<p><em>sigh</em> I guess that’s a good point - primarily using Windows on a Macbook might be counter-productive. I’m looking at the Thinkpads more now…</p>
<p>FCYTravis99: Well, since you are so intent on nitpicking my arguments:</p>
<ul>
<li>Yes, I’m welling to pay slightly more for aesthetics, but function is what I’m mostly after. There’s a difference between buying a nice car to commute to work and buying a limo to commute to work. One means you have style, the other could reasonably be construed as pretentious.</li>
</ul>
<p>-“There’s an intended market niche for each product within the Apple lineup”</p>
<p>Yes, except this intended niche is people who need the power of a mainstream laptop in a package that weighs 3lb but who also do not require any peripherals beyond a tiny usb mouse. Let’s pretend that the niche is actually big enough to be called a “niche,” the overheating problem that I mentioned in the first gen MBA has already largely nullified the MBA’s usefulness to that “niche.” If one assumes that many people who buy an MBA don’t actually have the specific requirements for such a powerful and small laptop to make an MBA worthwhile, then there’s really nothing going for it except OSX. But, since those same people (who is presumed to do tasks that doesn’t require that much power since many people do require small laptops on the go) bought the MBA over other subnotebooks it must be because they prefer the OSX not because the OSX has such powerful features that windows don’t since the MBA isn’t physically capable of utilizing those powerful features (lack of peripherals, lack of power, overheating, etc) and both OSes are pretty capable at most mundane computing tasks. Thus, they pay a (hefty) premium because in most circumstances “OSX is just so much better than windows” (to paraphrase apple fanbois) and in my opinion, if you are willing to pay such a premium just for that…well that’s pretty pretentious.</p>
<p>Edit: My opinion is based on the fact that those that I know who have an MBA A) do not travel much at all B) actually hooks up a ton of peripherals to it C) doesn’t actually do much on the road except email, occasional presentations/documents, and surfing the internet. </p>
<p>Edit2: I can see that this argument is getting nowhere and that neither of us will convince the other, in the interest of politeness I think I have hijacked this thread long enough. It would be more fair to the OP to get back on topic and help him/her pick a laptop. You can continue defending MBA as much as you like, but I’ll refrain from anymore comment on that particular topic.</p>
<p>Edit3: OP, if you would still like to use OSX once in a while, you should inquire whether your school has mac computer clusters available for student use. Some schools will provide macs as alternatives to windows/linux computer clusters in some areas like the library.</p>
<p>I thought that was a very thoughtful discussion IMO (no sarcasm). I guess I’m even more against the Macbook Air.</p>
<p>How do the Dell XPS series compare to Thinkpad’s X300?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>assuming you’re in college, that would be because the Air isn’t intended for college students (beyond being stylish, anyway). it’s for road warriors who have the money to pay the premium for a ultraportable Mac, and already have a better computer sitting on their desk.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>the XPS is a consumer laptop, the Thinkpad is a business laptop. in other words, the XPS looks better and probably has better specs, while the Thinkpad is sturdier, thinner, and lighter.</p>
<p>toxic_waste: I wasn’t talking about the college kids, none of my friends have one. I was talking about people I worked with and those who work at the parent’s offices. And thank you for pointing out that it wasn’t intended for college students.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that XPS has better specs. Thinkpads actually offer the choice of much better specs than most consumer laptops because people who want discrete graphics for example are often graphics professionals who want top quality workstation graphics instead of the run of the mill GeForces. XPS is more consumer oriented though so you’ll find stuff like a webcam, media controls, media software, HDMI ports, etc that consumers would want. Overall, XPS probably offers better value in terms of the range of tasks it is able to handle as it was designed as powerful generally all purpose computers. Thinkpads are business oriented which means they are sturdier, a bit more specialized or niche focused, and offer better customer service but you pay for that in the higher prices.</p>