Which notebook compares to 13" MacBook Air 2013 ?

[madmaniac]

No nothing is upgradable in the air.

Macbook air 2013 after Back to School Discounts = 63,900

I was about to buy then my friend who has mac air 2012 put me off and said 4 GB ram aint enough and he always runs out of memory really soon with normal multitasking and with annual os updates 4GB is gone now

I've been puzzled also regarding the 4gb ram. But here in india there is no option for 8gb. I read what lot of other mac users have said and they said they never had problems with low ram. I mean ok maybe 3-4 years down the line it won't be enough but people using the air say its fine for now. 3-4 years down the line you'll probably buy a new air.
Also Osx is does not use memory like windows does. And with mavericks coming this year ram will be even better utilized.

If you want a machine for casual daily use and you want it to last get a macbook air. There will be many windows ultrabooks coming out but I seriously doubt the battery life will last that long in the long run. The rate at which the battery degrades in apple is a lot less than windows laptops. So where 3 years down the line your 13hrs battery life may become 10 hrs windows 12 hrs will become 3 hrs.

 

[Switch]

What kind of applications you are planning to run on the Air. Reviewers all over the net have praises for Air's performance. And none of them complained about lack of RAM.

 

[madmaniac]

I am planning to buy a laptop too, but after trying a touchscreen one for a few days, I'm not getting a non-touchscreen laptop ever. Will wait for Haswell to arrive on other brands and see how it goes. Otherwise, the MacBook is a great choice.

Although this could turn into a big debate Touchscreen experience is needed in windows and makes it better but osx has perfected their gestures trackpad so its real good too.

 

[hbksabhi]

No nothing is upgradable in the air.



I've been puzzled also regarding the 4gb ram. But here in india there is no option for 8gb. I read what lot of other mac users have said and they said they never had problems with low ram. I mean ok maybe 3-4 years down the line it won't be enough but people using the air say its fine for now. 3-4 years down the line you'll probably buy a new air.
Also Osx is does not use memory like windows does. And with mavericks coming this year ram will be even better utilized.

If you want a machine for casual daily use and you want it to last get a macbook air. There will be many windows ultrabooks coming out but I seriously doubt the battery life will last that long in the long run. The rate at which the battery degrades in apple is a lot less than windows laptops. So where 3 years down the line your 13hrs battery life may become 10 hrs windows 12 hrs will become 3 hrs.

I also think that mavericks will use compressed memory but we dont know how much ram mavericks itself will take to run
The thing is i am using my desktop it does all things fine and i am not upgrading or moving to lappy coz of performance but coz of portabilty and battery ......
8 gb is future prooof

Alot of users dont complain coz there is extremely fast ssd which maked page ins and page outs really snappy

 

[madmaniac]

What kind of applications you are planning to run on the Air. Reviewers all over the net have praises for Air's performance. And none of them complained about lack of RAM.

I'm gonna be running basic photoshop and indesign work . browsing, trading, and movies.

Another reason I'm switching is because of the apple ecosystem. My data will be synced with my iphone and everything is sooooo simple.

 

[blkrb0t]

There will be many windows ultrabooks coming out but I seriously doubt the battery life will last that long in the long run. The rate at which the battery degrades in apple is a lot less than windows laptops. So where 3 years down the line your 13hrs battery life may become 10 hrs windows 12 hrs will become 3 hrs.

Regarding MacBook's battery life degradation, any statistics for that claim? What made you say that they'll have just 23% reduction in capacity over 3 years? That isn't true at all and it will degrade much quicker; around 50% degradation after 18 months of usage is normal.

Windows Laptops are hard to judge as poorly designed laptops with bad heat ventilation systems make batteries degrade faster than the usual rate; but other laptops with decent heat systems have the same degradation levels as MacBooks. They all use the same battery tech; I don't know what really made you consider otherwise.

