I bought this laptop today from JB HIFI and RRP is $1399.
eStore.com.au has Toshiba Portege same specs with Touch Screen for $1388
Checked online: Difference between Portege and Satellite —> there is windows 8.1 and windows 8.1 pro difference and 1 and 3 year warranty difference and Touchscreen
Refurbished Apple TV - $79 + Free Express Post (Back in stock)
http://store.apple.com/au/product/FD199X/A/refurbished-apple…
I bought one, exactly like new except box says Refurbished
site maintenance
Yup, JB website as a whole for me. Says site maintenance on the homepage.
Yeah website is down. I will upload receipt tomorrow.
Does this laptop has touch screen? Is the RAM expandable? Thanks.
Touch Screen - No
RAM - Expandable upto 16GB
Thanks
Awesome! Thanks OP
I've been waiting for this to go on sale. The last 10% one just didnt cut it for me.
SSD not HD might want to change the title :)
The Z930 Ultrabook for $764 two years ago was a better deal than this imo. Bought mine from that deal.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/80721
this has a fourth gen processor
Oops. Thought it was the Z930. Z30 has 4Gb ram whereas Z930 had 6Gb.
This isn't a neg, more an expression of amazement. And I am a bit out of touch with the Windows world, so I genuinely want to know.
Are things in the Windows laptop world really this bad, that this is a great deal? A similar Macbook Air is $200 more in DS sales, sure. But 1366 x 768 vs 1440 x 900 actually makes a significant difference, and has 24% more pixels. And in terms of industrial design we are not even close, after all those years - and come on a f##king VGA port instead of Displayport? In a time where 2560x1440 external monitors cost $400?
The claimed battery life is 12 hours - Macbook Airs give you 14-15 hours easy on a normal day, not a lab test. The keyboard, and especially the touchpad are not even comparable. Even the Macbook Air processor seems slightly better, not that I (or anyone) should give a damn as long as they are close enough to not notice in normal use, and Intel's numbering system is enough to make anyone pull their hair out. And then you have the clusterf#ck called Windows 8 - as a long time Windows user it took me less time to get used to OS X than Windows 8.
Or is this a bad example, are there ~$1k Windows ultrabooks with 1080p or retina screens and better specs that would actually help performance - 8GB of RAM or a quad core? That would give you a reason for not choosing a Mac. Or are Macs actually a bloody bargain now - never thought I would live to see the day.
The reason I care is someone in the family badly needs an upgrade. They prefer Windows, I have been pushing for a Macbook Air but I would be ok with Windows, but not with 1366 x 768. This makes me think I should just buy an Air in the next Dick Smith sale, get my TRS refund and hand it to them.
since it's too early for me to write an essay, I will respond in bullet points for my two cents.
. At this price point, A macbook air will indeed be better. You mentioned most of the important points already.
. VGA is still a necessity as I believe most monitors and/or projectors still uses VGA.
. There are $1k ultrabooks. You just have to wait in OzBargain.
. If it's a close family member (sister/brother), give them a mac. If it is your cousins or aunts, let them get windows otherwise you will be the one to fix it if it breaks.
Who fixes the mac when it "breaks"?
I don't as a policy fix (or even recommend) computers for anyone but immediate family. They'll either buy the pretty one after wasting an hour of your time asking which one to buy, or blame you if it dies outside warranty. And if you fix one thing, the next ten things that go wrong will be your fault.
Bingo
My son gets nowhere close to your 14 hour claim for the air. He gets a school day out of it.
No need to go on a rant, I think the air specs are poor as well (apparently you love it though)
I brought up specs as a comparison as that was something that used to go against Macs in the past.
I use a retina pro btw, the Air specs weren't enough for me.
14 hours of light everyday use. Obviously a lot of video / games / GPU work / intensive CPU will reduce it. My point is with a Mac you can actually get the advertised battery life in everyday use.
I agree. I needed a laptop for an expedition where power will be accessible only every other day, thus battery life was a priority. I agree with 14 ish hours of use, although that is principally word, Excel and stats software that don't require gpu or heavy cpu use except during the occasional modeling of data.
Ps, these stats are in windows 7. I use macos on weekends for fun (oddly disappointed with the os, feels like a well supported linux distro - yes I know the origins of the os), but windows for work. Reviews state that battery life is worse in windows than macos, although my experience has been excellent. Only caveat is the weird buttons on keyboard:holding fn for del, home, end etc make Excel less than second nature like you're previously accustomed.
