Convince me of 2013 MBA

In short I am looking for a new laptop and was dead set on Samsung series 9 (x3c, x3e, or x3f) but battery life and haswell on MBA for same price are making me rethink the decision. So hopefully someone can convince me why, or why not, the MBA 13 is the best option for someone who only does basic computing and has never owned a Mac before (I've used OS and would have no problem adjusting).

MBA
pro: battery life, new haswell processor
con: TN panel screen, Hate the large bezel

Samsung
pro: screen (depending on model it is 900 or 1080p with matte display)
con: older ivy bridge processor

The OS choice doesn't really affect me as I will only be doing browsing, emailing, and using microsoft office products.

So for someone who has limited knowledge about the products would I be right to assume that I need to decide if I want the screen of the Samsung or the battery life of the MBA? Or are there other factors that need to be considered?

 

If you can't live with the TN panel to gain the ultraportable benefits of the Air, then it's quite unlikely you would be happy with the Air. The screen isn't bad, it's just not outstanding as the 13 Retina is.

You stare at the screen when you work, and if you can't accept it for what it is then you will forever second guess your choice. The best option for those who want the portability of the Air but place a higher premium on the visual experience is the 13 rMBPro. There isn't that much of a raw performance difference (10-15% max) between the latest Ivy CPUs and the i5/7 Haswell procs that Apple placed in the 2013 Air, so cpu performance prob shouldn't be a decision point on your list.

The rest of your decision has to do with what other software you use in your workflow and whether (I'm guessing you're coming from W7/Vista) you would be willing to make the (slight) effort in adapting to how things work in the OS X universe.

 

The quality in 2013 mba is quite ok imo. I'm struggling in the same situation. I want a new computer, but cant decide between the mbp or the mba. Paying double price, just for screen quality isnt a good call imo.

 

Uh, how do you figure double the price between those two?

 

It's a world of difference, though, not only in terms of resolution but also color reproduction. That's my main complaint with the Air's screen; everything looks a little washed out.

 

Well, the price gap is huge while performance is close according to most people. I don't really know why people complains so much about MBA screen. Try an acer computer to get to know what is a bad screen.

 

The screens are more or less the same on the lower-end computers (Acer and MBA, for example). Of course, the beyond-1080p displays are a whole different beast. And not all TN panels are necessarily bad (for example, the 95% NTSC panels are more vibrant than other TN panels, and some lower-quality IPS panels, color-wise). The TN panel on the MBA is about as good as other 11.6" or 13.3" TN panels on the market, and the rMBP's only practical improvement will be viewing angles and higher (unusable, expect for stuff like photo editing) resolution; the color quality is still "meh" at around 60-65% NTSC color gamut, same as practically any 1080p TN laptop display

There really isn't much of a performance difference between Ivy Bridge and Haswell. Haswell's really all about iGPU performance and battery life, though OEMs will likely reduce the WHr of the battery to get away with making lighter systems with Ivy Bridge -like battery life.

 

Noone said it was bad, but after living with a high ppi laptop for a few months, even 1080p 13 inch screens start to look pixelated.

 

More like 72%. It covers 60-65% of adobeRGB, which is practically meaningless for most people, and almost the entire sRGB spectrum. There are some TN panels which perform well, like the ones in the standard Pro line, but the Air is noticeably inferior. Speaking from personal experience, as I've owned all three lines of Macs.

 

Standard Pro line has about the same color quality as the rMBP. Your quality TN panels will be the 95% NTSC ones (or whatever they are in AdobeRGB) panels offered in laptops like the Thinkpad T/W and some Clevos. As for IPS, there's the obvious toppers like the Dreamcolor 2, though I doubt that the OP is looking for something like that.

True, an average user probably won't care about display quality, and full sRGB is probably enough. Though there are higher-quality panels out there.

Anyway.... to OP; if you're fine with what most other brick-and-mortar stores carry as far as laptop displays, the MBA will be good enough. Though if you don't like what "normal" laptop displays look like, then the MBA won't be that much different and you'd have to look elsewhere. rMBP 13" would be a good alternative if you want to have OSX, though it's not as priced as well as the MBA.

