Technology Apple

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Do you know why? Because they're fucking expensive and people would have to be crazy to buy them. Especially since they look like Macbook air rip-offs and it's not something I'd want to be seen with.

Manufacturers don't want them because intel charges too much too.
Intel think that what they give is close to the final price of the laptop, and they only give motherboards with chipsets. Like, screw the display, hard drive, case etc.

Everyone I know was hyped about ultrabooks and then when the first ones were released for almost as much as Macbook airs everyone was disappointed. Everyone hoped for something in between netbooks and full-sized laptops, which is what these devices really are.
MBAs are selling well despite being even more expensive. This wouldn't be the first time someone tried to emulate Apple's "dare to be different" in terms of hardware design. And failed.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
@Casey Yes. The article even said that it's up to Acer's original expectations.

Intel made them ship more, because Intel and Microsoft make a lot of ridiculously bad decisions and predictions. Intel expected to take over the market with ultrabooks and yet their pricing is ridiculously high.
Microsoft hopes to take over the market with Windows 8, which is supposed to increse the demand for new PCs yet for all that we know now:
- it's a piece of shit (judging by the beta)
- Windows 7 is a great product that few will want to have replaced, especially since I doubt that Windows 8 will be as good
- Windows 7 still feels pretty much new, it's not outdated at all and it's a great operating system with no bigger flaws, so Windows 8 would have to beat that by creating an equally awesome system with awesome, innovative functionality and they are aware of that - the problem is that their "innovations" really REALLY suck big time and they will only fuck up their Windows line if they release anything like the available beta.

@ Coonie - Because to beat a product you need a better product or better marketing. Currently available ultrabooks aren't better and are almost as expensive. There's no point buying them, it's better to buy a slightly more expensive but better and after all "real deal" product. They would need to cost 50-60% of what they are offered for right now to sell. And a different design - Toshiba knew this with their ultrabooks, unfortunately they'll be even more expensive.
Airs are overpriced but they were new and stylish and offered improved performance over netbooks while being small and lightweight, ultrabooks are even more overpriced for what they offer at the moment and they really feel like rip-offs so people needing that thing would rather buy an Air simply because it's better and costs about as much, and for that price they wouldn't want to be seen with something that looks like Air but isn't one.
I mean - there's almost no point in buying them over netbooks and they cost 3-4 times as much.

So first ultrabooks are like first Android tablets - they aren't quite on par with what 'inspired' them. But they carry potential - like Samsung's Tab p1000 which wasn't a match against the Ipad and was almost as expensive.
Funny thing is that Macbook air is not Apple's design. It's Intel's design - in reality it was their first ultrabook.
Now Intel wants to make manufacturers compete with their own product using the same product but with a different brand on casing. A double-win for Intel and I can see why they want to encourage manufacturers to do their best selling them. And they won't lower the price because there's no point, there's no real competition. Macbooks and ultrabooks are 90% Intel. They even pack Intel's own SSD drives for a lot of them.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
There's no point in buying what over netbooks? Airs? There's plenty of reasons to. Netbooks are tiny as shit, 8"-10". One more inch may make a difference for someone with big hands that can't type for long on an 8" netbook. Don't forget, there are 13" Airs as well. So they're not all necessarily netbooks or ultrabooks or whatever. Rumor has it that all MacBook Pros are heading in the direction of the current MacBook Air, in terms of design. That all MBPS will soon look like the MBA and will be proportional in size depending on screen size.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
There's no point buying ultrabooks (current Asus and Acer models) over netbooks. The only difference is slightly more powerful CPU (an ultra low voltage i5 at 1,6ghz is still a better performer than a 1,6ghz dual core atom).
It's not enough to justify a few times higher price tag. Display is almost as crappy on ultrabooks, battery life is inferior and.. that's about it.
Macbook airs have much more decent displays, better battery life and for some reason superior performance so that might justify getting one for some people.

Also, most popular netbooks have 12 inch screens, which is more than the 11inch ultrabook and only slightly less than 13 inch.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
Asus don't have the brand name Apple have created. Even if Asus made a better original product, they don't have the Apple fan boy nation or the tehnologically retarded who will continue to buy their products no matter what...
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Yeah that's true too. Asus products are usually a choice of conscious consumers, which is a relatively small group, but enought to make Asus one of the biggest laptop manufacturers. Simply because their products are often very good. Their first ultrabooks however aren't better than the Macbook air.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
I would buy a macbook air as it is a beautiful piece of hardware. But I can't justify the outlay for the little use I will give it.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
The Argies are nutty. I can see another repeat of the Falklands war. Especially as that cock Obama seems to be stirring it up a little.

South American countries seem to be getting a bit big headed due to their emerging economies.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Microsoft are not doing well lately - they release a lot of failed products. Iphone is a business phenomena since Apple are gaining crazy money from selling them and people who buy them don't care that they're so overpriced. Meanwhile Microsoft were selling Xbox consoles for below their manufacturing costs and giving away all of their programs for free to students and developers.
Obviously their biggest bastion are business systems but that's where there's IBM, Oracle, SAP, SAS and others taking away their market share.

The smartphone market is where it's at at the moment and Microsoft have been failing hard there.
 

S O F I

Administrator
Staff member
the lumia 900 will resurrect MSFT. that phone looks oh so sexy and the UI is smooth as fuck.

I'm sorry I lied. I don't believe that. It's funny though, because on Facebook I usually tend to shit on WP when I get a chance and because I live in Seattle, 90% of the time, some Microsoft product manager comments on that status. They're in such a bubble. They think the only reasons why WP isn't as popular is because of lack of marketing and the coolness factor. They think their ecosystem is the shit. It's funny.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Yes I know this. Microsoft employees live in a lie. The point is that they totally overdo their marketing and "coolness". Can you do bigger than TV ads every few minutes, billboards and renting one of the biggest buildings in London to serve as a huge display promoting your new phone and hiring dj deadmau5 to play his music using one of the world's loudest set of speakers to let the world know about your new phone? Oh and paying 100 million $ to make the world's biggest phone maker in the world manufacture phones for your OS?

Yeah, definitely more marketing is the only thing that they need more of :rolleyes:
or perhaps making a product that wouldn't suck would do better? Windows 7 was their latest success and it was so good that it doesn't even need a successor yet, so nobody's going to switch to Windows 8 which (according to all signs) will suck.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Windows 7: so good for consumers, Apple product-buyers buy it just so M$ still has competition because Win is just that damn good.
 

Preach

Well-Known Member
We had a routine-related quiz at work and I got all the answers right, so I can win the new Windows 8 Samsung phone. I doubt I'll get it, but it does look neat.
 

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