These low cost mini laptops have been flooding the market general public and appear in the catalogs of all the major brands. Are netbooks also a viable option for the professional world?

Asus, Dell, Lenovo… Every computer company has launched netbooks. They sell in between $300 and $600 on average, and weight generally less than two pounds. Intended for the general public, they are starting to find their ways in more and more businesses as well. For example, 10% of Lenovo netbook sales end up into businesses. Is it possible for a laptop with a screen smaller than 10 inches and a small keyboard (not practical for any regular user) to find a place in the professional world?

According to the computer companies themselves, these notebooks are not well suited for companies, they often recommend the 12 and 13 inches version of their netbooks that a better mix and more practical, allowing regular work and presenting some advantages for heavy travelers. Small and bigger notebooks have found niche uses within some businesses. Truckers, delivery people, repair teams… have regular use of a netbook for short amount of times (i.e a few minutes at a client site).

Right now, the use of netbooks is anecdotal in companies, it may stay that way for a while but it is not reasonable to see them gain some momentum as they get faster, more powerful… Technical innovations such as the foldable screens (yes they are working on that as we speak) may also drastically increase their appeal.

With the arrival of the Eee PC 1000H, the new ultra portable gets a bit more robust and comfortable than the previous 7 inches and 8.9 inches models. In the process, the Eee PC gains one pound and gets a bit more expensive.

Despite all the issues on the first models, the Eee ultraportables have been very successful, with more than seven million 7 inches units sold in between January and July 2008. Just as the 8.9 just hit the marketplace, the Eee PC 1000H is being launched and wants to attract more customers interested in the ultraporatble concept but may be resisting letting go of a full laptop..

One of the strong points is the new slick design and of course the new 10 inches screen. Not only this new dimension improves the reading comfort, but it also allows the Asus to have a worthy keyboard.

New ultraportable, new processor; faithful to Intel (Celeron equipped the 7 and the 9 series) Asus integrates the latest processor from the Californian brand, the awaited Atom. This low consumption processor should, on one hand, improve the performances but also, improve machine autonomy. This point is important since on the previous models, the batteries where very small for various reasons (weight, cost..) therefore, the autonomy of theses machines suffered quite a bit, which takes away a big part of their interest. It is anticipated that due to the very low power consumption of this new processor and therefore the added autonomy, a new wave of interest shows up for Asus models and for the other ultraportable in general.

The screen has a resolution of 1024 x 600; this is definitively a plus as the screen is about as good as some of high end 11 inches ultraportables. With the bigger screen, better and bigger keyboard and an autonomy expected around 4h30, the Eee PC 1000 and his price of $600 is going to be a formidable competitor for other ultra portables, some of them reaching prices up to $3,000.

The downside of this new model is the weight. It went from less than two pounds on previous models to 3 pounds now. Some “ultranomades” will probably not appreciate. If weight is a definite issue for you, the planned arrival of the Eee PC 904 and 905 should take care of that issue, as they will have weight right around two pounds.

The Eee PC 1000H is delivered with Windows and a version Linux is also available. The hard drive has a capacity of 80 GB, one GB of RAM, of 3 USB ports, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi a Webcam and of a microphone.

Pros:
- Bigger screen
- more comfortable Keyboard
- improved Autonomy

Cons:
- Heavier

Building on its previous success the EEE 1000H should do well. At that size it’s getting a little bit away from the ultraportable attribute that made is name, on the other hand, it is a more comfortable user experience… All in all it’s a very good machine that will attract customers that want the ultra portability while keeping a certain level of workability.

Looking for a laptop for your home or business, if you want to have some of the basics facts before you start shopping, here a small guide of purchase of laptops.

Laptops have made some drastic progress in the last few years and at that point in time they can easily be a substitute to a desktop for most users (the only exceptions being programmers and heavy gamers). While the price of laptops is a little bit more than a desktop for most users even the cheaper laptops will suffice for their regular needs. The price starts around $299 and can go all the way to $3,000; you will find the majority of the laptops in the $600 to $1,000 range. We will review briefly what are the musts and also what to not waist your time and money on.

The processor
The processor is the heart of your laptop. It treats the instructions and the data before redistribute them.

