The MacBook Air might sit atop the heap of ultraportable laptops , but Laptop Mag argue that the inflow of Ultrabooks are not just comprable , but in many ways substantially . Here areseven reasonswhy .
In introducing the latest line of MacBook Airs , Apple CEO Tim Cook took a nasty shot at Ultrabooks , the microcomputer rival to his company ’s lightweight laptop . “ Everyone is taste to copy it , ” he said of the Air . “ They regain it ’s not so easy . ”
Up until lately , Cook was indisputably right . None of the so - called first - generation Ultrabooks we reviewed between the launching of the originalASUS Zenbook UX31 in October and theSamsung Series 9we reviewed in March could defeat the Air . However , new Ivy Bridge - power Ultrabooks come in the next few months have advantages that could aid them defeat even the freshen MacBook Airs .

Here are seven way new Ultrabooks get the 2012 MacBook Air .
A few month ago , the MacBook Airs would win hand - down in a screen contest against any Ultrabook , but today their video display seem woefully out - of - appointment . The 2012 MacBook Airs maintain their resolutions of 1366 x 768 for the 11 - column inch model and 1440 x 900 for the 13 - incher while the good Ultrabooks have leaped ahead to full HD . The just - launchedASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A(pictured ) has a 1920 x 1080 CRT screen and so does its 11.6 - column inch brother , the Zenbook Prime UX21A. Do the math and you ’ll see that ’s a pixel density of 189.91 and 165.63 pixels - per - in ( PPI ) on the Zenbooks versus 135.09 and 127.68 PPI for the Airs .
Even better , the ZenBook UX31A has a super bright IPS display that measured a humongous 423 lx on our light beat as liken to 285 lx on the 201113 - inch MacBook Air . To be fair , we have n’t been capable to valuate the brightness yet on the 2012 MacBook Airs , but Apple announced no betterment in screen tone so we expect like solvent to last yr ’s role model .

ASUS is n’t alone in offer more projection screen real estate than Apple . Acer just announced its Aspire 7 Ultrabooks which also come in 1920 x 1080 resolutions at 11.6 and 13.3 - column inch sizes when they launch in the fall time frame . The Aspire 7′s silver screen also support capacitive touch input signal , something you ca n’t find on any Mac . ASUS and Samsung will also support signature on some of their upcoming Windows 8 notebooks , including theASUS Zenbook Prime UX21A With Touchand theSamsung Series 5 Ultra Touch .
At just 2.38 Pound for the 11.6 - column inch MacBook Air and 2.96 pounds for the 13 - inch version , the MacBook Air is one of the lightest notebook on the grocery , but pretend what ? It ’s not the scant in either physical body gene . At just 2.14 pounds , theGigabyte X11holds the lightweight crown for 11 - in notebooks , thanks to its all - carbon fiber consistence . The 11.6 - column inch Aspire S7 weighs about 2.2 pound itself .
In the 13 - inch size , both the upcomingToshiba Portege Z935and its predecessor , theZ835 , weigh just 2.4 pounds . According to Acer rep , the 13 - inch Acer Aspire S7 should press around 2.6 pounds , 0.36 pound less than the Air .

At just 0.68 column inch at its thickest point , the 13- and 11 - inch Airs are among the market place ’s thin notebook , but amazingly , they are not alone . The Portege Z935 is just 0.6 inch thick at its thickest point while the ZenBook UX31A tops out at a nearly - identical 0.66 inches .
With the new MacBook Air , Apple upgraded the notebook computer ’s two USB 2.0 port wine to USB 3.0 , a standard we start see on many personal computer notebook computer over a yr ago . In addition to its USB larboard , the Air has a Thunderbolt port which doubles as DisplayPort out and , on the 13 - incher , an SD card one-armed bandit . Conspicuously absent is an Ethernet port , along with the more common HDMI or VGA options .
Some Ultrabooks have an equally thin selection of ports and others , such as the Dell XPS 13 , are even lamer than the 13 - in atmosphere , because they do n’t even have an SD bill time slot . However , choose your Ultrabook wisely , and you ’ll get all the ports you take and then some .

