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Apple Announces New 13.3-Inch and 11.6-Inch MacBook Air Models with Flash Storage

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I am definitely happy with the options.

I like both the 11 & 13 inch options and the memory. I do wish the processor was faster and there may miss the keyboard lighting up but minor to the improvements!!

I've ordered my 11inch already and can't wait to use it on the plane, at cafes, meetings, and around my home.

This is exactly what I wanted since the old duo days and 12inch.

Awesome!!!
 
Actually, the 13.3" model is now the true portable Mac as opposed to the 13" MBP "Junior" model they foisted on us last spring.
 
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Can't find it, but anyone know can these have extended desktop through additional display? Photo of 27" shows mirroring.

Cc.
 
Do these things even have HDMI out, It's amazing how much people are going to pay for these netbooks. Do yourselves a favor and atleast take a look at some of the 11.6" AMD powered netbooks. The performance battery life and form factor are very similar all for about $500.
 
ImperialX said:
You know, the i3 is slower than the Core 2. What else do you expect in that 11"?
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Hyperthreading matters in what I want to do. I'm already at 2.2 GHz on a Core 2. I'm not taking a beating backwards, again. I'll see you on Sandy Bridge so you can shovel more Core 2 is faster in my direction.

Apple doomed itself by teaming up with nVidia.
 
gcmexico said:
1.4ghz processors!!! you start running video on this thing, it's going to get hot as hell...and only 2 gbs of ram
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They are core 2 duo cpus...they will do 1080p video fine....intense gaming probably not...but these are way faster and better than any netbook. the Ipad is faster than any netbook.


But they should have gone out there and used a ARM A9 dual core processor...then they would have gotten 12 hours of battery life...

That will be next year...unless intel comes out with cool processors...
 
daddywags214 said:
There are ways around that. :) But yeah, way cool.
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Totally agreed. The USB stick is a way "into" the MBA, so plenty of 3rd party people will use that "door".

Funny how people who have different needs don't get that these are just one up products from the ipad.

Different marketing niche for different customers. Buy what you need.
Apple has it.

Personally I am shocked and upset these new MBA's don't vacuum:)
 
mosx said:
Have you seen the actual benchmarks? In the cases where Core i3 is faster, it's by a very small margin.

And any positive gain Core i3 might have is offset by Intel graphics. Core i3 might be one step forward but the inclusion of Intel graphics makes the entire setup take a thousand steps backwards.

My 2 year old 2008 2GHz unibody MacBook with the GeForce 9400M would be a significantly overall faster system than one based on Core i3 and Intel graphics.

Especially with things moving more and more towards using the GPU. Web browsers are on the path to using GPU acceleration. Video already does. Many UI elements in OS X apps rely on the GPU for animation.

One thing I noticed when I went from a MacBook with Intel graphics to the 9400M was just how much faster and smoother the entire UI ran.

Even Flash in OS X uses hardware acceleration now.

Don't forget the slow migration to apps taking advantage of OpenCL as well.

I can think of a million reasons why Core 2 Duo with a GeForce 320m is better than Core i3 and Intel graphics. Even in situations where people think a faster CPU would be more important than the faster GPU, little things will take advantage of that extra GPU power. Even in Pages when you start a new document and you're at the template selection screen. When you select the document and it zooms out from the little window? That takes advantage of the GPU as well. It's significantly smoother on non-Intel graphics. I know that from experience.

And what if you wanted to drive an external display? The GeForce 320m (or 9400M for those of us with older units) will have no problem pushing a high resolution external display and the built-in display. Intel graphics will have a very difficult time pushing both displays even remotely smooth.
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You don't have to use the (admittedly crappy) inbuilt graphics on the core i3: The iMacs don't and plenty of PC laptops don't either. The core 2 duo ULV @ 1.4ghz has a passmark of 963 and the i3 ULV @ 1.2 Ghz has a passmark of 1196 (over 20% higher at a lower clock speed)
 
Here's an interesting question - how are you going to install Mac OS X Lion on this thing without a USB Superdrive? Does AirDisc (or whatever you call it) work?

