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Apple to Launch New MacBook Air in June-July

ChEmNeRd23 said:
Is it worth buying the Superdrive; I saw you can share from another Mac but installing MS Office?
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If you only need it for installing Office, then no, it's not worth it. If you're getting Office 2011, then download the Office trial from Microsoft. Then when you go to install it, just use your product key. Then just save the installer on an external hard drive or something for future use.
 
macjonny1 said:
Exactly. Light from screen + typing skills = no need for backlit keyboard! :D
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Backlit keyboard is a nice feature. People like it; people are used to it. At no point should a computer company say "You need to re-learn how to use the keyboard to use our computer to its maximum potential."

To those of us who can type without looking at the keyboard: Fantastic. Great. But not everyone can do that, so leave those people alone and get off your high horse.

BL Keyboards are more important to some than others. If it's a deal-breaker for some, let it be their deal-breaker. If you don't give a rat's butt, that's fine, too. But it's a feature that has existed in the past and for almost every other line of MacBook-family portables, so it makes sense that people would want to see it in their machine of choice.
 
strwrsfrk said:
Backlit keyboard is a nice feature. People like it; people are used to it. At no point should a computer company say "You need to re-learn how to use the keyboard to use our computer to its maximum potential."

To those of us who can type without looking at the keyboard: Fantastic. Great. But not everyone can do that, so leave those people alone and get off your high horse.

BL Keyboards are more important to some than others. If it's a deal-breaker for some, let it be their deal-breaker. If you don't give a rat's butt, that's fine, too. But it's a feature that has existed in the past and for almost every other line of MacBook-family portables, so it makes sense that people would want to see it in their machine of choice.
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calm that anger down bro and talk to that someone that pissed in your cornflakes today!
 
macjonny1 said:
calm that anger down bro and talk to that someone that pissed in your cornflakes today!
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Heh, yeah, it might seem like a random rant. But there are too many posts throughout the MacBook Air forums that seem to talk down or condescend to people who like the backlit keyboards. Trust me: this frustration has been months in the making.

And to keep this from getting too off-topic... SDXC slot would be a nice addition to the Thunderbolt, SB party.
 
strwrsfrk said:
Heh, yeah, it might seem like a random rant. But there are too many posts throughout the MacBook Air forums that seem to talk down or condescend to people who like the backlit keyboards. Trust me: this frustration has been months in the making.

And to keep this from getting too off-topic... SDXC slot would be a nice addition to the Thunderbolt, SB party.
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Haha OK I'd actually like it too they are pretty nice. When I got my first Macbook Pro back in 2007 I loved the backlit keyboard and ambient light sensor. It is the little touches that make Macs nice.
 
deconstruct60 said:
the problem wit the 17W CPU+GPU is that Intel chops the graphics clock speed from 650MHz ( on the implementation used in MBP 13") to 350MHz. That is a 46% reduction in speed. That is going to impact performance. Same circuit design run 46% slower is going to loose throughput.

That is how they are doing the limbo under 35W... underclocking CPU a bit and underclocking the GPU substantially.

The 25W i7's have the same issue: 350MHz clocked GPUs.

I imagine these will run decent ( relative to the 9400M ) graphics results when the CPU are running lightly loaded and can "turbo" the graphics core up to back up over the 35W versions' baseline. Will probably be a step backwards from the 320Ms though except in niche activities like HD playback. However, it should be "good enough" for mainstream usage.
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This has been discussed in like 1000 threads already. The things is, there are no other viable options. MBA has used more or less the same CPUs since it was released in 2008. Now the hardware exists.

BTW, LV CPUs' IGP runs at 500MHz, not 350MHz.
 
Hellhammer said:
Though it will run at lower frequency since MBAs will most likely use LV and ULV CPUs.
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Yeah, but even then the turbo speed is only a couple hundred megahertz lower than the non ULV CPU's.

I don't think there will be much of a performance difference. Much like there isn't much of a performance difference between the 200 MHz faster IGP in the 2.7 i7 13" compared to the IGP in the 2.3 i5 13".

Comparison of turbo speeds on the IGP in Sandy Bridge:
2.7 i7 (35W) - 1300 MHz
2.3 i5 (35W) - 1100 MHz
1.6 i7 (17W) - 1000 MHz
1.5 i7 (17W) - 950 MHz
1.4 i5 (17W) - 900 MHz
 
aiqw9182 said:
Yeah, but even then the turbo speed is only a couple hundred megahertz lower than the non ULV CPU's.

I don't think there will be much of a performance difference. Much like there isn't much of a performance difference between the 200 MHz faster IGP in the 2.7 i7 13" compared to the IGP in the 2.3 i5 13".

