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Apple Announces New MacBook Airs with Haswell Processors and 'All-Day' Battery Life

I bet there won't be any Retina in the MBA line for the next 2 yrs. Apple is not ready to converge the line, they still want to drive buyers to the higher profit margin MBP line with Retina. And, the model for MBA is thin, light, portable, not a "pro workhorse" type machine, even though many people report it does work for them in that capacity.

I believe it will take them 2 yrs (at least) to figure this out and decide what to do.
 
radiohead14 said:
I'm sold. pretty much just debating whether to stay with an 11 or get the 13 this time around.
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Same here.

I went to Best Buy just before WWDC and I still think the 11" is best for me because it's so compact. The 13" is large and is a better "laptop" but I think the 11" is better for couch-surfing and a better iPad "replacement"...
 
Chub said:
Please tell me the screen has been updated. The battery life is all well and good, but I want a better screen. Nothing makes me want to get this over a Windows Ultrabook now and I was really looking forward to something "better".
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I am also torn between the new MacBook Air and something like the Dell XPS 12 (which is supposed to get 9-10 hours of battery life). I really like Lenovo's Yoga 13 and if they hurry up and get Haswell in there, I mgiht just buy one.
 
will the current MBA's get a price cut?

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notjustjay said:
I am also torn between the new MacBook Air and something like the Dell XPS 12 (which is supposed to get 9-10 hours of battery life). I really like Lenovo's Yoga 13 and if they hurry up and get Haswell in there, I mgiht just buy one.
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I believe the Yoga 11S has the Haswell chip..
 
So no news on the screen? If so, mightily disappointed.
Now I'll have to look into the competition. :mad:
 
Price is cheaper than the previous MBA.
128GB SSD is standard for $999 on the 11.6
256GB is now $100 cheaper on the 13.

Was contemplating a new machine so I can get my daughter out of the 7 year old MB Pro she is using.

I plan to give her my current Air and get a new one.
 
Nice to see the battery life get such a boost

but until these get a better screen, I would wait to buy one.

Glad to see Apple is doing something on the software end to save battery life as well. Meh battery life was a huge issue for me with these.

But my heart is with the upcoming Mac Pro. That may eclipse every other new Mac as a must buy.
 
Looking to purchase my first macbook air and i am was waiting on the haswell upgrade.

Now that battery life has been improved on the 11" the only thing that makes me think twice is the lack of an SD card slot.

11" or 13" i am so torn, already have a "15 fully loaded xps 15 with 1080p screen so looking at something portable to take on trips and to work etc.
 
I am waiting to order these as soon as store is back open. Since I'm paying tax either way, it would be nice to pick up in store too.

How soon do folks think it will be at amazon or online retailers?
 
n1tut said:
What an anti climax.

We knew Haswell would be in, but that is it, better battery life.

tut
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that's all many of us wanted. look at the battery size differences between the classic and retina macbooks... it's an ultralight. if you want high-res get the 13" retina.

i don't understand the complaint - seems like a no brainer to me
 
So intel wasn't joking about the battery-life

Seriously this is one of the largest single generation jumps in battery-life we've ever seen and on Apple's ultraportable line where you need all the battery-life you can get. I was expecting 10hrs for the 13-inch and that was my optimistic guess. I'm a little disappointed that it appears 8gb is still only a BTO option but considering a redesign was not expected I think this update is fantastic.

Now I'm wondering if I should sell my current MBA while I can still get a good price or just stick with it since I just bought it 6-months ago...hmmm...

Also for all the retina whiners. The fact that apple just dropped the price (again) for the MBAs basically killed any hope of retina coming to this machine as it is currently branded. They will continue to make the rMBPs thinner and lighter and if you want retina buy those machines.
 
DisplacedMic said:
that's all many of us wanted. look at the battery size differences between the classic and retina macbooks... it's an ultralight. if you want high-res get the 13" retina.

i don't understand the complaint - seems like a no brainer to me
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Exactly. This and the storage bump on the base 11" air is perfect for me.
 
Saturn1217 said:
Seriously this is one of the largest single generation jumps in battery-life we've ever seen and on Apple's ultraportable line where you need all the battery-life you can get. I was expecting 10hrs for the 13-inch and that was my optimistic guess. I'm a little disappointed that it appears 8gb is still only a BTO option but considering a redesign was not expected I think this update is fantastic.

Now I'm wondering if I should sell my current MBA while I can still get a good price or just stick with it since I just bought it 6-months ago...hmmm...

Also for all the retina whiners. The fact that apple just dropped the price (again) for the MBAs basically killed any hope of retina coming to this machine as it is currently branded. They will continue to make the rMBPs thinner and lighter and if you want retina buy those machines.
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The issue is is that the new MBA is already old technology. This could have been something great but they even kept the same TN screen it's not even IPS. Battery life whether it be 10 or 12 hours, who cares? Before anyone moans at me for saying this I was looking into getting my first MBA but the choice is now clear that I will be going to the competition that will already have a long enough battery life and will at the same time have a decent screen.
 
The new Haswell 13" 256GB/4GB costs as much as the late 2010 C2D 1.6GHz 13" 128GB/2GB. Just shows how much technology has moved on in 2.5 years. The new MacBook Air offers twice as much in every aspect as the 2010 MBA.

Now I wonder if there will be a 100$/Euro drop for the rMBP
 
DisplacedMic said:
that's all many of us wanted. look at the battery size differences between the classic and retina macbooks... it's an ultralight. if you want high-res get the 13" retina.

i don't understand the complaint - seems like a no brainer to me
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Understand that, but speculation was that there would be upgrades other than Haswell which we knew it would get. And that was from every guess across the Internet.

I was sure that there would be no Retina, or probable slimming down, but battery life over 7 hours is no big deal to lots of users, including me, that rarely take their MacBook out of the house.

tut

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ps:- on the other hand we do have a new 7 font.

tut
 
n1tut said:
Understand that, but speculation was that there would be upgrades other than Haswell which we knew it would get. And that was from every guess across the Internet.

I was sure that there would be no Retina, or probable slimming down, but battery life over 7 hours is no big deal to lots of users, including me, that rarely take their MacBook out of the house.

tut

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ps:- on the other hand we do have a new 7 font.

tut
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My thoughts exactly, I can't really see someone not being able to charge their MBA within even 7 hours let alone 12 and on that point, who would be using the MBA for over 7 hours without being anywhere near a plug socket.
 
Very disappointing no retina, and no I don't want 13 pro for retina, I want retina air for max portability!!! Cmon apple, with such a powerful internals its too bad this great new air is not retina......
 
DisplacedMic said:
are you serious? this is one of the largest jumps in battery life i've ever seen.
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It's all hype until the analysis proves it. All Haswell chips are getting battery life increases on top of a higher screen resolution that other companies have made.
 
Air Upgrades Reality

To everyone that was hoping for a "Retina" Macbook Air, I submit this. Marketing 101.

The only thing keeping most Macbook Pro buyers (read much more profitable buying sector) away from purchasing a (relatively) less profitable Air is Retina.

They wont be giving that up soon.

To those who feel the technology does not exist to put "Retina" in an Air like form factor, I submit the iPad3, iPad4, Google 10" and now countless other tiny tablets coming out with Retina like displays. Also several PC Ultrabooks on the horizon. Its all dollars boys and girls. Me? I got tired of the cheap looking fat bezel of my Air and paid the extra money for the 13" rMBP in February when they closed out the first Generation 13" rMBP (laughably from just 3 months earlier) at $1500.00 for the 256GB.
 
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