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Apple to Introduce 11.6-Inch MacBook Air With 'SSD Card' Integrated Storage Next Week?
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that is more to do with the fact that apple does not sell reasonably priced 15" macbook.
many of the first time mac buyers are forced to buy the $999 macbook (until the newer iMac 21.5" came even that is $1199).
Because the MBA is the lowest selling mac in their line up. It sells less that every other mac model. If they come out with a mini-air and and MBA then that will split that already pie even smaller.
The assumption is that Apple is put resources into the form fact that has more potential successful growth. That's a smaller Air that is differentiated from the MBP 13" both in size , "horsepower" , and weight much more so than the current one. They will throw a lower price so that it has a chance but the trade-offs on the current Air are bad.
But that is the point. Apple already has a MBP product line. They do not need another one. Look at Apple product line up do they have 2 different flavors of desktops in same class ( iMac + mini tower or beefy mini + iMac or 3 different Macbooks overlapping with lower end of MBP 13" line )? No. Expanding the MBA line into partially overlapping products with the other Laptops is totally the opposite of what Apple does. It offers a minimal set of
MBA is in part an exceptional demonstration product . Expanding that into full product line up is a totally the opposite of what Apple does.
The iPad has room to expand because Apple keeps the Macbook stuck at $999 and the Touch $399. They have room to push the iPad price slightly higher and slide a 7" in . There is no room in the price range continum for a MBA product line. There are some holes you can duck into $1499, $1099, $1699 , but stuffing all of them with MBA models is not what they have done in the past. Zero track record on that in the last 8 years.
Overlapping product lines in price and functdionalty is what Apple stays away from and the PC market practices in abundance. I'm pretty sure when Apple looks at their bank account that they think their methodology is better. I don't see them adopting dubious PC vendor product strategies any time soon.
I hope they stick with the 13", as 11/12 inch will become to small and paying soo much for a MBA its good to have a normal size screen.
"A standard?" Yes. "Commonplace"? No. Dell has a couple laptops with WUSB pre-installed. It does not *require* an adapter, it can quite easily be built-in.
There is no OS X support yet. Of course, there was no support for quite a few things up until the day Apple included it in their products...
Hey Apple, how about... you do this, but in a 15.4" or 13.3" model and give us i5 and discrete graphics with all this "space saving" and "cost saving" SSD crap :O
I will buy one of these and sell my MacBook in a second. I wanted the original MBA badly, but it was too expensive. If this one really is significantly cheaper than $1,500, I'll buy one day one.
The only time I use the optical drive in my MacBook is for OS updates. I never use any of the ports either. I would so love a lighter and thinner MacBook.
I even like that the screen size is a little smaller. I was looking at the current MBA just today at an Apple Store. I wouldn't mind the smaller screen.
The only time I use the optical drive in my MacBook is for OS updates. I never use any of the ports either. I would so love a lighter and thinner MacBook.
I even like that the screen size is a little smaller. I was looking at the current MBA just today at an Apple Store. I wouldn't mind the smaller screen.
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Why does everyone keep comparing a Mac to an iPad!! They are different. Even if apple sold both at the same size, they won't truly take away from eachother cause they offer different features. A 11 inch MacBook air is not going to be the same as an 11 inch iPad. Yea you can do some thing similar but it's not the same. The lack of keyboard alone makes it different. It's like the finger and the pen. I can draw with my finger but try writing an essay. Remember the game "operation"? Instead of tweezers, how about using you finger. They are tools for certain things. Until they merge, they're isn't worry of competing with each other.
Why does everyone keep comparing a Mac to an iPad!! They are different. Even if apple sold both at the same size, they won't truly take away from eachother cause they offer different features. A 11 inch MacBook air is not going to be the same as an 11 inch iPad. Yea you can do some thing similar but it's not the same. The lack of keyboard alone makes it different. It's like the finger and the pen. I can draw with my finger but try writing an essay. Remember the game "operation"? Instead of tweezers, how about using you finger. They are tools for certain things. Until they merge, they're isn't worry of competing with each other.
Totally possible. Smaller screen ... cheaper. AMD Zacate CPU+GPU (faster than atom and blows Intel integrated graphics out of water) ... cheaper. Use some of that cost reduction and drop in flash price to put "just big enough" SSD card in ( also negates a bit of the perceived lag in slight less horsepower CPU in some situations. But a just under 2.5 HDD starting capacities. ). Smaller case ( because all of the above are smaller) ... cheaper. Can probably push the weight down into the 2lbs range too ( so that MBA 13" 100% heavier ... not just incrementally. )
Won't be surprising to see this slotted in about MacBook but below MBP 13" .. $1099. Maybe overlap with Macbook at $999 but not much lower as to not to intefere with iPad pricing zone.
For some yes. For others, they need to take computer with them all the time. Don't need lots of power but do need keyboard, some Mac OS X app, and/or some additional flexibility.
Not bad
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It's actually pretty nice looking! Maybe they had Jonny I've keep his hands off this one, that would be promising.
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It's actually pretty nice looking! Maybe they had Jonny I've keep his hands off this one, that would be promising.
