MacBook Air Killer?

LordSplodge said:
Or you get the (possible) better build quality of the Air and put Windows 7 on it? :D
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Well I've always said (to myself) if I buy an Apple laptop or desktop I shall use OSX and NOT windows. I nearly went iMac but because of my gaming requirements had to go PC. Love my iPhone, not handled any phone that feels as solid or feels the same, tempted by iPad 2 but would possibly rather spend the extra and get the Air, maybe 11".
 
LordSplodge said:
Are you sure of that? Snow Leopard offloads a lot to the GPU via OpenCl so I'm not sure a GPU on the CPU would be better than a separate GPU.
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I'm not sure of anything, but as Nvidia just lost the right to produce integrated graphics on intel chipsets, afaik the Nvidia IC GPU is presumably on its last legs.

the graphics unit in the Macbook Air is not a 'separate GPU', but rather an integrated GPU, albeit on the chipset, rather than on chip.

Intel will now be in the driving seat and can use Nvidia patents in their chipset designs, which is the point I was getting at.
 
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Noxia said:
Well I've always said (to myself) if I buy an Apple laptop or desktop I shall use OSX and NOT windows. I nearly went iMac but because of my gaming requirements had to go PC. Love my iPhone, not handled any phone that feels as solid or feels the same, tempted by iPad 2 but would possibly rather spend the extra and get the Air, maybe 11".
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Oh I wouldn't get a Mac to put Windows on it. I'm just saying that is an option for some if they wanted something like the Air but with Windows.
 
LordSplodge said:
Are you sure of that? Snow Leopard offloads a lot to the GPU via OpenCl so I'm not sure a GPU on the CPU would be better than a separate GPU.
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Is that right, surprises me as the MBP has both Intel and nVidia GFX and only uses the later when there is demand. If the OS is forever dumping work to it what's the reason for having the Intel GFX?
 
picnic said:
Is that right, surprises me as the MBP has both Intel and nVidia GFX and only uses the later when there is demand. If the OS is forever dumping work to it what's the reason for having the Intel GFX?
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Is it forever dumping work to it though? I imagine most computing time isn't even taxing the weaksauce GPU.
 
picnic said:
Is that right, surprises me as the MBP has both Intel and nVidia GFX and only uses the later when there is demand. If the OS is forever dumping work to it what's the reason for having the Intel GFX?
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Probably because most tasks don't require OpenCL. My wording could have been clearer I suppose. Snow Leopard can offload tasks via OpenCL and when it does it requires (I believe) either a ATI(nee AMD) or Nvidia GPU.

Apps like iPhoto and iMovie do it and it makes a big difference.
 
Did somebody above quote Mac as having great support. I have never heard such a load of pugwash in my life. They honestly don't know one end of a bath plug from another as for component exchange they are the worst in the world. Perhaps you haven't heard what ecconomics is all about but when it comes to the American market the idea is to sell, sell and sell more. Even the MacBook is quoted as not as reliable as most laptop PC's but who am I. I am just a poor mug that owns both sides of the equation that's all.
 
jeffa123 said:
Did somebody above quote Mac as having great support. I have never heard such a load of pugwash in my life. They honestly don't know one end of a bath plug from another as for component exchange they are the worst in the world. Perhaps you haven't heard what ecconomics is all about but when it comes to the American market the idea is to sell, sell and sell more. Even the MacBook is quoted as not as reliable as most laptop PC's but who am I. I am just a poor mug that owns both sides of the equation that's all.
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http://www.macworld.com/article/140068/2009/04/satisfaction.html

http://www.macworld.com/article/140350/2009/04/jdpower_iphone.html

Two independent surveys from different respected organisation beg to differ - had a bad experience personally or actually got anything factual to back up your viewpoint?
 
I've always found mac stuff to be rather well put together and in my experience all the mac kit me and my family have owned has lasted a hell of a lot longer than equivalent pc stuff.

Having said that, I don't buy it anymore because the stuff is stupidly overpriced!

I got a better spec sony than the 17" mbp for half the price...
 
crinkleshoes said:
I've always found mac stuff to be rather well put together and in my experience all the mac kit me and my family have owned has lasted a hell of a lot longer than equivalent pc stuff.

Having said that, I don't buy it anymore because the stuff is stupidly overpriced!

I got a better spec sony than the 17" mbp for half the price...
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But but eeeeew it uses Windows!!!!! you know, that OS that actually the majority of people find just fine but Apple fanboys turn their noses up for some BS factors usually. That said, Apple haters provide the same old arguments too.
 
heh...

I'm one of those weird ones who's in the middle... I quite like using OSX... I'm just not prepared to pay the incredible premium to use it anymore.... i've dabbled with installing osx on machines with suitable hardware and it just doesn't work properly most of the time heh.

I do love the way macbooks are made to last though... my sony's already feeling a little 'used' and it's only 9-10 months old... whereas i've seen/used macbooks for a lot longer and little things like the screen hinges just last longer...

I wouldn't say they'd last twice as long though... so doesn't justify twice the price!

My sony laptop came with the 2.93ghz core i5, 16.2" screen with 1920x1080 resolution, 4gb ram, 500gb hdd (although now it has 50gb ssd), decent mid-range nvidia 2xx graphics... etc... plus 2 year warranty for £900

The equivalent 17" macbook pro which was actually slightly lower specced was around the £1800 mark with just the 1 year std warranty. Mad...
 
I hear you. I love the build quality of my iPhone, nothing else feels the same to me and I am prepared to pay a premium for this.
The same cannot be said about iMacs, I had 3 on the trot with a yellow tainted screen. I gave up at this point and I got a PC, and then after soem googling saw this was a fairly common problem.
I can totally see why Apples are popular with graphic designers etc, but I'm just a gamer so for me it was a blessing in disguise. I do like OSX but after building a system a LOT more powerfull than the 27" i7 Mac, for nearly £600 less, I can see the other side of the coin too.
 
Yeah - same here... just got an iphone 4 2 weeks ago & love it... wish I had the guts to use it outside of its protective case though! Feels so nice in your hand, but know it will get scratched to buggery without its case...
 
OpenCL requires a large amount of maths on each data item to make it worthwhile.

If the GPU is using system ram then running an OpenCL computation will hog the memory bus. OpenCL really only offers performance benefits with large amounts of GPU connected ram.
 
Iv never had to say this before:

BUT the amount of apple worshipping and ripping that samsung apart is a little more than biased im afraid lads (probs not many ladies in this thread)

That samsung looks like a great piece of engineering and a fantastic computer in its own right, so fair play to them, of course im not 'dissing' the air as iv not even mentioned it, but that samsung is very nicely specced I have to say.
 
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