Apple's all-new MacBook draws taunts from Asus, Dell, Lenovo

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited March 2015
While many in the media are enamored with Apple's latest thin-and-light notebook, competing PC makers haven't been so kind, taking to Twitter to ridicule Apple's offering for not being the slimmest, cheapest, or highest-resolution on the market.




Asus compared the new MacBook to its ZenBook UX305, saying the UX305 is "is even slimmer than the new Macbook [sic]," adding that "it's also about half the price." Asus's offering does best Apple's on svelteness by just under 1 millimeter, though it also weighs over half a pound more.

Our #DellXPS 13's virtually borderless infinity display has 5.7M pixels - that's 2M more than a 12" retina display. pic.twitter.com/mrT9uwo7C2

-- Dell (@Dell)


Dell mocked the MacBook's 12-inch Retina display, comparing it to the company's XPS 13. "Our #DellXPS 13's virtually borderless infinity display has 5.7M pixels - that's 2M more than a 12" retina display," Dell said.

The XPS 13 is also 2 millimeters thicker and weighs in at 2.8 pounds, compared to the MacBook's 2.03 pounds, factors unaddressed by Dell.

WE SEE YOUR thin laptop (#SoLastYear) & raise you 3 modes, 2 USB ports & a higher-resolution touch display. pic.twitter.com/vm3K08YCpt

-- Lenovo (@lenovo)


Lenovo was the most boastful, calling the MacBook "#SoLastYear." "WE SEE YOUR [sic] thin laptop (#SoLastYear) & raise you 3 modes, 2 USB ports & a higher-resolution touch display," the company wrote.

Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro, a convertible laptop-tablet running Windows 8.1, starts at $1,499 --?"instant savings" and a coupon bring that price down to $1,199 when purchased through Lenovo.com. Like the others, it's also notably heavier than the MacBook.

The response largely mirrors PC makers' reactions to the original MacBook Air in 2008. Nobody really knew what to make of it at the time, and it took three years and Intel's $300 million Ultrabook program for the rest of the industry to start catching up.

It remains to be seen whether a similar trail will follow the new MacBook, which ships with a "Force Touch" trackpad, a single USB-C port, a headphone jack, and a 12-inch Retina display in its thin chassis. For its part, Apple clearly believes it has once again defined the way forward --?as design chief Jony Ive said during the MacBook's introduction, the new device "is the result of a collective obsession to simplify its essential components to create the most efficient design possible."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 149
    aeleggaelegg Posts: 99member

    It's all they have left without understanding two phrases:

     

    Overall User Experience

    Total Lifetime Cost of Ownership.

  • Reply 2 of 149
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    but they aren't Macs...
  • Reply 3 of 149
    magman1979magman1979 Posts: 1,292member
    And yet, none of them can claim the weight of the new MacBook, nor the build quality, nor the new butterfly keyboard, nor Force Touch touchpad, nor running the superior OS which can properly take advantage of a high-resolution display (OS X).

    Once again, survival reaction kicks into high gear. Nothing speaks of taking the high road as insulting the competition! /s

    I think they've been paying too much attention to Samsung, might wanna re-think that, as look as where it's leading Samsung!
  • Reply 4 of 149
  • Reply 5 of 149
    Lenovo forgot to mention that they reach that low price by also bundling the Superfish "feature" software on that laptop.

    Thanks. But no thanks.
  • Reply 6 of 149
    Yes, everybody has something better, size, pixels etc. But nobody has all: thin light and retina notebook.
  • Reply 7 of 149
    cashxxcashxx Posts: 114member
    Plus from what I seen by the time you add the same SSD size and ram your just as expensive as the Macbook!
  • Reply 8 of 149
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    All fair in love and war. Certainly their claimed competitive advantages are no less fair than the former Mac vs. PC campaign.

    It's all good. I want Apple to have good competition. It forces them to compete more aggressively. Of course, the competition didn't mention that their machines are heavier (which is more important - weight or size? - I would maintain weight) and don't use either the new keyboard technology or have the equivalent of Force Touch.

    For some people, those other machines might be a better choice. Who cares? Buy the machine that's right for you. But having said that, the competitors' approaches to posting on social media reeks of desperation. If those other machines didn't run Windows, I actually might consider one.
  • Reply 9 of 149
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    These shortsighted tweets only prove the notion that nobody (not even Apple) can dominate all feature categories and have the lowest price all in one product. So that leaves consumers to choose based upon things they care about like build quality, overall experience and value. Apple has nothing to worry about.
  • Reply 9 of 149
    blazarblazar Posts: 270member
    Apple's new keyboard also looks fantastic.

    The trackpad experience with other laptops still sucks mostly comparatively.
  • Reply 11 of 149
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Attack the leader. Marketing that hasn't proved so effective for Samsung.
  • Reply 12 of 149
    gerardgerard Posts: 83member
    I have been looking for a replacement for my MacBook Air. I will be getting this day one...
  • Reply 13 of 149
    ANY argument can be made by simply omitting some of the facts.
  • Reply 14 of 149
    But Yosemite craps and wipes it's ass over Windows!
  • Reply 15 of 149
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    What I am sure they know but would hate to acknowledge is that as with cars these days, purchases are generally not made on the basis of specs. People will flood into the Apple Stores, take a look at the new MB, touch it, use it, love it and buy it. Never mind that the MBA is cheaper, faster and plenty good enough for most. The one technical thing I think 'most' people are concerned with is storage. Some people may also be concerned with the lack of ports but that is a temporary problem. Oh, and perhaps price until it inevitably drops.
  • Reply 16 of 149
    technotechno Posts: 737member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by aelegg View Post

     

    It's all they have left without understanding two phrases:

     

    Overall User Experience

    Total Lifetime Cost of Ownership.




    Exactly!

  • Reply 17 of 149
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member

    So Lenovo, a Chinese company owned by the Chinese government, recently caught red-handed installing spyware on their machines and knowingly creating bogus security certificates to bypass standard security protocols is attempting to deflect it by focusing attention on Apple.



    Right.



    Lenovo is permanently on my never-to-recommend a Windblows laptop ever.  Dell... well... no...



    And Asus?  The king of netbooks??? Laughable to say the least.

  • Reply 18 of 149
    Lenovo put Apple's USB-C port ON THE WRONG SIDE. Frickin' Lenovo looks ugly too.
  • Reply 19 of 149
    bocboc Posts: 72member

    When you can't cite your own success, try to tear down your competitor.  Worked real well over the last decade, right?

     

    I see absolutely nothing wrong with the speedup and simplification of the new MacBooks.

     

    Looks like Apple has just moved to limit the laptop line to 2 models:  MacBook and MacBook Pro.

     

    MacBook Pros are going to be truly wonderful performers at the top end and no doubt have more ports.  Many people don't realize how powerful existing MacBook Pros are for truly desktop class applications (including Windows), let alone with the new Intel chips coming for the high end MBPros.

  • Reply 20 of 149
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Let's see...Intel is down 4% and Microsoft almost 2% today because Intel reduced its outlook due to weak demand. I wouldn't be gloating if I were PC OEMs.
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