There are two main competitors in that market INTEL and AMD. Every brand has multiple processors segmented in several families. Is one of the two brands better than the other? Unless you are an absolute gamer needing the latest and greatest and most powerful processor, the response is no. Whether you use an AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor or an Intel® Core™2 Duo mobile processor, you won’t really notice a difference. As both brands compete to improve their processors, every few months, one leads the other and then vice versa a few month later.

At the time you are ready to buy your laptop, check that you have one of the latest processors (something that came out in the last 12 months) and you will be all right.

The Random Access Memory (RAM)
Simply said, the more memory your laptop has, the faster and most stable your laptop will be. Count a minimum of 2GB to run Windows Vista and 1GB for Windows XP. If the laptop you are looking at has more, even better but it is not essential.

The hard drive
The hard drive stores your applications as well as your documents. The bigger your hard drive is, the more room you will have for your documents, photos and video. Keep in mind that external hard drives are available and will allow you to increase your storage capacity. Also, in case of breakdown, you will be well happy to be able to recover the part of your documents that was backed up. Accident happen to laptops, so it is definitely something worth looking into; many external hard drive can be purchased starting at $100 for 500 GB, that’s plenty of space and a great insurance policy against loosing precious pictures, documents…

As far as the capacity of the hard drive needed for your laptop, you need a minimum of 160 GB these days.

The graphic card
This is rarely something you are inquiring about at the time of a purchase and yet, it is a very important element of your laptop. In fact, as opposed to the classical PC, it is practically impossible to change the graphic card of a laptop. Once you have it, this is for life! (at least the one of your laptop). Graphic card such as the Intel X3100, nVidia 6100/7000 will suffice for a usage office, web surfing, video and photo. For gamers, look for nVidia GeForce 8600M or a ATI Radeon mobility HD 2600.

The screen
Most models have a 15.4 inches display with a resolution of 1280×800. This is sufficient for a regular use and even games. If you want an increased comfort, buy a laptop with a 17 inches screen (the keyboard will be bigger to). Latest trend, ultra portables and mobile computers with screens in between 9 inches and 13 inches which weigh less than 3 pounds for some of them; if your have a nomadic lifestyle, this is definitively something to consider.

The Connections
Few person pay attention to them and nevertheless, this is a crucial point. All the laptops have basic connections.
• USB ports for peripherals such as the mouse, printer, webcam, MP3 player… In any events, two USB ports are not advisable. Three or four are definitively better.
• VGA port will allow you to link your laptop to monitor.
• HDMI for high video definition (blu-ray and HD DVD).
• S-video output is the analogical version of the a HDMI. You will find less and less of these connections
• FireWire or IEEE 1394 will allow you to connect to digital camcorders mp5 and mp3 at fast speed.
• SATA connection allows you to connect to a SATA external hard drive at fast pace.
• An Ethernet (RJ45) will allow you to connect to the internet. This connection is an absolute must.
• RJ11. This is to connect to a modem, not very useful nowadays
• The express Card allows you to connect to peripherals such as tuners
• The PCMCIA does the same function as the express card but it is less and less used these days.

As far as connections, look for four USB, VGA, HDMI, Ethernet connection, Bluetooth and an Express card.

Fast and easy, you can of course gather a lot more information, but if you follow the guidelines above, you should buy the computer you need and not the one they are trying to market to you.

It is important to know the battery type of battery is your laptop equipped with. Their maintenance and ways to maximize their efficiency and lifespan varies according to the technology used for that battery.

What you need to know about the different types of batteries
Most laptops use lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries or nickel metal hydrure (NiMH). The latter ones are older and more and more frequently replaced with lithium-ion batteries because of their good performances / price ratio. These batteries also have the benefit of not to suffering from the memory degradation effect (degradation of performances if a charge cycle is launched on a battery that was not fully discharged). In a close future, this technology should yield its place to Ion Polymere batteries. The chemical combination of this new type of battery offers the best compromise weight/power, but these batteries are also more expensive (that should decrease over time). To obtain the best possible efficiency and delay their wear, it is highly recommended to follow the guidelines listed below.

Lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries
• To obtain the best performances, when the battery is new (and only then), carry out two to three complete cycles of charge/discharge.
• Avoid using or to leave your computer in an environment that is too cold (less than 45F/10°) or too hot (more of 85F/35°).
• While in a regular use, avoid discharging your battery totally.
• Withdraw the battery if the computer is not used for an extended period.
• If you use constantly your laptop while the plugged in, withdraw the battery (after it has been fully charged).
• It is useless to wait for the battery to be totally discharged to launch a charge cycle.
• Carry out a minimum of one complete charge every month.
• These batteries do not suffer from memory degradation.

Nickel hydrure (NiMH) batteries
• Before starting a charge cycle, the battery must be totally emptied.
• Space to the maximum the frequency of charges.
• After a certain amount of time, memory degradation is going to happen.
• Every other month, it is best to discharge completely the battery, then to refill it totally.

Cadmium (NiCd) batteries
• This technology is the oldest one. It is being used less and less these days.
• These batteries suffer from the memory degradation.
• Before starting a charge, the battery will have to be emptied totally.
• Never leave this battery in your laptop when your laptop is plugged in.

Lithium-polymere (Li-po) batteries
• These batteries have the best performance but they are also the most expensive ones.
• These batteries offer an excellent compromise weight/power.
• The charging time is long compared to the other types of batteries.
• It is essential to respect to follow the manufacturer recommendations to avoid battery overheating.
• These batteries do not suffer from memory degradation.
• Do not refill a lithium-polymere battery immediately after usage; it is best to wait at least fifteen minutes.
• Avoid completely emptying the battery or you run the risk to damage the battery.
• The length of life of a battery Li-po is relatively short.

Click here to read part one of extending your laptop autonomy.

Year after year, the performances of our laptops continue to make extraordinary leaps forward. The capacities of calculation and of storage evolve in a phenomenal manner. Yet their autonomy while improving does not progress the same manner. In five years, average autonomy of our portable machines was multiplied by two. Despite these advances, the nomadic user wants more. Is it possible to extend the autonomy of his portable PC? Which components do have the biggest influence on performances? What can you do to extend to extend your laptop autonomy?

In contrast to what one could sometime think, the battery builders do their best to maximize autonomy. It’s a consistent fight in between autonomy progress and more energy demanding laptops. Despite the manufacturers’ efforts, it is presently difficult to obtain autonomy any higher than four hours on a standard notebook. This value remains comparatively weak facing the current needs. It is therefore important to maximize all avenues to ensure that your laptop autonomy is at its best. To guide you in this venture, we will approach the different solutions of economy of energy. To start, we will enumerate the basic principles that it is important to respect. In other articles we will review other important elements tied to your laptop battery, how you can adjust Windows, special software and additional peripherals.

First things first, let’s review some basic autonomy savers.

1) Make sure that your laptop doesn’t overheat
When in use, the ventilation orifices must not be obstructed. An overheating would induce inevitably a growth of the electric consumption. If the laptop is old, it will be able to be wise to clean these gates. Remove papers and other items that maybe on the laptop keyboards (if you are using a separate keyboard). At last, note that to obtain an optimum autonomy, it will be necessary to avoid using or to store your laptop in a surrounding too cold (less than 45F/10°C) or too hot (more of 85F/35°C).

2) Use the right drivers, and to update them
As each knows it, to manage an interface (generally material) or a peripheral, an operating system needs a software called drivers. With a laptop, the usage of optimized drivers is particularly important. Without that, Windows could be incapable to manage the variable frequency of a processor (central processor or graphic processor) or all other method of economy of energy. To find recent drivers, go to the manufacturer website for your laptop.

3) Defragment your hard drive regularly
The fragmentation means that the data of a same file (a picture or a document text for example) find themselves disseminated to several places of a hard disc. At the time of the opening of a fragmented file, the head of reading of the disc will have therefore to do many movements to collect the “pieces” of shed files on the disc surface. This phenomenon induces an excess use of the hard drive that therefore decreases autonomy. To avoid this problem, think about to defragment your disc when your computer is plugged in to a power outlet.

4) Operating System updates
Operating systems bugs are consistently being fixed as well as improvements are being made. There are some well known cases were computers where affected by issues due to the OS. Therefore, as a general rule updating the operating system must not be neglected. Verify regularly that your operating system has the latest updates.

