Enough With the MacBook Air - ASUS Eee Comparisons!

For freak’s sake!! Why on earth are people continuing to compare the MacBook Air to the ASUS Eee? It seems as soon as Steve pulled it out of it’s manila envelope, people have been fallaciously comparing it to the ASUS Eee.

The latest on the Air vs ASUS EE bandwagon is The Far Side of Tech (TFST).

They make the startling conclusion that “After comparing the Macbook Air and the ASUS Eee, it’s clear that Apple’s new notebook is not that great of a value compared to ASUS’s surprise hit.”

Value?! Sure the Air is poor value in the Eee’s market, but the Eee is abysmal value in the Air’s market.

Value isn’t the sticker price. Value is the cost vs features for the required market. As has been repeatedly stated on the ‘net and even in TFST’s article, compared to its real competitors, the Air is is quite good value.

Nobody, given serious and objective consideration, would choose either the Air over the Eee or the Eee over the Air. Their functions are so specifically different that someone wouldn’t be genuinely comparing them in the first place.

Anyone who says they would choose an Eee over an Air because of the price isn’t looking for an Air, because if they were they’d know that’s the price laptops like it cost.

TFST also says, “For a smaller, albeit less powerful, computer, you end up spending at least $1300 less for the Eee than you would for the Air. The Eee is clearly a much better value, especially if you only need basic computing capabilities in an ultra-portable format.”

You can’t add an “especially! That’s defining a market - and the market being defined is not the Air’s market.

On that logic, a 4WD is crap value compared to a mountain bike. Sure both get you off road, so why not compare them when shopping for either?

Imagine selling that idea to your partner… “Hi, honey, I need a mountain bike, but I really should see if I should get a 4WD.” Or to the car dealer: “I wanna go four wheel driving, but I can’t decide between a 4WD and a mountain bike.”

The Eee and the Air should never be compared. The Air is a vastly different beast to the Eee with a vastly different market.

Why? Well let’s look at who they’re for.

With its 7 inch screen, the ASUS is an extreme ultra-portable notebook that - with its limited disk space (4GB max) - is never going to let you load it up with applications and data. The ASUS is designed to chuck in the bottom of your backpack when you’re trekking the Himalayas. You can then use it to keep a diary and notes and post them to your blog with some happy snaps.

The Air is for corporate executive who wants something light to carry around the office and to home, but still full-sized. This is also why the Air doesn’t need a plethora of USB and Firewire expansion ports - coz these guys don’t need them. Nor does it need the graphics or HDD grunt as it’s not for running Photoshop or Final Cut.

If you’re in IT, this is the computer you buy your boss. It interfaces nicely with the WiFi network, he can take it anywhere in the building, and he gets oohs and ahhs which are always going to stoke his ego and consequently his respect for you.

This is the computer for people not into computers. It is a computer for people who want the most portability without compromising keyboard or screen and aren’t techno-junkies who need every peripheral on the planet, and of course, are prepared to pay a premium for these features.

This is dad’s laptop, this the boss’s laptop. These guys don’t need an optical drive. They don’t want to watch DVDs on it or cut movies.

However, I’m not about to defend the Air for any shortcomings it has by comparison to its true competitors.

The Air might yet fail, but Apple can afford a blunder now. Unlike when the Cube was released when Apple was just a computer company, then the failure of the Cube hurt. Apple doesn’t have to bet the house on the Air. If Apple was in the position of strength it is now when it released the Cube, then the Cube would have ultimately succeeded because Apple would have had the time and money to develop it.

If anyone wants to make valid value based comparisons with the Air, it’d be better for their credibility to compare it to something that looks like an Air killer, Lenovo’s upcoming X300. Albeit rumored and still vapourware.

Also, I’m not bagging the Eee. I think it’s great and, as a writer, would love to have one because it can go anywhere with me. Although I actually see the iPod touch - now that it has email and notepad and soon an SDK which will bring heaps of useful applications - as more a competitor to the Eee than the Air. And the touch might win that battle coz you can keep it in your pocket and it weighs even less in your backpack.

So enough already with the Air - EE comparisons!