MacBook Air

T-K-O

I want to invest in a new laptop. I want something that I could travel with and the Mac Book Air seem pretty light weight with a decent spec.

Does anyone have or used one ?

Overheal

No but there are plenty of lightweight alternatives out there. Unless you have some kind of bone or muscle degragating disease any 12" laptop should be incredibly easy to carry and travel with in almost any situation. Normally Id recommend a 15.4" but they fall short in Air-Travel: too big for the tray table.

ytareh

Sure you CAN easily carry a 12" laptop and a sack of spuds also at that but why would you want anything other than a lovely new 9 or 10" netbook like the ASUS EEE 901 or Advent 4211 which you can whip about in one hand with little more difficulty than a dvd case...

Overheal

decent spec You would hardly be doing much gaming on that little wee shyte.

T-K-O

Overheal wrote: »

decent spec You would hardly be doing much gaming on that little wee shyte.

Yeah decent spec I have a ps3 for games.

T-K-O

ytareh wrote: »

Sure you CAN easily carry a 12" laptop and a sack of spuds also at that but why would you want anything other than a lovely new 9 or 10" netbook like the ASUS EEE 901 or Advent 4211 which you can whip about in one hand with little more difficulty than a dvd case...

Who stocks these laptops ?

Pete4779

Macbook Air is not really geared for travelling though, more like a machine for a coffee table with a main desktop elsewhere, or in a (expensively designed) office, or for incredibly rich people who like to use an almost whole computer to post in an envelope instead of a USB stick.

1x USB port, an internal battery that you can't change = the exact opposite needs for travelling.

Well, when I think travelling, I think being able to hook up to either WiFi or LAN at a hotel, being able to plug in an external drive, and a camera or video camera. If you stay at a hotel that doesn't have Wifi but has LAN, your fecked, as the 1xUSB is then needed to for LAN.

The internal battery means that you are stuck with whatever charge you have, you can't simply buy a few extra batteries and lob them in as needed say on a plane journey that is over 1-2hrs.

With the coming of the EeePC/Advent/Wind/Aspire netbooks, basically the Macbook Air is now as redundant as the Sony TZ series unless you really want to spend the extra €1000.

ant043

don't be too swayed by all the negative comments. The macbook air is a great laptop for traveling with. The lack of a user replaceable battery doesn't bother me as i have never carried an extra battery before. The led screen on it is absolutely gorgeous as well as the lighted keyboard. it is more than powerful enough for most tasks except maybe heavy photoshop or harddrive intensive processes. In my experience, it is just as fast as my black 2.4 ghz macbook. It is possibly the most stylish (if that matters to you) and best built laptop there is. You really have to hold it in your hand to realise how sturdy and solid it really is. Just because it's thin doesn't make it any less durable. All in all, its a fantastic laptop. The one drawback is probably only the one usb port but i bought a bluetooth mighty mouse so thats not a problem to me anymore. Get a macbook air, you will really love it.

Dman001

I would wait for about a month if you can. Apple may be updating the MBs in September.

Dartz

Err...

An idea that's a little different. Why not pick up some old IBM Thinkpad X -series, or something similar? Although if you're looking an a Mac Air, you'll probably be able to afford the latest Lenovos..

I got myself an 8 year old x20 for the price of a new HDD (And I can use CF cards as a bootable device too) and it's a wonderful little thing. I have Xubuntu 8.04 sitting pretty on it, and it doesnt even blink. Battery was replaced a year or so ago, so it stll gets 2-3 hours web browsing/work and it might get 5-6 with a new one.

It's strongly put together, and it's great for travelling. Best of all, since I paid nothing for it (relatively) I loose nothing if it goes tits-up.

It's probably not powerful enough for your use, so I wouldnt go for something this old, but you might be able to pick up a 2 year old laptop cheaply, and batter around with it. You loose little if it dies, and sure you can poke around inside with more confidence knowing the warranty dies with the last owner...

ant043

just forgot to add. It also depends which operating system you prefer. But the majority of people who make the switch from windows to mac os are generally pleased. If you are going for a machine with windows vista could be a major headache.

culabula

ant043 wrote: »

don't be too swayed by all the negative comments. The macbook air is a great laptop for traveling with. The lack of a user replaceable battery doesn't bother me as i have never carried an extra battery before. The led screen on it is absolutely gorgeous as well as the lighted keyboard. it is more than powerful enough for most tasks except maybe heavy photoshop or harddrive intensive processes. In my experience, it is just as fast as my black 2.4 ghz macbook. It is possibly the most stylish (if that matters to you) and best built laptop there is. You really have to hold it in your hand to realise how sturdy and solid it really is. Just because it's thin doesn't make it any less durable. All in all, its a fantastic laptop. The one drawback is probably only the one usb port but i bought a bluetooth mighty mouse so thats not a problem to me anymore. Get a macbook air, you will really love it.

I second those emotions. Plus, since the earlier poster equates travelling with carrying things around, if you really need it, you can buy a superdrive for your Air and an Aiport Express which will isntantly change a LAN into a wifi network.

