PC laptop recommendation

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I ordered a new older version Macbook Air from BH and a pretty good discount. I went out looking at PC's and I just can't stand their design and the ones that were okay were more expensive than the Air, granted they did have better specs.. I don't mind using Windows I use it at work and it's fine (I do prefer OS X) but I know I wouldn't be happy lugging one of these ugly giant plastic bricks around. I might be paying more for less in specs but going PC is not worth the savings and higher performance at least for a laptop. The Air did have the best screen out of all the PC's I was looking at.
 

I think it's the nature of these things to be subjective. Supposedly Macs have the best trackpads, but I strongly dislike having using a clickable pad. I like my pads and buttons separate and often find the cursor moving as I try to click on my Macbook Air. Also, as I mentioned above, the trackpad is unresponsive for a few seconds when I wake from sleep (fresh install of Lion). I also dislike glossy screens. Thus two of the "strengths" of the MBA - trackpad and screen - aren't ideal for me. Battery isn't amazing either.

As for the PC ultrasbooks, I've only tried them in the store, but a few of them seemed pretty nice to me. As I mentioned, a few have been well received on different sites, so it seems that people's mileage varies quite often.
 
I do not use Airs, they are too small for my needs but none of my MBPs have had glossy screens, the track pads are fine for me, slow start problems sounds like you may have a Lion conflict, I have gotten rid of most of the old software on my computers. They now seem quicker than before
 
slow start problems sounds like you may have a Lion conflicte

The brief trackpad unresponsiveness I am experiencing happens using a fresh install of Lion with no additional software installed. It is possible that Lion has a conflict with my 2nd gen 2010 Macbook Air, but there's definitely no "old software" responsible.

My favorite trackpad ever is the one from my 2008 MacBook Pro. It has the glassy feel of the current trackpads but preserves the separate buttons for clicking. I wish they hadn't changed it.
 
I actually hate trackpads, period. The only thing I like about the trackpad in Lion is the scrolling. Otherwise I am still using an ancient Logitech marble mouse with the laptop, and a magic mouse with the imac. I used to like the little stickshift in my old Toshiba Satellite Pro (1996 vintage) which I had for a couple of years. I think that the thinkpads still have it?
 
I agree that Lion is problematic. I use it only because my new laptop won't run earlier versions. What is even more disturbing is that Apple used to be very good at quickly fixing things, but not this time around. 7 months after release Lion is still exceptionally buggy.
 
I was able to install Snow Leopard on my friends new "Lion Only" Macbook Pro. I used a program called superduper. I connected the laptop through firewire as a target to my iMac and made a bootable back up the the Macbook Pro drive. After that the Macbook Pro stared up in Snow Leopard and it been running just fine since. He needed SL to run an older version of Final Cut Pro.
 
I was able to install Snow Leopard on my friends new "Lion Only" Macbook Pro. I used a program called superduper. I connected the laptop through firewire as a target to my iMac and made a bootable back up the the Macbook Pro drive. After that the Macbook Pro stared up in Snow Leopard and it been running just fine since. He needed SL to run an older version of Final Cut Pro.

Unfortunately, this trick doesn't work with new MacBook Airs.
 
I have tried Toshiba, ASUS, Acer and Lenovo. I think ASUS Zenbook is the best ultrabook overall, but its trackpad is a bag of hurt and its screen doesn't hold a candle to MacBook Air. Toshiba Z830 has the best screen and the best selection of external ports, but it's flimsy compared to MacBook Air. Acer S3 is flimsy, slow and has a very poor screen and the worst keyboard I have ever seen. Lenovo U300s is mediocre in all respects except keyboard and its battery life is only about 4 hrs.

YMMV :)

I agree that the Asus Zenbook is best overall but I have also had zero problems with the trackpad or display; and this coming from someone has has owned a Macbook Air. I have the Zenbook UX31E-DH72 which addressed the trackpad issue.
 
Back
Top