are not legal). MacOS X an a VM running on a Samsung laptop. And you can't avoid falling foul to the DMCA legislation, with the going rate of > $2,000 per breach, as Psystar found out. Not that Apple cares what you do at your home, unless you try turning it into a business.
So it won't take any MacOS X customers away from Apple. Question is how many they will sell to Windows users; good luck to them. Dell's Adamo (headline: Dell Adamo is a super slim laptop all set to blow away the AIR) isn't for sale anymore, due to overwhelming success in sales
On the other hand, Samsung _does_ make nice looking stuff (two TVs and one colour laser printer here, all looking very nice and working just fine), so if you were looking for a very, very nice laptop to run Windows, and have no interest in MacOS X whatsoever, and your eyesight has reached the point where the pixels on the MBA 11" are too small for you, then it may compete reasonably well with the MBA in that market. Especially when you add the cost of a Windows license to the MBA.
It doesn't say anywhere that you cannot run OS X in a virtual machine. The MacOS X license does however say that you can only run it on an Apple-branded computer and only once. So Mac Pro, ten VMs, ten separate copies of MacOS X, that looks quite legal to me (the family license unfortunately says that you can install it on five _different_ Macs, so two family packs are not legal). MacOS X an a VM running on a Samsung laptop. And you can't avoid falling foul to the DMCA legislation, with the going rate of > $2,000 per breach, as Psystar found out. Not that Apple cares what you do at your home, unless you try turning it into a business.
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Problems: It only has the screen resolution of the 11", it runs Windows only, and the cheapest model costs more than the most expensive MBA 13".
So it won't take any MacOS X customers away from Apple. Question is how many they will sell to Windows users; good luck to them. Dell's Adamo (headline: Dell Adamo is a super slim laptop all set to blow away the AIR) isn't for sale anymore, due to overwhelming success in sales
This is pretty much all that needs to be said.
Links, please.
According to what? Netbook is a laptop with ≤10" screen.
Why should it have an Ethernet port if nobody uses it? I fail to see how you can use the Ethernet port without plugging a cable into it. I have yet to see wireless Gigabit Ethernet.
Toshiba Portege, for example.
I don't care about those arbitrary definitions. A netbook is a crippled, not full-functional laptop. No optical drive == not full functional. No ethernet == crippled.
You said that "if it had an ethernet port, you would have to leave it plugged in". You can use gigabit ethernet when you need it and still not plug it all the time.
there was the sony vaio t series that came out back in 2008:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/23/sonys-11-inch-vaio-tt-worlds-lightest-blu-ray-laptop/
I consider a laptop computer to be 'crippled' if it HAS an optical drive. That's dead weight that I would almost never use and I would hate to have the burden of carrying it around with me wherever I go.
Your philosophy for the gigabit Ethernet connector is the same taken by MBA owners and the optical drive. We'll plug it in when we are in need of it (which is becoming very rare).
Your definition of 'fully functional' is arbitrary in it's own way. I still sometimes use an RS232 port for some of my engineering work (using old hardware). Is your computer 'crippled' because it lacks a serial port?
It is all a matter of perspective. I consider my 11.6" MBA to be fully functional because 99% of the time, it is all I need.
I have a feeling if the MBA came in a 9.9" variant, your definition for netbook would conveniently change also.
Now while I do not agree that the MBA is a netbook, I do agree that your definition of what constitutes a netbook is indeed arbitrary.
MBA IMO falls in between. It's feature set does resemble that of a netbook. It's performance is that of a full blown laptop.