SWTK Macbook Air or Asus Zenbook?

[SOLID]

I am in the market for a new laptop as im entering my masters with a 6 year old macbook that is giving up. It needs to be light, small, but run a desktop OS (mainly to run office). This lead me to the Ultra book category. I have narrowed it down to the 11 inch Macbook air with 4gig of ram and the i7 chipset or the Asus zenbook ux21e with the same specs. There is only so much I can learn from reviews and tinkering on the display models.

Zenbook:

Pros
Faster
Better cooling
Looks better imo
Comes with decent accessories
Cheaper

Cons
No back lit keyboard
Poor battery life (same for mac)
Slightly larger than the mac.

Macbook

Pros
Back lit keyboard
Easy to purchase
smaller

Cons
Crap battery life
Slower (just)
No accessories included


Do any of you own either of these devices and what are they like to live with/quirks etc?
Alternatively is there anything else that I should consider?

S.

[Nath]

Zenbook:

Cons
Windows

[SOLID]

Zenbook:

Cons
Windows

Haha I am familiar with both OS's, don't want this to become a W7 vs Lion thread.

[Captain Starfish]

too late

Asus have always felt cheap and plasticy to me. The Macbooks, on the other hand, feel pretty light BUT pretty sturdy.

[SOLID]

Asus have always felt cheap and plasticy to me. The Macbooks, on the other hand, feel pretty light BUT pretty sturdy.

I would agree in most cases, but both of these ultrabooks are aluminium with great finishes.

[Sventek]

Without trying to hijack the thread, would a MacBook Pro be a lot faster than a MacBook Air?

[SOLID]

Without trying to hijack the thread, would a MacBook Pro be a lot faster than a MacBook Air.

Much faster. Ultrabooks such as the air are a mid point between laptops and notebooks. You compromise performance and gain a smaller size and lightness with hardly any moving parts.

[Sventek]

Thanks. For the same price, I'll probably get a Pro then.

[lee]

Without trying to hijack the thread, would a MacBook Pro be a lot faster than a MacBook Air?

Probably unnoticeable for your average user, or slower if you've opted for a MBP with hard disk, instead of the SSD in the air. There are some cases however where the better processor/graphics card/more RAM in the MBP may benefit. The screen in an air is much nicer than a 13" MBP screen too.

P.S. Air over asus "we cant afford our own design team" poobook any day. And not even entering the OS argument. Everyone elses trackpads are always poo. The screens are always poo. The battery life is way exaggerated, or the "power saving" mode they implement to keep the thing alive without a cord for <x> hours is ridiculous.

[vivere]

Zenbook:

Cons
Windows

Macbook

Cons:
You become a comformist iWanker...
How things have turned around. Latest update to osx fixed 52 secutity vulnerabilities.


How about a Zenbook loaded with one of the delightful flavours of Linux? All the pros, with no cons...

[I Fancy Holidays]

[lee]

How about a Zenbook loaded with one of the delightful flavours of Linux? All the pros, with no cons...

Except having to re-compile your kernel to get the latest flash player update to work and your laptop to sleep when you close the lid. And needing to virtualise windows anyway just to get half the shit you're used to to work.

[SOLID]

How about a Zenbook loaded with one of the delightful flavours of Linux? All the pros, with no cons...

The little penguin is to impractical for study use.

[vivere]

How about one of the new Dell XPS 14z XPS 14z Laptop Details | Dell Australia ?

I've just aquired a new work laptop and ended up going for a fully loaded E6420 because I wanted a propper docking solution, reasonable portability and a better than average resolution display. SSD=amazing speed + battery life

[Cam]

Do you want a cheaply made Macbook Air knock-off, or a proper one?

I wish I could have kept my Macbook Air, but I needed a lot more in-built storage. Even counting my Macbook Pro 15, that Air was the best laptop I've owned, no question.

[sprung]

I went with the Toshiba ultrabook, but it was only available as a 13". The reason for the decision over the Asus or Acer ultrabooks is that it had a good old fashioned ethernet port. The others only had wireless. Some places I take it don't have wireless internet. No real complaints, except it was a bit expensive. The solid state drive is a bit smaller than the others but I have most things on external hard drives, so that was not an issue for me.

[SOLID]

I went with the Toshiba ultrabook, but it was only available as a 13". The reason for the decision over the Asus or Acer ultrabooks is that it had a good old fashioned ethernet port. The others only had wireless. Some places I take it don't have wireless internet. No real complaints, except it was a bit expensive. The solid state drive is a bit smaller than the others but I have most things on external hard drives, so that was not an issue for me.

Yer that's true neither have Ethernet but 13" is too big, the Asus includes an adapter from usb to Ethernet.

[Cam]

the Asus includes an adapter from usb to Ethernet.

$30 for the same adapter for the Air.

[SOLID]

$30 for the same adapter for the Air.

Yep, mac all accessories you have to pay for. Asus you get a case, Ethernet and vga adapter.

[Cam]

Asus you get a case, Ethernet and vga adapter.

Sweet deal.

Apple, you get a laptop that works.