Shame on you Apple !

[ozreth]

Steve, if you read this : think battery life next time. Not hipness.

Dude, whats so good about a netbook with 1gb of ram, intel graphics, and the ********* processors every?

Sure you can use it all day but won't get half the performance you would on a MBA. 5 hours will last most people their entire day, and if not, they will bring their charger around which is a nice price to pay in exchange for awesome specs (awesome as far as ultra portables go).

Has nothing to do with hipness. But yes, they are that as well : )

 

[wkw]

the real travesty here is the lack of a backlit keyboard

 

[bloodycape]

You chose the wrong example for comparison. You should have used the 11in Acer Timeline models(either with the SU7300 cpu pretty much the same cpu as the SU9400, or the ULV core I model), or the Sony Vaio TT another 11in with the SU9x00 cpu. Neither have the nice gpu of the Air, but they do get at least 6 hours of battery life and weighs about the same as the Air. That would be a fair comparison not a netbook with lower res screen, less power, and is smaller 10in machine.

 

[fizzwinkus]

why is it every time apple releases a macbook air, everyone magically forgets they still make a macbook and macbook pro.

it's as if they released a new ipod touch and they world pronounced apple doomed because it didn't have a 3g radio for voice calls.

 

[raynold2010]

4 pages. Wow. Not bad for a troll.

I touched the nerve obviously.

5 hours of battery life for 1000 dollars... What a joke.

Wait. I said 5 hours ? But like one guy said, official specs don't mean a thing. It's always less on a daily usage. When Asus advertises 10 hours, it's actually more of a 8. When Apple says 5... You got my point.

I'll stick to my iMac for now.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

Arent people getting 5 hours of battery life on their macbook air? hasn't that been proven.

If you say its milk....it's milk.

 

[Craiglorocks]

Fanboys to the rescue.

Wow, shame on me. That gallon of milk stuff says a lot about your priorities. Who wants a shiny pretty computer to show off at Starbucks?

Now, who's REALLY using a notebook all the time ? Students. On a campus, 5 hours of battery life is just laughable.

Double that, Apple, and I'll be a happy customer. We need a day-long battery, that's not so difficult to understand.

And I'm not going Asus, because it's Windows. And not iPad, because I need a keyboard constantly.

I would say the battery life is very comparable to size and weight. I am a college student that has 5 straight hours of classes on certain days. To be honest, the ONLY computers i see brought to class are Macs except for 2 people in one of my classes. Both of them sit on the end and use chargers at all times. When you are already carrying 20-25 pounds in books and paper, there is no reason to lug around another 4+ pounds in computer. The MBA was designed to be this machine.

 

[Ping Guo]

I'll stick to my iMac for now.

Cool, let us know how the battery life is when you're using it on the commuter train or in Starbucks.

 

[toxic]

did you know that Apple has new, more stringent battery testing? Jobs even said during the keynote that the old Macbook Air would get 5 hours with the new tests, vs 7 or whatever that it was rated for. by extension, the 11" isn't any worse, the Asus and every other Windows PC company just have lower standards.

even with the old testing, I've found the actual battery life to be much closer to the specified life with Macs than with other computers. have you ever used any Macbook?

moreover, the MBA is not a netbook. it's an ultraportable. they are not the same thing.

 

[fizzwinkus]

Cool, let us know how the battery life is when you're using it on the commuter train or in Starbucks.

but it's not a fair comparison - the imac doesn't have a light up keyboard either... oh, wait..

 

[raynold2010]

Cool, let us know how the battery life is when you're using it on the commuter train or in Starbucks.

Now that hurts.

I've got my iPod for that occasion.

The word "ultra portable" reminds me of "military intelligence" when it comes to MBA. Kind of a contradiction in itself. What's good in a ultra-thin PC when it's got 5 hours of battery and you have to use this ultra-heavy Mac charger ? Beats me.

But you fanboys will explain that to me.

 

[fizzwinkus]

the macbook air charger isn't much bigger than the ipad charger.

but i'll let you in on a secret.

i know apple doesn't like to tell anyone, but if you give an apple store employee the secret handshake, they'll let you see these special products called macbooks and macbook pros. these machines have great internals, great battery life, and are still much thinner than the competition.

