[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Ultrathin teardown! Asus ultrabook vs MacBook Air here

[Cory949]

Explanation: "pentalobe screws, whose heads resemble Torx heads but are different enough that a Torx driver won't work."

Torx is the trademark for a screw head with a 6-point star-shaped pattern.

Pentalobe combination of penta - Greek for five and lobe: a roundish and flattish part of something.

5 vs. 6, just enough difference!

PS: Phillips head screwdrivers are different enough from a flathead that they
won't work either

[bkwalter]

Well done. I am thinking about buying an Asus now I know I will. Why pay Apple the extra cost when both are very similar.

[Snork]

Quote

Why pay Apple the extra cost when both are very similar.

I think you misunderstand. The Air is $1199. The cheapest I could find after an admittedly very cursory search for the Asus was $1249, and mostly over $1300 (but I suppose you can find it cheaper if you spend the time looking, and if you want Windows, you will need to pay extra to run it on the Mac)

[narolfs]

Quote

Why pay Apple the extra cost when both are very similar. I think you misunderstand. The Air is $1199. The cheapest I could find after an admittedly very cursory search for the Asus was $1249, and mostly over $1300 (but I suppose you can find it cheaper if you spend the time looking, and if you want Windows, you will need to pay extra to run it on the Mac)

Apple:
Starting Cost: $1,199 - 1.8-GHz Intel dual-core i5-3427U processor and 4GB of RAM
Upgraded: $1,199 + $400 = $1,599 - 2.0-GHz Core i7 processor and 4GB of RAM

Asus:
Starting Cost: $1,149 - 1.7-GHz Intel Core i5-3317U processor and 4GB of RAM
Upgraded: $1,499 - 1.9-GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor and 4GB of RAM for $1,499.

The difference between the two seem to be 0.1 GHz which wouldn't even be worth an extra $50 dollars to me even for the inital starter version not to mention the extra $100 in the upgraded one.

Heck, with that $50 a person can buy OS X Mountain Lion for $19.99 if they like the dual boot route and have two OS's in one. But then if you bought the Apple and wanted to dual boot you'd have to pay $99.99 for a Home Edition of Windows 7 or more so for a Pro or Ultimate copy.

[tkaplan1983]

Might want to check your facts on the "Heck, with that $50 a person can buy OS X Mountain Lion for $19.99 if they like the dual boot route and have two OS's in one."

You can only run OS X on an Apple product. I mean there are ways to do it through VM Ware and its not exactly "legal" by Apple's standards.

Cheers

[tkaplan1983]

Quote

Why pay Apple the extra cost when both are very similar. I think you misunderstand. The Air is $1199. The cheapest I could find after an admittedly very cursory search for the Asus was $1249, and mostly over $1300 (but I suppose you can find it cheaper if you spend the time looking, and if you want Windows, you will need to pay extra to run it on the Mac) Apple: Starting Cost: $1,199 - 1.8-GHz Intel dual-core i5-3427U processor and 4GB of RAM Upgraded: $1,199 + $400 = $1,599 - 2.0-GHz Core i7 processor and 4GB of RAM Asus: Starting Cost: $1,149 - 1.7-GHz Intel Core i5-3317U processor and 4GB of RAM Upgraded: $1,499 - 1.9-GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor and 4GB of RAM for $1,499. The difference between the two seem to be 0.1 GHz which wouldn't even be worth an extra $50 dollars to me even for the inital starter version not to mention the extra $100 in the upgraded one. Heck, with that $50 a person can buy OS X Mountain Lion for $19.99 if they like the dual boot route and have two OS's in one. But then if you bought the Apple and wanted to dual boot you'd have to pay $99.99 for a Home Edition of Windows 7 or more so for a Pro or Ultimate copy.

Might want to check your facts on the "Heck, with that $50 a person can buy OS X Mountain Lion for $19.99 if they like the dual boot route and have two OS's in one."

You can only run OS X on an Apple product. I mean there are ways to do it through VM Ware and its not exactly "legal" by Apple's standards.

Cheers

[WinTard]

PCWorld, on 16 September 2012 - 10:54 PM, said:

Post your comments for Ultrathin teardown! Asus ultrabook vs MacBook Air here

Conspicuously absent in the article are the Display specifications for either the MacBook Air, or the Asus Zenbook?

Does anybody understands the difference between HD and Full-HD specs?

Well Full-HD is 1920x1080 resolution.

The Asus ZenBook is natively Full-HD @ 1920 horizontal X 1080 vertical resolution:

http://zenbook.asus.com/product/


While the Apple MacBook Air, of similar display size to the Asus Zenbook is merely only HD @ 1440 horizontal X 900 vertical resolution:
http://www.apple.com...kair/specs.html


Why not report on one of the most important specification, namely display resolution when comparing two similar systems? What gives?

Bottom line: For me, this completely disqualifies the MacBook Air. As I only purchase Full-HD or better. I did it twice in the past six months. That resulted in the exact same. Even though the Asus Zenbook was more expensive than the MacBook Air, the lack of Full-HD resolution bothered me.

Display transcoding always results in Picture Quality distortions artifacts also known as "judder" and the "jaggies"... At that price, thanks but no thanks!


~~~~~~~~~~~
Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
~ Warren Buffett

Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing.
~ Warren Buffett

Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it's not going to get the business.
~ Warren Buffett

This post has been edited by WinTard: 06 March 2013 - 08:33 PM

[WinTard]

tkaplan1983, on 05 March 2013 - 11:16 AM, said:

Might want to check your facts on the "Heck, with that $50 a person can buy OS X Mountain Lion for $19.99 if they like the dual boot route and have two OS's in one."

You can only run OS X on an Apple product. I mean there are ways to do it through VM Ware and its not exactly "legal" by Apple's standards.

Cheers

They say a lot of things don't they? Lots of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt)...

While others say a lot of other things don't they?
virtualize os x in windows


Whether they like it or not, others apparently like to tinker with technologies... Curious people aren't they, those others?

There is also a distinction between an SLA (Software License Agreement) and criminal versus civil law? If one chooses to disagree with one minor term in a shrink-wrapped SLA, does not automatically make any party a criminal. It merely becomes a point of contention / disagreement with that specific term, and that falls under civil law. I suppose those who virtualize OS X under anything else but Apple branded hardware, better not call Apple for support? At worst, what's at stake is the full price paid for said software, what was it? $20? However, if someone does it for profit, that is a different matter altogether. But personal use only? For personal educational purpose?

The Fair Use plot thickens...

Wikipedia said:

http://en.wikipedia....ainty_and_doubt

~~~~~~~~~~
Profits, like sausages... are esteemed most by those who know least about what goes into them.
~ Alvin Toffler

Some people have so much respect for their superiors they have none left for themselves.
~ Peter McArthur

People will sleep better not knowing how their sausage and politics are made.
~ Bismarck

________________________________
The rationale behind this post hinges on:

As far as legal precedents concerning this issue of illegality for OS X to be loaded on non-Apple branded hardware, people cannot ignore this US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling:
1984 U.S. Circuit court of Appeals decision held that a software publisher cannot require consumers to run an operating system on a specific type of hardware

The US Supreme court case legal precedent is:
Digidyne Corp. v. Data General Corp., 734 F.2d 1336 (9th Cir 1984), cert denied, 473 U.S. 908 (1985).

___________
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A LAWYER (IANAL). For legal advice, consult a lawyer. To understand your fundamental rights, please visit http://eff.org. They are lawyers.