Gizmodo
Updated with battery life stats, by popular demand. We can all agree that the MacBook Air is a slick-looking little laptop. It's so thin! You can't argue with that! But if you're in the market for a small, high-performance laptop, is it the best option? I pored over specs for four similarly positioned and more-or-less similarly priced laptops to see if you'll get your $1,800 worth out of the Air. Let's go to the chart, shall we?
It turns out that, surprise surprise, you pay a premium for a tiny form factor. The MacBook Air is seriously expensive for the guts you get inside, but Apple isn't the only company guilty of charging insane amounts for smaller computers. Just look at the Sony Vaio TZ150N, for example. $2,100 for a 1.06 GHz processor? Are you kidding me? I don't care how small, it's still a rip-off.
The best deal—if you don't mind an extra pound of weight and half-inch of thickness—is the Dell XPS M1330. It bests the MacBook Air in nearly every single category, delivering about 30% more processing power, 50% more memory, over 300% more hard drive space, plus a dedicated graphics card. All of this, for $300 less. But also, two hours less of battery life, thanks to the new smaller and more efficient Core 2 Duo processor in the MacBook Air.
But it's really no surprise that a form factor as striking as the MacBook Air's warrants a premium price. Super-slim and light laptops as a category have yet to come down from the stratosphere, dollar-wise. It's a form factor that SSD just makes loads of sense for, lightening them up and cutting down on battery life, but that drives the price up even further for the time being. Chips are still getting smaller and screen technology keeps improving. In a couple of years, these form factors will be reasonably priced with great specs, but until then, prepare to pay a huge chunk more for a bit less power, just so you can brag about having the thinnest computer on the block.
Comments
Does this laptop make me look fat?
why not a refurb 15" macbookpro? smokes the MBAir performance-wise, a little bigger but same price. thats how im leaning...although i am dying to know what the new MBP is gonna be like, but can i wait???
You can compare design and size, but price isn't fair. You're forgetting the "thank-god-we-don't-have-to-run-Vista" tax. That's where the XPS loses and is 100% worse.
my macbook saw air when i dropped it once...
ya, but they all run winblows
with parallels, I can run both Leopard and XP on the same laptop
Thats a full size Notebook, and it is, we have them. They try to pass it off as a ultraportable, but in reality its only slightly smaller than a Macbook.
Which is exactly why its cheap, because they dont need to use specially designed low heat small parts. They can use a full size notebook chip and get away with it. The Sony and the Air both use CPUs that are more than half the size of a normal notebook chip.
*crosses fingers for the Mac Inviso* So small, you cant even see it, with a screen so life like, its as if it weren't even there.
This post should be filed under duh. I really wish they had priced the Air at $1,499 and included the optical drive... that would have made it a lot more competitive. It'll probably drop to there in a few months... after all those poor saps pay the early adopter style premium. Just don't start whining when it does...
I'll wait to see the hands-on performance reviews, thanks.
That 4200rpm HD has me really worried.
Is the XPS M1330 really a competitor to the Air? I could make a comparable statement saying the MacBook costs $700 less than the Air and bests it in every category except weight, but since the Air and the MacBook are in two different categories it doesn't really make any sense to state that.
Looking at the specs, I'd put the XPS in a category that was somewhere between the Air and the MacBook Pro. It's lighter than the MBP but heavier than the Air; OTOH, it's also better equipped than the Air but not as well equipped as the MBP.
Apples and oranges, no pun intended.
is it just me or did this years macworld suck? ok so yea they brought out a new super duper thin laptop, big deal. macbook pros are already thin. i was hoping something along the lines of a ipod touch with alot more space or one with a SSD a price drop on it...more apps for the iphone a g3 iphone even. its a tad bit dissapointing.
Why don't you compare Length and Width as well? There is more to an ultra protable than thickness.
oops i mean 3g...
As a fanboy, I too was a little disappointed.
he/apple can't out to themselves every year.
over all I get it a C++
I am hoping Apple does more surprise announcements throughout the year.