Click here to read part two of extending your laptop
autonomy, understand and pamper your laptop battery

The ambitions of Lenovo are clear, create the best ultraportable in the market. Building on the prestigious ThinkPad family, the X300 is an impressive computer which does not compromise ultraportable and functionalities.

The Lenovo X300 versus MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is definitively a beautiful design (some will say sexy) and is ultra thin and light. In order to look that way, the Mac book has made some sacrifices in ways of functionalities, battery life and power. X 300 has a more conventional (old fashion) look, thicker and a bit heavier but it gains in functionality, power, has a DVD burner and yet has the dimensions and weight of an ultraportable. To complete the comparison The MacBook Air is beautiful extra light, trendy and will satisfy light users; the X300 looks conventional, is powerful and functional and will satisfy medium and some heavy users.

ThinkPad style
At first look, you can see a lot of similarities from previous generation of ThinkPads. The lines are straight (most competitors have rounded their laptops) and the min-joystick is still there. The keyboard has a the usual soft touch and comes with a retro light if needed. The finish is clean, robust, only the screen maybe sensitive to scratches.

Inside the X300
The processor used for the X300 laptop is new, it is a Core two duo L7100 this processor has an ultra compact chip similar to MacBook Air; it has a speed of 1.2 GHz and belong to the family of the Intel-based low voltage processors. The L7100 runs at 800 MHz and has 4 Mo of cash memory. This laptop comes with 2 GB of RAM which is enough to run Vista. That ThinkPad works very well in most situations and unless you are a graphic artist, big database user or heaver gamer, you will be very happy with its performances.

Lenovo X300 equipment
Despite its small size, The X300 focuses on maximum integration. No wasted space here, it comes with a DVD burner and webcam, you will also find three USB and one Ethernet connection. The wireless is equally well represented with Bluetooth 2.0 WiFi, 802.11 and 3G HSDPA. This one is also in charge of the video output for VGA.

Screen for professional
With a 13.3 inches the screen is big enough to view wide spreadsheet such as Excel, it is built up with a high quality definition of 1440 by 900 pixels. The graphic card is the classic Intel GMA X3100 with 368 Mo of shared memory.

Disappointing autonomy
During a testing the laptop battery never lasted more than 2 hours and 30 minutes, which is a bit disappointing with the SSD, LED screen and low-voltage processor. After we “played” with the numerous internal management tools we were able to extend the autonomy to 4 hours with light use such as Word. Additionally, the DVD can be replaced by an additional 3 cell battery.

Conclusion
All in all, a ThinkPad X300 is a wonderful ultraportable, light, compact and robust. Professional travelers will be very happy to use that notebook. There is a price for excellence and that price is $3,000. Final note, the X300 comes with three years manufacturer warranty.

Forerunners of the color portable PCS, the Vaio C series C are regularly updated by Sony. Here therefore the CR590 with glossy champagne gold finish.

Look and feel
The CR590 looks similar to the preceding generation. A superb refined design combined with a perfect finish. The plastic used look and feel nice and a wide steel chassis comes to refine and strengthen the laptop. The dimensions are in the norm with a wide screen of 14.1 inches, measurements of 13.2″(W) x 0.83-1.51″(H) x 9.8″(D) for 5.5 pounds (with standard battery). This laptop is light enough to be carried around everywhere while displaying a good size screen.

Performance
The CR590 adopts a processor of new generation. The Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8300 display an honorable 2.4 GHz with 3 MB L2 Cache. While the processor is situated rather in mid level for speed, it does not prevent it to attain an excellent level of performance. It surpasses the T7700 that constituted the former summit of range of the processors Intel Core 2 Duetsfor calculation and multimedia. The Sony CR590 comes with 3 Go of RAM and has a hard disc offering a comfortable 320GB capacity built by Hitachi that attains decent transfer speed. This unity has a classical DVD burner.