 

[hbksabhi]

Evrything will be fine and mac air is most value for money as its now cheaper than US

 

[madmaniac]

Regarding MacBook's battery life degradation, any statistics for that claim? What made you say that they'll have just 23% reduction in capacity over 3 years? That isn't true at all and it will degrade much quicker; around 50% degradation after 18 months of usage is normal.

Windows Laptops are hard to judge as poorly designed laptops with bad heat ventilation systems make batteries degrade faster than the usual rate; but other laptops with decent heat systems have the same degradation levels as MacBooks. They all use the same battery tech; I don't know what really made you consider otherwise.

Just me being an apple fanboy.

The built-in battery of your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is designed to deliver up to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles before it reaches 80 percent of its original capacity. In addition, Adaptive Charging reduces the wear and tear on the battery giving it a lifespan of up to 5 years.

 

[Switch]

I had Dell change me Inspirons battery in under a year. I have swapped 3 batteries in my 6 year old Compaq laptop. Apple make machines to last. Unlike some of the other companies. Also pricing wise Apple Macbook Air is far chaeaper then any comparable Windows ultrabook. I had gone to check Lenovo Yoga. It was for almost 80K. Core i5 3rd gen processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD.

Spec to spec Apple has a faster SSD, better proccy,latest Wifi standard and amazing battery. The keyboard and trackpad are unmatched with anything else available in the market. And is almost 10-20K cheaper then what competition is offering right now.

 

[raksrules]

Offtopic: How steep is the learning curve of a MAC OS for someone who has used windows for life ?
Also i see MAC and iOS becoming a merging eco system, like last weekend i went to a newly opened Apple premium reseller in Pune and was checking out an Air, many of the icons in the mac are same as in iOS (at least till iOS 6) and this gave me instant recognition of what that particular icon does on the mac.

 

[dafreaking]

Offtopic: How steep is the learning curve of a MAC OS for someone who has used widows for life ?
Also i see MAC and iOS becoming a merging eco system, like last weekend i went to a newly opened Apple premium reseller in Pune and was checking out an Air, many of the icons in the mac are same as in iOS (at least till iOS 6) and this gave me instant recognition of what that particular icon does on the mac.

stop crapping in a potential MAC vs PC thread.

The learning curve for anyone who has used computers before is pretty easy. OSX focuses more on doing stuff and making it look pretty than tinkering with your system. It's like the debate between the two major Phone OSs. One give you a plethora or options, the other has a more rigid system with the focus on usability.

The new MBA seems to be THE ultra-portable to get.

 

[madmaniac]

Ok I got the MBA and my friend is bringing it over. I should have it tomorrow morning. Total was 63k. 3k was just the tax.

Unfortunately the bill was made in my friends name who is a student because I posed as him and sent his details. But shouldn't be a problem because he lives next to me. I had asked if the bill could be made in a friends name because I'm gifting it to him but they said no.

Anyways am happy I got the 11k discount.
Can't wait till I unbox tomorrow. I probably won't be able to sleep.
I have been downloading apps for it all week

 

[raksrules]

@madmaniac

Please do open a thread in the show off section with some really awesome high resolution pics and some small review / your opinion.

 

[Switch]

That's not 11K discount, That's 12K. And congrats .

Good you posted about the bill part. Will get mine in my cousin's name.

 

[Gannu]

@madmaniac - Do let us know if you are facing those eye strain issues with the MBA after a brief period of usage. I hope Apple has fixed this issue from the previous gen. Airs.

 

[madmaniac]

@madmaniac

Please do open a thread in the show off section with some really awesome high resolution pics and some small review / your opinion.

Haven't really done any of those but I guess I could.

@madmaniac - Do let us know if you are facing those eye strain issues with the MBA after a brief period of usage. I hope Apple has fixed this issue from the previous gen. Airs.

