Windows equivalent of MacBook Air?

MarkyMark22

Hi guys, I'm planning on buying a new laptop for college.

Ideally I'd like something light and portable. 13" or 15".

I'm just wondering if anyone could recommend a windows operated laptop that is similar in stature to a MacBook Air?

I seen the Samsung Series 9. Which looks really nice but is the same price, or more expensive, than a MacBook Air.

Budget isn't overly important, max would be about 800-900.

Thanks in advance!

Torqay

Have a look at the PC Specialist 15.6" UltraBook. Not as flashy as an MBA of course, but a classy display, pretty slim and not too heavy (just over 2 kg). Probably best value with a budget like yours, you should get a quad Core i7, 8 GB RAM and 120 GB SSD.



£776/€915 incl. OS intsllation DVD, standard 3 yr warranty and delivery to Ireland. £687/€810 with a Core i5. If you already have an operating system, you can order without Windows and save €100.

Alanstrainor

A 15.6" laptop is not comparable to a MacBook Air, no matter how thin it is. And if portability is a priority then I would rule out 15"+ machines and look at 13.3 and below.

OP, an Asus ZenBook would be a similar idea, plenty of sizes available from 11.6 to 13.3 and above. Worth checking out, lots of variation in price there too, so there should be something for all budgets.

MarkyMark22

Alanstrainor wrote: »

A 15.6" laptop is not comparable to a MacBook Air, no matter how thin it is. And if portability is a priority then I would rule out 15"+ machines and look at 13.3 and below.

OP, an Asus ZenBook would be a similar idea, plenty of sizes available from 11.6 to 13.3 and above. Worth checking out, lots of variation in price there too, so there should be something for all budgets.

Yeah, at the moment the Zenbook is my first choice. I do like the Samsung series 9 but they're so expensive that I'd probably rather buy a MacBook Air.

The ultranote on that PC specialist website is quite appealing.

I have an iMac, so I'm thinking of buying a windows operated Laptop so I can get the best of both worlds.

This is probably a stupid question, but can Apple OS' be installed on those PC Specialist laptops?

Torqay

Alanstrainor wrote: »

A 15.6" laptop is not comparable to a MacBook Air, no matter how thin it is. And if portability is a priority then I would rule out 15"+ machines and look at 13.3 and below.

OP, an Asus ZenBook would be a similar idea, plenty of sizes available from 11.6 to 13.3 and above. Worth checking out, lots of variation in price there too, so there should be something for all budgets.

OP said 13"-15"

As for the Zenbook, the cheapest UX32A is selling for 750 yoyos. Of course you will not get a solid state drive nor the full HD display at this price. And don't be fooled by the Core i5 processor, it's the ULV variant and the performance is comparable to that of a regular Core i3.

partyatmygaff

There's also the Samsung Series 9 which predated ultrabooks.

Torqay

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

This is probably a stupid question, but can Apple OS' be installed on those PC Specialist laptops?

Hackintosh discussions are frowned upon here.

T-K-O

Check out the Lenovo x230, you can pick one up in the outlet section of the site and save 300/400.

cnocbui

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Yeah, at the moment the Zenbook is my first choice. I do like the Samsung series 9 but they're so expensive that I'd probably rather buy a MacBook Air.

The ultranote on that PC specialist website is quite appealing.

I have an iMac, so I'm thinking of buying a windows operated Laptop so I can get the best of both worlds.

This is probably a stupid question, but can Apple OS' be installed on those PC Specialist laptops?

You can't install OSX unless you go hackintosh. You can, however, install windows on a Mac via bootcamp and then just boot into which ever OS you want. You can also run windows in OSX as a virtual machine using Parallels.

MarkyMark22

Does anyone know how slim the ultranotes from pcspecialist are?

Torqay

MarkyMark22 wrote: »

Does anyone know how slim the ultranotes from pcspecialist are?

It's all in the "Detailed Specifications".

14mm ~ 25.4mm