Fast, Light, and Delicate. The LCD's have nothing in front of them to protect from any kind of impact, and the LCD itself is extremely delicate. Seen many screens broken on these things. Just keep that in mind if you decide to get one, the replacement display assembly is nearly the listed price here.

afwalton wrote:Name the virus.

Wow, still that pop quiz old argument! Its all about market share... Look at all the virus and trojans appearing for the i-phone.

Apple computers, not more secure, just not worth the effort.

But, then again... If the Euro hackers truly understood the phrase "not for the apple crowd," they could infect undetected rather easily.

ohwolfman wrote:FALSE.

The ad states that there is a 1 year Apply Warranty which is standard on this type of machine. You can extend that warranty with Square Deal for only $30.

Thanks for the info. The square trade extended warranty is $99 for three years.

I had the 4/128 Gig model of this and it was dog slow when trying to use an external 1080P monitor with it.

The Intel HD3000 graphics are average at best.

the new version of the macbook air is a substantial improvement on this model- i can play diablo 3 smoothly on it. For whoever said these are fragile I disagree, they are solid and light machines, great for travel and will handle all basic functions for your average user easily.

Bought this mac two months ago, and I absolutely love it. I don't really buy myself expensive things, but I have no regrets purchasing this. In fact I'm tempted to buy another one for this price. I have no problems doing any of my daily tasks, it's super fast and reliable.

The end of your third sentence needs correction - it shoud read great marketing not "great products"

susan05401 wrote:Take it from a business major still wet behind the ears. Naysayers like you were proven wrong long ago. Apple became the most valuable company in the world for one reason, great products. This will be a sell out, happily most people are smarter than obsolescent IT folks like you.

PS. None of hundreds of Mac users I know have ever gotten a virus. Perhaps I can offer you a nice juicy easter egg to suck upon?

Does this one have an sd slot for a card?

thailar wrote:I'm sorry but there is too much hate for macs and I'm tired of everyone thinking that because they are a techie and they don't like them that they are a terrible buy. Macs are VERY good computers and they are not for everyone. This specific mac is an incredibly thin ultrabook and it is aimed only at people who really want or need the portability. Currently the macbook air is the best value you can buy IN THIS category. And to the guy that said macs get viruses: Come on, everyone knows it is technically possible but I have never ever experienced one nor has anyone I know. On the flip side, just about everyone I know, including myself, have gotten way too many viruses on PC. Both Macs and Pc's are amazing computers. If you happen to be looking for a computer as portable and well built as the macbook air for a similar price you will be hard pressed. Please stop the computer wars.

You're right, they're not for everyone.

What a Mac can do best, Windows can do, but Mac excels at it. Media production is the big one and while there are many fine programs that do what I need them to on Windows, the Mac-only ones do it all much better.

Now, that's not to say I'm a Mac-lover, far from it. I just have a healthy respect for the machine. They tend to be my work computers (and do the job very well) while Windows systems are my everything-else computers.

Now, the virus issue is something else. Macs are very VERY easy to hack and make viruses for, but there just hasn't been a large enough user base. You don't see hundreds of Macs in an office, you see Windows. If a Mac gets a virus, the system itself is practically quarantined compared to most Windows. It's like releasing smallpox on a remote desert island with one or two inhabitants vs. doing it at an airport. Which will infect more people and, as a terrorist, which would you rather do?

my coworker thinking of buying a macbook air but i'm not going to tell her about this deal! why?
apple is evil! i refuse to buy or recommend people to buy anything with apple on it!
did you hear? apple trying to ban their competitor (samsung) products!
how about spending those million$ to make a better product instead of giving to lawyers?

Can't you get this computer cheaper through apple.com?

mcalpint wrote:Can't you get this computer cheaper through apple.com?

New? No.

rkwalton wrote:New? No.

I've purchased a number of refurb'ed items from Apple.com and all have been flawless.

mcalpint wrote:I've purchased a number of refurb'ed items from Apple.com and all have been flawless.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC968LL/A

Shinespark wrote:You're arguing semantics to perpetuate a myth of invulnerability. Common (in fact, the majority) parlance has blurred the distinction. Computer virus by said narrower definition are relatively uncommon in this day and age regardless of platform-- though OSX (or Unix, Plan 9, BSD and others) are less susceptible to damaging software for multiple reasons when compared to Windows. The smug "I've gotten no virus ever" attitude can just as easily be applied to a $250 computer running Crunchbang or a properly protected Windows machine.