Fir the money, I couldn't get 256 gb ssd, i5 and 4gb ram with a battery that lasts from any other vendor. There was always a trade off on one aspect. Thus I agree I can't believe the air was a 'value' purchase.
you're sounding like a fanboi. I see 13" mac air is $1200, and only claims "up to 12hrs battery". If it got 'easily 14-15 hrs" they would claim it in the marketing. You can't (fairly) compare battery life of 11 & 13 inch screens.
I do agree on windows 8 sucking, but if someone in your family prefers windows, give them windows, or you will be held accountable for every little thing they don't like about the machine you bought them.
Macs are on sale every 5 minutes for 10% off, meaning the actual price is $1080. Having used a raft of Toshiba laptops at work I can say their screens, keyboards and touchpads are universally terrible. About the only standout feature of this laptop is the 3x USB 3.0 ports.
I'm anything but a Mac fanboy, but in the laptop space (most of) their hardware is worth the premium and I believe this case is no exception.
Multiple 14% sales recently on Macbooks, I don't think any Ozbargainer buys them full price.
Small mind. 14% off and TRS.
fanboi: first apple purchase. It's hardware, made by intel etc etc etc.
Sent from my S3.
There are plenty of Windows PCs at price points better than Mac with similar or better specs - I agree with you this "bargain" isn't that great.
Windows 8.1 is NOT a clusterf**k, and a free upgrade from 8. And when it is in desktop mode works EXACTLY as Windows 7 did, except better with more features and faster. Sure there is no start menu, but once you've pinned what you need to the taskbar or desktop, there really is no difference. Never need to go to the tablet side as long as you learn to use the right mouse button on the Windows icon instead of left. Wow, big adjustment. I won't even start to write an article on the Windows 10 Preview I've been playing with for a month, but suffice to say you got your wish as far as being more like Windows 7 anyway (I think even better).
My father, who is 67 took to Windows 8/8.1 like a duck to water and he is about as green as it gets. If you felt you had to jump ship I worry about your abilities. It really is not rocket science.
Now, I LIKE OSX. If you switch to OSX because you prefer it, mate kudos. I have no problem with you joining the 3.6% of the world (some analysts say 7.8% I'll give you that) that prefer OSX.
But your comment about Windows 8 is trolling. I THINK that's your intention and you don't "genuinely want to know" and congrats, you got a rise out of me and I felt I had to respond.
As far as Mac goes, I think they COULD become bigger than Windows. Problem is for resellers. To sell Mac, you have to meet VERY strict requirements. You either have to sell Mac exclusively (No Windows), must have an INSPECTED store front where you will display Mac subject to Apple approval, or be huge like HN, JB DS etc and meet certain sales quotas. They also VERY RARELY reduce prices for promotion. Generally only 10% off sometimes.
This is good for Mac in a way as they are perceived to be high end, high quality, more elite so to speak, but in turn it kills any real competition, keeps prices artificially high but most importantly stops them from marketing to more average people by selling a lot less quantity than they could if they opened up to every reseller. People SEE more Windows notebooks, therefore it gets pressed into their brains more.
Same for that someone in your family. It is very possible Mac can suit them better. I'm not saying it won't.
But don't stop them buying Windows just because YOU didn't like Windows 8. That's unfair. more than half of the company I work for's customers are now on Windows 8 and we get LESS support calls from then then we did for XP/7. The clusterf**k remark was unnecessary.
The Macbook Air is the best value laptop in this price range, even if you plan to run Windows on it. And I never thought I'd say that about an Apple product.
I think its because Apple is the biggest single customer for components, so they get a better price and earlier access from suppliers such as Intel.
Also, they haven't changed their industrial design for 4+ years, so they really know how to build those things efficiently.
Alright fanboi, i'll bite.
| Macbook Air | Toshiba Z30 |
|---|---|
| $1080 | $850 |
| 1.4ghz i5 Haswell | 1.7ghz i5 Haswell |
| 4gb ram | 4gb ram |
| 128gb ssd | 128gb ssd |
| 900p | 768p |
| Mini DP Output | VGA & HDMI Output |
| Apple's webcam driver | Sh!# webcam |
| Built in Apps | Ethernet port |
| OSX | Windows 8.1 |
| 1.35kg | 1.21kg |
| 12 hour battery life | 12 hour battery life |
They're practically the same thing, but one has an extra $200 pricetag on it. I'll let you judge for yourself.
