Laptop prices falling hard
Today’s MacBook price cuts were both welcome and not unique in the current laptop market. Ultraportables and desktop replacements alike have been suffering from netbooks and Intel CULV powered thin ‘n lights pulling down the whole sector.
It’s pretty cool that you can finally get a decently powered 3-4lb laptop with a 13 inch screen for well under $1,000; MSI’s X340 and Acer’s Timeline are good examples. Both are HD video capable and provide enough power for day-to-day computing.
These machines pull down the premium end of the ultraportable market like the Dell Adamo and MacBook Air, which don’t really offer much more hardware than the MSI or Acer. In fact the Dell is probably slower than both. So now we have a $1,499-$1,799 MacBook Air, which is great news for consumers and effectively sets a glass ceiling for ultraportable prices.
At the heavier end of the market 17 inch laptops are under strain from all-in-ones like the Asus EEE Top which are semi-mobile and keenly priced. I found a new Toshiba dual-core T3400 17 inch laptop on Amazon this evening for $529. This thing was fully loaded, you really wouldn’t need much more for a day-to-day desktop replacement…and of course you can install Windows 7 RC and get almost a year of usage before you need to buy a license.
Neil Berman
Update to ‘MSI X340: Now priced-out by the MacBook Air?’ Acer throws an $899 curve ball
Wow this bout just got a whole lot more interesting. After initially pricing the X340 at $1,099 MSI are now listing it at $899…and several mainstream e-tailers are taking orders for $799. That kind of pricing makes the whole proposition turn on its head. Even as a refurb, the MacBook Air Rev A looks too expensive in this company.
On the downside for the X340, initial reviews have been mixed. Praise for its battery life and video performance have been tempered by concerns about chassis quality and a poor keyboard.
There is another curve ball mixing up the X340’s home run plans in the form of Acer’s recently released 13″ AS3935-6504. At 1.3lbs heavier than the X340, it offers a full power P7350 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB RAM, DVD-RW and the same Intel GMA4500MHD 1080-capable GPU. And the Acer looks and feels great.
At 2.9lbs and $799 the X340 would be my choice if running Windows 7 RC, but those needing more power or running the out-of-the-box Vista Home Premium I’d have to recommend the Acer for the greater horsepower. Price/performance-wise the MacBook Air needs to do more to move out third place in this contest. Especially as you could swap out the hard drives in the MSI and Acer with latest gen SSDs and still save megabucks compared to the MBAir.
Neil Berman
MSI X340: Now priced-out by the MacBook Air?
I was excited to talk to MSI in January about their upcoming X320 and X340. The ultra-light 13″ laptops closely resembled the MacBook Air with the bonus of offering a removable battery and better connectivity.
It seems the $700-1,000 price target is hopefully looking accurate for when the X340 starts shipping. The HDMI equipped X340 briefly appeared on MSI’s website recently at $1,099. The lower powered X320 is likely to be in the $700-800 range.
In January this pricing seemed sensible…until MacBook Airs started appearing for $999. This week MacMall and Apple were both listing Airs starting at $999, although these may be refurbs. Given that the Air has a way faster CPU than the X340, this looks like MSI is going to have a difficult job convincing buyers to choose their laptop over the Air.
The only sore points for the Air continue to be the weak connectivity and low capacity battery, which is outperformed by many similar weight netbooks for runtime.
On the plus side $999 now buys a super-svelte 3lb 1.6ghz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air, which a year ago cost almost twice as much and is capable of running OSX and Windows. Nice.
Neil Berman
Apple fortifies home offerings whilst competitors journey to the cloud
Apple’s keynote at Macworld 2009 this morning was surprising. After rumors suggesting a possible iPhone Nano and much needed new iMacs, we were instead given an in-depth look into feature updates on largely non-web-service software and an updated Macbook whose battery design sounds as problematic for environment as its servicing does for remotely located owners.
On a positive note it’s great to hear that iTunes is going DRM-free and that the new 17″ Macbook Pro will be offered without a glossy screen, albeit for an extra $50. The celebrity music lessons on GarageBand also sound cute.
For me there were two worrying trends in this keynote:
1. Apple continues to concentrate on non-web-service productivity software when Microsoft, Google and the IT industry as a whole continues to press on towards online web services such as Microsoft Office Web and Google Docs. Apple is missing out on extending its application reach to Windows users by doing this. iWork.com seems to be solely an online document sharing facility for local iWork users.
