Uncanny MacBook Air clone gets reviewed, panned
updated 06:00 pm EST, Tue December 6, 2011
Chinese MacBook Air copy found to perform poorly
The Chinese-made copy of the MacBook Air introduced back in October has just been reviewed by MIC Gadget. The $500 notebook obviously falls short of the original, which starts at $1,000. The body is not as thin, it outweighs the Apple product, and the body is plastic with a coat of matte finish.
The touchpad, while button-free and supportive of multi-touch inputs, was said to be loud and clunky. The keyboard also sometime failed to register presses, but was backlit. The glossy 13.3-inch screen had a 1366x768 resolution that's said to make web browsing a pain. Apple's 13-inch system uses a 1440x900 display with partly reduced glare.
As for performance, the 1.8GHz Atom-powered clone posted PCMark Vantage numbers of 1,399, or nearly seven times worse than the MacBook Air. The battery life in the clone was also disappointing, at just over two hours of video playback and 1 hour and 26 minutes of web-browsing over Wi-Fi. The clone has a 32GB SSD, but still took a lengthy 53 seconds to boot and is loud in its operation.
Rather than Apple's Thunderbolt port, the fake notebook has a mini HDMI output. Other ports are pretty much matched, including a fairly convincing copy of Apple's MagSafe charging connector.
The reviewers conclude by saying the fake looks 98 percent like the real product. Many of those who might buy it in China on the assumption of getting close enough, however, would be greatly disappointed.
Grizzled Veteran
Joined: Oct 1999
WTF
So, are media outlets going to start reviewing and scoring counterfeit goods? What marks will they give to a a near perfect duplicate? Will they recommend buying it in place of the genuine article? It's this kind of stupid behaviour that provides the oxygen for draconian freedom-limiting measures against counterfeiting and piracy. It plays directly into the hands of the RIAA, the MPAA and the BSA. Media outlets should act responsibly and provide no publicity of any kind for illegally produced goods.