MacBook Air for girlfriend? Ultrabooks?

[Ulti]

I'm comtemplating getting the S3 for myself and selling the X121e and then taking the S3 to the Apple Store and comparing it with the 11.6" MBA to see what my girlfriend likes more, if she doesn't mind the S3 then I'll be happy to go laptop-less as I rarely take my laptop out to use tbh. I'll probably put it on Hexus classifieds haha.

[abaxas]

Huh? Thinkpads are known for the awesome keyboards, much much better than a mac

She had a thinkpad x40 before the air. We simply couldn't test the x121e's keyboard and no-one appeared to sell it retail.

Hence the air was a known quantity she was happy with, hence it was bought. Remembering that with edu discount you get 3 years apple care thrown in.

[Domestic_Ginger]

I inherited a 4 year old laptop late last year. Installed Linux as the 2gb was not enough for Vista and am now sure I will not need to buy more ram which I would have had to do with vista. Its night and day between the two. It does everything I want it to do and wine provides compatability with steam. okay, flash does not run very well and there is an issue with some drivers with games.

Could be a cheaper alternative for poor students.

[kmac]

I have a lenovo and a macbook air

Macbook is thin and portable but I'm not a big fan of Apple - one difference is you have different OS with the two unless you load Windows onto your Air (mine has both)

Lenovo is good value but the one I have couldn't really be classed as ultra portable
For good value I would go with Lenovo over Apple any time

If anything goes wrong on an Apple after the warranty they are prohibitively expensive to fix - may as well chuck it (just as well you got the 3 yr apple care)

Lenovo keyboard is miles better.

[Pancake]

lenovo keyboard is miles better.

qft.

[Behemoth]

I have a lenovo and a macbook air

Macbook is thin and portable but I'm not a big fan of Apple - one difference is you have different OS with the two unless you load Windows onto your Air (mine has both)

Lenovo is good value but the one I have couldn't really be classed as ultra portable
For good value I would go with Lenovo over Apple any time

If anything goes wrong on an Apple after the warranty they are prohibitively expensive to fix - may as well chuck it (just as well you got the 3 yr apple care)

Lenovo keyboard is miles better.

Thats not entirley accurate. Anything bought in the UK has Statutory rights, it's called the Sale Of Goods Act Thats providing the retailer is ofcourse based in the UK too

Even if there is no warranty and the product is within side the 6 year limitation the retailer has to offer either Repair,replacement or maybe partial refund. Although it would be down to the end user to prove there is fault once they have owned the goods for more than 6 months and make a contribution for use etc.

[Pancake]

Thats not entirley accurate. Anything bought in the UK has Statutory rights, it's called the Sale Of Goods Act Thats providing the retailer is ofcourse based in the UK too

Even if there is no warranty and the product is within side the 6 year limitation the retailer has to offer either Repair,replacement or maybe partial refund. Although it would be down to the end user to prove there is fault once they have owned the goods for more than 6 months and make a contribution for use etc.

No way that would work, it would also be too much of a hassle for a 3 year old PC. Or 5 if you have extended warrenty

[kmac]

Behemoth I bought a Macmini and 13 months later it just wouldn't turn on. And that's with hardly any use at all. The geniuses at the genius bar didn't know what was wrong with it but wanted to charge me £200 to fix it. I could have written to Apple to enforce my sale of goods act rights but was too much hassle in the end.

[Pob255]

Thats not entirley accurate. Anything bought in the UK has Statutory rights, it's called the Sale Of Goods Act Thats providing the retailer is ofcourse based in the UK too

Even if there is no warranty and the product is within side the 6 year limitation the retailer has to offer either Repair,replacement or maybe partial refund. Although it would be down to the end user to prove there is fault once they have owned the goods for more than 6 months and make a contribution for use etc.

And that's the problem, you'd have to take them to a small claims court and prove it, which is a lot of time, effort and cost.

Personally I'd go with the Lenovo, they recently changed the keyboard on the ThinkPad X121e (I think it's that one) and there's also an ADM version now.
Ther's also a version with a ruggedised lid, it make the latop slightly thicker overall but it make the lid more ridged and adds a soft rubbery plastic lip around it which overlaps the body when closed and gives you some drop protection.
I saw them at BETT this last month, very nice

I'm not a big fan of the macbook air, because being thin doesn't make it portable, the diagonal size and overall weight is what makes it portable, but what being super thin does make it is top heavy, by greatly reducing the size and mass of the base it make it far easier to knock over.
Granted it's nowhere near as bad as the combined tablet/laptop things (you know the ones where the screen is actually a detachable tablet) those things are really easy to knock over backward.

[TheAnimus]

I saw someone advertising the ASUS ultrabook for £650 or something, even with its apparently crappy touchpad, might be worth a look?

[Ulti]

A bit of a late bump but just wanted to update:

Let my girlfriend choose between the Acer S3, MBA and Toshiba Z830. She wanted the MBA more but the Toshiba Z830 was half the price (manufacturer reconditioned off eBay for £360) and it was only 1.1kg for a 13.3" inch and had an ethernet port, 2x USB2.0s and 1x USB 3.0. It also came with a 128GB SSD (mSATA though so not real upgradeability and the stock SSD is rather slow). She did complain that the size was a bit big but the weight was ok. I told her that with it being her only system, it would be better to have 13.3" rather than 11.6". She likes higher PPI anyway so I guess it works.

I'm surprised she didn't complain about the look of the Toshiba Z830, I personally think it is one of the uglier ultrabooks, and the build quality is actually inferior to the Acer S3. It's lighter though. I've tried out a Samsung NP900X3A and the keyboard is very nice to type on and I do like the design. It's way too expensive for what it is though IMO.

[Bluecube]

You're surprised?!? Women - unfathomable creatures.

[Ulti]

I'm very surprised she chose a product based on functionality instead of aesthetics, I didn't know women could make logical choices! I didn't even her persuade her at all too, just told her the specs of the Toshiba and the specs of the MBA and she listened and chose the Toshiba, even though pretty much everyone in the world would say the MBA looks better. Just looked at the MBA and it weighs 1.08kg, the Toshiba Z830 isn't actually far off at all! I'm really happy though to get 2GB more RAM, 64GB more storage and a jump from 11.6" to 13.3" as well as gaining an ethernet port and a USB 3.0 port plus saving £300. I hope nothing goes wrong though as the Toshiba has no warranty...

[BerZerk]

Hahaha, nice thread. Get her a MAC book air... She will love you even more...