Use them both for a few days, I think what you get for the extra $200 will become pretty clear. Or it won't, then you've saved $200. Spec lists are mostly irrelevant for everyday use. Except for 1366x768. 1366x768 is godawful. Sorry, I have a visceral hatred for it. Every time I see those blocky screens I want to punch through them. Every time I meet someone proudly showing off their 15.6" quad core i7 bargain with one of those screens I feel like shaking them or forcing them to get their eyes tested.
Uhm, I have an ASUS UX31A, which is 13.3" 1920x1080 resolution. I can tell you now that once you reach your 40s, on a 13.3" screen FHD is actually overkill. I sit no more than a metre away and unless I upscaled the dpi on the fonts, and zoom in on web pages, I actually have to strain to read text.
I LOVE it for HD movies, and I do like the way I see more cells on a spreadsheet for instance, but for my everyday work, 1366x768 on 13.3" is actually plenty.
I understand your hate for it truly, once my screens hit 15.6 or above I hate it also, but it's not that bad on a 13.3" screen at all im my opinion. You specifically say 15.6" in your statement also, which is a bit strange as the Toshiba mentioned is only 13.3"
HAVING SAID THAT. In a side by side comparison I can see your point on value for money. I would actually appreciate the ethernet port very much though so I guess it all depends on what you're looking for. And those comments saying you can chuck Windows on it are absolutely true, BUT this adds another $110 at least if you get an official OEM version from a reputable authorized reseller. Then the cost blows out to the point where you're in the next quality bracket up comparing WinTel machines.
Yeah I get your point. 768 is awful. BUT you gotta compare Apples to apples.
Look at it this way;
15.6" generic at 1366x768 has a PPI of ~100
13.3" MBP (sans-retina) at 1280x800 has a PPI of ~ 113
13.3" Z30 at 1366x768 has a PPI of ~117
13.3" MBA at 1400x900 has a PPI of ~125
Also, I think the lower resolution, to make the screen less power intensive is the easiest way to balance Windows' drivers battery drain. Otherwise we'd only be getting a few hours of juice.
ie. ever tried running windows on a mac? your "12-hour battery" is now halved.
@cpho: I'm running Win 7 64bit now - on 13 inch MBA. Running chrome all day (gmail / calendar); Word for 6-7 hours; Excel 5 hours; plotting software (1 hour), my battery currently reads 44% remaining.
I actually hate the ios / osx eco-system, as much as I hate the "S-<insert ridiculous name here> apps etc that Samsung shove down my throat on tab/galaxy. However, the comparison in hardware of a MBA at the 950-1100 dollar range is not comparable. Yes, specs are a great starting point, but after using the product for a few days, you'll understand.
I genuinely used my wife's work-supplied Toshiba for a weekend. By Saturday lunch the Toshiba was not going to cut it - my 3 year old Asus was of higher build quality, God bless its battery.
Not everyone is a fanboi - it's just some people research their options and make an informed decision
@pensionday:
That's news to me. (no sarcasm)
How long do you usually get from full to flat? This is the first time I've heard windows getting more out of the battery than OSX. if you've gotten 13 hours use on Win7 from 56% battery, you've just sold me on the MBA. Is your windows from bootcamp?
Also, what was wrong with the Toshiba? I've had mine for 6 years (hence the need for upgrade) and it's run pretty solid over it's lifetime.
sorry my times overlapped. I should have been clearer. In total it was standard fare 8 h day minus lunch. I flicked it back on that night for additional few hours of work and battery was was in the high 20s at bed time.
I tend to work like this consistently and only charge every 2nd afternoon- night. YMMV.
Bootcamp set to load windows on boot. If you hold option at boot, you select the active position.
The processor on the Air turbos up faster when needed. Its a better processor.
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-4200U-vs-Intel-4260U (2.6 vs 2.7 at turbo speeds.
The Air also has Intel HD 5000 graphics, which are better the Intel 4400 graphics on the Toshiba.
The Toshiba has a nice mSATA SSD, which is slower than the Air's PCIe SSD.
So spec-wise, the Air is a solid half step upwards in screen resolution, CPU, GPU and SSD. On the other hand you need irritating $69 adaptors if you want HDMI, VGA or Ethernet on your Mac.
So I would say the Toshiba is a better laptop for those who need the extra connectivity but otherwise distinctly inferior.
1366 x 768 resolution is a deal killer for an $850 notebook. 1366 x 768 was OK in 1999. Most phones have an equivalent or better resolution now.
It's showing $998 on the website. You got the receipt?
The 15% promo ran Fri-Monday. It's expired now
The link isn't working for me. 404 error.