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Apple to Update MacBook Air to Penryn Soon?

I have a MBP now and because of the GPU defect I'm dying to sell and get something else, but the MBA needs more than just a penryn upgrade for it to be a viable machine for travel/work

minimum 120gb hard drive
4gb ram
2 (!) USB ports
Better battery life

Why is that sooooo incredibly hard???
 
Marx55 said:
No FireWire, no purchase.
No true Ethernet port, no purchase.
Only a USB 2 port, no purchase.

The MacBook Air could be so great with those... A shame Apple did not get it!
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Agreed..except I could care less about the ethernet port. At a minimun, there should be a firewire port. It will be included on the next revision, like the removal of firewire 800 on the MBP. People screamed for it and they added it back. I'm not sure we will get a second usb. If they add Firewire, I may buy one, Since it's becoming clear we are not getting a 12 back. At least one with any real power.
 
guzhogi said:
What I'd like to see is slightly more powerful processor, another USB port (2 total), built-in ethernet, larger SSD drive and a major price drop. I work in an elementary school district and these would be great for student use. They're small, light, not very much the kids can mess around with, and w/ the SSD option, no moving parts. When 6 year olds are handling laptops, they can get a little rambunctious. And so can the teachers. :p

Just noticed, it is my 5th anniversary being a member of MacRumors this month! Yay!
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Couldn't agree more, that about sums up my aspirations for the MBA. Cheers.
 
wheezy said:
Do users of the MBA really need high power and super speed? To me the speed point it's at should be plenty fast, I'd rather keep a slower processor and get more battery life.

I don't own a MBA though so this is all just opinion. But, no one ever complains about too much power...
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Yes Wheezy, but a better CPU, and Battery is a win-win IMHO, put a
faster/larger (5400)RPM H.D.D.in the same form factor and I say why not.
What's another Billion in profits among friends? :p:D:D
 
the way mac apps are packaged - I am beginning to see no need for a CD drive (other than permanate backups of my photos and home movies) - so with thumb drives hitting the capacity of 8 and 16 gb at reasonable prices, and time machine backups; really starting to look like external CD would be fine for me.


Me too! I think the MBA ability to use any available CD/DVD on any machine is absolute genius!:apple::apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
kabunaru said:
And if the MacBook Air gets those features, Apple needs to make a dedicated graphics card on the MacBook as standard to differentiate the MacBook from the MacBook Air.
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I think that would be a given, I am so excited about a redo for the MBA and the new MB, that my current BMB will become my desktop computer, and I'll take a BMB (new) and get 3 MBA for my wife and 2 (Teacher) children.
AHHHHHH, an Apple Christmas!!!!, and the whole family on the same :apple: page.:rolleyes::cool:very:cool:
 
kabunaru said:
And if the MacBook Air gets those features, Apple needs to make a dedicated graphics card on the MacBook as standard to differentiate the MacBook from the MacBook Air.
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I think that the MacBook Air should get the dedicated graphics card to differentiate itself from the MacBook, then we would have our 12/13 inch Macbook Pro!
 
wheezy said:
Do users of the MBA really need high power and super speed? To me the speed point it's at should be plenty fast, I'd rather keep a slower processor and get more battery life.

I don't own a MBA though so this is all just opinion. But, no one ever complains about too much power...
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I purchased my MBA a couple months ago. The speed and abilities are are just fine so long as you don't have the expectation of having the MBA be a desktop replacement and not something suited more for a MBP.

My needs for complete mobility outweighed any performance issues. I use my MBA to run VMware/XP and I consider it to be the best laptop I've owned in the last six years. I use OSX for email/surfing/iTunes, etc. and XP is used for running MS-only apps I use for software development on our corporate mainframe. Speed has not been an issue whatsoever because I don't expect it to run Crysis at 120fps.

Not having an extra USB port or built-in ethernet does not slow me down. Besides, I've always ended up breaking the ethernet ports on my other laptops because one-way or another, a wrong yank on the cable and it'll crap-out. Working wirelessly suits me just fine. I purchased the external CD drive and I have only used it once to load Windows XP on it.