 

Quality screen on retina MBP is close to the one on ipad 4?

 

I went to the istore and played with the 2013 13" air. I found its brightness lacking during daylight hours. Checked again at night and it looked better. Typical Glossy/TN issues. Ended up buying a Samsung ATIV Book 9 NP900X3E-K01US 13.3-Inch Full HD IPS. That one is sold on amazon for 1500 dollars with top of the line ivy bridge i7, 2.0 ghz that turbos over 3, and one of the fastest msata 256 SSD (liteon) on the market. Best of all, a gorgeous 1080P matte screen that can be very bright for outdoor use. Saturation and contrast are very good. This is simply the best screen my eyes have ever seen (including the retina's). Machine itself is build extremely well. Very sturdy, and only 2.6 lbs. I get around 6 hours battery life with wifi, web and some you tube. It runs cool, very quiet and the trackpad is as good as the airs. Samsung has moved mountains with their track pad on the book 9. Keyboard is excellent with the perfect backlight. Believe me, the air is no match to the book 9. It has better battery life but that is it. The book 9 kills it in every other category.

You can currently pre order the new book 9 plus that has even a higher resolution then the retina with glossy/touch screen. No announcements when a higher spec 9 plus with 256ssd and 8 gb ram. First ones will have 4gb ram and 128 SSD for around 1400. But probably get 7.5-8 hours with the newer haswell inside. Hopefully they announce a book 9 plus with matte screen with FHD with haswell, but I'm not holding my breath for that. The new plus will be heavier at around 3.1 lbs. Heavier because of the touch screen and slightly bigger battery. Right now, the airs may have the edge since they came out with the haswel first. But with the book 9 plus samsung will destroy them. Apple desperately needs to have a massive update on their Mac book and air lines and well as iphones. Just about everything is falling behind Samsung IMO. And it shows in markets shares and the latest revenue reports.

 

Hi,

I've been looking at haswell laptops since the chip was announced. When the first ones were introduced I basically went through the specs and reviews of every single one and there was something wrong with nearly all of them: overheating, worse battery performance than promised, overpriced etc. I have personally never even considered an Apple laptop since I have always used Windows but one night I woke up and stepped on my laptop ruining the screen and bought the MBA (2013) 11.6" on impulse (I bought the smaller version for portability and I am a student, although the 13 inch is incredibly portable and light too). Initially I was going to wait for a better haswell ultrabook from another brand but having used this laptop for a few weeks I cannot really fault it. Having used an Acer 3820tg for the past 3 years, my minimum expectation is a light thin laptop with a decent amount of power in terms of graphics and processor speed.

I use the MBA for browsing, streaming, photoshop and web design. It has a great battery life and the integrated graphics are more than sufficient, even for games such as Starcraft 2 (unless you feel the need to max all the graphic settings). So far I haven't heard the computer make any noise, even in complete silence, nor has it ever even become warm (from heavy gaming i would expect it to become quite warm but never hot). It is also incredibly small and basically weighs nothing. The laptop also has better integrated graphics than most other haswell ultrabooks currently on the market.

I would not go so far as to say that I now love Apple products. I put a samsung 840 pro 256gb ssd pro in my old 3820tg and use it as a desktop computer and it is lightning fast. However, if you are looking for something extremely portable that still runs everything you need without pissing you off by overheating or running noisy fans I can strongly recommend the MBA (2013). It is also undeniable that the feel of the chassi and keyboard are unmatched by nearly all typical windows laptops I have used. If the screen is your biggest concern, I think once you use it you will forget about it because you will adapt to it. Also if you play with the color settings you can make it look in my opinion about twice as good as it comes out of the box. To be completely honest, in the current market, this product is actually one of the cheapest haswell laptops you can get so for once you are getting a lot of value for money compared to the usual ripoff prices that Apple are known for.

A final note, getting used to operating system takes seconds especially if you only use it for simple tasks. Most software is also nowadays compatible with OSx. However, if you cannot stand the thought of owning a Mac I don't blame you. I am still embarrased by the shiny apple at the back of mine (maybe I will put a sticker over it or something . Good luck in your buying decisions!

