Dell Adamo vs. MacBook Air
Dave Fritzinger
From the summary:
"With each laptop scoring three wins in each of our first six
categories, and the MacBook Air narrowly edging ahead in the
subjective seventh, it’s tempting to call a draw. But we’re handing it
to the MacBook Air anyway, and not just because of design, which can
always be contested. The Air pulls ahead significantly in three
crucial categories (performance, price and weight), while losing by an
almost negligible margin in two less significant categories
(dimensions and battery life). The only glaring strike against it
comes from that dismal selection of ports. Unless you plan to use
multiple USB devices concurrently and plug into hardwired networks all
the time, there’s really no good reason not to go with the Air, unless
you prefer Dell’s more intricate styling and the fact that you’ll be
holding onto a far less common piece of kit."
Tim Murray
> you'll be holding onto a far less common piece of kit
I had to check ... that's not a typo.
jon.in.durham
> http://news.digitaltrends.com/feature/113/dell-adamo-vs-macbook-air
>
> From the summary:
> "With each laptop scoring three wins in each of our first six
> categories, and the MacBook Air narrowly edging ahead in the
> to the MacBook Air anyway, and not just because of design, which can
> always be contested. The Air pulls ahead significantly in three
> crucial categories (performance, price and weight), while losing by an
> almost negligible margin in two less significant categories
> (dimensions and battery life). The only glaring strike against it
> comes from that dismal selection of ports. Unless you plan to use
> multiple USB devices concurrently and plug into hardwired networks all
> you prefer Dell�s more intricate styling and the fact that you�ll be
> holding onto a far less common piece of kit."
DULL� - Yours is here� (yawn)
John Slade
"Dave Fritzinger" <dfri...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:46eb90a3-44bc-48ba...@j18g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
http://news.digitaltrends.com/feature/113/dell-adamo-vs-macbook-air
How come they didn't say anything about the Adamo having an eSATA
port? The Macbook Air has no eSATA port.
John
Walter Bushell
"John Slade" <hhit...@pacbell.net> wrote:
Because it is an elephant and immaterial for a travel notebook?
John Slade
"Walter Bushell" <pr...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:proto-B306F0....@news.panix.com...
No it isn't. As we speak there are actual eSATA memory devices that
work as fast as an eSATA HD or faster. I mean that's a pretty good reason to
have an eSATA port. Also it makes backups a lot faster. And we know that
since computer users are smart in general, they're going to backup
regularly. Now let's for example say that both computers have 200GB full HDs
that need backing up. With a USB 2.0 or Firewire 800, we're talking about 6
to 8 hours. However with an eSATA drive, it would take about an hour to an
hour and a half. Now tell me that's not being useful. Once again the old
adage of Apple lagging behind the competition is, if Apple lags behind in
it, then nobody needs it. However when Apple finally adopts it, it's the
greatest technology since sliced bread.
John
gimme_this...@yahoo.com
you’ll be holding onto a far less common piece of kit."
Piece of what?
Lloyd Parsons
"John Slade" <hhit...@pacbell.net> wrote:
Obviously the reviewers don't share your opinion about the importance of
eSATA...
gimme_this...@yahoo.com
> How come they didn't say anything about the Adamo having an eSATA
> port? The Macbook Air has no eSATA port.
Oh yeah. The eSATA port. That's a show stopper.
That is, if you're a PC and your storing large files onto a hard drive
instead of somewhere on the cloud.
Thanks for reminding us that PCs are always 5 years behind Macs.
If you're a PC you might need that eSATA drive after all.
ZnU
"John Slade" <hhit...@pacbell.net> wrote:
There are so many things wrong with this hypothetical scenario that I
hardly know where to begin.
First... you're copying 200 GB of data on each backup? Why? Are you
creating 200 GB of new data between backups? That seems quite unlikely.
Are you using a backup system so dumb it has to recopy every file, even
ones that haven't changed since the last backup? Don't do that. The Mac
ships with backup software smarter than that, and I'm sure this isn't
hard with Windows either.