Really? Last virus I got was in 94, when I wasn't too computer literate. Since then, untouched by anybody or anything.

netnerd wrote:my coworker thinking of buying a macbook air but i'm not going to tell her about this deal! why?
apple is evil! i refuse to buy or recommend people to buy anything with apple on it!
did you hear? apple trying to ban their competitor (samsung) products!

Same here. Would never buy an Apple product.
how about spending those million$ to make a better product instead of giving to lawyers?

What is funny (ironic?) is that Apple sources a lot of their internal components from or they are made by Samsung or Samsung controlled companies

netnerd wrote:my coworker thinking of buying a macbook air but i'm not going to tell her about this deal! why?
apple is evil! i refuse to buy or recommend people to buy anything with apple on it!
did you hear? apple trying to ban their competitor (samsung) products!
how about spending those million$ to make a better product instead of giving to lawyers?

viandroto wrote:Not that I've ever been in support of Apple, but in lieu of their recent law suit extravaganzas against Samsung, I would ultimately never buy an Apple product.

See, now. In lieu of Samsung's recent proved copying of Apple's software, I would ultimately never buy a Samsung product. When does Samsung have to follow your rules about good corporate behavior?

noshirt wrote:Actually yes, and I expected to be impressed. Sadly, the opposite was the case. I thought the Retina display did more to increased the price than the quality of the product. I think it's totally unnecessary, almost overkill.

Actually, if you spec up the MBP to the closest you can get with the MBPretina, you will find the standard MBP model is more expensive. Which makes sense, it has more in it, like an optical drive. The MBPr simply starts at a higher price point.

essay2u wrote:Come on people enough already. I have a Mac. I like my Mac. And yes, when the specs are right I'll buy another Mac.

I just don't understand the people that have to defend their pcs. Purchases are also personal choices. If you don't like macs, here's a free tip: don't buy one. Sheesh. Get a life already.

Thinking about wearing a blue dress tomorrow. Anyone want to weigh in on my choice of color?

Depends. What color are your eyes?

I've found (anecdote alert) that most of the people that completely rail on Apple products are IT guys that get paid to fix Windows computers. Apple hurts their business, either because they don't want to learn how to fix them or the more obvious: They don't need to be fixed as much.

redrotors wrote:The end of your third sentence needs correction - it shoud read great marketing not "great products"

You said it accurately. Still wet behind the ears.

wayne1932 wrote:I wouldn't take one of these if were FREE.

Good. You can send it to me. I'll sell it for $600. I'll be $600 richer and you can win your petty game in your head about Windows being better.

Everybody wins!!

nhk8e wrote:Does this one have an sd slot for a card?

cliffgun1 wrote:Yes.

Sorry, no. The 11" models do not have the slot, only 13" models.

You can see this in woot!'s pics.

mcalpint wrote:I've purchased a number of refurb'ed items from Apple.com and all have been flawless.

You can get a refurbed model. I didn't say you couldn't. You're also not the first to bring that up, but you can't get a new one for this price. Plus, I just checked on the Apple site. Based on my zip code, I'd get hit with tax so I'd end up paying more for a refurb than for a new one.

I own the version prior to this (late 2010, this appears to be mid 2011)

Mine, which I think is fairly inferior to this, handles an external display and runs my workstation at work. I do work on my computer all day at work, handing RDP connections and about 10-15 tabs open in Chrome, streaming music, all day.

When at home, I do watch TV shows on the internet on my computer. It works fine enough for that, although it is about the max of what it can handle.

The battery life on mine (again, which is 1 gen older) is better than the $300 netbooks that were out at the time (I had one prior to owning this), but not at the same legendary level of the ipad. You will probably carry the charger with you. However, the standby power claim, as well as the quick start claim, are absolutely true.

The display is amazing, well above average in any laptop. The cost of this device compared to other computers comes entirely from the quality of the display (it gets very bright), the price of the SSD, and the quality of the design of the machine. It is solid metal, not at all flimsy, and if you've never used a mac touchpad, you'll love it.

