If I Liked Windows, I'd Save $800!

[mrlynn]

I gave away my MacBook Pro, so am planning to buy a MacBook Air 11.6". With the 128 SSD drive, it costs $1,199.

Just got an ad for a Fujitsu Lifebook PH520:

http://store.shopfujitsu.com/fpc/Ecommer...ries=PH520&WT.mc_id=Email_valentines2011_email_011711-1013

Same screen (?), 2GB DDR3, AMD Athlon II Neo Processor K125 1.7 GHz (less powerful than the Core2Duo 1.4 I assume), 320 GB HD, more ports (3 USB, one HDMI, one SD card slot), etc. Weighs a little more (3.08 lbs, vs. 2.3 for the MBA), similar advertised battery life, etc. Comes with Win7 Pro. My son-in-law is running Win7, and it seems more presentable than the WinXP that we use in our office.

Price: $599, less $200 with coupon code VALENTINE11 = $399!

(Does that qualify for a 'RYF'?)

I won't save the $800. I've been a Mac user since 1988, through thick and thin, and I just prefer the Mac OS. And I've had enough nightmares dealing with PC viruses and other malware to last me forever.

But there are a lot of other things I could do with the $800. . .

/Mr Lynn

[kap]

I'd say go for the Windows 7 Pro (most stable compared to other Windows OSes) laptop. Use it to make some money to buy another Mac laptop

[mikebw]

I would bet everything about the MBA is better, except the price. That thing looks THICK. The MBA has no RJ-45 jack because it would not fit. You are paying a lot more for the design of the case, not to mention the SSD. The MBA is 25% lighter, which is a huge percentage for a weight difference.

But sure, if you need the $800 for something else...

[mrlynn]

mikebw wrote:
I would bet everything about the MBA is better, except the price. That thing looks THICK. The MBA has no RJ-45 jack because it would not fit. You are paying a lot more for the design of the case, not to mention the SSD. The MBA is 25% lighter, which is a huge percentage for a weight difference.

Agreed, but the price difference is huge: 300%!

No room for the RJ-45 port on the back?

/Mr Lynn

[Filliam H. Muffman]

You might feel silly if the same thing goes on full closeout for $250 in six weeks. The bottom is going to fall out of the prices of last years laptops with new Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD Fusion products hitting the market in the Spring. For a very brief time, new products are going to be ~25% less than refurbs.

The only bad thing is that it will be painful in the hackintosh segment for a while, until Apple releases a product using one of them.

I am currently waiting to see if I can get laptop for ~$250 to use as a HTPC.

[gabester]

AMD Neo processor is their equivalent to Intel's Atom chips. Intended for netbook/notbook usage but not for real laptops and/or serious computing tasks.

Hope that helps. I wouldn't buy it at that price... if it was a c2d on the other hand, run you fool!
g=

[Jimmypoo]

I wish I knew how the Atom stacks up to a G4 of various speeds.

I suppose there are SPECint / SPECfp out there using 2006 --- has anyone seen them and compared
to the older processors (or even a Core2 but slower clocked Core2) just to have that baseline knowledge?

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Jimmypoo wrote:
I wish I knew how the Atom stacks up to a G4 of various speeds.

The Atom is sort of like a G3 with a massive Altivec unit, but that is even more narrowly focused (SSE3 extensions). They can play some 1080p content, especially the new ones with Nvidia ION 2 graphics. But Intel's eventual goal seems to be for a MID/tablet application rather than HTPC. Performance increases have been stale. The new ones are not much faster than the original ones for Integer performance and they are still not 64 bit. A cheap dual core Pentium that can take 8 GB of RAM is a lot more attractive than any Atom.

The most recent Atom Reviews in a quick search (some older reviews compare Atom to low end Core/Pentium, where it gets stomped clock for clock in Office Apps).
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4081/asroc...n-ion-htpc (HTPC)
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/slim...,2789.html (nettop)

[silvarios]

Isn't that processor single core? Echoing Filliam H. Muffman, I would keep an eye out for the new Intel and AMD low powered chips.

To the original point, Macs still command a premium over other brands of PCs. There's plenty of non Mac laptops on the market that are i3 powered and priced in the $500-$600 range. Compared to the regular white plastic MacBook at twice the price, that's a heck of a discount.

[Zoidberg]

I hear that kind of crap from people all the time. When a friend mentioned she got a new netbook, and discussion of the MacBook Air came up (my mom is considering one), my friend asked how much they cost. When I told her they started @ $999, she scoffed and commented that her new netbook was only $400. I just smiled and nodded; not going to get drawn into that argument anymore.