Second, where did this 200 GB number even come from? The Adamo has a 128
GB SSD, as does the equivalent MacBook Air.
Third, on what planet is FW800 no faster than USB2? Because on this one
it's upwards of twice as fast. This doesn't actually matter here, since
the Air doesn't have FW800, but it's worth noting that you haven't,
apparently, got a clue.
Fourth, you're apparently assuming that that the SATA bus will be fully
saturated backing up the laptop's internal drive, which shows a gross
ignorance of the issues related to storage performance. SSDs are faster
than mechanical drives, particularly in small form factors, but most are
in the 100 MB/s range for reads, or slower. The only drive with read
performance even approaching the levels needed to saturate a SATA II bus
is the Intel X25, which neither of these machines uses.
Fifth, if you're backing up to a single external 3.5" 7200 RPM drive
(the most common case), it's going to probably be a little slower than
that SSD, so that's another bottleneck.
As a result of being horribly wrong about all of these things, you've
reached the conclusion that backing up a MacBook Air is likely to take
six or seven hours longer than backing up the same amount of data from
an Adamo.
But let's take all of the above into account, and assume the user is
creating 2 GB of new data per day (which is probably on the high side
for the kind of work typically done on a small form-factor notebook) and
is backing up to an external 3.5" 7200 RPM drive connected to the Air
via USB 2 and to the Adamo vs. SATA. We should get about 80 MB/s via
SATA and perhaps 35 MB/s via USB2.
With these assumptions, the actual approximate backup times will be
something like 25 seconds for the Adamo and a little under one minute
for the Air. And this assumes the user is creating a small number of
large files; with a larger number of smaller files, file system overhead
will tend to bring the numbers closer together.
Slade's estimated difference in backup time: 28980 seconds
Reasonable estimated difference in backup time: 35 seconds.
Slade's error: 82800%.
That's pretty bad even for you, Slade. It might actually top Edwin's
claim that the world purchases 4 billion high-end workstations every
year (or whatever it was), in terms of sheer numerical inaccuracy.
--
"The game of professional investment is intolerably boring and over-exacting to
anyone who is entirely exempt from the gambling instinct; whilst he who has it
must pay to this propensity the appropriate toll." -- John Maynard Keynes
Steve de Mena
Backups were just one use thrown out there. How you could waste the
time to go into such detail to put down the bonus of an eSATA port is
beyond me.
Steve
ZnU
There's a larger point here. The above is a nearly flawless example of
how Apple-bashers focus on specifications to the exclusion of plausible
use cases.
Sermo Malifer
>> How come they didn't say anything about the Adamo having an eSATA
>> port? The Macbook Air has no eSATA port.
>
> Oh yeah. The eSATA port. That's a show stopper.
>
> That is, if you're a PC and your storing large files onto a hard drive
> instead of somewhere on the cloud.
-hh is telling us to use hard drives instead of Blu-Ray, and you're here
telling us hard drives are unneeded! Priceless!
> Thanks for reminding us that PCs are always 5 years behind Macs.
Macs used Intel chips before PCs did? How long have Macs had the i7?
> If you're a PC you might need that eSATA drive after all.
That's probably why they included the port for it?
Thundercleets
> > "John Slade" <hhitma...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>
> >> "Walter Bushell" <pr...@panix.com> wrote in message
> >>news:proto-B306F0....@news.panix.com...
> >>> "John Slade" <hhitma...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>
> >>>> "Dave Fritzinger" <dfrit...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
Too bad Vista or even XP will not eject an eSATA device, you have to
power cycle the computer to cleanly remove one.
Maybe Dull intended Ubuntu to run on Admiral Adamo?
Ubuntu and all BSD/Linux in general has no such issue and I guess
since you admitted preferring pirated OSX, neither does OSX86.
"My children - in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many
other children,
but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't
use Google, and you don't use an iPod."
- Steve Ballmer
Steve de Mena
Sounds like pilot error.