Bottom line: lots of PC users who really don't know anything about macs blow this thing up for price vs tech specs, but at this price it is worth what you pay for. Sure, the processor+video card+ram is way underpowered and you can find better for much cheaper anywhere, but there is more to a computer than the guts. That's what you get in a mac.

If you're thinking about using a virtualizing program to run Windows 7 or something like that, stay away from this. It doesn't have the stuff to do anything like that.

Would love to get this, but RAM kills it for me. My son with autism uses ipad and wireless keyboard at school. This would be even better for him (for word processing). I played around with one for awhile. Not sure I could get used to the tiny size but perfect for a kid. We used a few different netbooks for him but they were all horrible (way too long to power on, and get word loaded). In this respect, mac wins.

civictyper30 wrote:I own both products. Take it from me, you'll be disappointed on how everything works on the XPS. I would rather have the MBA with windows than the XPS. For starters the track pad isn't as responsive, screen brightness is meh on full, color gamut isn't as good. And the list can go on and on...

How's the battery life performance on the Air on bootcamp Windows versus the XPS 13?

Nice system.. small drive, minimum memory.. obviously not a giant killer.. but good for students and those who need an ultra portable.. more expensive than others in its class.. but osx and superior build quality make it a compelling buy.
I recently bought the MacBook pro which is much more robust and upgradeable... but for some.. this is a great buy..

fuzi719 wrote:Oooo! Overpriced trinket that will surely impress all the other fashionistas at Starbucks!

Too bad Apple products have such a poor reliability rating. Several friends who have these things spend lots of time at the Apple store getting them repaired (or replaced). Yet, like a cult, the friends swear they'll never buy anything else. The Kool-Aid is strong.

I've been a PC and Mac user since 1992, have had zero hardware failures on the Macs I've owned. My stack of dead Windows laptops from family and friends is impressive to say the least.

Not a Mac bigot here, just my personal experience. Both are well suited to certain tasks, and I'm addicted to iMovie in the same way I couldn't live without MS Office on a vanilla PC.

rom wrote:I'm thinking of getting one but would run windows 7 or even 8 on it. would this work well? or would I be better off with dell's xps 13 with 128gb ssd?

Windows alone will eat up half the SSD - I have 64GB SSDs as boot drives on a couple PCs; once you consider formatted space, windows install, page file, a web browser or two installed, maybe openoffice/MS Office, you'll have 20GB free.

And remember, it's best not to fill an SSD as then the wear-leveling can't work.

Get a bigger SSD if you want Windows. And more RAM.

ThunderThighs wrote:Light blue or dark?

dark blue with some flowers too

sigipickl wrote:Until Apple starts selling OS X for OEM or non-Apple hardware, get over the price, folks. It's Apple. It's going to cost a lot.

With that said, I just bought the current gen 11.9" MBA with 4gb and 128gb HD for testing work stuff. It's pretty cool- great keyboard for the size, and the multi-gesture touchpad is really growing on me. I'm not at all impressed with the battery life though. 3 hours is about the best I have seen.

People keep saying "Oh I have this (with double the RAM and SSD) and it's great" -- folks, a computer with 4GB of RAM isn't in the same class as a computer with 2GB of RAM in terms of what it can run. And (referencing my earlier post), going from a 64GB SSD to a 128GB would give you roughly 78-80GB free formatted space as opposed to 20GB - a world of difference!

I almost bought this immediately but then reading the wet blankets in the comments squelched my enthusiasm.

I currently have an old heavy laptop for work. It's fine as long as I'm not in a hurry. When attending a meeting, I spend a third of the meeting booting up my laptop and waiting until I can start up the web browser and/or email and/or Evernote.

A Macbook Air would be instant on, lightweight, and last longer for lightweight tasks than my old laptop.

Personally, I see the MBA as an iPad with integrated keyboard and more functionality than an iPad.

I would buy it anyway except I can't find the Woot return policy. I'm guessing that means that all sales are final.

While I often drool over Apple cases/form-factors, I have yet to find one that's actually a decent deal for what you get, spec-wise.

