Elizabeth Mateo, founder of Casa Naranja, a newsletter and blog based in New York City that targets a style-conscious Hispanic market, often attends cocktail parties and other events where it’s hard to look chic while toting a laptop.
So, Mateo jumped at the chance to spend a few weeks with three sleek new computers designed to be extra portable: the Apple MacBook Air, the Everex Cloudbook, and the Sony VAIO Tz 298N.
MacDailyNews Take: Catchy name there, Sony. Some fools will never learn.
Mateo reports for CNN, “When I started this test, I was more inclined to use the VAIO, since I have been a PC user for 20 years… But as time wore on, the VAIO became less attractive. For example, high-def movie trailers played flawlessly on the Air and really showed off its screen. Sony’s processor was not powerful enough to render video smoothly, so it was a choppy, unpleasant viewing experience. “
“The Cloudbook (US$399), which uses a Linux-based operating system called Ubuntu, was the runt of the litter. Booting the machine up was dog slow, and the keyboard felt mushy and cheap. It could stall for minutes at a time,” Mateo reports. “The Cloudbook is designed to offer basics such as e-mail and the web, and the price is nice. The performance isn’t.”
“The MacBook Air is going to get approving looks no matter where you go… there’s no denying the thing is gorgeous. It feels great in your hands and somehow seems lighter than the VAIO, even though it actually isn’t. The trackpad is large, and scrolling is intuitive. You use two fingers to scroll, one finger to mouse, just like the iPhone. Using the Air is like Christmas, your birthday, and Valentine’s Day all rolled into one,” Mateo reports.
“The MacBook Air really won me over. It does not compromise on keyboard or screen size. The Mac OS was fairly easy to use (though I’ll never get used to not having a right mouse button),” ,” Mateo reports.
MacDailyNews Note: It’s somewhat strange that she knows about the two-finger scrolling, but not about the “two finger right click.” Mac notebooks do not have a physical “right button,” but they certainly do have a virtual one. Secondary clicking debuted on Macs with the release of Mac OS 8’s contextual menus on July 26, 1997. All Macs (except Mac mini) ship with multi-button mice (Apple’s Mighty Mouse) or secondary-click-capable trackpads on notebooks (enable in System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Trackpad: Check the box “For secondary clicks, place two fingers on trackpad then click the button”). Plug in just about any third-party multi-button mouse and Mac OS X will support it.
Mateo continues, “If you need to use Windows, you can install a program called Bootcamp, which switches between Mac and Windows. I now lust for this laptop and will switch to a Mac as soon as possible.”
Full article here.
