Recommend me a laptop that has better or same spec as Macbook Air and is less priced

OP

Original post by Iqbal007

Looking exactly at 13" laptops, the prices are the same as the air and higher. 15" area is where it can be out done on specs and price a little.. Though compromise is size, weight and OS.

Yeah I know that's weird D:
I only looked at Sony website (patriotism overpowered) and 14'/15' are cheaper than Macbook Air but 13' are really expensive O.o I don't understand... I don't want anything bigger than 13' because it's too heavy and 11' is too small to play a game :frown:

Reply 3

username612415

Contrary to Apple's usual reputation, the MavBook Air line are very reasonably priced compared to other comparable ultrabooks as mentioned above, especially after the recent price cut and applying student discount. You're looking for same spec, same size and cheaper, but you're only going to get two of the three whatever you get.

Original post by C0balt

I don't understand...

It's more expensive to miniaturise and produce smaller laptops :yep:

I don't want anything bigger than 13' because it's too heavy and 11' is too small to play a game :frown:

What games are we talking? Ultraportables are not the way to go if you want to play anything demanding.

Reply 4

OP

oh the price actually went down by a lot since I bought my mid 2011 MBA :eek:

well I play League of Legends casually :smile:

also Spiral Knights both F2P games

Reply 5

username612415

Original post by C0balt

oh the price actually went down by a lot since I bought my mid 2011 MBA :eek:

well I play League of Legends casually :smile:

also Spiral Knights both F2P games

As long as you aren't expecting to crank the details up too high, the MBA will do the job :yy:

Reply 6

OP

well I run LoL at mid quality (some at high, some at low so averaged out to mid) with my current 2011 mid machine and it's perfectly fine unless everyone uses ability at the same time. 20FPS isn't good but playable so yeah

Reply 7

username612415

Original post by C0balt

well I run LoL at mid quality (some at high, some at low so averaged out to mid) with my current 2011 mid machine and it's perfectly fine unless everyone uses ability at the same time. 20FPS isn't good but playable so yeah

Well you'll definitely get higher frame rates than that and Intel's integrated graphics have improved a lot in the last couple of years, so hopefully the performance jump will be pretty significant compared to what you're used to.

Reply 8

OP

cool
and I will get that cheaper than when I bought my current MBA

guess I won't need Macbook pro though Retina display is very attracting...it would be waste of spec if I only wrote essays, surfed internet and played League casually

Reply 9

Original post by C0balt

cool
and I will get that cheaper than when I bought my current MBA

guess I won't need Macbook pro though Retina display is very attracting...it would be waste of spec if I only wrote essays, surfed internet and played League casually

For the vast majority of purposes retina is just a marketing ploy anyway :tongue:

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Jammy Duel

For the vast majority of purposes retina is just a marketing ploy anyway :tongue:

if i don't discover a windows laptop that satisfies my requirement I shall buy new MBA 13' and forget about Retina .... :s-smilie:

Reply 11

Yeah Apples aren't really overpriced anymore (either that or Windows laptops are overpriced now, too). I got a MBP 13" and love it.

9 hours battery life (11 on the MBA I believe), and crazy light.

Retina is definitely a marketing ploy, but I still think it's a bad idea to not get retina now, if they are similarly priced (and they are). When the time comes to sell it, retina will fetch you a lot more £ - assuming you sell your laptops.

And yeah integrated graphics now is orders of magnitude faster than they were 3-4 years ago.

Reply 12

And wow, I just went on the Apple UK site for the first time (I am Canadian) and holy @#$@#% laptops are overpriced in the UK!

The MBP I got is $1,499 here (~£889), and £1249 on Apple UK. Crazy stuff.

EDIT: Actually, I forgot about VAT. It's £1040 before VAT (North American prices are always before tax). I guess that's not TOO bad.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 13

Original post by ihavemooedtoday

And wow, I just went on the Apple UK site for the first time (I am Canadian) and holy @#$@#% laptops are overpriced in the UK!

The MBP I got is $1,499 here (~£889), and £1249 on Apple UK. Crazy stuff.

EDIT: Actually, I forgot about VAT. It's £1040 before VAT (North American prices are always before tax). I guess that's not TOO bad.

You also have to consider that minimum and average wages are different (making the assumption the Canadian figures are similar to the US ones). The UK minimum wage is about double that of the USA for example.

Reply 14

Original post by Jammy Duel

You also have to consider that minimum and average wages are different (making the assumption the Canadian figures are similar to the US ones). The UK minimum wage is about double that of the USA for example.

That's true. Not as much as double, though. In the US it's set by the states, and it's $8 (£4.75) in California for example (most states are $7-$9). Looks like it's £6.31 in the UK right now. That seems to be proportional to the average price of goods.

Beyond minimum wages, it would really vary by profession. For example for competent engineers with 2 years work experience, it's reasonably easy to get $110,000 (£65K) in the US, but almost impossible to get that in the UK (average £40,000-50,000).

Reply 15

Original post by ihavemooedtoday

That's true. Not as much as double, though. In the US it's set by the states, and it's $8 (£4.75) in California for example (most states are $7-$9). Looks like it's £6.31 in the UK right now. That seems to be proportional to the average price of goods.

Beyond minimum wages, it would really vary by profession. For example for competent engineers with 2 years work experience, it's reasonably easy to get $110,000 (£65K) in the US, but almost impossible to get that in the UK (average £40,000-50,000).

I remembered the federal rate incorrectly. In terms of minimum and average I think prices are fairly similar for RRPs, however there are some things that could be legitimately cheaper to get shipped from NA.
And what sort of engineer, because I'm fairly confident that the demand is higher in NA compared to the UK.

Reply 16

Original post by Jammy Duel

I remembered the federal rate incorrectly. In terms of minimum and average I think prices are fairly similar for RRPs, however there are some things that could be legitimately cheaper to get shipped from NA.
And what sort of engineer, because I'm fairly confident that the demand is higher in NA compared to the UK.

Yeah it may mostly just be the VAT. 20% is more than twice the average sales tax in the US.

Electrical and computer engineers. It's probably true that demand is higher in the states, since all the big engineering companies are there.

Reply 17

Original post by ihavemooedtoday

Yeah it may mostly just be the VAT. 20% is more than twice the average sales tax in the US.

Electrical and computer engineers. It's probably true that demand is higher in the states, since all the big engineering companies are there.

The UK isn't totally devoid of them though :tongue:

We just aren't insane enough to put 30% of our budget into the military :biggrin:

Financial services FTW!
Anyway, this has gone totally off topic.

Reply 18

Original post by Jammy Duel

The UK isn't totally devoid of them though :tongue:

We just aren't insane enough to put 30% of our budget into the military :biggrin:

Financial services FTW!
Anyway, this has gone totally off topic.

Ha! Makes you wonder what they use all that 20% VAT for :P.

Canada is ~5-15% depending on province. We also have public health care, free education up to university, heavily subsidized university education, and pretty good welfare programs.

But then Canada has almost 0 military, which is actually pretty smart - why build a military when the US is right next door, and there is no way the US would let anyone take over Canada?

And yes, this is very far off topic :biggrin:

Reply 19

OP