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It's no surprise that Apple has just this week announced some updates to improve the popular MacBook Air computers. They’re great machines in a lot of ways; thin, light, solidly built and, like many Apple products, generally the sort of object that people take notice of. What you might not realize is that Apple isn’t the only game in town with that sort of offering. The fact is that there are a lot of other options available comparable to the MacBook Air lineup. Lets take a look at some.
When you’re shopping for alternatives you’ll want to zero in specifically on Ultrabooks. Thats a class of Intel based notebook designed more or less to compete with the MacBook Air products in most facets. These units feature Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge CPUs, and are regulated to 18mm for units with 13.3” screens. They’ve got to have at least five hours of battery life and resume from hibernation in under seven seconds. Add all of this up and you’ve got a machine that can definitely go toe to toe with any MacBook Air.
There are a lot of great models within that Ultrabook category to choose from. the HP Envy Spectre is a pretty solid option for example. While the 13” MacBook Air starts at $1,229.00 for the 128GB model, the Envy Spectre is about the same price at $1,349.99. All things considered, aside from the Apple logo on the lid, it's more of less identical in specs and performance to the comparable MacBook Air.
Of notable difference is that the extra $100 gets you 4 speaker Beats Audio onboard and slightly better battery life. for more or less the same price, you get more or less the same computer just with one being a Mac and one being a PC (leaving aside the semantics that, yes, a Mac is technically a PC) and this doesn’t stop with the HP Envy Specre either.
The Samsung Series 9 13.3” Ultrabook is another hot number. Similarly priced to the comparable Macbook Air model, it's another drool-worthy model worth your consideration. It's one of the nicest machines I’ve ever used. Toshiba, Asus, and Acer have comparable offerings in store also. All of these machines are very similar to each other and to the coveted MacBook Air, with features, performance, and even price. The differences are in the details here and there and you’ll want to take a close look when you make your choice. But if you’ve been eyeing those new MacBook airs just remember; Apple isn’t the only game in town. They've got some stiff competition.
The latest MacBook Air has more power, more storage, and more features packed into the same impossibly-slim design. This 13-inch, wafer-thin laptop is home to a fast and efficient Core i5 processor, secure and fast flash storage, a FaceTime camera, and ultra-fast Thunderbolt connectivity. Finally, it comes equipped with the OS X Lion operating system which includes the iLife software suite.
With a multi-glass surface design and a whole lot of power behind it, the HP ENVY 14-3090 was born to perform. It comes equipped with 2nd generation Intel Core i5-2467M Processor, 4GB system memory and 128GB solid state drive, for plenty of power, storage and speed. Other features include a high res 14-inch HD LED display, HDMI and USB 3.0 connectivity, and a super-long battery life.
The Toshiba Satellite Z830-00L Ultrabook truly pushes the envelope by combining Intel Core i7 processing with a fast and efficient solid state hard drive. It's also home to other great next-generation technology like USB 3.0 for head-spinning file transfer speeds, and HDMI connectivity. And, with a super thin-and-light design, this 13.3-inch machine easily goes anywhere.
