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Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

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Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#73

I actually switched from 2010 Air to X220 after the 2011 Airs came out. Needed a Windows machine and did not like where Lion was going - with 2011 MBA I would have no choice but to run Lion and Windows with half baked support (AHCI, other minor annoyances) The X220 fits the bill - 1) Display is good - it's IPS panel with good viewing angles and great brightness (Make sure you opt for Premium HD display) 2) Battery li…

+1 for x220

8) The nipple mouse in the middle of the keyboard means you never have to take your hands away from home row.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#75

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.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#76
post #53
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a search for X220 and found this: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x220... Are you serious? This doesn't look like anything that may compete with Macbook Air in my book. Not to seem too negative, but the overall design is reminiscent of old laptops from the year 2001. (Typical for PC laptop designers).

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

Do you buy your car to look at it or drive it? Etc, etc, etc...

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#77
post #75

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.

Then use a larger font and get better-looking text at the same size as the competition.

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#78
post #57

Macbook Pro 13" for $999, then add whatever SSD you're willing to spring for. This way you get * the unibody * the magsafe * the battery of the MBP * the flexibility to easily use OSX if you ever need to (without doing the sketchy hackintosh approach) * the resale value of the MBP And you get a lot more machine for the money than the MBA. The one cost you have to accept is the weight. But that's giving you a very stu…

The Air screen is WAY less reflective than the one on MBP 13", to the point of being usable. If you, like me, cannot bear to see your reflection in the LCD :) then the Air is the only alternative to the WAY more expensive (and weighty) MBP 15" (with the BTO opaque LCD).

Re: Ask HN: Any good Macbook Air alternatives?

#80
post #75

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.

For equal sized characters (measured in in/cm), higher resolution should result in more readable font. Perhaps I'm biased because I spend all my time in terminals and browsers, but font scaling seems to work quite well for me.
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