 

[Fraaaa]

Now that hurts.

I've got my iPod for that occasion.

The word "ultra portable" reminds me of "military intelligence" when it comes to MBA. Kind of a contradiction in itself. What's good in a ultra-thin PC when it's got 5 hours of battery and you have to use this ultra-heavy Mac charger ? Beats me.

But you fanboys will explain that to me.

MBA is lighter than my MacBook, and the MBA charger is ligher than my MacBook charger.

 

[robeddie]

MBA is lighter than my MacBook, and the MBA charger is ligher than my MacBook charger.

This whole thread is classic internet board psychology at work. Raynold2010 made a comment, then got rebutted by a large group of people.

He then felt cornered.

Instead of having an intelligent give and take, like he probably would in the real world - once given all sorts of decent arguments to the contrary, he just hardened in his position. He feels he's being attacked by the zombie hoard.

I think this happens to all of us in here, and I'm not saying anything critical of Raynold2010. But what I am saying is it's fascinating to me how so often 'debates' in here between what I'm sure are almost all reasonable and intelligent people, so often turn into repetetive pissing matches. Whereas in the real world with these same people, they most often would start to see each others point and come to some sort of compromise in thinking.

 

[ProstheticHead]

Bear in mind, they said: 5 hours of battery life through the "better battery test."

Companies have made tests in the past that revolve purely around getting the best life of battery that they can.

This doesn't mean they have a true 8 hour battery....

 

[spamboxnet]

Now that hurts.

I've got my iPod for that occasion.

The word "ultra portable" reminds me of "military intelligence" when it comes to MBA. Kind of a contradiction in itself. What's good in a ultra-thin PC when it's got 5 hours of battery and you have to use this ultra-heavy Mac charger ? Beats me.

But you fanboys will explain that to me.

how worthless your life is mate, that you spend your time sitting on the internet trying to find ways of insulting and belittling other peoples interests.

 

[toxic]

Now that hurts.

I've got my iPod for that occasion.

The word "ultra portable" reminds me of "military intelligence" when it comes to MBA. Kind of a contradiction in itself. What's good in a ultra-thin PC when it's got 5 hours of battery and you have to use this ultra-heavy Mac charger ? Beats me.

But you fanboys will explain that to me.

"netbook" and "ultraportables" are two different classes of computers. don't argue with me about the terminology, that's just what it is.

a Lenovo X201 is an ultraportable. an EeePC is a netbook. they do not compete with each other.

and again, Windows PC manufacturers are not as stringent in their battery tests. if I raced a Civic around a track and got 15 mpg, and then cruised on the highway with a Corvette and got 20 mpg, that doesn't make the Corvette a more fuel-efficient car. Windows PC manufacturers tend to do something closer to the latter.

calling everyone who disagrees with you a "fanboy" doesn't make your arguments any better.

 

[Fraaaa]

This whole thread is classic internet board psychology at work. Raynold2010 made a comment, then got rebutted by a large group of people.

He then felt cornered.

Instead of having an intelligent give and take, like he probably would in the real world - once given all sorts of decent arguments to the contrary, he just hardened in his position. He feels he's being attacked by the zombie hoard.

I think this happens to all of us in here, and I'm not saying anything critical of Raynold2010. But what I am saying is it's fascinating to me how so often 'debates' in here between what I'm sure are almost all reasonable and intelligent people, so often turn into repetetive pissing matches. Whereas in the real world with these same people, they most often would start to see each others point and come to some sort of compromise in thinking.

The problem is these people like to jump in a pool of piranha and pretend not to be eaten alive, and is just plain stupid.

Graphics

We didn't expect much from the integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics chip,

Read more: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/asus-eee-pc-1015pem.aspx?page=2#ixzz13SYZD2Sm

Quoting your link for comparison.

These are two different quality of computers.

You want battery life and a better processor + better graphic + OS X?

You are being unrealistic.