@deepdish: i see what you did there...
You should add the different available ports to the table. I would like to see the comparison there.
The problem with the mac book air is how long will it last before its specs make it obsolete? With web pages getting more involved graphics wise and all these mac hd downloads and stuff I do not think this mac air will last long with its specs.
People, The MacBook is small and powerful enough and cost a lot less. What's wrong with the MacBook?
@DNABio: I think you can use screen size as a general indicator of width and length. There aren't many laptops around nowadays that have 1" thick bezels around their screens—especially not this lot—so it should be reliable.
The M1303 is a good deal, but that said, if I were in the market for a laptop like that, I'd be looking at a Macbook as the alternative, not the Air.
A battery life comparison would be nice too.
I have and m1330 and like it very much and I'm not sure i would call it an ultraportable but it is certainly very close
Where are the battery life comparisons and the price of extra batteries to get them up to 5 hours?
@apeguero: Funny too, because it beats all of the above by being half the price.
Also, this "comparison" completely neglects battery life, one of the key components of these tiny lappies.
This may have been mentioned before, but perhaps they'll drop the price in a couple weeks a-la the iphone?
I will repeat myself, internet:
I haven't used an ethernet cord, optical disc, or more than USB peripheral with my laptop in the last 4 years. DO I BLOW YOUR FUCKING MIND?
I would wait til like august when they do the product refresh on this faster processor, bigger hard drive, cheaper price. Apple follows a pattern with all of it's products.
Yes, too many things left out of the price point. The external optical drive (needed to use the included DVDs), the USB Ethernet dongle, Bluetooth audio, etc...
I like it, but in the same way one likes a tiny sports car. Can I really get away with not having these features...
IMO, the single biggest omission of the Air is a lack of a docking port and docking station. And I'm not talking about a port replicator, I mean an actual dock and docking station.
It's all very well comparing these, but there's only one machine there that will run Mac OS........so not much point in comparing them really as Mac users won't even consider the other machines in this Battlemodo, unless you are demonstrating the features for those that want to run Windoze on Mac hardware.
eee FTW
@madcoweater:
if under 4lbs (w/ 13.3 in screen) isn't ultraportable then a standard 6-7 pounder must fall under "desktop"
As somebody else already pointed out, including the Dell XPS M1330 in this comparison is totally retarded! Why wasn't the SONY VAIO SZ laptop included in this comparison then, because the M1330 is in the same class as the Sony SZ - not the SONY TZ? btw, I just configured a SONY SZ740 laptop to the same specs as the M1330 above, and it came to $1670. In any case, yes, you'll always pay a premium for true ultra-portable machines, mostly because of the engineering that goes into cramming so much technology into a smaller package, even though the actual price of the slower components doesn't add-up to the higher price point. There is a specific market for true ultra portables - these are not meant to be desktop replacement or performance machines at all.
Wow, i have been so turned off by DELL in the past with their garbage computers and worse customer service I completely forgot to look anything they have produced in the last 3 years. That XPS config at $1500 owns!
It would seem that DELL's purchase of Alienware is paying off in a big way. and by Big i mean Small..like 1.3" thin and less than 4lbs small
@Christibyte: "Apple follows a pattern with all of it's products."
I think it's safe to say that all computer manufacturers follow the pattern of releasing faster and cheaper revisions of their products.
The Air may be the thinnest, but it is not the lightest, and the lighter Toshiba and Sony have optical drives and bigger hard drives - and maybe more ports too, but I'm not sure (I don't own either). But they do have wimpy processors and smaller screens.
So it comes down to what you really need vs. how the marketers choose to hawk their products ("Mine's thinnest!" "Mine's lightest!" "Mine's cheapest!")
@DeadWriter:
- You don't need the DVD drive if you already have a computer with a DVD drive: use Remote Disk
- The MBA DOES have Bluetooth audio... it's a feature of Leopard with any Bluetooth 2.1 device
You are missing a vital bit of comparison here, that begin the battery life. Do your homework and add those numbers in, because in the realm of ultraportable, a fast processor with optical drive mean nothing if it only runs for 1.5 hours before dieing.
