Netbook similar to MacBook Air?

December 3, 2010 5:23 PM

Is there a netbook with a similar form factor to the MacBook air?

I love the size and shape of the new MacBook Air, and I want to buy a computer for being on the road. Are there are any netbooks that are similarly light and slim, but coming in around half the cost of a MacBook Air? All I need is enough to write and manage photographs through Picasa or similar. I haven't been able to find anything, but maybe Ask MeFi has some magic possibilities...

posted by StephenF to computers & internet (4 answers total)

Which Macbook Air? There are two form factors now-- the redesigned 13" and the new 11".

If 13", you might want to check out the Dell Vostro v130.
posted by sharkfu at 6:19 PM on December 3, 2010

I went through this search recently for my boss. There are small netbook/notebooks, but none seems quite as compact as the Air.

In the end we're buying a MacBook Air 13" and installing Windows 7 on it.

Of course we also have to buy the USB ethernet adaptor and external CD/DVD drive. And RAM upgrade was out of the question because of a four week delay as they had no 4GB models in stock and the memory is soldered to the motherboard at the factory!

In the end this netbook is costing about the same as a pretty well spec'd laptop would. But it's smaller.
posted by sycophant at 6:30 PM on December 3, 2010

Logically, the computer most like a MacBook Air but cheaper is a second-hand or refurbished MacBook Air...
posted by AmbroseChapel at 8:24 PM on December 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

The Lenovo U-series Ideapad is very nice.

One of my son's friends has an S series tablet that she loves to death.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:04 PM on December 3, 2010