 

Buy one of those hard cases and stick a piece of thick cardboard between the glowing apple and the case. Problem solved

Talking about the lack of fan noise in a fanless laptop like the MBA is sort of a "duh", but personally I know of better keyboards out there in the thin + light market, particularly the Ideapad U-series of "Ultrabooks" (they have HDDs in them, though should be removable). Island keys are bad enough, but it's much worse for your fingers when they are flat. At least in my experience, flat keys, combined with the lack of decent key travel in Ultrabooks, leads to finger discomfort fairly quickly (within 2-3 hours of typing), whereas I never experience that on either my desktop keyboard (an el-cheap Logitech K120) or on either of my Thinkpads.

 

Thanks for the info everyone, it's been a very helpful read! I'm actually in the same boat, debating between the MBA and one of the new haswell ultrabooks that seem to have caught up if not surpassed apple in the ultra-portable game. Just wanted to say thanks for the discussion.

 

#14: the MBA isnt fanless.

 

One advantage of the MBA's screen is that it is 16x10 rather than 16x9 compared to all other non-Apple 13.3 inch laptops, including Samsung's NP900X series and the ATIV Books. What this means is that you will get almost an inch more of vertical screen across your display.

 

For the 900p versions, this isn't true since 16:10's 1440x900 and 16:9's 1600x900 have the same number of vertical pixels, so no increase in vertical screen real estate at all, and in fact there's a loss in horizontal screen real estate. Though comparing 16:10's 1280x800 vs 16:9's 1366x768, there's only a small improvement in vertical screen real estate.

 

However, the PPI for the MBA will be less compared a laptop with similar resolution due to the MBA
s additional vertical screen. This may be advantageous to those who suffer from eye strain due to high PPI displays.

 

Perhaps. I was just responding to the "more space" thing.

 

Personally, i would never buy a Mac, i dislike Apple and their policies.
If you can't innovate, litigate

But if a Mac suits your needs, then by all means get one. However, if you want to run Mac OS for a low price, consider getting a "Vanilla" Ivy-Bridge PC and Hackintosh it. It is not that hard and you will save hundreds of dollars.

 

I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't say this: you really shouldn't be convinced to buy anything. You should research what you want and then come up with a conclusion on your own. Being convinced to buy a product is like being tricked into buying something you are unsure about. You should look at Macs only if you want to use OS X without using sloppy drivers and a sub-par experience (i.e. a "Hackintosh"). I still think the MacBook Air generally pulls ahead when compared to Windows ultrabooks mainly due to the use of OS X, it is actually cost one of the few Apple notebooks that is cost competitive (the 13" model), it has stellar real world battery life (from what I have read, real world battery life of most Windows ultrabooks still hovers around 5-7 hours), its keyboard and trackpad combination are often imitated but never topped, and the MBA's design has been cloned to death but still remains solid and undeniably Apple. Windows ultrabooks do offer other features in terms of ports, touchscreens (if that's your thing with a notebook, I could care less), higher resolution displays, etc. The MBA and other offerings both have their different pros and cons, it's a matter of weighing each option to determine what is best for you. I think the 13" MBA is a great option but I know there are some pretty good Windows offerings as well.

/complete_topic_derailment_
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why anti-Apple people often come into the Apple threads to talk about their lack of support for the company. Sure, it is nice to get a perspective from the other side but I haven't really come across Mac users going into HP, Lenovo, or Dell forums blasting those companies for their practices and reliance on a bloated OS to try to get people to move over to Macs. Why is it generally OK for Windows users to come in these forums, generally add nothing, and leave? It's comments like "If you can't innovate, litigate" that tick me off especially when Apple has given the tech industry many, many innovations. Windows Phone and Android would not be where they are today if it wasn't for Apple and their push to make a regulated App Store. Not only that but MacBooks have long been cloned by companies such as HP and Dell. Sure, that's not a sign of innovation at all. Why aren't Dell and HP being blasted for using designs that are obviously modeled after Apple's MacBook line? Apple is often implementing features before the rest of the industry. It's fine if you don't like Apple. However, maybe you should stay out of the Apple forums and let it's users communicate happily. Why else are you here in a set of forums dedicated to a company that you hate?
/end_derailment_sorry

 

The Apple/OSX base here on NBR isn't all that strong, from what I've seen, but on other forums you can see Apple people doing the same that you complain about here with the anti-Apple people. Until there's some sort of lock or something, people are free to come and go, though can be ignored if they add no valuable contribution to a forum (Apple or non-Apple).

