Comments on: New MacBook Air's newness lies within

The MacBook Air looks the same. But it's not.

[Arnav]

I think there are some real good alternatives to the Airs , look at the Sony Vaio Z which has better specs and weight for almost the same price.

[Galaxy5]

....and how many run the Mac OS?

[bob1xxxx]

Hmmmm more apple tax news. I think for my portable net book solution Im going to get a asus eee pc1000ha. Smaller , lighter, yet way more flexable than the air all for $479.00. Hmmm you decided whats the better deal? Oh by the why the os10 has been haxored on to the eee pc1000 series and works quite nicely LOL!!!!

[FundiMkuu]

@bobfxxx

what are you doing on this page????? why are you reading about the air??? you are happy man with your $479.00 contraption, keep it!

[ckh1272]

I understand everybody has different needs when it comes to computers, but if you're going to compare an ASUS eee pc1000HA with a macbook air, let's keep it real for a moment. Let's for $479, I get a weaker processor (Atom vs. core 2 duo), less screen real estate (10" vs. 13"), half the RAM (1GB vs. 2 GB), no SSD option, weaker wireless (G vs. N), much weaker video graphics capability. I could go on, but I think you get the gist. I'm not saying the Macbook Air isn't without it's flaws, but I do wish people would think things through a little bit. Comparing these two machines is like comparing a Kia Rio to a Lexus LS. Think about it.

[montex66]

An "Apple Tax"? Oh really. Last time I looked, a tax was something you did not have a choice in wether or not you had to pay it. And it seems to me that we all have the choice of buying Apple products or not.

Comparing a $500 computer to a $2500 computer is just stupid. And haxoring the Mac OS is a violation of the End User License Agreement. But I doubt a "haxor" like yourself care about such things. Twit.

[myles taylor]

Well I guess someone bought into Microsoft's propaganda about the "Apple tax". While I agree with some of the points made, most, if not all of them, can be attributed to Microsoft and/or PC manufacturers products as well. I don't pay a "tax" for my Apple but I see many of my customers come in who have paid their "Windows tax" to Norton or some other subscription anti-virus software. Heck, we (the ISP I work for) have a service for yearly cleaning of PC's. For you who say "well Macs can get viruses too!" well, you're right. The point is, I've been using Mac OS X for 5 years online and I've never got a virus and I don't have to be smart about it. If you're not smart about it on a PC, you will get a virus. Whatever the reasons, (market share and all that) it's a fact of using computers. There is a PC tax and it's higher than any Apple tax.

[ewelch]

Once again the Ballmer test is applied by people who know squat about Macs. Is it cheap? No? It's no good. Cheaper is better. And that's the only important criterion.

I suppose it's because that's the only point on which those systems win on.

[ferretboy88]

"Apple has been known to push the envelope on pricing"----what a joke that sentence was.

[ckh1272]

Just thought I would post this again:
I understand everybody has different needs when it comes to computers, but if you're going to compare an ASUS eee pc1000HA with a macbook air, let's keep it real for a moment. Let's for $479, I get a weaker processor (Atom vs. core 2 duo), less screen real estate (10" vs. 13"), half the RAM (1GB vs. 2 GB), no SSD option, weaker wireless (G vs. N), much weaker video graphics capability. I could go on, but I think you get the gist. I'm not saying the Macbook Air isn't without it's flaws, but I do wish people would think things through a little bit. Comparing these two machines is like comparing a Kia Rio to a Lexus LS. Think about it.

[Philips]

All the problems with misunderstanding Apple's goal of selling to higher end of PC market can be solved with one of this:

1. Media shouldn't concentrate too much on them. They are high end. They are not for everybody. But well made products always attract attention. How many have Ferraris as their desktop wallpaper?

2. Make the people visit Apple shop. I converted couple of people this way. Working with Mac for 15 minutes could help people understand what for the Apple Tax is.

[hutchike]

The new standard MacBook is only 1.5 lb heavier and comes with lots of goodies at a much lower price. Hmmm, I know which I'd choose.

[victor_sf]

I like the Air's weight, but it's too big. Too bad that Apple aren't introducing a netbook.

[Vegaman_Dan]

"Why the over-priced Air?"

"The economy of design dictates lower performance and fewer connectors than mainstream laptops."

"I wouldn't call this a great deal by any means, Apple could have priced it higher."


This pretty much says it all.

[bmccain]

I have a macbook pro and also like the macbook air. They are expensive but I think you get a really good product for the price you pay. I will probably get a macbook air after the holidays.

[TrMilkduds]

One thing we have to keep in mind is that the Mac Book Air is a niche product. That is why it sits along with a full lineup of other laptop portables. Apple knows what they are doing, and they are doing it well. I personally think it is a very nice design (as are all Apple products imo) but it lacks the computing power I need.

I would suggest one of the new mac book pros. I absolutely love it. You can even slap windows and linux on it to have a multi-platform system. Mac OS for all my media, Windows for gaming (unless it works on the mac platform) and Linux for just messing around (mostly because I am a linux noob). I never understood why people have to be mac or pc users though. Just seems silly. I use both platforms on a regular basis.

[myles taylor]

Just thought I'd post my reply to bob1xxx here as well:

Well I guess someone bought into Microsoft's propaganda about the "Apple tax". While I agree with some of the points made, most, if not all of them, can be attributed to Microsoft and/or PC manufacturers products as well. I don't pay a "tax" for my Apple but I see many of my customers come in who have paid their "Windows tax" to Norton or some other subscription anti-virus software. Heck, we (the ISP I work for) have a service for yearly cleaning of PC's. For you who say "well Macs can get viruses too!" well, you're right. The point is, I've been using Mac OS X for 5 years online and I've never got a virus and I don't have to be smart about it. If you're not smart about it on a PC, you will get a virus. Whatever the reasons, (market share and all that) it's a fact of using computers. There is a PC tax and it's higher than any Apple tax.