Comparison of turbo speeds on the IGP in Sandy Bridge:
2.7 i7 (35W) - 1300 MHz
2.3 i5 (35W) - 1100 MHz
1.6 i7 (17W) - 1000 MHz
1.5 i7 (17W) - 950 MHz
1.4 i5 (17W) - 900 MHz
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The problem with Turbo is that it's very theoretical. It depends on various things (temperature, CPU load etc). I have never seen a CPU achieving its maximum Turbo, usually it tops out at 100-200MHz below the stated maximum. That is why there is barely a difference between i5 and i7 in GPU performance as in most cases, the GPUs run at the same frequency.

Sadly, there is going to be a performance loss if we look at the available benchmarks:

3DMark 03 (MBP 9400M - i5-2537 - 320M)

5759 - 6980 - 11831

3DMark 05

3930 - 4331 - 7759

3DMark 06

2079 - 2788 - 4706

PCMark Vantage

2429 - 5775

Cinebench R10

3022 - 3880

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...M.25099.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-...G.11949.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-H...0.37948.0.html

That is using ULV i5, which seems to be 30-40% slower than the 320M. LV CPUs are faster and the difference will probably be around 10-20% in benchmarks. Obviously, these are synthetic benchmarks performed under Windows. AnandTech mentioned in their review that the Intel HD 3000 performs a lot better under OS X than it does under Windows due to driver optimization. It actually beat the 320M in most tests. That may narrow the gap even more.

The bottom line is, there won't be any noticeable difference unless one is gaming. For an average MBA user, the Intel HD 3000 will feel exactly the same as 320M.
 
My dream for next 13" Air:

-the return of backlit keyboard
-Mac OS X Lion preinstalled
-2560x1600 13.3" screen with HiDPI mode for Retina-like sharp text

I would just die if the 3rd one happens this soon. ;D But it's probably still a few years off before we see Retina-like displays on computers (even the iPad doesn't have it yet).
 
zugvogel said:
Thunderbolt on an MBA? Where would it fit? Would they have to take out a USB port to compensate? One reason they took out the Ethernet connection was so they could keep it thin*, and surely they'd have a similar issue with the Thunderbolt?

* the other reason being of course so they could get an additional 3600 yen from you when you bought a USB-Ethernet adaptor...
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Uhhh... the machine already has a Mini DisplayPort. That's where Thunderbolt goes.
 
toddybody said:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Sorry, but the words happy+gaming+OnLive make me giggle:p

Mediocre Game selection, connectivity requirements, low res output, lag...not exactly what "gamers" are all about. Ha ha! Maybe your sarcasm went over my head:eek:
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Sorry, but I actually have good internet.

Please, enjoy playing your Assassin's Creed 3 on MacBook Air with its integrated video card and see if you get better performance/visuals/heat output/battery life than me playing the same game via OnLive (in Mac OS X).
 
It's a bit annoying that the Air is getting Thunderbolt before the Mac Pro. The Pros are the ones who have the most use for it.
 
macjonny1 said:
calm that anger down bro and talk to that someone that pissed in your cornflakes today!
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He was expressing irritation and the arrogant gits that think that just because they don't need a feature that it isn't important to other people.
 
patent10021 said:
I was shopping at Yodobashi Camera today and was surprised to see a new Mac corner that resembled a small Apple store. They've had a good selection for a long time but this is a whole new deal. Was with a friend who will also be buying a MacBook or MacAir and we decided to wait to see if the summer MBAs come with the backlit keyboard. Worth the wait if it comes with one. Same with Thunderbolt.
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I don't know which Yodobashi Camera you were at but the Osaka one has had that for a while.
 
knello said:
It's a bit annoying that the Air is getting Thunderbolt before the Mac Pro. The Pros are the ones who have the most use for it.
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I don't think it matters either way. There aren't any devices FOR Thunderbolt. I've been dying for some kind of breakout box. As soon as one of those is available, I'm getting a portable (Pro or Air) with TB. It would be sweet to plug all my stuff, including ethernet and monitor into a box and then just plug my laptop into that. BOOM!

In my opinion, TB has a lot to do with phasing out the Mac Pro. I don't know about now, but certainly in the future. And, on top of that, having a tower in many ways defeats the NEED for TB. I have expansion ports for add-in cards as well as the ability to simply plug in additional hard drives.
 
Dear Apple, if you want to call game over for other manufactures you will the the right thing and move the Air away from Intel and start using ARM. Intel was/is the biggest mistake you have made and the Mac is suffering right now. ARM or I will be stuck with an iPad 2 and no more Mac laptop.
 
coldmack said:
Dear Apple, if you want to call game over for other manufactures you will the the right thing and move the Air away from Intel and start using ARM. Intel was/is the biggest mistake you have made and the Mac is suffering right now. ARM or I will be stuck with an iPad 2 and no more Mac laptop.
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How are people supposed to run other OSes than Mac OS X on the Air if they move away from Intel?
 
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