Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

In my experience the Macbook Air is the best bang for your buck in terms of weight, battery life and speed. The Samsung Series 9 is really the only one that comes close in those 3 areas, and it's more expensive. Full disclosure: I own the new i5 13" MBA and think it's the best purchase I've made in a long time.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#6

Post by lowkey » Sun, Aug 28, 2011, 12:52 PM UTC

Check out the Asus UX21 http://gizmodo.com/5807015/asus-ux21-matches-macbook-airs-si...

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#7

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Aug 28, 2011, 12:53 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#8

Post by cema » Sun, Aug 28, 2011, 12:55 PM UTC

drKarl wrote: post #2

You can look at the excellent Sony Vaio Z Series

However one needs to keep in mind that Vaio Z is a Windows machine which is a poor platform for Ubuntu or a linux in general.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#9

Post by profquail » Sun, Aug 28, 2011, 12:56 PM UTC

drKarl wrote: post #2

You can look at the excellent Sony Vaio Z Series

I'll second this. If you're looking for a cheap, light notebook with mid-range features, look elsewhere; however, if you want a fast, portable machine for development/design, I don't know of anything better. I've had one for about a year (typing on it now), and it's probably the best development laptop I've ever used (maybe even best development machine, period).

The only drawbacks I've seen are the price (it's quite expensive) and Sony isn't very good about keeping their drivers up-to-date, so anything custom/customized in the machine (like the graphics card) is kind of annoying to get new drivers for.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#10

Post by CamperBob » Sun, Aug 28, 2011, 12:59 PM UTC

drKarl wrote: post #2

You can look at the excellent Sony Vaio Z Series

If the answer involves giving money to Sony, then you asked the wrong question.