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Speculation over new MBA, excited...

New MBA

  • 11.6"

    Votes: 61 43.0%

  • 13.3"

    Votes: 74 52.1%

  • 15.4"

    Votes: 7 4.9%
  • Total voters
    142
S

skate71290

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 14, 2009
556
0
UK
I know it's just a rumour, but this has been the only credible Air news we have seen for months, so with the potential Air update, what would everyone like to see? Personally rooting for a 15.4" MBA with 1680x1050 Matte screen, 4GB, i5, 128GB SSD and nVidia 330m with the Glass Trackpad :) hope Steve doesn't disappoint, but I will settle for an improved 13" with upgradeable screen resolution!
 
skate71290 said:
I know it's just a rumour, but this has been the only credible Air news we have seen for months, so with the potential Air update, what would everyone like to see? Personally rooting for a 15.4" MBA with 1680x1050 Matte screen, 4GB, i5, 128GB SSD and nVidia 330m with the Glass Trackpad :) hope Steve doesn't disappoint, but I will settle for an improved 13" with upgradeable screen resolution!
Click to expand...

WOW! That would be nice, but I don't think its possible without serious throttling. This would ultimately defeat the point of the hardware.

If its still thin, its gonna be (Throttled) 13" MBP hardware at best.

A new Retina display would be killer!
 
skate71290 said:
I know it's just a rumour, but this has been the only credible Air news we have seen for months, so with the potential Air update, what would everyone like to see? Personally rooting for a 15.4" MBA with 1680x1050 Matte screen, 4GB, i5, 128GB SSD and nVidia 330m with the Glass Trackpad :) hope Steve doesn't disappoint, but I will settle for an improved 13" with upgradeable screen resolution!
Click to expand...

I'm with you on all that except the screen - 11.6" 1920x1080 glossy and glass cover would be my pick :).
 
I'm hoping for something......

with a matte option screen
11 or 13 for a display is fine
resolution around 1400x900
4gb, decent sized hdd (or sdd)
i'd be happy with an i3 processor (variant of it probably)
5 hour battery (slim model would dictate this)
OS X!

and a reasonable price.


Can't see it happening though
 
I have been saying for over a year that the MBA would be the first Mac introduced with a new screen technology. I believe it will be a high resolution IPS display. I wish it would be a retina display, but that isn't happening. I also could see OLED making its way into the MBA as Apple has its partnership with LG. Something new with the display is the easiest and most obvious way for Apple to differentiate its Macs from PCs. The MBA is the perfect testing tool for any new tech.

I am still going with a Core i7-6x0LM CPU... the replacement for the Intel SL9x00 C2D CPU currently being used in the MBA. I am going with an AMD/ATI 5430 discrete GPU. It is a 7W GPU.

I am going with thicker and more uniform thickness, new case design, and BTO upgrade options including a 256 GB SSD and 4/8GB RAM options. We could also see Apple introduce USB 3.0 in the MBA, but it will probably be one port.

One other thing is the brand name. I believe Apple could change the brand name of the MBA, but maybe they would achieve the same result by just changing the design. Ever since the original MBA, people believe the MBA is completely useless and a novelty. The first one was problematic, but the rev B/C have solved the vast majority of those issues.

I am really looking forward to this update... but unfortunately, I might have to wait a few months to buy one. I am only kidding myself there.
 
15 would be nice heck I'd get a 17 inch that thin but 13.3 is the perfect size for this laptop. 11 inch makes it only good for browsing the web and email it would be hard to write papers design on keynote/dreamweaver on that size.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)

"it would be hard to write papers on that size..."

That brings to mind an idea: A 13" or 11" laptop both often need a bigger tabletop monitor in home or office. They could offer a discount if the customer buys both at the same time. The high price $1K monitor gets a hundred or two knocked off the price.... to motivate us to not go elsewhere for the big monitor.

Then they can get it back, by price-gouging us for extra memory :eek:
 
WilliamG said:
Actually, some of us are still using a 1.6Ghz MacBook Air first gen with no issues at all. :)
Click to expand...

Great for you! Most people that were happy with it were people who bought it refurbished... and people who don't expect much from it. I expect it to run like a Mac and do anything I would expect a Mac with OS X to do.