Still you can choose: asus or MBA or none. If you stick with your iMac, than probably you didn't need any of these in the first place and you are crying for nothing.

 

[Pressure]

I'd have to say that the 13" MacBook Pro might be more suitably for you since your highest priority seems to be fixated solely on battery time.

10 hours should be enough to hold you a day at the campus.

 

[snorkelman]

You chose the wrong example for comparison. You should have used the 11in Acer Timeline models(either with the SU7300 cpu pretty much the same cpu as the SU9400, or the ULV core I model), or the Sony Vaio TT another 11in with the SU9x00 cpu. Neither have the nice gpu of the Air, but they do get at least 6 hours of battery life and weighs about the same as the Air. That would be a fair comparison not a netbook with lower res screen, less power, and is smaller 10in machine.

Agreed on bad choice of comparison

My other half has a Timeline 1810TZ, 1.3GHz SU4100, 4GB Ram 250GB HDD, 11.6" display. HDMI out, 3x USB, wired ethernet. It regularly turns in 7 hours on wireless with display brightness at a decent level. Bought a year ago for £449 quid, versus 11" MBA 4GB/64 I ordered earlier this week at £930

She gets on fine with it, though with a usage pattern that sees it treated as a souped up netbook with a larger display (and with a bit of a price hike for the privilege) not as a primary computer replacement.

With a sub £500 price tag I'd reckon its a lot easier to justify a machine of this level as a secondary purchase, whereas at just under £1000 more folks seem to be swithering over every megahertz and megabyte in an attempt to convince themselves it can be their primary machine (and for a lot of those doing that its going to turn out more in hope than realistic expectation).

Where it falls down for me is in the weight difference - the 1810 is half as much again as the 11/4BG/64GB MBA. That makes one a practical proposition for all day long hand carrying, whilst the other one is not and would be living in a backpack. By going for the cheaper option I'd effectively be paying myself £490 to put up with the hassle of having a backpack with me at all times, thats less than a tenner a week in my pocket over the course of a year, and for the sake of a tenner a week Id rather give that particular 'pleasure' a miss

In saying that I don't need access to wired ethernet and don't need access to any more than 2 or 3 hours of battery powered up-time on any given call out which gives it a good margin of leeway.

If I did then it would be a much more difficult choice - grabbing the 1810tz on its own every morning as I go out the door, or grabbing an MBA and a power supply and an ethernet dongle (by which point the MBA would be getting stuffed into a backpack anyway regardless of its weight).

 

[fizzwinkus]

why not just get a hypermac battery to go along with it? a 13" macbook pro will get an additional 45 hours of runtime. couple it with an ipad and get an extra 99 hours.

 

[November]

OP has a very poorly thought out point of view and is clearly unable to consider all aspects.

Resorting to calling everyone "fanboys" working well for you?

 

[rkahl]

why is it every time apple releases a macbook air, everyone magically forgets they still make a macbook and macbook pro.

it's as if they released a new ipod touch and they world pronounced apple doomed because it didn't have a 3g radio for voice calls.

+1
Macbook Air is not for everyone.

 

[tigres]

This whole thread is classic internet board psychology at work. Raynold2010 made a comment, then got rebutted by a large group of people.

He then felt cornered.

Instead of having an intelligent give and take, like he probably would in the real world - once given all sorts of decent arguments to the contrary, he just hardened in his position. He feels he's being attacked by the zombie hoard.

I think this happens to all of us in here, and I'm not saying anything critical of Raynold2010. But what I am saying is it's fascinating to me how so often 'debates' in here between what I'm sure are almost all reasonable and intelligent people, so often turn into repetetive pissing matches. Whereas in the real world with these same people, they most often would start to see each others point and come to some sort of compromise in thinking.

Been avoiding this thread for this very reason. Well said...
I'm surprised this is still active.

 

[phobic99]

Where are these "more stringent tests" that Apple claims to be doing? What are the parameters of the tests and what makes them more stringent? I'm just curious to see the data although if it comes directly from Apple I'd assume it's got some marketing oomph behind it.

I'm looking forward to see a review of the new MBA from a site like Anandtech or the like.