

Ask HN: Shall I buy an 'ultrabook' or a MB Air? - rayhano

What I really want to know is are there any ultrabooks that can compete with the MacBook Air on the key features:<p>- size/weight
- battery life
- quick on (since Lion, instant on is a thing of the past)
- SSD (how is this not standard in the feature spec...)
- backlit keyboard (incredibly important)<p>Any suggestions of ones that people have tried/reviewed?
======
hobin
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrabook>

That should answer most of the questions you asked. You can find about the
ultrabooks with backlit keyboards by doing a simple Google search (yes,
'ultrabook backlit keyboard').

~~~
rayhano
Seriously? A wikipedia entry? I was asking for specific experiences and
models...

~~~
hobin
Neither of which I have. ;) And because you asked for information on
size/weight and battery life without specifying a specific model, this was the
best I could do.

------
zefi
I have a 13" MBA 2011 w/ lion,just got it after years on a dell Inspiron 1545.
It is amazing. Incredibly light, With really really good battery life. So need
for an iPad, I have no qualms about carrying it with me, it doesn't weigh that
much more than large book. It can power down, restart and be back on my
desktop in 15 seconds. Backlit keyboard is great, don't underestimate it for
late night projects. Also, I now have nothing on my desktop, Osx file systems
are muchore intuitive and multi task orientated. Get an MBA, it's more money
but better value than anything else on the market.

~~~
zefi
*no need for iPad & much more

Stupid iPhone keyboard.

------
kabr
Keep in mind that the screen illuminates the keyboard in the dark, so a
backlit keyboard may be more for aesthetics than functionality. I never use it
on my MBA.

Something I don't like about the MacBook Air (13"): Dedicated audio in/out --
there's a "hybrid" jack which annoys me. I thought lack of firewire would be
limiting for older drives and external interfaces, but I don't miss it. I do
run Windows when I need it for (minor) updates to files in solid modeling
programs such as SolidWorks and animation such as Maya while traveling with a
VM. Works great.

~~~
rayhano
I have a very beautiful HP ProBook 5310m but find I have to tilt the screen
down every now and then to see the keys (while trying not to disturb my wife
watching soaps on the TV...)

How do you find the performance of Windows 7 on the MBA? Does it boot into
Windows or do you use Parallels?

~~~
benologist
I do OSX + Win and OSX + Linux on Parallels most of the time, the only
drawback with the Air is there's not enough ram and perhaps not quite enough
cpu to do it all at once. A single VM runs fine though.

~~~
rayhano
Yes, the lack of upgrade-ability is always an Apple Mac fault, BUT the new
ultrabooks will likely suffer the same limitations considering they are based
on (slightly inferior) Apple-led Intel re-architecting of the PC innards.

------
benologist
If you don't need OS X then the Sony Vaio Z looks pretty awesome. Biggest
differences:

\- faster processor

\- higher resolution

\- their lightpeak or w/e port actually has a kickass accessory that justifies
it, there is still nothing interesting available using Thunderbolt

\- up to twice the ram

\- internal + external battery

[http://www.notebookcheck.net/Ultra-mobile-Vaio-Z-with-
Power-...](http://www.notebookcheck.net/Ultra-mobile-Vaio-Z-with-Power-Media-
Dock-now-official.56625.0.html)

~~~
rayhano
I would LOVE a Vaio Z - so beautiful, so powerful AND that 1080p resolution
screen is to die for...

OK, I'm going to start a kickstarter page for people to sponsor my purchase of
a £2000 Vaio Z...

~~~
r4vik
If you're going to be in the US any time soon I just priced up a Vaio Z top of
the line and it came to £1400 quid, did the same on the UK site and it was
£2400 quid

~~~
rayhano
Is that including Sales Tax?

It does hurt a lot when you have such dichotomies...

~~~
r4vik
Nope but even when you add 10-15% it's a pretty good deal.

