Laptop class warfare: Apple vs. Asus
A little more than a year after the launch of the MacBook Air, a new luxury laptop has arrived from Dell. This calls for another look at the notebook versus Netbook argument, the computer equivalent of bourgeoisie versus proletariat. In this case, Air versus Aspire; Adamo versus Eee.
Lightweight luxury laptops have been around for a while (think Sony Vaio and Toshiba Portege ultraportables), but the age of head-turning, ultrathin designs dawned with the 13-inch light-and-wide MacBook Air, the HP Voodoo Envy 133, and the ThinkPad X300.
Dell Adamo luxury laptop joins the MacBook Air in the conspicuous consumption computing category
(Credit: Dell)Now the Dell Adamo joins the stable of conspicuously consumed luxury laptops. The Adamo soars along with Apple's Air in the rarefied pricing altitudes of $1,799 to $2,699.
At the other extreme are Asus and Acer, down-to-earth working-class designs which offer portability for a lot less. Though both companies offer expensive laptops too, they have gained prominence with their inexpensive Netbooks: the Eee PC and Aspire One, respectively. These typically fall into the sub-$500 range.
Dell's entry into the luxury laptop market was replete with all the trappings of a high-end product rollout, including a lavish, overdone Adamo Web site (as in, I couldn't click on "skip intro" fast enough) of beautiful people clutching computers. (And viewing the site, this question comes to mind: Is the Adamo meant more as a Dell showcase item--like a piece of finery set in a vitrine, to be admired but not purchased?)
Juxtapose this with what's happening in the Netbook space: inconspicuous but slow-but-steady creep into a higher-performance bracket. This trend is being driven by better Intel graphics (the GN40 is now capable of 720p HD video), with some Netbook designers entertaining the idea of adding even higher-performance Nvidia graphics. Reports also claim the Atom processor will be ratcheted up to 2.0GHz.
Will one design philosophy eventually prevail? Gravitating to a sweet-spot somewhere in the middle?
Let's do a little comparison shopping.
Dell Adamo
- $1,999 (Dell Web site)
- 4 pounds
- 13.4-inch screen
- 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo
- Intel GS45 Integrated Graphics
- Internal optical drive: no
- Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless
- 128GB solid-state drive
- One-year warranty
Asus Eee PC (1002HA)
- $430 (PC Connection)
- 2.6 pounds
- 10.2-inch screen
- 1.6GHz Atom processor
- Intel 945GSE-based graphics
- Internal optical drive: no
- Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless
- 160GB hard disk drive
- One-year warranty
And no price comparison would be complete without the MacBook Air.
Apple MacBook Air
- $1,799 (Apple Web site)
- 3 pounds
- 13.3-inch screen
- 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo
- Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics
- Internal optical drive: no
- Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless
- 120GB hard disk drive
- One-year warranty
My take: The Apple MBA and Dell Adamo are compelling designs with larger screens, faster processors, better graphics, and more advanced storage options than Asus and Acer Netbooks.
But they don't best the Netbooks in some important respects: First and foremost, portability--Netbooks win here--plus, wireless options are essentially identical; battery life is a toss-up; higher-capacity storage is available on Netbooks; and running everyday applications is not necessarily that much faster on luxury laptops.
Hmm...Maybe Adamo and Air will find it's lonely living in the lap of luxury.
Brooke Crothers has served as an editor at large at CNET News, an editor at Dow Jones' Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, and a senior editor at InfoWorld. His CNET blog covers chip technology and computer systems, and how they define the computing experience. He also contributes to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. Follow Brooke on Twitter @mbrookec. 
Thanks for the warning.
You made your bed as a cut-rate brand, Dell. Now you have to lie in it.
how can you make such a statement without looking at their P&L? Maybe if their profit is $1000 on each Adamo, they will break even after they sell 1000 laptops.... they want to attract not only students, but rich people as well. Adamo is dam dam dam sexy looking.
Bottom line: they don't need 3 million customers to buy Adamo
Dell still isn't beating the prices of the likes of ASUS as I just took ownership of a EeePC 1000HE for $374 at Amazon. I even bought another 2GB SODIMM to replace the 1GB for $23 more and a third party case for $30 ( the PC1000HE comes with a case) but I wanted more accessory space.
