Apple’s products have been lambasted by the critics frequently for their hefty prices. More often than not, this has proved true. Similar machines with similar specs cost much less when compared to Apple’s machines. However, Apple beat them in performance, a fact not many can deny. Below is a detailed analysis of Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air, compared to other Ivy Bridge ultrabooks.
Ultrabooks are becoming more of a replacement of the regular PC phenomenon and Intel is putting its weight behind them to make them a success, pitching in its latest Ivy Bridge processors to boast their performance.
Apple has now introduced Ivy Bridge processors in its new MacBook line-up. However, is the price tag of this ultrabook justified compared to, say, Asus Zenbook Prime or Samsung Series 5? Let’s see.
Hardware specs:
If we talk purely about hardware specs, the fact remains that you can get nearly the same specifications for a $100 less by going for Asus Zenbook Prime. Or, if you are willing to accept a slightly inferior processor with the amount of memory and RAM and with HDD storage instead of SDD, you can get Samsung Series 5 which will cost you $200 less compared to Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air.
However, with Asus Zenbook Prime, at $1499, equal to MacBook Air’s better deal price, you get to have a superior resolution as well as a better processor. Nonetheless, there are still a lot of features which you have to compare to reach a final verdict.
Other features:
Apple’s touchpad as well as keyboard are superior both to those of Asus and Samsung. No other vendor beats Apple to this particular part, which is probably an important deal when it comes to an ultrabook. When it comes to the display, MacBook Air and Asus Zenbook Prime both cost $1499 for their upgraded model but the display of Zenbook is far better than that of MacBook Air, being much more brighter and clearer.
The battery life of Zenbook and MacBook Air are more or less the same, so there are no qualms there. So in all, Apple pretty much is at par with other vendors when it comes to price as well as specs. MacBook Air has some superior aspects and yet it loses in some other aspects.
Source: Techspot
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