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Apple Reportedly Beginning Production of Next-Generation MacBook Air Models
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Thanks Cocacolakid! That has to be exactly what I saw. What threw me off is that it looked smaller than an iPad; but, I'm sure I was just convincing myself it was smaller. I was a few beers in as well...
Cheers!
Thunderbolt is a farce.
It's nothing more than an old school copper wire. NOT The Fiber Optic system that is patented as Light Peak, which is the real nomenclature for the technology.
At the last moment they got cheap, removed the fiber, and strung a silly little piece of copper wire in it. This reduced the data transfer rate dramatically.
Sure it's a bit faster than USB, but not even close to what it was when invented. Not only that, once you turn Apple loose, they always come up with some "Magical and Revolutionary" name and claim for what's it's capable of.
What a sham.
I see this as dubious. Apple wants a yearly release schedule on all their products it looks like, and I don't see the Macbook Air being an exception. I honestly think the current models will last until Ivy Bridge is ready to go, and then Apple will move to a yearly release date. After all, why do R&D to fit in a chip with inferior graphics, no USB 3, when you'll have much better ULV chips next year, integrated OpenGL and USB3.
The Macbook Air also isn't slow.
Full disclosure, I own one, but I don't care if its obsolete. I just don't see the point in a SB Macbook Air.
The Macbook Air also isn't slow.
Full disclosure, I own one, but I don't care if its obsolete. I just don't see the point in a SB Macbook Air.
It actually is quite relevant to this thread. The poster I responded to said that I took my eyesight for granted from working in the dark. If you go back and read my posts, you would have seen how my SO's situation would be a good use for having a backlit keyboard, as she could actually see the keys to type.
If you couldn't see how something like limited or poor eyesight couldn't warrant such a feature on an MBA, then I still say that one is taking their eyesight for granted. You do not know how many times I've helped her to spell check her posts, email and other documents because she would be off on her hand positioning because she couldn't see where the right keys were. Having a backlit keyboard not only frees me from doing that, but saves time, and, most importantly, gives her INDEPENDENCE.
If you don't think that's a worthy feature and not relevant, I don't know what to say...
BL.
Honestly, what is wrong with people here?
SB blows away C2D. That's the point. And another year from now when Ivy Bridge is ready Apple will ship that.
The prices for SSD's are actually coming down but every time that does happen, they release an even faster SSD with higher price point. But if you check the ones released 3 years ago, they are very cheap at the moment. Even the 1.5 year old ones have acceptable prices. But since one always wants to buy the newest and fastest, their prices stay basically the same which is normal.
Confined to your own equipment is great right up to the point a fire, flood or other disaster destroys everything... Then what?
Business is moving to online tools, software and storage. Why waste money on servers and PCs that cost thousands of dollars and basically stuck in a cycle of maintenance, upgrades and keeping a full time IT staff when companies like Google has a staff of 100+ PHD's that do nothing but ensure that data is safe and secure. Not to mention having physical hardware still requires paying for off site back ups. Going online is/will be the cheaper, smarter and safer move as bandwidth to homes increases.
I have all my pictures back up online, I have no need to deal with failed HDD's and wasting money on redundant hardware when it it more secure, disaster proof and always available online. Physical media is needed to run some things but backup solutions that only rely on in house media IMO is only half the solution or it's a crap shoot as to when that hardware fails.
Then again, I'm sure some people enjoy attracting the ladies bragging they have 8,10,20 etc... TB of storage.
Exactly. The future of back up is cloud. It's much more secure than keeping your drives at home. Server farms specifically designed to keep your data secure are much better at doing that than you. And cheaper as well. In 10-15 years a big portion of the civilized world should have very fast internet backbone, so clouding won't be an issue.
Yes we all know how much we all need 100gbit bandwidth between our external HD and our laptop. Get real. 10Gbit is more than enough for any type of connection at the moment. If they released the Fiber version it'd be overkill for todays needs. The fact that it was patented as a fiber optic port simply says that it supports fiber and can scale without changing basically anything other than cabling, which is something you can't say for USB. Btw, it's not Apple's patent, it's Intel's.