Ok will let you know. I've read some reviews on that and according to those the eye strain is more on the 11" model than on the 13"

 

[hbksabhi]

Today i went to a premium reseller and used both macbook air and macbook retina

The ram on the air is very less , with few app open and garangeband its was like 300 mb free

And when intried to overload the retina one it was 2-3.5 gb free ram

I just cant recommend retina right now coz new haswell with much better hd5000 is coming
Plus there is no 8 gb air available here ....
The thing is the memory situation is dicy as mavericks is coming with all compressed memory and stuff
But if i buy a air now i want to use atleast 3-4 years so 4 gb is bad imo

 

[rdst_1]

The only thing stopping me from buying the Air is it's display and RAM. I don't wanna buy a laptop with less than Full HD display.
That leaves the rMBP 13 which is just half a pound heavier than the Air. However it doesn't make sense buying the older version when Haswell upgrade is round the corner. Any idea what is the discount one can get on this. It is available for 96k on Snapdeal.
Also in the competition for me is a boutique option from US. It come with Iris Pro 5200, 8GB RAM and still costs only $1300 with 3 years warranty and a 14" FHD display. The only problem with that is that I will have to ship the system back to US if I need to RMA.

 

[madmaniac]

Today i went to a premium reseller and used both macbook air and macbook retina

The ram on the air is very less , with few app open and garangeband its was like 300 mb free

And when intried to overload the retina one it was 2-3.5 gb free ram

I just cant recommend retina right now coz new haswell with much better hd5000 is coming
Plus there is no 8 gb air available here ....
The thing is the memory situation is dicy as mavericks is coming with all compressed memory and stuff
But if i buy a air now i want to use atleast 3-4 years so 4 gb is bad imo

The whole point of macbook air is the portability. If you're working on garageband maybe you have few more apps open and that's fine for air.
If you want heavy multitasking then go for mb pro in sept with haswell, But for someone who is looking for portability and someone who moves around a lot the air is best.

I mean if you have option to buy 8gb air then get it. Here its not available so I went for 4gb. And for basic multitasking its fine. I'm not going to do heavy video editing on there or something.

The only thing stopping me from buying the Air is it's display and RAM. I don't wanna buy a laptop with less than Full HD display.
That leaves the rMBP 13 which is just half a pound heavier than the Air. However it doesn't make sense buying the older version when Haswell upgrade is round the corner. Any idea what is the discount one can get on this. It is available for 96k on Snapdeal.
Also in the competition for me is a boutique option from US. It come with Iris Pro 5200, 8GB RAM and still costs only $1300 with 3 years warranty and a 14" FHD display. The only problem with that is that I will have to ship the system back to US if I need to RMA.

If you want to get a working machine then wait for the new mbp.
If you want air with fullhd display wait a year or so.

If you take good care of your electronics then it shouldn't be a problem buying from the us. I've bought many iphones and never had a problem with them.
Apple products are built properly. BTW if you are one of the few who is scared and happens to get a faulty product and it gets defective then it probably is better buying it in india.

 

[rdst_1]

If you want to get a working machine then wait for the new mbp.
If you want air with fullhd display wait a year or so.

If you take good care of your electronics then it shouldn't be a problem buying from the us. I've bought many iphones and never had a problem with them.
Apple products are built properly. BTW if you are one of the few who is scared and happens to get a faulty product and it gets defective then it probably is better buying it in india.

The Air with retina display will be more than perfect for my usage but that is at least a year off like you said.
I have been shopping from the US for the past 2 years so that isn't a problem either. But if I were to buy MBP the pricing over here with student discount will be much better.

If I do end up ordering from US, it will be the boutique option named Mythlogic Callisto 14. It has awesome specs and is customizable.
14" FHD Matte IPS display.
Intel Core i7 4750HQ with Iris Pro 5200.
8GB 1600MHz RAM
Samsung 840Pro 128GB SSD.
1TB 7200 32MB cache SATA Notebook drive.

All this for $1180 with 1 year warranty or $1330 with 3 year warranty. The warranty includes 2 way shipping costs within the US.