If Apple decides to give it a speed boost, I for one welcome it. I just hope that the community does not give it too high an expectation that it can replace a MacBook Pro. Because it certainly will not do that. The graphics performance is fine for pencil-pushers doing business apps but certainly not for video editing/graphics design.

And since I do a lot of commuting by motorcycle, the MBA has been a godsend in terms of not having a bulkier laptop weigh me down on my back.

I would highly recommend a MBA but highlight it with an asterisk for safe measure.
 
3 processor categories for 3 lines of computers

This is my first post. I live in Denmark, so English is not where I am at my best.

I see the differentiation between the three Macbook lines coming from the three general processor categories that will be delivered by Intel with the Montevina line-up: 17W, 25W and 35W TDP
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3356&p=1

We have the 17 W TDP processors for the Macbook Air: Sufficiently powerful (1,86 GHz/6MB cache), incredibly small, way easier on the battery and even cooler than now - More true to the philosophy of the "Macbook Air"-vision than the current processors.

The All-new 25 W TDP processor category for the Macbook - Allowing for more "Macbook Air"-like Macbooks that are relatively cheap and full-featured; Both significantly cooler (temperature-wise and concerning design) and more powerful than today (2,53 GHz/6MB is a lot of processing power for 25 watts of power)

The 35 W TDP processor category will be reserved for the Macbook Pro which will get the most powerful processors possible in a package that is similar to the current offering; but finally distanced from the Macbook.. Even more so with the Macbook Pro having dedicated graphics.
 
All I want is a removable battery! And not the stupid ghetto way!

I would HAPPILY trade my MacBook Pro for an Air. Can't wait for the next revision...
 
A mildly-improved MacBook Air no more invalidates the existence of the MacBook then the MacBook invalidates the existence of the MacBook Pro.

Each model offers capabilities and capacities not found on the model below it in the line-up.
 
morespce54 said:
So, how soon is "soon"?
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Ya gotta LOVE these rumors of an "imminent" update! The rumors on the MacBook and MacBook Pro have been going on for months and now we have a new imminent rumor--))) :rolleyes:

Advice: Don't hold your breath! They will get here when they get here--)))) ;) :eek:
 
Well I hope this rumor is true. I was confused about which Mac portable to get for the school year for my birthday (October 5) as my HP laptop is dying. I just got a 20" iMac this summer and an updated MBA would be a great accompaniment. I was debating between the "new" Macbook/pro or the Air. The Air would fit my needs perfectly - portable for classes, library, taking notes, writing essays, and watching a few shows in bed.
A bigger HD and faster processor would be perfect. Better battery life wouldn't hurt either.

Come on Apple! September is gonna be a good month :)
 
nidserz said:
Well I hope this rumor is true. I was confused about which Mac portable to get for the school year for my birthday (October 5) as my HP laptop is dying.
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What do u mean, your laptop IS DYING? He got cancer tumors? A device is either dead or alive.:D
 
Gee4orce said:
Apple have a reasonable returns policy - hold onto it until the new one comes out, and if it's only been a couple of weeks then you'll be able to swap it for a small fee. If it's longer than that, well, you've had a couple of weeks benefit from your laptop so that probably outweighs the minor improvements in a new model anyway - if it doesn't, then you probably didn't need to buy it in the first place.
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I believe you have 30 days to return, if a new model comes out in that time. Of course you do need to pay the restocking fee.

CyberBob859 said:
If this rumor is true, then the MacBook becomes obsolete. The Air would have the same size screen, keyboard, and now, computing power. All in a thinner design.
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But still lack the ports and optical drive of the MacBook, still have a slower CPU even at 2.0GHz, and still be more expensive.

I'm still thinking they're going to introduce a 13" MacBook Pro to handle some of the expandability of the MacBook but with more power, and a mini-laptop to handle the sub-$1000 market and for those people wishing for long battery life.
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The MacBook is an entry-level laptop, which the MBA is not. Apple is not going drop the MacBook in favor of the MBA any time in the near future.
 
kabunaru said:
The MacBook Pro will probably have a better graphics card than the MacBook and you can run 30" external display. Those are two reasons I could think of.
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Bigger display, higher resolution, more ports, and the GPU will still be better (think single-core vs. dual-core).
 
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