2. Apple continues to concentrate on extremely powerful computers in relation to the market as a whole; even its base Macbooks are far more powerful than mid-range Vista laptops (which are cheaper). This makes me concerned that when (the apparently very fast) Windows 7 gets released the value differential between Windows and Apple laptops will widen further, as Windows 7 will run well on cheap low power computers.
Enhancements like geotagging in iPhoto are nice for the small user-base they serve, but they don’t really extend Apple’s reach into Windows homes compared to say Picasa which is on offer for both Mac and Windows (as well as Linux) platforms. I can’t help feeling that Apple is moving further towards high power local computing which might not be recession-proof, whilst the market as a whole is gravitating towards a more inclusive low power cloud model which also happens to be more recession-friendly.
Neil Berman
Speaking Of Glossy Screens…
Here’s one that got it right:
This, for all you daywalkers, is a MSI Wind in full-on sunlight. And here is how it compares with a glossy-screened Acer Aspire One (which is switched on, honestly):
…and with some general non-sunny window reflections:
…and compared directly to the Wind below with non-sunny reflections. It’s worth noting that the Aspire One actually has a really nice LED backlit screen, it’s just that the Wind has the best screen I’ve ever seen on a notebook.
The Wind works if you’re a daywalker – and it’s also a little cheaper than one particular newly-announced-glossy-screened laptop. Ye pays yer money…
Neil Berman
Aspire One still sick
…after three recoveries and two support calls, my One is definitely screwed. Anytime I turn on the wifi it goes nuts, nukes the screen and crawls into a corner until you force it to power off.
It’s going back to Acer on Monday, my fourth laptop to have problems in the last couple of years. Here’s the honor role in ascending order of annoyance:
4. eMachines AMD Sempron WinXP: f, g, h and j keys failed unless pressed really hard, went back for a new mobo, now happy.
3. Everex Intel Core Duo Vista: Resume failed sporadiacally, got annoying and went back for a new mobo, now happy.
2. Apple Macbook Intel Core 2 Duo OSX Tiger: Fails to switch on if warm, need to wait for it to cool down (known in Mac support circles as ‘The Oven‘). Basically I can only switch it on once per day. Crashes if you plug a USB device into the ‘wrong’ USB port (discovered in a M-Audio support call after getting multiple OSX crashes). Never sent it back cos I was lazy and now out of warranty.
1. Acer Aspire One…sick and about to be medicated.
Neil Berman
www.neilberman.com
MacBook Air & iPod Touch Going Cheap
Meanwhile I spotted the iPod Touch 16GB with current software going refurbished on Amazon’s Marketplace for $299. That’s $50 off Apple’s own refurbished price.
If you’ve been wanting to join the Apple faithful it seems like a good time to sign up!
MacBook Air media honeymoon turns into divorce
Battery, RAM and hard drive all sealed inside; battery replacement echoes iPod fiasco
Media coverage of the MacBook Air turned sour today as disappointing details emerged about the new laptop. Stretching from technology blogs Engadget and Gizmodo as far as Germany’s mainstream online publication Der Spiegel, articles and blog comments berated Apple’s design decision to seal in key components of the MacBook Air. Even unofficial Apple blogs were littered with ugly remarks.
The battery option for the Osborne 1 (above) could be fitted by the owner. That was 1981.
The battery, RAM and hard drive in the Air are all inaccessible to the owner, which means that when you run out of power away from home you need to stop and find a plug. There’s no way of carrying a spare battery, so owners will need to plan their journeys carefully and possibly carry the power adaptor. We will have to wait to see how realistic Apple’s 5 hour battery life claim is in real usage. My MacBook’s battery is rated at up to 6 hours, but in practise I get around 3.5 hours.
One thing’s for sure, there will be all sorts of third party add-ons to provide portable power to the Air…which will kind of defeat the purpose in the first place.
My $599 3.8 pound unltraportable (above) came with two batteries as standard, to allow me to keep on being ultraportable. That’s cool.
The Air ships with 2 GB of RAM, which is already at a decent amount but you can’t add more yourself once you get it home. The hard drive is also out of bounds for owners.
So to swap out the battery if it starts losing charge, you will need to get the Air to Apple. A bit like the old days with the iPod fiasco. If you live around the corner from an Apple store then this will just be an inconvenience. If you need to send it in by courier because you’re far from an Apple emporium, then you could be without your laptop for a while.
Let’s not even get into the data protection issues of having to hand a laptop over to a third party.
I said yesterday that the MacBook Air was stunning, but more evolution than revolution. Today it just seems like a stunning toy for people who limit their travels to the local coffee shop.
Hands-on review to come…
Neil Berman
theONbutton
Turning the world on, one gadget at a time.
