Nifty new ad campaign from Microsoft where Microsoft wants buyers to 'do the math' and select a netbook over a MacBook Air.
[...]you'll see Microsoft's pairing of the 11" MacBook Air with three US$300-ish netbooks. While the price comparison is stark, the fact is that these netbooks are not even close to the MacBook Air where it counts, and to put them in the same category is silly at best and deliberately deceptive at worst.
As someone who was at an Apple store recently fondling lovingly checking out a MacBook air with a friend, the comparison of a MacBook air to a netbook is stupid. Of course, this is a company's ad campaign trying consumers to buy their products over someone else's products, so just like Apple will emphasize quality and user experience over HP/Dell/MS/etc, this isn't shocking. It's definitely interesting to see what's included and what's left out of all these ad campaigns, regardless of what "side" you're on.
It's all a matter of preference, again regardless of what "side" you're on. And of course, a matter of what you need the machine to do. Do you need an SSD? The general populace says no and the geek populace is split like the north vs. the south.
I like that they reference spending money on chiropracter bills by carrying around a less than 3.5lbs netbook though, that had me chuckling. If someone's body seriously can't handle 3.5lbs of weight, they should be permanently habitated in a semi-weightless environment.
the MBA is nice if you do a lot of cloud work, since you just have enough storage space to deal with enough to make it even a potential portable DTR, while the netbooks do.
On the other hand...MBAs are "oh so pretty", and I can't argue with the visual aesthetics that are put in to all the Apple products. To each their own though. I can't justify the expense for Apple, but I do understand people's desire to look sleek and hip.
Yup, agreed. T The difference between 3.5lbs and the 2.8 does seem like a lot, those MBA's are *light*. But if your budget is $500, then regardless of anything, the cheap notebook is "better" for you. I think that a 64 or 128G SSD would be enough space for a "normal" person to make it there main computer. My dad survived for years with a 30 + 50G drive (the 50 being added as the "big" drive for his photos). For geeks this is definitely not the case though :)
The MBA would be a great coding machine to take back and forth to work for example, you don't need 300G of mp3s on it, and the 128G would be fine for most coding type work. Speaking as someone who lugs a 15"mbp to and from work every day, that backpack does get heavy (not just laptop of course, but power cords, camera and assorted paraphernalia). I don't think I'd recommend it as a Desktop Replacement though, I'd say spend the extra couple of hundred and get the more powerful cpu/ram in the MBP. But a frequent flyer or traveller... it'd be great (if you have the budget).