Is there any way in which this is not effectively a "MacBook Air with Windows preinstalled"? Any realistic difference from Air+BootCamp?
Features seem the same, style seems nearly identical just Asus branded...
I'm honestly not trolling, believe me I'm far from an Apple fanboi. I just don't see where the innovation is here, apart from an "us too" from Intel & ASUS.
The term "ultrabook" was invented by Intel as a label for the MacBook Air knockoffs they wanted to entice other companies to make, so obviously the first generation will be pretty similar to the MBA.
All the differences so far seem to be minor:
- The 13" Asus has a wider screen than the 13" MBA
- The MBA supports 802.11a and 5Ghz for 802.11n
- The Asus has USB3.0, the MBA has Thunderbolt
- at 13", the Asus is a bit lighter, but at 11" the MBA is a bit lighter
- The MBA claims much higher standby times (30 vs 10 days)
- At certain price points, the Asus offers more RAM or SSD space, and the option of a slightly faster processor.
- The trackpads might have significant differences
- The Asus screens are specced to be brighter (450 nits) than the MBA screens have been measured at (350-380 nits), but specified brightness can't be directly compared against real-world measurements, and viewing angles are more important for small portable devices.
label for the MacBook Air knockoffs they wanted to entice other companies to make
I guess that's why I'm wondering why this laptop is HN front page news. Which is not to say that I think it shouldn't be, it's just that I'm not sure why its generating upvotey excitement.
Regardless of why Asus released this laptop, it's still pretty much the first direct competition for the MacBook Air, which is significant. It means that other companies are starting to agree with Apple that mobility is important, but that netbooks suck.
Earlier this year, there were a burst of laptops branded 'ultra portable', which I would be willing to call ultrabooks. There was the Samsung series 9, Lenovo x1 and the Asus U36. I personally have the Samsung, and it really is quite like the air. The main difference is that it hasn't got a unibody design.
Ultraportables of that kind aren't really new either, though.
I use a 2006-era ThinkPad X60 laptop every day. It's five years old, 76mm (25%) thicker but 90g (10%) lighter than the X1 you mention.
Although I admit the X1 has a significantly cheaper RRP, so there's one noteworthy difference - these things are moving from expensive niche objects to the mainstream. Apple arguably spearheaded the move there.
I think that's what they're aiming for. Like all comparisons it will boil down to screen, keyboard, and trackpad. The Ars overview says the screen is pretty bad, so that could be a strike. The others you'll have to tell for yourself.
i wish these were actually available to buy today like asus said they would be. i've been awaiting the release of the ux21 to see if it would be more compatible with other free operating systems since my 2011 macbook air is not (yes, it boots and runs, but not well).
http://zenbook.asus.com/where_to_buy/?cd=n-am lists a bunch of retailers but all of them except adorama's site come up with 404s or errors saying there are no products found. i called adorama to see if the stock listed was actually ready to ship and they're closed for the jewish holiday until the 24th.
newegg only has 2 of the 5 models available (neither being the one i'm looking for) and amazon is just listing adorama's stock, which is not really available.
My dad lives in singapore and sent me a list of laptops his computer guy sent him. They all had Core i7s and platter hard drives and weighed a ton with mediocre battery life.
All my dad wants is a light laptop with good battery life to email people and surf the web on. He doesn't care about hard drive space or the graphics card. The spec lists were long and confusing.
I compared it to the Macbook Air I just bought. It was cheaper than the options he sent, lighter than the options he sent and had an SSD. It will do everything he needs and wants from his laptop better than the other options.
Then I saw this zenbook. It seems to be pretty similarly specced and is targeted at the windows market. Hopefully he can hold out until they have it there, or pick one up in the US. Kudos to the rest of the manufacturers for competing with the Macbook Air.
Oh great another ultra thin laptop with a glossy screen that will probably last 1-2 years until you buy another one that is even thinner and the screen so shiny you can use it as a shaving mirror. Give me a laptop that will last me more than 2 years and then I will give a damn.
That's how it is on the MacBook Air so Asus had to copy it. On OSX there is accentual key press detection so hitting it by mistake is no big deal. Nothing happens.