I'm actually glad their sticking to the C2D, considering any of the iCore series couples an integrated Intel HD graphics solution which seriously lacks horsepower (in contrast to the nVidia 320m or even 9400m). It would be cumbersome and complex to combine BOTH an integrated/discrete solution in such a small package. This way performance should be on par with the Macbook (13" Pro too) and satisfy peoples needs. It never was meant to be a powerhouse in the first place.
I wish I could make a bet with all of the people who associate the new MBA with touchscreens and iOS. I think that notion is silly.
I'm glad to see Jobs doing his take on the Vaio X. I'll have to keep mine, though. I'm just too spoiled by its matte screen, extended battery, and fantastic screen opening angle to be swayed by the Air, even though I'm sure the Air will have a much, much more comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
To become a premium netbook it needs to have full HD 1920x1080. Would be disappointing to see it have anything less.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0337714
on and off the have the Macbook for promotion $799
usually it is Macbook plus $200 visa gift card for $999, but now it is $799
some clearance sales going on there, is it not?
on and off the have the Macbook for promotion $799
usually it is Macbook plus $200 visa gift card for $999, but now it is $799
some clearance sales going on there, is it not?
There is a difference between proprietary and custom. They can take standard internal parts used to build a SSD drive and just not wrap the metal box around it. Also can reuse DIMM form factor ( as Sun has down with their SSD cards ). Likewise could do a mini PCI-e card. There is lots of cruft that comes with having the physically fit mechanically into a 2.5" square box that a HDD goes into that isn't necessary with SSD.
Besides doesn't seem to hurt he price point of the iPod shuffle does it. It doesn't come with a 2.5" HDD form factor.
Eventually there is going to be a SDD card format that gets widely adopted in extremely space constrained computers. There are already formats using standards mini-PCI-e, reused DIMM . just a matter of folks picking one. We'll see what Apple picked.
NAND chips are soldered on boards in SSD drives too. To save space doesn't make sense to solder RAM and SDD chips onto limited surface area of single logic board. If can stick two logic boards ( one with SDD ) and one with rest of logic you can save 2D ( width x depth ) space with small scrafice in height ( smaller than a 2.5 " metal box even.).
Already been done by a couple of designers. Sony has done it on several of their models. Apple could have easily copied at this point, but perhaps with slightly less custom cards.
Hmm honestly I couldn't care much for the Macbook Air, but If it means price drops thats great, but obviously it means a compromising screen size, but might have a high resolution, have no idea.. either way, I don't see why I would get this at all over a regular macbook..
My guess: the main reason why they are going proprietary here is the smaller form factor. Most people won't care about upgrading their hard drive, I mean how many people do that? (I'm one of the people who do it, but I'm not everyone)
I don't think the costs are different to off-the-shelf SSDs. Flash prices are the determining factor here and I don't see why a custom flash drive should be significantly cheaper or more expensive than a regular SSD.
Flash chips aren't wearing out at any significant rate, and there are always spare blocks. That's a problem of 4 years ago.
Also, there's a good chance that you will be able to replace it yourself, in the same way you can replace your iPhone battery.
Mini PCI-e is even smaller.
http://www.stec-inc.com/product/umssd.php
image for those of you don't want details:
If this is a continuation of the Air's exercise to trim off as much space as possible and still have a machine..... The even 1.8" boxes are "large".
Mini PCI-e is so small though as the largest capacity is effectively capped at modest levels. Also not going to get SATA III 6Gbps screamers either. That's OK for a "small as possible, but full keyboard" computer.
When arguging for 1.8 and 2.5 drives really asking for larger capacities rather SSD drives. If looking for a carrying around very large data collection then perhaps need those. However, if want to match HDD capacities from 3-5 years ago ( which were prefectly fine for getting work down on the road) these work.
I have had my MBA SSD for 2 years now, patiently waiting for the new 4gb version to appear, then strike.
I use mine as my sole business and personal machine, and use it daily- it really is a work horse, and has never let me down. I am a lover of this machine, and use it more than any other mac product I own.
If this is true w/ the 11" screen, I may be a bit befuddled. 13.3 is perfect for travel, at home and the like. At work I connect it to a 23" display so it matters not on size.
I don't know about this, I will have to see. I just hope Steve doesn't pull it out of a postage "a sized" envelope this time (instead of a commercial/manilla one.)
I use mine as my sole business and personal machine, and use it daily- it really is a work horse, and has never let me down. I am a lover of this machine, and use it more than any other mac product I own.
If this is true w/ the 11" screen, I may be a bit befuddled. 13.3 is perfect for travel, at home and the like. At work I connect it to a 23" display so it matters not on size.
I don't know about this, I will have to see. I just hope Steve doesn't pull it out of a postage "a sized" envelope this time (instead of a commercial/manilla one.)
Very true.
Mac users are even less likely to care about specs and upgrading their computers than PC users. That's why they buy computers like the Mini or the iMac, which are not really upgradable. Or iPods/iPads/iPhones with non-replaceable batteries and without SD card slots.