I later went back for a bluetooth mouse and Asus USB powered optical drive (not that you really need it if you have another PC) for the field.
I have charged it once and it gets on average 8-9 hours of solid power from the 6 cell pack.
It's more than I need. It's running a full Symantec AV/Firewall suite along with counterspy, Office 2003 and several programs that came with it. It's running XP Home now but I am going to upgrade it to XP Pro soon.
So from experience, I am NOT about to spend 1700 every 3 years for a Mac when I can spend 700 every six for a Dell.
In the past, as a rule of thumb, Dell notebooks were flimsy, cheap, and awfully designed. Just recently though, they've turned the corner when it comes to how well their laptops are made. Anyone who fails to acknowledge this fact clearly hasn't done their research.
your experience is atypical, but good for you. ask my Mom about dell and their quality batteries. not.
what made the apple a "brick" other than a bad battery? hard drives fail on ALL computers, all brands. It is highly unlikely that take 100 dells and 100 apples and the 100 dells will all have working HDs and batteries, while the 100 apples will all have broken HDs and dead batteries. not gonna happen.
anyway, you have no idea what each daughter put their laptop through. they were off at college and they sure as heck aren't going to admit if they dropped their computer, etc...
You're right. Ohh wait, Dell does make all spectrum of Notebooks, but they all suck either way. Well excpet the XPS'
> hard drives fail on ALL computers, all brands.
That's very true, but I'll be dismayed to tell you that my circa fall 2007 MacBook went to the Genius Bar for TWO HDD replacements in the first 13 months of ownership. And now 18 months later, it got a new top replacement to fix a common crack along the edge of the palm rest only to have a flaky left-shift capital O key (the right shift O is just fine, thanks). When I compare this to the 6 years I got out of a ThinkPad 600E, it's pretty clear that something's amiss here.
Don't get me wrong, I do love the thing. OS X is a NICE operating system. But don't be trying to tell me all about how reliable a MacBook is. I own one and I know different.
Why doesn't Dell get it ?
Most people aren't gonna Suddenly start paying a premium for a Windows Computer just because of Aluminum !
when Apple starts entering into the below 1000$ category of computers
they better be ready or it's gonna be a game set match !
What companies like Dell and Asus have to realize is that the #1 reason people aren't buying their computers is because of the OS that is installed. Many people are waiting until Win7 but many more will continue to use XP because they need XP compatibility for their software. Dell and Asus need to put pressure on Microsoft to sell XP again, then they would see a huge increase in sales... until then watch the sales continue to plummet.
Ok, first, someone having a view other than your own doesn't make them an idiot. It simply means he has a different opinion to you. You saying that proves you are an ignorant fool who has unwisely opened his mouth and removed all doubt. You didn't even give a rationale for your blanket statement, Inconnux gave a quite reasonable one. Hassle alone is a reasonable arguement unless you've forgotten the entire rationale for computers: making life easer. They are not there to make your life a misery. If you think that is the case, then perhaps you do have the wrong OS and just don't realise it.
Secondly, I refuse to buy Vista for a number of reasons, one of the MANY (the reasons are legion, I do not dare list them all) is its complete lack of backwards compatability. You see, I live in the real world where the applications I NEED to use regardless of if I WANT to use them only work on certain OSs and I am stuck with that. These are often custom databases etc that there is no way in hell are going to be updated for your pretty little new laptop. But they might also be cool games I like or just other apps that I prefer. I bought XP so I could just fdisk any new computers I buy and start over. Yes I tried Vista (forced to at work) and hated it. Not its interface per se (although that leaves a lot to be desired) but the range of other crud I won't list here because the list is too long.
However have fun in your fantasy land where everything works perfectly on Vista. Oh, and you might as well send every personal detail of yours to microsoft in the least secure email format you can find - then maybe you'll have a little more processing power for Word to hang on.
So people shouldn't move on and should stick with a OS thats almost 9 years old?
Vista gave the hardware makers a kick in the ass and pushed them to make more powerful hardware
Windows 7 will make even more use of this hardware
Vista was a blessing and its not even that bad.
So people shouldn't move on and should stick with a OS thats almost 9 years old?
Vista gave the hardware makers a kick in the ass and pushed them to make more powerful hardware
Windows 7 will make even more use of this hardware
Vista was a blessing and its not even that bad.
