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MacBok Air alternative?

C

cpatashnik

Junior Member
First of all: Buying a MacBook Air and simply running Windows on it is certainly an option.

I'm looking for a highly portable Windows laptop, and I need it to be as slim and light as possible, 11-13" screen.

What I need:
- a good keyboard and a good mouse solution
- a proper processor (I need this to run Oracle XE among other things)
- discrete graphics are nice, although I don't expect to play Crysis
- SSD is higly preferred, but as long as I can install it myself I'm happy
- 4GB RAM is a huge plus
- matte screen another bonus, but not a deal breaker
- price less than $1500

What I don't need:
- CD/DVD
- Sandy Bridge

Quite simply, I need a business grade laptop with a good keyboard.

I've been looking at the Asus U36JC, would that be a nice model?
 
cpatashnik said:
First of all: Buying a MacBook Air and simply running Windows on it is certainly an option.

I'm looking for a highly portable Windows laptop, and I need it to be as slim and light as possible, 11-13" screen.

What I need:
- a good keyboard and a good mouse solution
- a proper processor (I need this to run Oracle XE among other things)
- discrete graphics are nice, although I don't expect to play Crysis
- SSD is higly preferred, but as long as I can install it myself I'm happy
- 4GB RAM is a huge plus
- matte screen another bonus, but not a deal breaker
- price less than $1500

What I don't need:
- CD/DVD
- Sandy Bridge

Quite simply, I need a business grade laptop with a good keyboard.

I've been looking at the Asus U36JC, would that be a nice model?
Click to expand...

The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 which launches later this month meets every one of your requirements aside from dedicated graphics. It has

-One of the best keyboards offered in a laptop.
-Regular voltage Sandy Bridge processors
-Optional Intel SSD or you could install your own.
-4gb or more of ram
-Matte IPS screen

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/p...220/index.html

Engadget Review;

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/lenovo-thinkpad-x220-review/
 
Samsung Series 9 was made specifically to compete with Macbook Air. A bit pricy though at this point. Should drop in price a bit once Macbook Air is updated with SB chips.
 
Front page of anandtech has a quick blurb on the new toshiba portege r830 line. One of those might work great. They're lightweight but powerful. Stuck with integrated graphics I think, but sandy bridge integrated graphics are not bad.

Or wait another week and see how the new thinkpad lineup shakes out when the release the models with i7 and secondary graphics. The t420s will cost a lot but except for the lack of blu-ray, it ought to be near or at the top of this generation of business laptops. It'll have a nice matte hi-res display but be under 1" thick and under 4 lbs. Or maybe try the thinkpad edge models which won't be quite as nice as the t series but are more stylish.
 
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apple mousepad = superior
apple led 6-bit = great (but not as good as dreamcolor2 or that new ips panel for x2xx lenovo)

Those are the differentiators that make me comfortable. lenovo is good but the thinkvantage junk pisses me off to no end for bloatware.
 
If I wanted something "just like" a macbook air, I'd probably just suck it up and get a macbook air. If it had to run windows, I'd install boot camp or parallels.

The air is a really nice machine if that's what you need. I need an optical drive so I don't need one, but everyone I know who has a macbook air just loves them.
 
yah the external drives i bought have been used twice. since you can copy dmg to usb and it will boot it is like a pc. pointless.
 
Flensr, if you do NOT love the Mac Air and you spent that much money on it, you really need to seek help.

Usually people willing to spend that much on something as compared to its compeditors will not say "IT SUCKS" after buying it.

The only point I have seen most people complain about Mac is not what it has or hasn't, buit how much you have to pay for it.

(The insulting commercial campaign did not help it make any more friends from outside the core community, but that is something I really not seen much of with the Air ads.....)

So...... you just have to weigh the cost for the use. There ARE a few to whom this is worth it on more than just an emotional level. What cpat has to figure out is if that is him.
 
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