It's hard to imagine a market for this particular box:

If you want portability, you should either buy a better model (more RAM/SSD) if you have the money or a Tegra3/iPad/MS Surface if you don't (or a C-60 APU powered netbook).

If you want an Apple, get a MB Pro (or a Mini if you don't need a laptop).

If you just want cool, get an iPad, it's cheaper for cool.

The only possible market for this particular computer would be: this is the MAX you can spend, you really need certain features of a laptop over an iPad AND you care way more about cool factor than saving some money (which - if this is the max you can spend - means your priorities are not in line).

I love the Airs - they are ideal travel systems and the 11" especially packs a lot of power into something that is essentially the size of a tablet.

That said, I'd recommend against the 64GB/2GB version here. The 64GB SSD can be enhanced with external space, but the 2GB of RAM is barely adequate for casual users and not at all adequate for power users.

In the 128GB/4GB version, it's fantastic for its niche. In this form, though, you're likely to be disappointed. The CPU is perfectly fine for anything except most gaming. The screen is amazing. The trackpad - especially once you start using gestures - is phenomenal, as is the build quality. But 2GB of RAM will choke you unless your needs are very minimal.

SteveK wrote:
Personally, I see the MBA as an iPad with integrated keyboard and more functionality than an iPad.

I thought the exact same thing when I bought mine, and though I really do like my Macbook Air, they are not anything like an iPad with a keyboard. The battery life isn't right, and if you're used to iOS, the regular OS X will bug you.

I do recommend this laptop, but I know exactly what you're thinking, and I would recommend staying away if that's your goal.

aaee wrote:And if it was upgradeable you would have to make an appointment to drag it to a store where the presumption is that the common lowlifer is so stupid they are incapable of even upgrade their own RAM...

Funny that you are making fun of people that own apple products but at the same time you are showing your own stupidity. It should be "they are incapable of even upgrading their own RAM" at least take the time to proof read before posting or save your time and stick to the fandroid forums.

SteveK wrote:...
A Macbook Air would be instant on, lightweight, and last longer for lightweight tasks than my old laptop.

Personally, I see the MBA as an iPad with integrated keyboard and more functionality than an iPad.

...

I have the 2011 13" Air with 128GB/4GB which, frankly, I bought as an interim purchase until the then-rumored Retina MBPs came out. Now? I see no need for the MBP yet. I use the Air all the time at work to remote-desktop into my PC during meetings, I travel with it, I do Java development on it, and so on. While every new generation of CPUs/GPUs offers more, I think we've reached a point where the differences rarely matter much to most outside the gaming world. The Air is far more than an iPad with a keyboard (I say that as someone with an iPad and a keyboard). It's a real computer, and quite useful.

I'd also assume things meeting the ultrabook spec would be similarly useful. For me, the negligible size is a spec in and of itself, which is what many seem to forget.

The 11" Air is even more versatile in many respects - I prefer the resolution of the 13" but otherwise aside from the SD slot, they're basically the same system. But... 2GB of RAM is the deal-killer for me here, and I'd suspect for most.

Ok Woot your specs are a bit different from what Apple shows this laptop to be. Your processor is slower and you have less RAM than they say is standard. Also, this model does not allow for more RAM. If your going to show a list price, at least quote the right one please. Unless this is an old old old list price.....or maybe just a few typos?

Back in my VMS versus Unix days, we called these flame wars. Back in my Oldsmobile versus Pontiac days, we called these flame wars. Back in my Muslims versus Christians days, we called these Holy Wars. Back in my Romans versus the Macedonians days we called these - well, I guess we just called them the Macedonian Wars.

You will never convince anyone to see what they are not ready to see or care about what they do not care about. Why are we spending so much time talking about this? Buy it, or don't, and move on.

dom4fun wrote:Ok Woot your specs are a bit different from what Apple shows this laptop to be. Your processor is slower and you have less RAM than they say is standard. Also, this model does not allow for more RAM. If your going to show a list price, at least quote the right one please. Unless this is an old old old list price.....or maybe just a few typos?

this is the older generation. not the current one.

Shinespark wrote:Anecdotes about friends are not a reliable source of statistical data.

Sure, but class action lawsuits certainly are.