@Screamapillar
He made himself out to look hypocritical and his argument held no water.
My Windows Xp program didn't work on Vista so i'm going to move to MAC
And his MAC is supposed to support his program?
What are we supposed to do 30 yrs from now when legacy programs are holding back technology from advancing?
Keep supporting them and lagging behind because someone cba to take 30 mins to find another program that will do the same damn thing?
In fact, I think that net-books are a fad, remember the Pocket PC. People buy them with good intensions, but the very limited experience they offer gets old quick. A good notebook computer can do all the same things, is not much bigger, and can offer a complete computing experience.
Mark these words well, Net-books are not here to stay...
$200-500 Netbook YES
$700-$1,000 Netbook, go buy a real notebook instead.
Another point the vendors don't see is the other redeeming feature of netbooks: They're priced so cheap that you don't pull your hair out if they're lost or stolen or damaged beyond repair. Price a netbook above $500 and that feature goes away.
People are a diverse bunch and their conumption is just as diverse.
In the end, though, I am unlikely to be either of these laptops. There are rarely situations where the extra 2 pounds shaved off is really an issue, unless you are out of shape or 75 years old. On the other hand, there are often times where you might wish you had more processing or graphics power and a larger screen. My next laptop will probably be a MacBook Pro.
No Asus or Dell can do that.
It appears that buying a Mac is the smartest choice.
if you're willing to break the EULA you can most certainly put OS X on a computer not made by apple. CNET has several videos on how to do this.
(or Windows on a Macbook for $1,000):
I bought a couple of the little netbooks from Dell (Mini 9 model), each for just over $200 on ebay, and installed both OS X and Windows on one (dual boot), and OS X and Ubuntu on the other. On the other hand, on my Macbook I use bootcamp to start up in Windows.
So, LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT: with a tiny bit of effort, now you can run pretty much run ANY OS on any of the new netbooks, and you could already run ANY OS on the Apple laptops. So the days of exclusive hardware-to-OS relationships is over; the argument is moot.
Having said that, i gotta say, i LOVE OS X, and i really like my new $200 Dell netbooks, so for me it's DELL plus OS X that makes for the best carry-everywhere experience -- and the price can't be beat.
Seriously, Linux has its own host of plagues. With no one truly at the wheel, it may always remain niche.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23945/1141/1/0/
"Current Macs can run Mac OS X, Windows (any flavor) and any version of Linux.
No Asus or Dell can do that."
As I type this on my Dell Optiplex GX620 running OS X Leopard on it, I would tend to disagree with that sentiment.
Google up the term Asus Aspire One and OSX and you'll see that people have gotten it working on there as well.
Oh wait! Asus has already been doing that! Sweet!
..."I have serious doubts about that. Apple computers are rip-offs, overpriced and under equipped."...
By the looks of the specs between the Apple MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo; Dell computers are rip-offs, overpriced and under equipped! And gives a hoot about market-share anyway? I certainly don't check the market-share in the car market when I buy a car, or the clothes market when I buy clothes, or the food market when I buy food! Give the market-share thing a rest, no one cares about except geeks that have a bad case of envy!
The main reason Apples are free of viruses is due to price. As its marketshare rises, so will its share of viruses.
Actually, the reason there are less viruses written for OSX vs Windows is that the majority of users (especially businesses) run Windows. That means a virus written for Windows is going to wreak more havoc, gain more notoriety, etc. And just to throw in my 2 cents regarding Mac vs PC, I'd rather have a computer, device, etc. that I can upgrade, expand, or at least put in a new battery without breaking the EULA.
However, I'm disappointed by their software, the same XP (which I don't hate too much but just not suitable for this small device in terms of usability.) I rebooted a few netbooks and regular macBook and PC laptop. The netbooks take as much time to boot as MacBook/laptop -- about 30 seconds. keyboard+touchpad is hard to use on this small device (and yet not as small as smartphone where you can hold it and type with just one finger each hand.)
I won't buy one until there is a netbook with slick stripped down interface (iPhone's), a touch screen w/o keyboard. Waiting for Apple, but it may be too expensive, as with everything from AAPL, for us who don't get bail out money.
