Brand New Apple MacBook Air MD231LL/A 13.3" Notebook $830 ($975 + get about $145 points back Rakuten.com)

In general, I would say stay away from parallels/vmware - they are slower, limited virtualization softwares. Boot camp is superior in every way except convenience - it requires you to restart your computer to switch OS's, though Airs are flash-based so that is a quick and simply chore. Also, once boot camp is installed in windows, windows can access, though not write, to the native Mac OSX partition, and Mac OSX can access but not write to the windows partition, making at least cross-platform file sharing a relatively painless task. If you need file writing access, there is software that allows you to do this (MacDrive for windows, Paragon NTFS for Mac).

A few days ago, apple released OSX 10.8.3, which has a full boot camp package, including drivers, for win8, and also updated drivers for win7.

However, it is MUCH more difficult to run OSX on any x86 windows PC. That is called a Hackintosh. Unlike PCs, Macs are built using uniform hardware where drivers are an issue (i.e. video cards, wifi, etc) so apple doesn't write OSX drivers for hardware they don't choose to use. You can build an x86 PC using hardware that is fully compatible with OSX, but that is typically a desktop. Laptops are more difficult, and usually involve changing out the wifi card. Here is a good place to start:

http://lifehacker.com/5841604/the...hackintosh

I'm not a Mac guy, so would installing Windows 8 or 7 be out of the question?

no, it would like be like buying a $80,000 camry, and then installing a corvette engine.

great deal btw, my sister in law has been looking to get one.

For this spring promotion, how many times can I buy? Can I buy 3 orders of the laptops?

You are delusional if you think a Windows 7/8 runs faster than Lion....

darn... yeah, out of luck... =\

OP, need more specific details on the reward points and $147 back. Also, take the $830 out of the title as it is misleading.

I realize you outlined the breakdown above but I have an issue when OPs summarize deals like this stating the total is $830. It is not. It is $974.99 plus $147 future store-specific credit. Big difference.


That being said, great deal for those who trust and like Rakuten.com if the points thing is legit.