The Toshiba Portege Z835 and Z935 have Ethernet , HDMI and VGA larboard , along with an Coyote State circuit card time slot and three USB slots . The upcomingAcer Aspire S5solves the port wine job by have a fold - out back with HDMI , Ethernet and two USB ports , while theHP Envy Spectre XT(pictured ) uses a fold - down Ethernet port .
You still need an Ethernet port , because in many locations , wired Internet is more faster and more reliable than radiocommunication . You require VGA because a lot of external monitor and projectors , even mark new one , do n’t plump for HDMI or DisplayPort . You need HDMI because most TVs and some projectors and monitor have this high - quality , digital connection . Yes , you could get an adapters to add together Ethernet or even HDMI to a Mac , but that ’s one more diminutive object for you to carry and potentially turn a loss .
The medicine playback on the last MacBook Air we essay was surprisingly good , but Apple does n’t even commercialize its audio quality as a major marketing point . Meanwhile , HP bundle the new Envy Spectre XT with Beats Audio , Dell have it off up the XPS 13 with Waves Maxx audio recording ( visualise ) and ASUS sway gamy - faithfulness Bang and Olufsen ICEPower loudspeaker system that go fantastic .

Shall we play a game on the fresh MacBook Air ? If it ’s anything really demanding , we can forget about it , because the 2012 MacBook Air only comes with Intel ’s integrated HD Graphics 4000 solvent . However , several Ultrabooks now have speedy Nvidia GT600 - series art chips useable as an option . These systems let in the 13 - inch ASUS ZenBook Prime UX32 and 14 - inch Gigabyte U2442N and Acer M5 - 481TG .
Like other Nvidia - powered notebooks , these Ultrabooks all sport the caller ’s Optimus graphics switching engineering . So when you postulate large battery life , the notebooks go into integrated mode , but when you need a graphics rise , they fire up the GeForce .
The start price for the 11 - inch MacBook Air remains stuck at $ 999 while the 13 - in MacBook Air dropped to a still - pricey $ 1,199 . While these price are passably reasonable for what you get , they ’re about double the Mary Leontyne Price of the mediocre PC notebook .

If you ’re unforced to settle for a 14 - inch Ultrabook with a hard driving instead of an SSD , you may plunk up theDell Inspiron 14zfor as little as $ 599 . The super - thin13 - column inch Portege Z935will start at $ 899 , a full $ 200 less than the comparably sized MacBook Air . you could even find a Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook for just $ 799 these daylight .
you could bribe any size MacBook Air you want , as long as it ’s either 11.6 or 13.3 inch . If you need something bigger that turns Mac OS X , you either have to settle for the massiveness of the even 15 - column inch MacBook Pro or pony up a lower limit of $ 2,199 for the 0.71 - inch , 4.46 - pound new MacBook Pro .
With Ultrabooks , you may get a lightweight 14 - in organization such as the approaching 3 - pound ThinkPad X1 Carbon or the 4 - pound , 0.8 - inch thickHP Envy Spectre 14 . you could even get a 15 - in Ultrabook such as the 3.8 - pound , 0.58 - inch Samsung Series 9 . At just $ 1,499 , that notebook is not only thinner and lighter than the new MacBook Pro , it ’s also $ 700 cheaper .

If you really want something different , a few upcoming Windows 8 Ultrabooks allow for mechanisms for turning themselves into tablets . The13.3 - inch Lenovo IdeaPad Yogaand 14 - column inch Samsung Series 5 Ultra Convertible both have screen that deflect back 360 degrees to ferment them into ticket style or bend back just a bit less to put them in tent mode . TheASUS Transformer Bookhas a screen that pops off to become a standalone Core i7 slate and the11.6 - inch MSI Slider S20has a keyboard that pops out of a compartment .
There ’s no doubtfulness that Apple ’s 2012 MacBook Air laptops provide a compelling compounding of performance and portability , but as with all things Apple , your choices are limited . If you ’re quenched with the blind , port , sizing , audio , toll and graphics performance offer by the Airs , they are likely to allow a solid user experience for days to come up . However , if you want something different , such as an HD screen , eminent - faithfulness audio , discrete nontextual matter or a bigger form factor from your portable notebook , you may want to await and see how some of the young Ivy Bridge - power Ultrabooks sprain out as they murder the food market over the weeks and months ahead .
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