When HN users recommended it
1 HN user recommended this in 2011, in one comment.
20072026
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
1 HN user recommended this in 2011, in one comment.
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
Heavier: True, but only by 0.24 lbs, an 8% increase.
Thicker: I'll give you this - that said I've always wondered why this feature matters. Sure it looks nice, but from a usability standpoint - well, in my entire life of using laptops, I have found laptops too heavy, but never too thick. Honest question: why is it worth the premium - and loss of user customization - to be so thin?
Design: Magsafe: Agreed. Bluetooth: Agreed, but dongles are extremely cheap Thunderbolt: An issue, but so few devices use it currently that there is a good chance it won't be that much of a problem over the life of the laptop.
Unibody: Debatable if that is even a good thing. I searched in vain for studies that show a unibody laptop is sturdier or more durable; do you know of any? I am guessing that any fall strong enough to start making a difference would already be enough to crack the screen. The huge downside is the difficulty of opening the thing up (no replaceable battery?!!)
Multi-touch: The toshiba site claims "multi touch control". I have no idea what that means, though I doubt it is to the level of what os/x offers.
Crapware: This really isn't that much - most of those are useful programs. That said, I'll admit I completely ignore such lists, as I just reformat and install Linux anyway. :)
That said, one can fault the air as well when comparing it:
-Shorter battery life
-No replaceable battery (making shorter battery life even worse)
-Significantly slower processor (1.7 versus 2.4 ghz)
-Less RAM (4GB versus 6)
-Impossible to swap hard-drives
-No dvd drive
-Based on amazon's current pricing, costs $500 more. ($800 vs. $1300). (http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Portege-R835-P81-13-3-Inch-Lap... versus http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MacBook-MC965LL-13-3-Inch-VERSIO...)
While they aren't the same laptop, they are closely spec'd with different trade-offs. In reviews, Toshiba's is often compared to the Air. (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-portege-r835-p56x/45... http://www.pcmag.com/article/print/263220). The R835 is certainly an example of a company producing a competing product to Apple without much quality loss but at a vastly lower (40% cheaper w/out SSD; 27% w/ SSD) price.