[PugetSoundSoldier]

Half price of a Macbook Air 11.6". And it packs more storage (5 times as much as you can get in the Air), an equivalent CPU (from CPubBenchmark.net), same resolution on the screen.

And you get it with 4 GB RAM to start, customer upgradeable to 8 GB if you desire. And 3 USB ports, an SD card reader, and a real Ethernet jack, highly desirable for anyone who travels in Asia as most hotels here still do NOT have WiFi available in their rooms.

Yes, it's 12 ounces heavier, so I guess you save $500 for 12 ounces, or about $670 per pound. That's a pretty hefty premium in pricing! Even heftier if you consider the HP dm1z - about the same laptop, but for $100 less...

[6SJ7]

That Dell is half the price, but twice the weight (at almost 4 pounds!)... and don't forget to add the groovy webcab option for $79 (built in on the Air). I wonder also how much it would be to upgrade the Dell to a solid state drive?

[6SJ7]

The Dell is pretty, in a girlish sort of way.

[ReignOfError]

Try configuring a Dell with a 64GB solid state drive, a Core 2 Duo or equivalent (not an Atom) processor, under 5 lbs. The only option from Dell is the Latitude 13.

For about the same price as the Macbook Air, you get Intel integrated graphics; a battery that PC World rated among the worst, at about 3.5 hours; 802.11g (vs. n on the Macbook); no multi-touch trackpad; and an extra pound and a half of weight.

[antiRepublicrat]

First, realize the market. This is ultra-portable. Size and weight are paramount, and command the highest prices. Apple didn't invent this market, but Apple competes in it.

Yes, it's 12 ounces heavier, so I guess you save $500 for 12 ounces, or about $670 per pound.

That's 50% heavier than the Mac, and size-wize probably at least twice the volume. Have you seen what Sony charges for its slim notebooks? Serious competition for the MacBook Air (weighing less, but being a bit bigger) starts at $1,300.

Even heftier if you consider the HP dm1z - about the same laptop, but for $100 less...

That would be the one with half the performance of the MacBook Air, more like netbook performance.

And it packs more storage (5 times as much as you can get in the Air), an equivalent CPU (from CPubBenchmark.net), same resolution on the screen.

SSD, which is getting popular with PC notebooks too, commands a higher price while giving less storage space. With ultra-portables, size of the computer and battery life matter far more than HDD capacity. Get a full-sized notebook if you're worried about capacity.

"Equivalent" CPU to you apparently includes the Mac having a 26% faster CPU (from your own source). Even with that performance disadvantage, the AMD still draws 20% more power, which is one reason the Dell has to ship with a much bigger battery.

And you get it with 4 GB RAM to start, customer upgradeable to 8 GB if you desire.

Not according to Dell on the 8 GB part.

And 3 USB ports, an SD card reader, and a real Ethernet jack, highly desirable

You haven't really gotten onto this whole "wireless" thing, have you? If you just have to be tied down with a highly-mobile laptop, get a USB-Ethernet adapter. More ports also means more size, weight and complexity. Do you know how many ports are out there? Just for video there's at least VGA, mini-VGA, HDMI, DVI, Mini-DVI, Micro-DVI, DisplayPort, mini DisplayPort. Instead of being stupid and trying to please everyone, or tying the user down to an obsolete 23 year-old connector (VGA), Apple includes the ONE BEST port for a notebook, mini DisplayPort that can handle the signal of all the others. People can get adapters if they need anything else.