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I'm not disputing that. But I don't see why Apple would do it when SB Macbook airs will probably be ready in seven months anyway...if production starts now, that means they'll be marketed until Christmas. Apple's going to migrate onto those very fast for the Macbook Air in my view. I find it dubious that Intel won't come out of the gate with ULV processors. Also, consider the last time Apple got their update: before Christmas. Will Apple really release a machine before Ivy Bridge is ready?
It doesn't make sense from a business prospective. People looking for power aren't looking for a Macbook Air right now. Its never been that kind of machine. To design an SB Macbook Air would cost a lot of money I'm sure. Seems better spent on an early Ivy Bridge. Again, Apple has little competition beyond ASUS here, so they have time to wait and release something very big.
As far as an update for myself, I'm waiting for Haswell. But I don't see the point in buying a USB 2.0 Air beyond the current one. I mean, how fast do I need to load something very fast? Unless you're someone who thinks the C2D isn't good enough...then I'll say, try my AMD64 from 2004-which is still a bloody fast machine seven years later.
Dude, so what? If they just thought that it is overkill, they would release it anyway because they wouldn't need invest into anything similar for quite some time and they could focus on something else... They didn't release it because they will get more money if they release first TB and then the real deal...
What is wrong with some of you? You settle with worse technology just because it is ok? If everybodey released the best right away, we'd be few years ahead our time... Don't you all want that?
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Several competitors, including Lenovo and Samsung, are already using Westmere and/or Sandy Bridge processors in similar models, so Apple is likely to do so now in order to keep pace. The Core 2 Duo is an old design so even though Ivy Bridge is a few months away, I don't think it is wise for Apple to wait much longer. They can release a new version next year if they want to. Just because they do doesn't mean you need to update to it, so why should potential MacBook Air buyers in July or September be denied a Sandy Bridge version if one is ready?
A good amount of people keep requesting the backlit keyboard. Personally, I never use that function as the screen usually generates enough light for me to see the keys. I also don't use my macbook in bed, usually at a desk. Which limits my screen to a maximum of 110 degrees.
Maybe glow in the dark paint for the letters might be a better option so that it's not sucking battery life which is already limited on the MBA?
I think the thing I dislike the most about the backlit keys is that it looks cheap. Light bleeds out the side and you can see under the keys when you're at arms distance.
It's nice to have options though - if enough people like the option, I don't see when they wouldn't implement it.
I love the proportions of the macbook pro. Ideally, the macbook air would lose the wedge format and look just like a super thin macbook pro. This may allow for more battery capacity.
I would also like to see edge to edge screen with minimal bezel. Similar to the proportions of the 17" MBP.
I don't foresee apple doing this.
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I giess when I go to price them they are only showing the latest speed versions. But part of the problem is that the largest capacity are now just getting to the size I would consider using. I have no need of a 160GB drive of any type. At this point 500GB is a minimum for a laptop for me. The largest sized drives are up over $1000. I'm looking at it from the perspective of the price of the largest drive not going down as that largest size slowly gets big enough for me to consider it.
You shouldn't get a 480GB SSD. That's waste of money. Get a 120GB one and get an external usb powered disk if you really need space.
So you are saying that I'd be 3 year older than today? No thanks.
Some tech is waiting and some tech is already releasing what they can. Even if intel released 100gbit fiber TB, it's of no use today. I don't even have a clue what kind of a use would that be even in 5 years. I don't think SSD's will reach that kind of throughput in 5 years. Even RAM isn't that fast. That's basically PCI-Express 2.0 speed. 100gbit fiber is only for a show off like they did when they demoed it, putting RAM several miles away from the CPU and running the computer. Now if you have RAM in a remote toolshed, which you really can't get to without a fiber connection, 100gbit TB is for you.
At this point even USB 3.0 is overkill unless you have striped several SATA III SSD's.
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I was saying that because I don't think its sour grapes about my thing being obsolete. I knew it was obsolete when buying it. I simply don't think it is in Apple's way of doing things. Don't forget that the Mac Mini still has C2D and probably is more needing of an update due to the fact it is a desktop...
The only way I can see Apple doing this is if they plan on having August release dates for their Air line. Which might mean IB's ULV won't be ready until July of next year. I'd recommend checking on dates.
What kind of major changes are you hoping for? They just redesigned it last year so it will probably appear the same. Not expecting much more than Sandy bridge, thunderbolt, and possibly a backlit keyboard.