Don't see why because the article referenced says they are as fast as current i5's which are in premium notebooks now. It would still be competitive and if going to put SSD/Flash storage in by default you are going to have something with premium pricing. Flash storage is 2x-3x more expensive than disk storage. If going to put a much more expensive component into the standard system then going to need some other components to drop in price. The CPU ( along with display) is a major price component have some flexibility one. If go with Intel (would puts a price premium on their utra low i-series offerings) then price would have to go up.
If the Zacate part turns in better numbers than the old MBA SL9400/SL9600 parts that is all it has to do. The new MBA will be faster than the old MBA. Alot of hand-wringing in this forum is about the 'woulda coulda shoulda' MBA being faster than the 'woulda-coulda-shoulda' old MBA. That is twisted. It just should be incrementally faster than the old one.
If the specs are something like:
-AMD APU
-4 GBs of RAM
-128 GB SSD (256 GB SSD option)
At the price points quoted below probably closer to 60-90Gb Flash storage at low end and 128GB on the higher end.
11.6" inch. 11" screen is too small for full sized keyboard to match up with. Given that they also need to cover an huge trackpad with the "top half" lid, that is all the more true.
-Full-sized, backlit keyboard
-1 USB, 1 Headphone/Mic combo, Mini Display port, SD card slot
Not so sure about SD card slot. Again internal volume at premium if chopping down on internal space. However, if get rid of the gimmick taper toward the front and go back to 3D rectangle the design can probably squeeze it in.
-6+ hours realistic battery life
if go with the Zacate option then this likely would be 10+ hours of battery life. If this is a ultramobile device how come it can't last as long on battery as a MBP 13". That's kind of goofy. The MBA should be able to last at least a long. Otherwise you have to carry a power cord and where is your wieght savings then ???? If working an 8-9 hour day the laptop should last at least that long. Smaller screen and a endurance oriented CPU will do that.
There wil be $500-600 Zacate systems but how many with SSD , non low end screens ( 11.6" IPS panels ... not likely ), and other higher end components. The total price of
all of the components drive the system cost.
Close to MBP 13" entry point only makes sense if they are differentiated on more that one or two points. CPU is another option. The other AMD options don't make as much sense once start saying that higher end CPU horsepower is "necessary". At that point, the Intel options start to looking better if willing to wait till later into next year to get next generation parts.
The problem is that the MBA is overdue now. If the new MBA comes in at $1299 that is a $200 price
drop from where it is now. Apple is not going to release something closer in cost to the entry MBP 13" that is way faster than it. That doesn't make sense. The MBA needs a way to move down in cost but stay out of the cannibalizing the MBP 13".