Today I got back my Macbook Air after a two and a half weeks of service. See, the monitor had something like dead pixels and then it evolved to something like a complete monitor failure. All was black. Anyway, everything’s fine now. Point is, that the past weeks I had to use my old netbook. I recently mentioned about why Air wins the netbook but this time is different.
There are three core differences (except the price) that make me say, yet again, “Air rocks big time.”
Reason 1: The Screen
Bigger. Brighter. Clearer. Better. That is, the Air’s screen. It may be only 13.3″ comparing to the 10″ of my netbook, but may I say you that this is a BIG difference. It’s like using a 24″ iMac or something like that. The feel after the transition between Air and netbook or vice versa is remarkable. It’s not a Retina display, I know, but it’s the feel that relaxes your eyes and your focus. More workspace. More happiness.
Reason 2: CPU and the such
2.13Ghz of pure Intel Core 2 Duo power. Versus the Intel Atom N270 1.60Ghz. I guess, Air wins here too. Mind the graphics too. The Air uses a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M whilst on the other hand, the Turbo-X notebook is making cool things with a Intel GMA 950 GPU. Nevertheless, the RAM plays a significant role too; 2Gb of RAM instead of 1Gb is also a good sign. Summing up, hardware on the Air rocks big time, for it’s size capabilities.
Reason 3: Software
I’m not gonna talk about iLife. We all know it’s a great software suite/package. I’m gonna talk about how smoothly every single program runs in Mac OS X. No crashes. No lags. No nothing. Even the OS is pretty much like a “rockstar” itself. Your work-flow is never stopping. Plus that you can find many great apps such as Coda, Tweetie, Things, Grapher and many, many more. Basically, it’s the UX (User Experience) that’s a solid “win” for everyone.
Concluding, I have to admit that once you go Mac you never come back. It’s a whole different realm of computers and technology. Of concept and ideas. Of design and user experience. Despite that Steve may becoming sometimes an ass, you can’t deny that Apple, nowadays, makes the best machines out there. Call it iMac, Macbook, iPhone, iPad, iWhatever; it’s a fact. And I highly recommend you becoming a switcher soon.
This is unfair… of course Macbook Air will win vs any netbook because it’s in a different category!
I wonder why you bought a netbook after all ;-)
Though, comparing Macbook Air with a *current* CULV laptop, i’m not sure for the outcome…. that would be a fair comparison!
A different category yes, but in my point of view and in my needs they are in the same category ;-) I bought the netbook in February 2009 and I got (not bought) the Air in Mid-February 2010.
“Why I prefer the BMW 760iLong Edition way more than my Toyota Aygo.” is a great analogy.
To get serious now, Windows 7 IS much better than MAC OS X. Which is UNIX. I promise. The bad Windows experience comes from the fact that the machine that runs it(Netbook) is like Aygo. Cheap, Crap, and ugly. Air’s hardware is tuned to work w/ OS X.
Short list of why Win7 is better: 97 out of 100 times people choose Windows.
Dudes, get it easy! It’s not an ArsTechnica review, it’s *NOT* a review in the first place! It’s my opinion, based on *MY* usage of both machines and *MY* needs. Which is a light, portable, efficient computer because I travel a lot. So, stop saying the comparison is not fair. IT IS fair based on why & how I use these computers. And trust me, there are a lot of people out there who travel a lot too — and need something similar.
I have to admit that once you go Mac you never come back
Maybe I am one of the 3842983 people out there who are desperately seeking for a Mac only because of its design, without really being aware of the technical shit that’s going on in this machine but what the hell?
IT IS FREAKING AWESSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOME! <3 <3
we love apple :) simple as that ;)
Joanna, if you’re not into that technical shit it’s okay — Macs are not only design it’s a whole ecosystem that works flawless; apps, hardware — the machine. And you don’t have to be in that tech shit (sometimes).