You might want to check the model number on that Eee that is sold at Best Buy. To my knowledge BB does not sell the 1002HA (the model mentioned in this article). I went in a few weeks ago to get one and the sales staff looked it up and they do not have a listing for it. I ended up ordering mine off of Amazon for around $350. It even has a multi touch touchpad which is kind of neat for browsing web pages to a similar way that you would on an iphone.
EVERYTHING crApple sells comes from the very same Chinese Commie Sweatshops that pays their illiterate workers that assembles your MacBook and Pro $50 per month, as the cheap **** Dells, Gateways , ASUS, MSI and Lenovo
And, are you forgetting the OS? So Windows is the same as Mac OS/X and Mac OS/X is the same as Windows so there are therefore no meaningful value differences measurable in price?
Wow! SUch intelligent assessment is indeed TOO FUNNY!
Is it some sort of vanity thing?
If you get off the high horse and start understanding what other people do, then may you can appreciate why some people do indeed need the Air. I am not sure about the Adamo because it is just a VISTA box.
The Air is Apple's answer to a lighter weight machine for working in an environment where one can easily connect to corporate servers. There is no need for a large drive or a lot of bells and whistles. On the go, it has enough to do presentations, manage emails and browse company web and company servers. On-site, it can tap into client network and access corporate network. At the home office, such people either work on a desktop or a larger laptop or most often, they hardly work with a machine at all. The Air is mostly just an extra tool for accessing information to present to clients. Something reliable, light and yet large enough that is easy to read and type.
When you are 45 years old needing bifocals, you will understand why 10-inch netbook is a no-go for many older employees who must use computers.
Someone put this best earlier. The poster said that each machine is there to serve a specific need and different people will have different needs. It is not all because of vanity and form.
And when I am lugging my heavy (but well loved) Macbook Pro for miles in a backpack that is the time when I start to suspect that those Air owners are not so silly after all :-) On the other hand the screen size alone means that I never wish I had a 10 inch netbook no matter how light it is.
We are all pleased for you Faceless128 that the netbook suits your needs, but there are a lot of people for whom the Air hits the sweet spot that suits their needs and the market for them is a very real and proven market. The Adamo is launched at a difficult time but if Dell can shake their reputation for budget (equates in many minds with poor quality) devices then there is no reason they won't find their place in the sun providing the build quality/usability/reliability factors are up to scratch.
And I'm 48. And wear bifocals. And I own a 10" Netbook. And I use it every single day.
Shut your pie hole if you can't be polite.
"If you only see it from your own little world, you can always criticize and demonize others and carry on a holier-than-thou attitude...I am not sure about the Adamo because it is just a VISTA box." Sounds like the pot talking to the kettle to me.
By the way, I'd rather have the Lenovo than the Air for a number of reasons, including that it has an optical drive, and what are you suggesting about people who work from home "...most often, they hardly work with a machine at all."? Are they just watching TV?
but there is always someone to buy them!
As far as Apple not licensing their OS.. Apple controls the hardware environment because it creates a more stable developer environment (think iPhone apps) and a more consistent overall user experience; no driver issues, etc (think Vista release).
- by getclear March 22, 2009 4:26 PM PDT
- In the "good old days" we regularly upgraded our hardware every 18 months at least, just to "stay current". I'm using a 48 month old laptop which still works perfectly. Like cars and houses, the longer the duration of the life expectancy, the more the opportunity to sell "luxury" items.
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- by ikramerica--2008 March 23, 2009 6:49 PM PDT
- Yes, if you only use web, email and write letters, the netbook is fine. This is what a lot of students need. Which is why the netbook is a good idea. Especially when you consider how much money schools are wasting get every student full functioning laptops for no other reason other than to be "forward thinking" or whatever. Getting all students a $300 netbook is a MUCH better idea.
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- by flemeister March 24, 2009 1:30 AM PDT
- @ikramerica--2008
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Showing 1 of 3 pages (120 Comments)Both my children own 22 month old Macbooks or Macbook Pro's and they'll never buy another PC laptop. My next laptop will also be a Mac although I just bought my wife a netbook (she loves the light weight and only uses email and word)
Plenty enough room for both products, however the marketplace is truly cluttered.
Agreed. I'm a student, have been wanting a laptop for a few years now, but was put off by the high prices. Along comes the netbook, and bam, they're marvelous! All I need is word processing and some internet, a few videos here and there, and some light gaming. My Eee PC handles it all perfectly.