Think again about getting a MacBook Air? Get a Toshiba R500

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141612-c,thinandlightnotebooks/article.html

Toshiba's R500 is not only smaller and thinner, but it has 3 USB ports, an optical drive, and a DVI port. Just thought I'd point it out.

And another article:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141360-page,1-c,thinandlightnotebooks/article.html

 

I should also note that it's about $650USD more than the MBA when both are w/o SSD.

 

Starting at $2,436 USD. Interesting.

But nonetheless, I would rather have that than Apple's 'waffer'.

 

but does it run mac os?

 

If you mean to ask a question with the intentions of making a point, you haven't; whether or not the Mac OS is an advantage or not over other ultraportables is specific to the needs and preferences of the buyer.

If you ask me, once you get past the thickness, the Air is has nothing over competitors. Check out the second link I provided.

 

Think again about getting a MacBook Air? Feed Africa for a month.

 

your criteria doesn't seem to include os/app support. Air has a very big thing over competitors, in fact it does something which no one else does. If that thing is what you need/want, nothing else would do. Just because you don't seem to need/want that doesn't mean "has nothing over competitors". You should qualify your statement "as a windows machine, Air has nothing ..."

 

Only a small minority of people base their purchase decision heavily on the OS. Lets not turn this into another flamewar.

 

In terms of the OS, the Air can't even compete with Apple's other products considering that it does nothing special. Apple's most powerful MacBook puts the Air to shame and yet it is far cheaper than Air's base model; and while people may say that its an ultraportable as an excuse, the facts are this; the MacBook and the Air have the same size screen, and though the Air is thinner, nobody really needs that kind of thinness. Its a marketing gimmick.

In fact, if you look at the article I posted, the Air lacks functionality, power, and a decent price point when compared to other ultraportables. Once you get past how thin it is, you realize that its really not a good laptop; and as an "engineering" achievement it is not very impressive considering that they sacrificed everything; they omitted many essential ports (USB, Firewire, DVI/VGA, ethernet, modem, etc), and got rid of the optical drive. That is an unacceptable compromise, especially for the cost. An impressive achievement entails keeping (to some reasonable extent) the functionality and performance while making relatively few sacrifices for the size. Other ultraportables such as the Toshiba R500 have achieved this; and yet their engineering achievements have largely been overlooked. Why? Its all marketing.

I'm not arguing over software as you can see, but rather over the Air's ability to compete.

 

from the review and from other user comments, the toshiba r500 seems to have bad build quality much lower than estimated battery life. not too many people have used the macbook air, so we can't really comment on its build quality...

 

According to the review, it doesn't seem to have poor build quality... but can you expect durability from such a thin laptop? Reinforcing it would merely add weight.

From the review: "While the design is quite impressive, and build quality is amazing given the thin materials used, our overall feeling is that the R500 is far from rugged. The standard amount of abuse that most notebooks endure with ease would result in a broken R500."

 

Granted, the Air might be a marketing gimmick, but I think it brings innovation to thin and lightweight notebooks.
If gimmicks bring innovation and advancement, so be it.

 

Innovative or advanced? I don't think so; exceptional design is when you create a computer that does things just as well (if not better) while gaining a smaller form factor. In other words, you improve with little or no compromise. With the Air, they ripped out the optical drive and almost all the ports to "achieve" its thickness. Thats a huge compromise relative to what other laptop makers have achieved.

 

Check this video review.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gKMchnIfWM

There is so much flex on the screen, keyboard etc.

 

LOL @ Jobbs-fanboys.

Still defending Apple to the bitter end. More kudos to Apple for brainwashing their fanbase. ROFL.