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Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

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Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#131

Post by blinkingled »

georgieporgie wrote: post #125
blinkingled wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much elegant is good enough or to what degree that is a concern is subjective. GP did not specify that elegance was the sole criteria which means he/she is probably ok with a fairly elegant machine within same ballpark of the Air - which the x220 is. The x220 certainly ain't ugly - it is thin, lightweight and durable. Many prefer the Thinkpad design. So even if for you personally elegance may be the first/only pr…

So even if for you personally elegance may be the first/only priority without override Okay, I'm genuinely curious here. What's with all the strange, reactionary posts in this thread, and mis-categorization of people? When did I say anything about elegance being my first priority? I was quite clear in my statement, yet you've skewed it in a bizarre manner. many people are not that obsessive when it comes to choosing…

Well nothing to be defensive about. I was responding to the question /why even bring up Think pad when it looks less elegant/. Only a somewhat obsessed person will completely ignore a laptop because it is not as good looking as the Air. Nothing wrong or loaded about that - just that it isn't what everyone will generally do. And so the response wasn't completely irrelevant, that's all.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#132

Post by runjake »

stevenbedrick wrote: post #84
jarek wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you buy your laptops primarily to look at them, or to use them?

From what I understand, a big part of the appeal of the MBA is that it's light and thin enough that you can basically forget that you've got it in your bag. For people who travel a lot, that's a big deal. For some users, then, the laptop's physical attributes (dimensions, etc.) are important aspects of the machine's overall usability.

you can basically forget that you've got it in your bag

Except you can't, because you're worried about crushing it, due to a relatively frail case, or you're worried about scratching it because it looks pretty.

This is why I ditched an MBA and carry around a netbook.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#133

Post by georgieporgie »

blinkingled wrote: post #131
georgieporgie wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So even if for you personally elegance may be the first/only priority without override Okay, I'm genuinely curious here. What's with all the strange, reactionary posts in this thread, and mis-categorization of people? When did I say anything about elegance being my first priority? I was quite clear in my statement, yet you've skewed it in a bizarre manner. many people are not that obsessive when it comes to choosing…

Well nothing to be defensive about. I was responding to the question /why even bring up Think pad when it looks less elegant/. Only a somewhat obsessed person will completely ignore a laptop because it is not as good looking as the Air. Nothing wrong or loaded about that - just that it isn't what everyone will generally do. And so the response wasn't completely irrelevant, that's all.

Not defensive, but rather offended. Also, there is most certainly a lot of loaded text in your replies.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#134

Post by georgieporgie »

pyre wrote: post #126
georgieporgie wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elegant is subjective. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who honestly believes a Thinkpad to be more elegant than a Macbook Air. A response of, "Disregard that the design sucks cocks," Excuse me?

> > A response of, "Disregard that the design sucks cocks," > > Excuse me? Sorry, my (previous) 4chan roots showing through: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/disregard-that-i-suck-cocks#.T... My point was that the responder at the top of the thread was saying (in so many words): ignore all of that so-called 'content' in the parent post, my (subjective) ideas about the design should trump all of that

I understand the 'meme' and don't see how it has any place here, whatsoever.

As for your summary, I find it to be amazingly slanted toward a particular view. The X220 is truly nothing at all like the Macbook Air. I used a consumer grade Toshiba, so I have no horse in this race, but I can plainly see (from specs as well as design) that the X220 is in a significantly different category from the Air.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#135

Post by FireBeyond »

dvdhsu wrote: post #75
nordsieck wrote: post #74

IMO, the most important feature in a laptop is resolution. The presence of an ssd is a distant second. Sony Vaios are ridiculously expensive; that being said, they offer 1920x1080 in a 13.1" form factor. This completely destroys everyone else, in my mind.

When the pixel density is that high though, the text starts to strain your eyes.

Apple releases "Retina Display", with ultra-high resolution: "Amazing! So much better than anything else! So crisp! So beautiful!" Someone else releases lower pixel density display for laptop, but far better than what Apple deigns to offer: "Ugh! No! How can you read that? That just gives you eye strain..."

(Exaggerated for emphasis)

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#136

Post by pyre »

georgieporgie wrote: post #134
pyre wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> > A response of, "Disregard that the design sucks cocks," > > Excuse me? Sorry, my (previous) 4chan roots showing through: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/disregard-that-i-suck-cocks#.T... My point was that the responder at the top of the thread was saying (in so many words): ignore all of that so-called 'content' in the parent post, my (subjective) ideas about the design should trump all of that

I understand the 'meme' and don't see how it has any place here, whatsoever. As for your summary, I find it to be amazingly slanted toward a particular view. The X220 is truly nothing at all like the Macbook Air. I used a consumer grade Toshiba, so I have no horse in this race, but I can plainly see (from specs as well as design) that the X220 is in a significantly different category from the Air.

That's not what I was responding to. The original suggestion about the X220 was responded to by saying that the X220 isn't 'elegant' and has a design that harkens back to 2001 (which is implied to be a bad thing).

The elegance of the design alone is not enough to place it in a different category. If the argument had been that it can't be classified in the same category as the MacBook Air (with a list of reasons other than "I think that it looks ugly"), then this thread would look a lot different.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#137

Post by [deleted] »

georgieporgie wrote: post #133
blinkingled wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well nothing to be defensive about. I was responding to the question /why even bring up Think pad when it looks less elegant/. Only a somewhat obsessed person will completely ignore a laptop because it is not as good looking as the Air. Nothing wrong or loaded about that - just that it isn't what everyone will generally do. And so the response wasn't completely irrelevant, that's all.

Not defensive, but rather offended. Also, there is most certainly a lot of loaded text in your replies.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#138

Post by dvdhsu »

FireBeyond wrote: post #135
dvdhsu wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the pixel density is that high though, the text starts to strain your eyes.

Apple releases "Retina Display", with ultra-high resolution: "Amazing! So much better than anything else! So crisp! So beautiful!" Someone else releases lower pixel density display for laptop, but far better than what Apple deigns to offer: "Ugh! No! How can you read that? That just gives you eye strain..." (Exaggerated for emphasis)

Right, but most icons do not exist in a high resolution format yet (as far as I know, I would appreciate if somebody to correct me on this, if I am wrong).

Apple's retina display works because they have graphics that are the same physical size on screen. When I switch from my MacBook Pro display to an external Samsung display, the icon and text both get smaller.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#139

Post by haecib »

cageface wrote: post #24

I haven't found any non-Apple laptop with a trackpad that's even close. Everything I've tried on the Windows/Linux side has been bad enough to be a deal-breaker.

This was a major reason I got an MBA. It is honestly the first laptop I've used where I feel absolutely no need to plug a USB mouse in. The trackpad is one of the most fundamental ways to interact from a UI perspective, -it's a big deal to have it done right.
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