Equipment
Expansions slots include One Memory Stick Duo™ media slot with MagicGate® functionality and one ExpressCard® /34 slot One Secure Digital (SD™ memory card) media slot to take advantage of most of the current formats.
The 14.1 inches screen (uses a flagstone X black) offers a crisp 1280 x 800 pixels resolution. The overall offer is of impressive quality, a habit with Sony. Two output video s-video and VGA reply combine to answer all your video/presentation needs.
Connections: The antique taken Ethernet 100 Mbits contrast with the double presence of the Bluetooth 2,0 and wi-fl 802,11 a/b/g/n. With three USB and the Firewire, this Vaio is rather complete. Many buttons of short cut towards multimedia functionalities.
Hardware: A built-in 1.3 megapixel camera and a microphone are there for your Skype and other messengers needs…
Battery: We estimate the autonomy of this laptop to be about almost 2 hours. If using your laptop unplugged is high on your list, upgrade to the 12 cells battery and it should boost the autonomy to 3.5 to 4 hours. The large capacity battery is sold at $249 currently.

Price and final opinion
This machine seduces by his exemplary finishing and his very successful look. It is a good mix of speed, capacity, connections capability and portability. The CR590 is marketed has around $1,150 A good price for a laptop that commands attention.

Technical Specifications
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 2.40GHz
• RAM: 3GB (Max 4GB)
• Hard Drive: 320GB
• Screen Size: 14.1″ with a resolution of 1280 x 800
• Graphics: Intel® GM965 Express Chipset
• Reader: DVD burner double layer
• Outputs: 3 USB, 1 Firewire, 1 Expresscard, 1 VGA, 1 S video, 1 SPDIF
• Wireless: Bluetooth 2.0 Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Dimensions: 13.2″(W) x 0.83-1.51″(H) x 9.8″(D)
• Weight: 5.49 pounds (with standard battery)
• Price: Around $1,150

One year after announcing the iPhone, Apple presents its latest laptop: the MacBook Air, which they claim is the thinnest laptop in the world.  Is the MacBook Air really the dream laptop for all travelers or does it
conceal irreparable gaps? 

Presentation

The MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, the MacBook Air has similar dimensions than the MacBook, but its maximum thickness does not exceed 0.76 inches.  Just as its predecessor, it
presents a wide keyboard, an integrated webcam and the latest operating system Mac OS X "Leopard".  In its basic version, it comes with a processor Core 2 signed Duets Intel and rhythmical to 1.6 GHz, the MacBook Air is equipped of 2 Go of RAM, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11n, and a 80 GB hardrive.

Look, keyboard, touchpad

The MacBook Air is immediately enticing. Breaking with the design of the MacBook and Pro MacBook, that present comparatively rectilinear lines, Apple chose to conceive a chassis with very lightly rounded edges, which contributes to reinforce its thinness impression.  The general dimensions establish themselves to 12.8 inches wide and 8.95 inches deep, same as the one of the MacBook, it features a 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display that has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution.

The MacBook Air weighs a little less than 3 pounds. The body of the shell of the MacBook Air adopts a gray anodized surface similar to what one rediscovers on the Pro MacBook or on the rear face of the iPhone. 
Rather rigid, this shell makes good impression in the measure where the MacBook Air adorned clearly less fragile than one could have thought initially. 
Nevertheless, this soft surface to the key marks enough easily, the true nomadic will need a protection slip-cover. 

As on the Pro MacBook, this keyboard takes advantage of a back light, rather pleasant when one uses the machine in obscurity, of which the intensity can be regulated regardless of the one of the screen.  After several days of use, and the necessary moments of adaptation, the keyboard of the MacBook Air reveals itself very pleasant.

The screen

The MacBook Air has a webcam (640 x 480) of poor quality and a microphone. It has a luminosity sensor that automatically adjusts the intensity of the backlight LED when one is located in a dark area.  In this
case, the intensity of the lighting of the keyboard diminishes. When you put your finger on the sensor: this one detects instantly obscurity, and the screen intensity diminishes.  With a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, the screen of the MacBook Air offers a work surface less important than the one of certain models 11 inches, with which these the resolution climbs to 1366 x 768 pixels, but Apple guarantees thus a certain visual comfort, with a definition that will suit completely most users.  Of brilliant type, the flagstone LCD is luminous, and returns hot colors, rather faithful.  By increasing the luminosity, use the Macbook Air in the outside light. 

The MacBook Air inaugurates a new generation of touchpad, inspired by the iPhone, the first movable telephone of Apple.  It is wider, a traditional touchpad. With three fingers, you can use the navigator Safari…
but not with Firefox.  Most of these small functionalities do not radically transform the user experience, but are part of the charm of the Apple products. 