Steve
Sermo Malifer
> Thundercleets wrote:
>> On May 14, 11:53 pm, Steve de Mena <st...@stevedemena.com> wrote:
>>> ZnU wrote:
>>>> In article <rZ2Pl.29248$yr3.8...@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com>,
>>>> "John Slade" <hhitma...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>>>> "Walter Bushell" <pr...@panix.com> wrote in message
>>>>> news:proto-B306F0....@news.panix.com...
>>>>>> In article <Fx2Pl.29245$yr3.24...@nlpi068.nbdc.sbc.com>, "John
>>>>>> Slade" <hhitma...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>>>>>>> "Dave Fritzinger" <dfrit...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:46eb90a3-44bc-48ba-8b3a-
b54a58...@j18g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
>>>>>>> http://news.digitaltrends.com/feature/113/dell-adamo-vs-macbook-
What kind of piloting skills are needed to click on an HD icon?
Sermo Malifer
Kit - In the US, a kit is a collection of items gathered for a
specific purpose, such as a first-aid kit or shaving kit. In the
UK, kit is used on a much broader basis. Although it usually
refers to some electronic gizmo (e.g. “His new mobile phone is a
cool piece of kit!”), it can be used to refer to just about
anything in the UK, especially sports uniforms (”Do you like
Manchester United’s new kit?”).
ZnU
Steve de Mena
>>> Too bad Vista or even XP will not eject an eSATA device, you have to
>>> power cycle the computer to cleanly remove one.
>> Sounds like pilot error.
>
> I suspect it's probably driver-dependent.
Yes, I think so.
Steve
GreyCloud
Well, I wish Apple would adopt a real UNIX keyboard.
--
"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument."
William G. McAdoo.
American Government official (1863-1941).
Sermo Malifer
Then why did you call it "pilot error?"
Steve de Mena
Because the "pilot" should have known that and sought out the proper
driver.
Steve
gimme_this...@yahoo.com
PRO
- Good build quality; seems pretty sturdy
- Nice keyboard with backlighting (I prefer this keyboard over the
Air)
- WAN (missing in the Air)
- eSATA, 3 USB ports
- Reasonable thermal management ad fan noise (esp compared to 1st gen
Air)
- Runs Windows 7 well
- External BluRay slot drive works well (from Sony)
- Appears to have better WiFi range than my Air
- Not festooned with crazy Microsoft, Intel and other logos
- I like the colors (black and whitish) better than aluminum (I
colorwared one of my Airs)
- Looks slick with clean lines but not too loud
CON
- Picks up fingerprints and everything else, like having a glass table
- Underpowered; throw in another CPU or something
- Trackpad is flaky, especially for scrolling
- Bit heavy for size
- Fussy software installation for BluRay drive
- Dell control software is fussy, poor UI, poor integration with
Windows, unclear how to override
- Gesture support on trackpad is poorly supported and clunky
- Ambient adaptive light sensor seems poorly calibrated
- Too expensive
gimme_this...@yahoo.com
windows, and it will cost you the same amount as the Adamo with the
1.4GHz processor. I'm just dumbfounded. I want to walk up to Michael
Dell and ask him if he has a brain.
gimme_this...@yahoo.com
> > Thanks for reminding us that PCs are always 5 years behind Macs.
>
> Macs used Intel chips before PCs did? How long have Macs had the i7?
Gees. What I meant was that PCs are so wrapped up in using XP that
they are slow to acclimate to new technologies.
All those people getting laid off?
PC users.
gimme_this...@yahoo.com
The magnifying function on the scroll pad. I have no idea how to
actually engage it, but its seems to click in at the most inopportune
times making the screen too small or too large and since I can’t seem
to get it to work when I want it to, I can’t change it back when it
does it on its own.