The people that bought the original refurbished and are happy got a bargain for their money. If one doesn't need it to do much, it was a great way to get a lightweight, beautiful, Mac, at a low price. I would say for Word, email, and very light Internet (with no visual media), the original MBA is great.
 
Kebabselector said:
I'm hoping for something......
with a matte option screen
11 or 13 for a display is fine
resolution around 1400x900
4gb, decent sized hdd (or sdd)
i'd be happy with an i3 processor (variant of it probably)
5 hour battery (slim model would dictate this)
OS X!
and a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

I'd be into that too, even more so if the ram was 6/8GB ... been struggling on my 2007 C2D with 4GB running Fusion VMWare .... I might even be turned off buying a 15" MBP, given that I'm getting old now and the weight is getting heavier to lug around ;)
 
Im going with scottsdale because the rest of you just make **** up.

17"
dual 12 core opterons
12hr battery
1tb ssd
retina display
touchscreen keyboard
4 light peak connectors
intel igp
 
Since the retina display has a maximum resolution of 640x960 I'm not sure why everyone wants that in the new Air. Or were you guys using the term incorrectly and really meant to say you wanted a higher resolution display.

Now if you were just being lazy and meant to say you wanted a 300dpi screen I'm not sure why you would want that since OSX is not resolution independent? Every interface element would be really tiny. the 17"MBP high res screen is 132ppi. Shrink the interface elements by half and that's what retina display would be like.

So does everyone who is tossing around the term retina display because its easy to say really want an unusable interface?
 
cleric said:
Im going with scottsdale because the rest of you just make **** up.
17" ; dual 12 core opterons ; 12hr battery ; 1tb ssd ; retina display ; touchscreen keyboard ; 4 light peak connectors ; intel igp
Click to expand...

Can you use it like a hoverboard too?? ala Marty McFly in Backtothefuture 2, IIRC :D
 
Battery life needs to be 8 hours + to even be worth refresh. With the MBPs at ~10 hours and iPads readily available for purchase, why would anyone actually still buy a MBA?
 
cleric said:
Im going with scottsdale because the rest of you just make **** up.

17"
dual 12 core opterons
12hr battery
1tb ssd
retina display
touchscreen keyboard
4 light peak connectors
intel igp
Click to expand...

And I thought I was dreaming. This is quite the imagination... cheers.
 
DiamondGCoupe said:
Battery life needs to be 8 hours + to even be worth refresh. With the MBPs at ~10 hours and iPads readily available for purchase, why would anyone actually still buy a MBA?
Click to expand...

Please...do you honestly think anyone can jam an 8 hour laptop battery into such a small and thin form factor? People are realistically getting around 10 hours from their iPads while absolutely no one has ever gotten even 6 hours from a MBP during regular usage.
 
darngooddesign said:
Please...do you honestly think anyone can jam an 8 hour laptop battery into such a small and thin form factor? People are realistically getting around 10 hours from their iPads while absolutely no one has ever gotten even 6 hours from a MBP during regular usage.
Click to expand...

really ? i get 6-7 hours every time regularly using mine...and i have dual drives.
 
darngooddesign said:
Since the retina display has a maximum resolution of 640x960 I'm not sure why everyone wants that in the new Air. Or were you guys using the term incorrectly and really meant to say you wanted a higher resolution display.

Now if you were just being lazy and meant to say you wanted a 300dpi screen I'm not sure why you would want that since OSX is not resolution independent? Every interface element would be really tiny. the 17"MBP high res screen is 132ppi. Shrink the interface elements by half and that's what retina display would be like.

So does everyone who is tossing around the term retina display because its easy to say really want an unusable interface?
Click to expand...

This is one of the most intelligent posts I've seen in a "PLEEEEZE Let they're (always spelled wrong) b a NEW MBA TMORROWZ!" thread.

I feel like the pent up demand in these forums is going to make for a LOT of disappointed people if/when the MBA is updated. I seriously doubt they're gonna make anything but a 13" or (more likely, according to Rumours) an 11.6" Air. No 15", certainly no 17". Defeats the purpose.

