Size: 0.3-1.7 thick
Weight:1.08-1.35 kg
Runtime: 7 hours (WiFi on)
While the latest version of Macbook Air (2011) is still the leading ultrabook of the market with up to 7 hours of wireless surfing and its 1kg weight, Apple's competitors are looking for their share of the market. 2012 brought some brand new models from all major manufacturer, but are those ultrabooks better than the MacBook Air?
Difficult to compare; on one hand we have a delightful combination of hardware and software, with the MBA’s multi-touch trackpad, nearly instant wake up from hibernate, great and not bugged applications, perfectly shaped aluminum case with backlit keyboard and MacOS X…
On the other hand we can see some good MacBook Air imitations (aluminum case, light weight) but unfortunately they are running Windows 7 OS. Moreover some manufacturers provide special drivers to enable some limited and buggy multi touch-pad functions; others optimize their ultrabooks to allow hibernation wake-up under 2 seconds... But none of those competitors can keep up with the MBA’s 7 hours of battery usage.
But the real problem is not the hardware or the quality of their products, but the Windows OS. Even the MBA runs only for 4 hours when is booted on Windows 7, and has equal performance to the other Windows OS ultrabooks.
I would say that the MBA hardware is not as good as other ultrabooks presented at Cebit convention, but the latest MacOS X is by far more powerful than Windows 7, at least when it comes to portability, battery life and multi-touch trackpad support…
Here the top 3 Windows Ultrabooks:
Size: 1.47 cm thick
Weight: ~1.3 kg
Runtime: N/A
Size: 0.3-1.7 cm thick
Weight: 1.4 kg
Runtime: ~6 hours
Size: 2.09 cm thick
Weight: 1.84kg
Runtime: ~6 hours