The screen goes bright/dim on its own without any correlation to
battery power setting or background light. It just gets brighter then
dimmer whenever it wants to. Very annoying pulse like bright/dim.
wetpixel
<46eb90a3-44bc-48ba...@j18g2000prm.googlegroups.com>,
Dave Fritzinger <dfri...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> http://news.digitaltrends.com/feature/113/dell-adamo-vs-macbook-air
>
> From the summary:
> "With each laptop scoring three wins in each of our first six
> categories, and the MacBook Air narrowly edging ahead in the
> subjective seventh, it�s tempting to call a draw. But we�re handing it
> to the MacBook Air anyway, and not just because of design, which can
> always be contested. The Air pulls ahead significantly in three
> crucial categories (performance, price and weight), while losing by an
> almost negligible margin in two less significant categories
> (dimensions and battery life). The only glaring strike against it
> comes from that dismal selection of ports. Unless you plan to use
> multiple USB devices concurrently and plug into hardwired networks all
> the time, there�s really no good reason not to go with the Air, unless
> you prefer Dell�s more intricate styling and the fact that you�ll be
> holding onto a far less common piece of kit."
I'd put battery life well ahead of weight, but if it's a small
difference, maybe that's not a big deal.
I'm alarmed they glossed over the trackpad annoyances -- those could
drive a user unhappy in short order. Input needs to be without any kind
of concern. it would be easier to ignore a poor display than a
misbehaving input device.
wetpixel
Lloyd Parsons <lloydp...@mac.com> wrote:
> > > Because it is an elephant and immaterial for a travel notebook?
> >
> > No it isn't. As we speak there are actual eSATA memory devices that
> > work as fast as an eSATA HD or faster. I mean that's a pretty good reason
> > to
> > have an eSATA port. Also it makes backups a lot faster. And we know that
> > since computer users are smart in general, they're going to backup
> > regularly. Now let's for example say that both computers have 200GB full
> > HDs
> > that need backing up. With a USB 2.0 or Firewire 800, we're talking about 6
> > to 8 hours. However with an eSATA drive, it would take about an hour to an
> > hour and a half. Now tell me that's not being useful. Once again the old
> > adage of Apple lagging behind the competition is, if Apple lags behind in
> > it, then nobody needs it. However when Apple finally adopts it, it's the
> > greatest technology since sliced bread.
> >
> > John
>
> Obviously the reviewers don't share your opinion about the importance of
> eSATA...
Slade missed the context of your reply.
Slade: yes, eSATA has benefits. that wasn't argued.
The thing is, this category of laptop needs to be physically connected
to _nothing_ all the time. So the right buyer for this kind of computer
wouldn't be connecting to eSATA, or he'd have missed the whole point.
Wireless solutions for what you suggest are appropriate, since they
offer more flexibility and do it all without having to connect short
cables.
These laptops are _not_ designed for people who will leave them on a
desk, so they shouldn't reflect the needs of those users instead of the
travel users.
wetpixel
<sermom...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 14 May 2009 18:21:10 -0700, gimme_this...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> >> How come they didn't say anything about the Adamo having an eSATA
> >> port? The Macbook Air has no eSATA port.
> >
> > Oh yeah. The eSATA port. That's a show stopper.
> >
> > That is, if you're a PC and your storing large files onto a hard drive
> > instead of somewhere on the cloud.
>
> -hh is telling us to use hard drives instead of Blu-Ray, and you're here
> telling us hard drives are unneeded! Priceless!
Oh, for God's sake, Edwin!
"On the cloud" refers to a mass-storage metaphor which is networked
hard drives. He's not avoiding hard drives; he's saying that the modern
methods avoid specific direct storage devices needing to be physically
connected to the computer.
> > Thanks for reminding us that PCs are always 5 years behind Macs.
>
> Macs used Intel chips before PCs did? How long have Macs had the i7?
Yes, they did, you idiot.
But using intel chips is not anb accomplishment, nor an important
virtue.
The i7 is just a recent, specific, and unimportant detail. It's not
brand names or marketing that matters, and neither is the fact they
some use Intel chips.It is irrelevant that the chips either side uses
are Intel -- as it is irrelevant when any maker began using Intel
particularly.
> > If you're a PC you might need that eSATA drive after all.
>
> That's probably why they included the port for it?
Yes, but he's saying that's a kludge -- an undesirable symptom of a
bigger problem.
But that went right past you, didn't it?