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Apple to Update MacBook Air to Penryn Soon?

iMacmatician said:
TDP increases linearly with frequency but increases quadratically with voltage.
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That is only true if you don't have to increase voltage to increase frequency. What everyone has to remember is TDP is the maximum amount of heat a cooler is suppose to expect from a CPU. That doesn't mean the CPU always puts out the stated TDP. In most cases Intel CPU's don't even put out the TDP. Intel CPUs run really cool.
 
It might be worth mentioning that Dell is offering high performance 128 GB SSD drives as a $500 bto option on their XPS line. That being said they are two very different laptops, and the XPS likely has a 2.5 inch (cheaper) drive.
 
shervieux said:
thank you, another preference setting I did not know about.....
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No problem - I didn't find out about that one until about a year ago. If you set your trackpad up to detect clicks, you can also set it to detect a two-fingered tap as a right click. I have a number of friends who refuse to switch due to the "no right-click" myth.
 
Since everyone is talking about the new Dell Studio Hybrid that is supposed to rival the mini. For kicks, I went online and built one (no I am not buying one). Color choice is free, with the exception of bamboo which will run you $130 (additional interchangable sleeves are $20 each). The specs below is a middle of the road machine, with the components I would need. Note, Dell is also going to USB external modem. I did not choose it, nor did I choose the blu-ray option.

Nor did I choose any extended care plans, tech teams, 24X7 call plans, etc.

I also did not choose the data safe online backup (so I get no backups?) What the... OSX has the built in...., oh wait in the summary after configuring it says I get 1 yr online for free limited to 3 gb. - rather have time machine that does my whole system and does not have my files floating on the net somewhere.

I also did not choose the Dell Tune up plan (I guess they know they got crappy systems with all these paid warrenty, on-call, tech team, tune up, etc plans that jack the price tremendously). I am only spec'ing out hardware components in this post.

Oh Gee, for $6 Dell will plant a tree for me :rolleyes: -how do I have a feeling that is not the case and the money will end up in Mr. Dell's back pocket.

Starting Price $1,069

Preliminary Ship Date: 8/26/2008

My Components
SYSTEM COLOR Sapphire edit
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Ultimate Service Pack 1
MONITOR No Monitor (System includes DVI and HDMI ports. VGA is not supported) edit
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz (2 DIMM) edit
HARD DRIVE 250GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive) edit
VIDEO CARD Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 edit
SOUND Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD Software Edition edit
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell USB Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse edit
WIRELESS NETWORKING Built-in Dell 1505 Wireless-N Networking edit
EXTERNAL MODEM No Modem Included edit
My Software & Accessories
SPEAKERS No Speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) edit
ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE No Security edit
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft Works 9.0 edit
My Service
WARRANTY & SERVICE 1Yr Ltd HW WRTY, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis, 24x7 Phone Support edit
DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr edit
ENVIRONMENTAL OPTIONS Recycle my old system with Dell (FREE) edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER Dell 8 in 1 Media Card Reader
Network Card Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet
Labels Windows Vista™ Premium Tablet < - what is this?

So the price is about the same as a macbook......

Since VGA is not supported, you will have to buy a high end monitor or an LCD TV - so which means the monitor you have now, probably will not work. Add in price for that.....

For those wanting blue ray (blue ray bumped the price another $250

Sample image only Help Me Choose
Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-RW Drive) [subtract $250]
Slot Load Blu-ray Disc Combo (DVD+/-RW & BD-ROM) [Included in Price]

So now I am up to $1,319 for this? I have not even added in my extended warrenty yet or the fact I will need a new monitor and can't use my old one..... oh and adding the bluray just pushed the estimated ship date another 3 days.
 
Bye Bye Baby said:
If Apple can add a SSD drive without costing thousands, drop a penryn chip with montevina and noto destroy battery life, then I am in.
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Apple dropped the price of the SSD some time ago. They may keep those BTO prices for the coming update, and add a higher priced 128 GB option.

Bye Bye Baby said:
The MBA is a great machiene for me, it just needs more power and a more reasonable price point. 1,500 bucks for all that and I don;t think Apple could keep up with demand.
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Hopefully Apple will deliver just that, if this rumor is true!
 
Intel is also preparing to launch their new SSDs (with capacities up to 160GB) which are hoped/expected to be at pricepoints below current ones.
 
off topic,

This is funny... Dell is taking note of Apple so much, that they are now advertising on MacRumors. :eek:

ARN - I know there is good money in advertising, and now that you are not a nephrologist anymore your income dropped; but really - where is your loyalty?... :mad:

Just kidding...... :D I mean money is money right. ;) Servers, electricity, etc all costs - and I know you had to do a memory upgrade, I got hit with one of your maintenance pages the other day....

Would be cool if Apple started advertising here as well. Now would that be interesting, Apple advertising on a site about news leaks.....
 