However with a modern phone, Back to my Mac, wifi, Bluetooth and shared networks......who needs 'em?

tonylee

another vote for the Macbook Air. Bought one about a month ago, amazed at how much I use it - great keyboard & screen , like carrying a slim folder. Better battery life is all it needs to make it perfect. Going to shut my eyes in September when they are probably upgraded!

culabula

tonylee wrote: »

another vote for the Macbook Air. Bought one about a month ago, amazed at how much I use it - great keyboard & screen , like carrying a slim folder. Better battery life is all it needs to make it perfect. Going to shut my eyes in September when they are probably upgraded!

Never, ever, leaves my side.

T-K-O

Thanks for the replies and the one USB port is a shame but I'm sure you could get a USB hub?

The Lenovos look pretty good with 2gb rams but at 2000 pounds seem a little pricey.

Im going to NY in November so maybe the Macs will be upgraded by then.

Overheal

This is a neat little hub I got the other week: http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=126891&om_keycode=4

Short USB cable so its not dangling all over the place - and it means you dont have to worry about hitting your hand off the hub and snapping it in the port

metalfest

you can buy usb hubs anywhere, even the two euro shop

dangerman

The non-swappable battery makes the whole system pointless if you do frequent long-haul travel. LAX to Dublin is approx 12 hours. I can't imagine how much it would piss me off to have any system that lasts around 4 hours. Waste of time. (In flight rechargers not with standing of course, but we're not all flying the nice planes all the time )

The mac book air is for a very very specific type of light, fluffy use. Cool machines but workhorse laptops they are not.

I would never recommend one to anyone except someone who is already familiar with laptops, and happy with the severe limitations and frustrations the air imposes.

Zimmerframe

dangerman wrote: »

The non-swappable battery makes the whole system pointless if you do frequent long-haul travel. LAX to Dublin is approx 12 hours. I can't imagine how much it would piss me off to have any system that lasts around 4 hours. Waste of time. .

Why not buy an external battery and plug the air into it then, same thing as having to carry another battery anyway. I don't see the problem.

seraphimvc

if the budget allows,thinkpad x300 all the way :pac:search around google you will know how it beats mac air

Voodu Child

Dell are releasing a new 13" notebook in Jan/Feb called the XPS Adamo 13. They're pitching it as a macbook air competitor, its going to be extremely thin/light.

It will be quite a bit cheaper than the Apple Macbook Air, and with higher specs.

If you're in the market for an ultra-thin, it might be worth waiting to see what it's like.

Donald-Duck

voodoo_child wrote: »

Dell are releasing a new 13" notebook in Jan/Feb called the XPS Adamo 13. They're pitching it as a macbook air competitor, its going to be extremely thin/light.

It will be quite a bit cheaper than the Apple Macbook Air, and with higher specs.

If you're in the market for an ultra-thin, it might be worth waiting to see what it's like.

This is not confirmed. Its just known that dell have registered the name Adamo

Voodu Child

Donald-Duck wrote: »

This is not confirmed. Its just known that dell have registered the name Adamo

Nah, your info is just older than mine :pac:.

'XPS Adamo 13' bios updates were posted on a Dell ftp server in November, and Dells Canada website is (mistakenly) full of accessories for the laptop for the last few days. And they've a teaser website (AdamoByDell.com) as well as having registered a whole bunch of others (Adamonotebook.com, adamonotebooks.com, etc).

Donald-Duck

voodoo_child wrote: »

Nah, your info is just older than mine :pac:.

'XPS Adamo 13' bios updates were posted on a Dell ftp server in November, and Dells Canada website is (mistakenly) full of accessories for the laptop for the last few days. And they've a teaser website (AdamoByDell.com) as well as having registered a whole bunch of others (Adamonotebook.com, adamonotebooks.com, etc).

Which confirms what I said, not a single one of them prove its going to be like the macbook air.

metalfest

you'd be amazed at what a little googling can find

Engadget wrote:

Meanwhile, that rumored Adamo is very much real, and very much like what we've been hearing. Apparently the device -- which the company plans to market as the "world's thinnest laptop" -- was slated to be released this month, but has been pushed back till at least February. The Adamo will sport a black and silver color scheme similar to the system you see here, but is "different," and we're told that it's most definitely Dell's play to nab some of that MacBook Air marketshare.

Donald-Duck

metalfest wrote: »

you'd be amazed at what a little googling can find

courtesy of engadget,
looks to me to be more of a Sony vaio TZ competitor

I might be wrong but is that not the xps1330?

Article from engadget about it:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/18/dell-studio-xps-13-leather-wrapped-laptop-revealed-adamo-info-l/

metalfest

good stuff, i never read the article, but yeah, "world's thinnest laptop"

T-K-O

OK guys help me out here.... I want to spend up to 1k on a portable machine, MAC Air was top of the list but one USB no CD drive is making me re-think..

Any ideas ??

Voodu Child

Donald-Duck wrote: »

I might be wrong but is that not the xps1330?

No.

Donald-Duck

voodoo_child wrote: »

No.

It was a Dell Studio laptop, pretty much the same.