I recognise your name, are you on the opencoffee mailing list?

~~~
rayhano
Yup, I've posted more often recently. Mostly because I am running Flagons Den
so am using the OC list to keep in touch with those who want to get pitch
practice through Flagons Den. Are you coming on the 7th?

------
ameen
I've struggled with this question myself, and while ultrabooks offer a few
hundred dollars of savings, a Macbook Air makes more sense for me(personally)
in the long run.

Reasons:

I've started to develop iOS apps, and I need an iOS device and the MBA solves
2 of my problems in a single go. (need for an ultraportable device, a Mac for
iOS dev)

~~~
rayhano
Just noticed that you offer Office Hours to YC companies for UX and design -
might you be interested in doing an Open Office Hours for the London hacker
community? We keep some events going just to help the community get out and
mingle. Some examples here: <http://london.flagonsden.com>

Let me know if this is something you would be interested in.

Thanks

~~~
ameen
I'd be happy to help. But currently i'm building a product which is to be
launched by Q2 of this year.

Do drop me a mail at ameen.in at google's electronic mail service, I'll get in
touch with you if & when I'm free.

------
chmielewski
If you're going to be installing Linux on it, don't buy the MacBook Air for
the hardware. The lack of PageUp/PageDown keys seals the deal. If you are
going to install Linux on it, then the MBA shouldn't be a consideration and
you should get an ultrabook in your spec/price range. If you want OS X then
the MBA would be your best bet.

------
soapdog
I think it depends if you want/need Mac OS X or if you can live happily with
the alternatives.

Personally, I think that Mac OS X Snow Leopard is better than Lion but that is
just opinion so until Lion grows on me, I will not upgrade to a new machine.

~~~
rayhano
That's another conundrum - I was in lust with the MacBook Air and it's instant
on that I could whip out on UK commuter trains and use as if it was as
versatile as an iPad. But Lion makes this less possible... seconds on UK
trains seem like much longer...

~~~
whiskers
I'm using a 2011 Macbook Air that came with Lion and from opening the lid to
login prompt takes about a second.

I'd never shut it down fully because the battery life is so good I don't need
to!

~~~
rayhano
That's interesting. This is what I really want to delve into - can an
Ultrabook perform a similar miracle? And if so, which one?

~~~
whiskers
So long as you have an SSD and enough memory the startup speed really comes
down to how the OS handles sleep/hibernation - it's a software problem.

~~~
rayhano
I wish it was just down to software. I have seen some Windows 7 machines, like
the Vaio Z, boot up like a demon. And others that are hamstrung.

------
rayhano
Now we're talking! Check out this laptop
[http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-
computing/laptops/hands...](http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-
computing/laptops/hands-on-samsung-9-series-review-1054050)

------
corkill
I'm tossing up the same thing. I think it pretty much comes down to if you
want to use windows or OSX + budget. Specs aren't much different.

~~~
rayhano
Well this is actually my conundrum.. on paper the specs are not different, but
practically it seems they are. I saw three ultrabooks in PC World and only one
had an SSD (£900 vs £1100 for MBA).

And the battery life of all of them was claimed as less than that of a MBA.

I REALLY need to replace my laptop, but am in two minds about labouring with
it until Windows 8 comes out...

No need to use OS X - there is no software on there that works better with the
exception of iTunes (which is possibly the worst well used software ever - any
Mac Fanboys complain about Windows, I just need to say iTunes...)

------
rayhano
So any model recommendations for an ultrabook? Anyone?

~~~
whiskers
I absolutely love my MacBook Air. I run it exclusively in Lion but have
virtual machines for Ubuntu and Windows when I need it.

The build is amazing, the battery life very good for its size, and I really
like the keyboard and screen (though that's probably a personal taste choice).

For £1099 (including taxes) I haven't seen anything else that I'd want to swap
to.

~~~
rayhano
What about this Toshiba?

[http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/toshiba-
portege-z830-ultra...](http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/toshiba-
portege-z830-ultrabook-review-50004981/)

~~~
eminkel
I checked this out in store, very cheap feeling.

------
kenrik
I would say go with the Air, build quality is top notch and even if you don't
use it everyday having a rock stable UNIX core can come in handy at times.

You might want to wait a bit though the new "Air" Macbook Pros are coming out
soon and it's rumored they will have "Retina Displays" - God I hate that term