 

Oy Vey, this is exactly one of the reasons I stopped coming here. It's become Windows-centric and trying to switch people off from buying a Mac when they didn't ask to be. Somebody can't even come to the Mac forum and ask about buying a Mac without someone smashing on Apple, talking crap and making inane comments. Just answer the question. If Kornchild2002 wasn't around this would be no Mac forum at all.

 

I never visit those other threads. That's my main point. People should leave others alone and not try to make them switch from one platform to another when they are in a section of the forums dedicated to one specific thing. That's like me visiting a set of Christian forums and telling people how awesome Satan is. I'm OK with it if they actually offer a viewpoint but many just spout the typical anti-Apple rhetoric that we have all seen a countless number of times. Apple is the devil! They have never, ever, ever, ever innovated anything! They are overpriced, let me convince you why you need a $2500 Alianware computer instead! Blah, blah, blah. I just notice it here because I don't visit forums dedicated to other companies/platforms and try to switch people.

 

I think you hit it dead on Korn. But one kind of random question. You mentioned choosing the MBA is rather dependent on wanting to use OSX, but would you also say that it's quite competitive in terms of bang for the buck? Especially since I won't be running anything overly resource intensive with an ultrabook, this combo of haswell/battery/build quality seems better than any windows ultrabook i've seen for ~$1000

 

I do think the 13" MBA is priced competitively when looking at other ultrabooks. As I said, Windows ultrabooks and the MBA both have their pros and cons. You will likely be getting a higher resolution, touch panel with a Windows Ultrabook for the $1000-$1300 range while the 13" MBA, in my opinion, is going to offer a better touchpad, a better keyboard, longer battery life, and better build quality while each option will likely have very, very similar hardware (CPU, amount of RAM, SSD capacity, use of only Intel HD graphics, etc.). I think Windows ultrabooks have come a long way in the last few years but I would still go with the 13" MBA as I would prefer to have its positive features (along with OS X) over a gimmicky touchscreen (which I would never use) and Windows 8 (which I'm definitely not a fan of outside of the tablet world).

 

This is far from the first time you've said this, yet here you are...again.

Then why did you post in here?

 

In other words, they're a corporation intent on monopolizing the market and maximizing profit for their shareholders. Sort of like every other corporation on the planet.

 

I am a Mac fan for non-gaming machines. Stop here if you think this discredits my opinion, read on if you want my thoughts to your original question. I use Windows PC for gaming (the laptop in sig), and Macs for the basic stuff (internet, emails, photograph, etc).

I use the 2010 Macbook Air. I have both the 11 and 13 inch models. I recently recommend the 2013 MacBook Air to someone that needed a computer for similar tasks as you. In my opinion, what you lose in the screen resolution (from the MBP Retina, or other PCs with better screens), is made up for in cost with the standards of flash storage, strong build quality, stellar battery life, and quick boots. Can you get all of these things on a PC? Of course - the debate here is often a fierce and angered one as some anti-mac people simply look the hardware costs and consider it a rip off when similar PC specs can net you something cheaper. No two ways about it, PC deals you can find cheaper. But for your needs, I think the Macbook Air would serve you well. To keep the cost down, wait for the 13 inch to hit the refurb store (if it hasn't already). Same warranty and specs, just not the pretty boxes. Personally I think the MBA or 13 MBP retina are two of the best consumer machines out there - more expensive yes, but thinking of it as investment for a few years I find it worth it. My experiences with both have been positive. Hope that helps.

 

Other factors that need to be considered is the resale value of the MBA. You can use it for 2 years and sell it for 75% of what you paid for it. Not a bad return if you ask me.