Honestly, you guys can all throw around spec wish lists till you're blue in the face, but Apple's gonna do what they're gonna do. But if you're expecting super-high DPI (which won't work since OSX can't support it) or ARM (which won't work 'cause programs won't run on it, even if OSX does) or Light Peak, etc... etc... than you are dreaming.

It's just MHO, though.
 
fyrefly said:
This is one of the most intelligent posts I've seen in a "PLEEEEZE Let they're (always spelled wrong) b a NEW MBA TMORROWZ!" thread.

I feel like the pent up demand in these forums is going to make for a LOT of disappointed people if/when the MBA is updated. I seriously doubt they're gonna make anything but a 13" or (more likely, according to Rumours) an 11.6" Air. No 15", certainly no 17". Defeats the purpose.

Honestly, you guys can all throw around spec wish lists till you're blue in the face, but Apple's gonna do what they're gonna do. But if you're expecting super-high DPI (which won't work since OSX can't support it) or ARM (which won't work 'cause programs won't run on it, even if OSX does) or Light Peak, etc... etc... than you are dreaming.

It's just MHO, though.
Click to expand...
I hope everyone realized my post was for comedy's sake to mock people that continue to speculate or hope for any of these things.
 
Scottsdale said:
I have been saying for over a year that the MBA would be the first Mac introduced with a new screen technology. I believe it will be a high resolution IPS display. I wish it would be a retina display, but that isn't happening. I also could see OLED making its way into the MBA as Apple has its partnership with LG. Something new with the display is the easiest and most obvious way for Apple to differentiate its Macs from PCs. The MBA is the perfect testing tool for any new tech.

I am still going with a Core i7-6x0LM CPU... the replacement for the Intel SL9x00 C2D CPU currently being used in the MBA. I am going with an AMD/ATI 5430 discrete GPU. It is a 7W GPU.

I am going with thicker and more uniform thickness, new case design, and BTO upgrade options including a 256 GB SSD and 4/8GB RAM options. We could also see Apple introduce USB 3.0 in the MBA, but it will probably be one port.
Click to expand...
Although I think it is a little bit impossible for some of the things you listed to come true, I also believe it is good to dream, and this is surely a machine that will have me dreaming... until the moment it comes out and I can snatch one up.
 
Add to the suspense...

I went around town to my spots to check out the MBA's and "No One" has any in stock and there are no demo models displaying anywhere. I know something was posted on the rumor's page about this, but really....there are not any around.....Did not check an Apple Store though....

Something is a-brewing..... :D
 
AAPLaday said:
About fricking time! October release? Possible! 16 months after last update ….
Click to expand...

The last REAL update was nearly 24 months ago, on October 14, 2008. The June 2009 "update" wasn't truly an update. What happened was Intel eliminated the lower grade chip and introduced the 2.13 GHz. When it did, the prices shifted, so Apple paid the same price for 2.13 after that day as it did for the 1.86 GHz before the update. In addition, there was a tiny spec of an addition to the MBA's battery, and I believe that was to meet some "gold" star standard or something like that. Finally, Apple included a USB to Ethernet adaptor for free instead of charging for it. Honestly, this was NOT an update in the normal sense.

The GPU and chipset stayed the same. The drive stayed the same. The RAM stayed the same. The logic board stayed the same. The case, keyboard, trackpad, display, and everything else all stayed exactly the same. The only other difference was the price cut.

I believe the reason Apple didn't truly upgrade the MBA in June 2009 because it needed a lower cost netbook alternative. While the MBA didn't truly make it to that market, it was Apple answer to the critics for an ultraportable/netbook. If Apple had the iPad ready in June 2009, I don't believe the MBA would have had the price drop. It was just a move until the iPad was ready to take on the low-cost netbook market.

I hope Apple repositions the MBA as a luxury high-cost ultraportable. I want them to make the MBA as competitive as the 2,1 MBA was when introduced October 14, 2008. I hope October 12 brings me a nice birthday surprise. But I would be even happier to learn that day that there was a live event scheduled for the following week. A live event means much bigger changes in my estimation. If there's a quiet update, hell Apple could still use the C2D as it's stuck in 2008! I hope not, but I wouldn't put anything past Apple when it comes to C2D CPUs and Nvidia chipsets!
 
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