Connections

The three connectors proposed by the MacBook Air are located on left side, sheltered by a small trap door that, once opened, leaves only little space to reach them.  Concretely, if your connector is thick, or if
you use a wide USB key, you will not be able to connect them directly.  In order to remedy the problem, Apple suggests suing an extension.  These are rather inexpensive, but one is now obliged to multiply the cables, which somewhat diminishes the ultra portable aspect of the machine. 

WiFi but no DVD 

The absence of DVD reader is voluntary (there is not enough thickness anyway). Apple’s marketing states that at a time where wires are going away, is it still necessary to have a DVD reader?  Apple plays the network card, with an application compatible with Mac as well as Windows XP and Windows Vista that allows DAV and CD use wirelessly. The reader of your principal machine will be able therefore you to serve to install applications, transfer contents towards the MacBook Air and even resettle your operating system but it may take 5 to 10 times longer than using a DVD reader. If that is a major issue you will have to buy an external $99 USB 2.0 based DVD reader.

Speed

Powered by a processor Core 2 rhythmical Duets to 1.6 GHz, engraved in 65 nanometers, the MacBook Air is not a speed demon, and is slower than the other Apple laptops. The choice of Apple is therefore supposed to
guarantee a level of acceptable performances for light and medium users. 

If you are ready to spend more the MacBook Air comes with a more powerful processor posting a frequency of 1.8 GHz but also and especially of a hard disc to memory Flash of type SSD of 64 Go, similar to the one that integrates in standard Lenovo in his Thinkpad X300.  To take advantage of these two improvements, it will be necessary nevertheless to pay out a supplement of some $1,300, which will carry the final price of the MacBook Air to about $3,098. 

Performance 

Certain applications extremely resource intensive work clearly slowly on the MacBook Air, due to its 1.6 GHz processor.  In other words the manipulation of pictures of big size under Photoshop or video editing will
put your patience to a certain test. 

On the other hand, the manipulation of photos or video sequences by means of iMovie will work without difficulties, and without any notable discomfort.  The interface preserves the fluidity that you can expect of
Leopard in spite of the poor performances of its processor.  The Web navigation, office, music and video use do not suffer from any problem. As for games, let’s keep it simple, just choose a different laptop. 

Battery Life

Apple talks about an autonomy of about five hours with activated WiFi. While selecting the eco mode proposed by Mac OS X and the screen luminosity to 75% of his capacity, the MacBook Air was able to work during 3h15 before the low battery warning showed up. 

Conclusion

One could think that with his MacBook Air, stretched Apple to create a new segment on the laptop market.  Its irreproachable design, moderate weight and extreme thinness makes it a good candidate for the ultra
portable category. But the impossibility to change the battery or the extremely limited connectivity will stop many professionals who generally like this type of machines.  The performance of the MacBook Air will suffice for light traveler users i.e. bloggers, connected fanatics, journalists, and other sales representatives. They will have no difficulty working with photos, compose bills and items or prepare, then to assure a presentation, all profiting from it of his excellent flagstone LCD screen. 

Apple has attempted to circumvent some of the handicaps of the MacBook Air.  The absence of DVD is compensated by the functionality of take in charge of a reader network on a distant machine, PC or Mac.  The idea is interesting, even if in the facts, we cannot envision installing anything sizeable that way.  The touchpad is improved, integrating more functionalities coming from the iPhone.  Although these improvements do not revolutionize the way one interacts with a computer, they are rather pleasant. 

It will be necessary to add to the MacBook Air an external DVD, as well as a USB hub and an adapter USB for the Ethernet to assure a real comfort of usage, and to put it on an equal foot with other machines with equivalent price and functionality.  Therefore this diminishes what makes the charm of the MacBook Air: its thinness.  The other solution would be to adhere to the idea that the MacBook Air is conceived only as an auxiliary machine, a
light portable and elegant one coming to complete your work station for the days where you travel and only do light work.

This beautiful machine suffers from cruel limitations that other computers, sometimes lighter or less costly, do not have.  In spite of the beautiful lines and user friendliness of the MacBook Air, it does not deliver the ultra portable promise as expected. The previous MacBook performs better, is more functional, and cheaper!