LouieSamman said:
Is the MBA 13" good enough to play HD video up to 1080P from YouTube or only 720P?
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It will do 1080p without a sweat. If you use HTML5, it'll be even better.
 
justfine said:
I'll be buying one shortly as my first gen MBA is nearing the end of its 3 year extended warranty and we always ebay them a months or so before that. My question is why are the 11" and 13" basically the same price? The 11" with the $100 processor upgrade and $100 RAM upgrade and 128G flash is $1400. The 13" with a slightly faster processor (only one available), 4G RAM and 128G flash is also $1400.

As much as I'd love a lighter by a half pound or so MBA I think a larger screen, longer battery life and considerably larger screen makes the 13" the better machine. Too bad the back-lit keyboard is gone. I've always found that useful.

Any thoughts?
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i think (believe) the reason is 11" is using Ultra Low Voltage CPUs where as 13" is using Low Voltage CPUs. Earlier I also asked the same question.
 
tripjammer said:
They are core 2 duo cpus...they will do 1080p video fine....intense gaming probably not...but these are way faster and better than any netbook. the Ipad is faster than any netbook.


But they should have gone out there and used a ARM A9 dual core processor...then they would have gotten 12 hours of battery life...

That will be next year...unless intel comes out with cool processors...
Click to expand...
How the hell were they going to run OSX on ARM architecture without a complete rewrite?

Anyway, I'm not in the market for an air, I love my 13" MBP. That said, if I needed a travel computer and didn't do any of the nerdy things I do, I would love the 13" MBA
 
These new Airs have the advantage of being thin and light. Sure, I have a MSI netbook, which is pretty crappy and plastic (and I have the battery taped on because it keeps popping off, lol) and cost $300, but seriously, if you like OSX and want something thin and light for travel, these are nice.

I'm not getting into the MPB is better for less (or whatever) debate. Apple is not removing the MBP from their lineup. If you want that one get it. Why whine here?
 
KindredMAC said:
Looks: A+
$$$ Value: F

They really needed to price these things below the MacBook.
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No they don't. Why would they do that when it's better at what it does than the MPB?

For the same cost of the 11" MBA, you can get a 13" MB
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Oh, because these are equivalent specs? These two devices are not being sold to the same people.

with almost a double the speed processor, DVD burner, full set of hook ups
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All of which is unimportant to the users that will buy it. For example, this looks like an awesome photographer machine. No need for anything you mentioned, yet extremely thin and extremely light!

Have you missed this new era where you pay for things that are engineered to be slower than what your 5 y.o. can do with super glue and an electronics catalog? You do realize that if you stack two MBA computers together you still have something lighter and thinner than a Macbook?

I have a desktop computer. If I get a laptop for travel, I will trade all the specs I already have for a lighter thinner machine. I don't need two work station machines, I don't need two DVD burners.

This is different than when I was in college, where I wanted a portable desktop machine. In those years I bought a PowerBook, which included everything I needed. In that case, I was willing to sacrifice size and weight for a few more devices packed in the same package.

Same is true today. If you want a powerhouse-do-it-all get a Macbook Pro. If you want less power, but still need an all in one, get a Macbook. If you have all the devices you need already, and want a portable companion, get the MBA.

and better full use battery.
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It's like you didn't read/listen to anything. You can't make that claim until we do side-by-side tests. Apple said they reworked the way they rate the battery life.
 
Phil A. said:
You don't have to use the (admittedly crappy) inbuilt graphics on the core i3: The iMacs don't and plenty of PC laptops don't either. The core 2 duo ULV @ 1.4ghz has a passmark of 963 and the i3 ULV @ 1.2 Ghz has a passmark of 1196 (over 20% higher at a lower clock speed)
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In order to fit everything into this type of form factor and not compromise on graphics performance, it is best to stick with Core 2 Duo. yes, they could have gone with the i3 + discrete GPU, but then it would be much thicker. A better benchmark to use would be 3dMark06 as it will give you a score of overall system performance. I bet that the 11" MBA will score close to the Dell M11X (a gaming laptop) as the specs are very close. That means it will be just fine for all 1080p playback + some moderate gaming (think SC2 on med/high graphics).
 
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