Agreed with SGODUN, I would consider the XPS and Fujitsu as both being in different categories as the MBA. They are SMALL laptops, but weigh 4lbs and have large footprints. These are more in tune with the regular MB.
I'm gonna throw in the obligatory "If an extra pound is too much to carry around, then you need to get off your lazy ass and get some exercise..." comment, just because I laugh every time I see someone type that. 4 pounds is too much to carry around? Seriously?
I was hoping for something that would make me want to ditch my Dell M1210, but the MB Air isn't it. So far I have been able to get 4GB of RAM and a 200GB 7200rpm hard drive in the M1210. Plus, a DL DVD burner and a swappable Core 2 Duo proc. Round that out with the M1210's discreet NVidia graphics, a plethora of ports and card slots and dual wireless cards. All for around 4 lbs. -- I just haven't seen anything that comes close for the size. Oh yeah, did I mention that I am running Leopard, XP and Vista natively on it? (gonna load Ubuntu to check out soon, too).
you should be ashamed of your specs!
Could it be that (gasp) there is a tradeoff, and the machine that is the "best" depends on your needs (double-gasp)?
And yes, you need battery life in there for this to mean anything.
@Padriac:
No, but the smell of your post makes me a little bit nauseous. What OS's did you install 4 years ago over the internot? I await your reply with holded nose.
@Lavallee017: Perhaps in a way then it's fitting that the actor that played "the Dell guy" (aka glorified pot head computer-pusher) during those crappy Dell years is now a waiter at Tortilla Flats in the Meatpacking District.
i have a fujitsu s6510 (which you somehow did not include in your ratings)
its a 14.1" screen, weighhs 4lbs, 2.4 core2duo, optical drive, 4gb ram, no video card though.
all the macbook air has is style.
@DeadWriter:
Leopard has stereo bluetooth, true story. You don't need the external USB superdrive unless you need to load cds/dvds on the road.
@flapjacks:
I have about 20+ pounds of stuff in my man bag. Throw in a laptop and try carrying that around all day. Try riding a bike with all that in there and you will really see my point.
@DNABio: Sounds like something your mom wants to know about
oh yea the fujitsu has 6.5 hours of battery life. I predict this machine will go the path of the palm foleo.
@ANoel: OS X through target disk mode. Boosh.
@What it is: haha, yes the Ads "dude you got a DELL!?" always came through to me "Dude you got Hosed!?"
Uhh... where are battery life comparisons? Surely the dedicated video card sucks up some juice otherwise the Dell XPS definitely takes the cake.
And I'd argue that the 256MB ATI card in the Fujistu shouldn't be crowned a "winner" in that category, because video RAM is rarely used to it's fullest. Heck, if it's not integrated, I'd say they are all the same. And if you want to argue that one card is better than the other, ask why Giz did put model numbers!!!!
About Parallels and XP -- The Air has only an 80 gig HD. Subtract the space for Leopard and iLife, and even before you install Office or OpenOffice, things are getting tight. Is there room for XP, Parallels, and a document or two? My MB 120 filled up fast, and I don't have XP.
@mac_kix_windoze:
Srsly, get a MacBook. Only 2 pounds more and a lot more features AND $700 LESS.
The Air is only for anorexic weight fanatics.
I can only say that my new Dell M1330 rocks ! Under 2K (MPP) with 2.2 GHz, 3GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, LED back lit screen & HDMI. It's both fast and furious ! It seems like the best deal out there if your heart is set on a lappy with a flash drive.
Too expensive and too bad specs: 1.6Ghz, 80Gigs HHD and the awful intel X3100 = a gadget for hyped richs and frenzy consumers...
I'll wait for the Asus eee 9 inch LCD hoping it will stay under $500
@Padriac: Good for you. Some of us work, not of our own choices, in areas where there's no wireless.