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Seems like this is an unnecessary somewhat inaccurate comparison. The 2015 Macbook has retina 12" display, redesigned force touch haptic feedback tracepad, rede

Seems like this is an unnecessary somewhat inaccurate comparison. The 2015 Macbook has retina 12" display, redesigned force touch haptic feedback tracepad, redesigned lit keyboard, and weights 25% less than the Asus. Asus battery life is not spec'd in the writeup. The MBA 2014 battery and performance are most surely more powerful than the Asus. So the 2015 Macbook is more portable and probably has a longer battery life, and the 2015 MBA is way more powerful, and definitely has a longer battery life. I'm at a loss why you chose to highlight the stats the way you did unless you simply have a bias against Apple. I understand not wanting to pay for crazy expensive tech and the packaging Apple is pumping out. It's a good a reason not to buy Apple products. The Macbook lines do serve a purpose and they serve it very well. Frankly, I don't see this Asus completing successfully in any of the three Apple portable computing lines.

bane 12y ago
The trackpad and keyboard are not stats, they're marketing that you've just successfully regurgitated like you were meant to. If you want to complain, complain that it took almost a decade before anybody else could put together a competent Air beater, even given manufacturing, pricing and supply chain advantages.
notsony 12y ago
The ASUS has a matte screen whereas the 2015 MacBook continues Apple's obsession with a glossy screen. As a programmer, the matte screen is essential. Btw: A different ASUS laptop has a trackpoint and three buttons, directly competing with Thinkpads, but I don't know see any retailers selling it: https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Notebook/ASUSPRO_ADVANCED_BU201/ https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Notebook/ASUSPRO_ADVANCED...
mladenkovacevic 12y ago
Battery life is in the writeup. Also you say the 2015 MBA is "way more" powerful. I don't see evidence of this anywhere especially since this Asus seems comparable to a 2014 Macbook Air. I wasn't even trying to "compare" this Asus to any Apple offerings, but rather just saying if you want a Windows machine with the portability of the new Macbook but without some of the compromises, this seems like a good choice. Also my current laptop is a 2015 Macbook Pro so your anti-Apple bias argument is out of place too.
IkmoIkmo 12y ago
The force touch thing seems extremely minor value. Perhaps in a few years when all hardware has it and every OS supports it, and all applications build around it... but right now? Oh wow I can speed up a video by 2x or 16x depending on how hard I click... as opposed to a million software-based solutions, like pressing longer makes it go faster, pressing a faster button makes it go faster, press and hold brings up a speed slider, clicking on the video bar to move around etc etc. I doubt you'll get any significant value out of this '3rd control' in 2015 or even 2016. The keyboard design is an engineering effort, not a consumer benefit over alternative laptops. It was redesigned so it could still function while being thinner and smaller. A slightly thicker or bigger (e.g. 13' Zenbook/XPS/Air) laptop doesn't need this redesign. It has a butterfly switch now so that the keys won't sag on the edges, which isn't a problem normally. But for the 12', because the keys were made bigger in a small area, if you sag a key, your finger slides off and onto the other key causing typos. In other words, the butterfly switch is a solution to a problem created by its small size. It's not actually a better keyboard to type on than an Air. In fact, worse, as there's less travel, less space between keys, less space between keys and touchpad. In many ways the touchpad came out of this, too: no space for real travel, so let's remove travel of the touchpad and add magnets that give the illusion of clicking, so you can make it thinner. This isn't a better system, it's just necessary for a thinner device. And then you might as well play with the magnets and add a 'force touch'. As for all your spec comparisons, read the review. The performance and battery benchmarks are pretty similar between the Air and Asus. And that means the Asus beats the MB, as the MB isn't quite as strong as the Air. Seems like the Asus and Dell XPS have beat the MB and MBA competition pretty solidly if you ask me. Unless you're not OS-agnostic.

bane 12y ago

The trackpad and keyboard are not stats, they're marketing that you've just successfully regurgitated like you were meant to. If you want to complain, complain that it took almost a decade before anybody else could put together a competent Air beater, even given manufacturing, pricing and supply chain advantages.

notsony 12y ago

The ASUS has a matte screen whereas the 2015 MacBook continues Apple's obsession with a glossy screen. As a programmer, the matte screen is essential. Btw: A different ASUS laptop has a trackpoint and three buttons, directly competing with Thinkpads, but I don't know see any retailers selling it: https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Notebook/ASUSPRO_ADVANCED_BU201/ https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Notebook/ASUSPRO_ADVANCED...

mladenkovacevic 12y ago

Battery life is in the writeup. Also you say the 2015 MBA is "way more" powerful. I don't see evidence of this anywhere especially since this Asus seems comparable to a 2014 Macbook Air. I wasn't even trying to "compare" this Asus to any Apple offerings, but rather just saying if you want a Windows machine with the portability of the new Macbook but without some of the compromises, this seems like a good choice. Also my current laptop is a 2015 Macbook Pro so your anti-Apple bias argument is out of place too.

IkmoIkmo 12y ago

The force touch thing seems extremely minor value. Perhaps in a few years when all hardware has it and every OS supports it, and all applications build around it... but right now? Oh wow I can speed up a video by 2x or 16x depending on how hard I click... as opposed to a million software-based solutions, like pressing longer makes it go faster, pressing a faster button makes it go faster, press and hold brings up a speed slider, clicking on the video bar to move around etc etc. I doubt you'll get any significant value out of this '3rd control' in 2015 or even 2016. The keyboard design is an engineering effort, not a consumer benefit over alternative laptops. It was redesigned so it could still function while being thinner and smaller. A slightly thicker or bigger (e.g. 13' Zenbook/XPS/Air) laptop doesn't need this redesign. It has a butterfly switch now so that the keys won't sag on the edges, which isn't a problem normally. But for the 12', because the keys were made bigger in a small area, if you sag a key, your finger slides off and onto the other key causing typos. In other words, the butterfly switch is a solution to a problem created by its small size. It's not actually a better keyboard to type on than an Air. In fact, worse, as there's less travel, less space between keys, less space between keys and touchpad. In many ways the touchpad came out of this, too: no space for real travel, so let's remove travel of the touchpad and add magnets that give the illusion of clicking, so you can make it thinner. This isn't a better system, it's just necessary for a thinner device. And then you might as well play with the magnets and add a 'force touch'. As for all your spec comparisons, read the review. The performance and battery benchmarks are pretty similar between the Air and Asus. And that means the Asus beats the MB, as the MB isn't quite as strong as the Air. Seems like the Asus and Dell XPS have beat the MB and MBA competition pretty solidly if you ask me. Unless you're not OS-agnostic.