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Which should I choose : Asus UX31 vs. Macbook Air

rated 0 times [ 3] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 3997 / 2 Years ago, tue, may 10, 2022, 1:27:56

I'd like to replace my netbook (Samsung N210) by something a little bit more powerful while keeping my machine weight low and long battery life.

I currently hesitate between two machines I consider on par feature wise.

The Asus UX31:

pluses: nice screen resolution, good battery life, usb3

minuses: low screen view angles, no backlit keyboard

The MacBook Air 13 inches:

pluses: nice screen resolution and view angles, backlit keyboard, one-thunderbolt-cable docking station

minuses: price, the non-standard keyboard layout, no usb3

As I don't want to give up using Ubuntu as I have for 5 years now, I wonder, which should I pick with this in mind ?

I fear that we will never get the possibility to fully use the Thunderbolt port (for the Apple screen for example), but is the usb3 support in Linux in good shape ?

Also, if Ubuntu could run out of the box without tinkering that would be nice (even if I don't mind a bit hacking, my free time is rare these days).

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1 Year ago

answered 2 Years ago rontablis · Accepted Answer

The Asus UX31 has a few Ubuntu Forums threads but this one seems to highlight the main issues and work around one of them. Multitouch doesn't seem to work yet. Suspend works if you follow the SUSPEND_MODULES hacks on the later pages.

The MacBook Air 4,2 has a wiki page detailing the current status of the hardware. When using the Wiki to determine hardware compatibility you should look to see what version of Ubuntu it's using. In this case, it's fairly up to date, using Oneiric.

There are a few worrying issues including the screen but the community support is there. There is a script you run and shazaam, most of everything seems to work.

In my opinion: there is probably a laptop out there that works better than both of these but given the choice, the MacBook is probably going to involve the fewest major issues after the first week (of you fixing things). If you need USB3 however (and you might want it in the future) that might rule it out.

They're both premium hardware with extremely premium price tags so choose wisely.