IDF SF 2008 release?

Fudzilla says that the Penryn MacBook Air will be released at IDF San Francisco 2008, August 19~21. It mirrors the other rumors we've heard, but the release date is new.

Fudzilla said:
According to one of our cloak and dagger bunch, expect that Apple will announce that they will introduce 2.0GHz Penryn that will grace a slightly revised MacBook Air with a high capacity battery at the Intel Developer Conference next week.

Our guys in the shadows are telling us that the new revision of the MacBook Air will build upon the good things that were successful the first time around, but will offer a faster Penryn- cored processor from Intel, as well as a cheaper SDD solution option or a 120GB/160GB hard drive if you don't select the SSD option.

In addition, the biggest news may be in the fact that the new version of the MacBook Air will carry a slightly higher capacity battery which will give the latest MacBook Air the ability to last a bit longer.

While we do think that it is possible that Apple may choose to work with Intel to make the Penryn announcement, we are just not sure about the IDF timing. With all of the other announcements that we suspect are pending shortly, we just can’t see that Apple will want to alter its strategy to announce at IDF in a effort to help Intel unless there is something in it for Apple, like maybe a better price on the Penryn or perhaps even access to a faster version of the processor ahead of other OEMs?

IDF is next week and we will just have to see what happens.
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IDF announcement in exchange for 2+ GHz ≈20 W Penryns?

I made a thread on it here.
 
clarksonknight said:
No problem - I didn't find out about that one until about a year ago. If you set your trackpad up to detect clicks, you can also set it to detect a two-fingered tap as a right click. I have a number of friends who refuse to switch due to the "no right-click" myth.
Click to expand...

ok, even with me not knowing about the system settings that are not on by default - I got over the right click issue by just getting a USB mouse (actually I had one laying around) - but seriously a 2-button USB mouse will cost you $10 for a basic one, and then go as high as $60 for wireless. So for as a little as $10, you can get around the annoyance of the "no right-click myth".

But yeah, now that I know about the system setting. the two-fingered right click setting was pointed out to me about a week or so ago. I since got used to it, and well -to tell you the truth; I like it better than having to move my whole hand to right click.

However, I still find a mouse quicker - but that is my preference - I use options in apps heavily, so I am always clicking on something.
 
Well Apple launched the last Mac Pro update with no fanfare right before MacWorld 2008 so I could see Apple using IDF since it would allow Apple (and Intel) to showcase the new 22mm package 45nm CPUs and it would be a relatively "stealth" update for the MacBook Air so as to not draw attention away from the bigger MacBook (Pro) / iPod update rumored to be coming within a few weeks after.

I am sure there will be plenty of people - and analysts - who would mistake a dedicated MacBook Air launch as the actual updated MacBook launch and whine about how "useless" it is just as they did when the first model was rolled-out and then Apple's stock will drop 10%. :p
 
Interesting speculation about the IDF in San Francisco being a possible forum for Apple to announce the MBA. I notice that Steve Wozniak is a guest speaker scheduled to kick off the last day of the event at 8am in the morning on Thursday. I almost would consider the current MBA, but its just slightly below what I want in terms of performance so an update may be enough to get me on board.

For those of you that have a MBA, do you think it would be a suitable desktop replacement for a non-power user? I know its no Macbook Pro, but portability is every bit as important to me as features. I would be using it for school (business school) so most of my use would be a combination of office type applications and personal web-based application use (including video of course, but even my old 1.3Ghz Vaio can handle that). My partner has a MBP, so I could always connect to his optical drive if needed. Storage is not a biggie because we could share an external drive/time capsule.

I would intend to use VMware/XP. Basically, if you are a MBA user that needs another machine to perform some tasks, what are those tasks?
 
Umm

Don't care. You don't buy the MacBook air for the processing power.

Seriously. You either use your computer's processor or you don't. You're either a video editor or a writer. HDV rendering or Word Document Saving.
 
The Tall One said:
Don't care. You don't buy the MacBook air for the processing power.

Seriously. You either use your computer's processor or you don't. You're either a video editor or a writer. HDV rendering or Word Document Saving.
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Good point
 
brettinlj said:
For those of you that have a MBA, do you think it would be a suitable desktop replacement for a non-power user? I know its no Macbook Pro, but portability is every bit as important to me as features. I would be using it for school (business school) so most of my use would be a combination of office type applications and personal web-based application use (including video of course, but even my old 1.3Ghz Vaio can handle that). My partner has a MBP, so I could always connect to his optical drive if needed. Storage is not a biggie because we could share an external drive/time capsule.

I would intend to use VMware/XP. Basically, if you are a MBA user that needs another machine to perform some tasks, what are those tasks?
Click to expand...

The only thing my MBA hasn't been able to handle are a couple of hardcore 3D games, and even in that arena it's been remarkably powerful (I use Bootcamp to go to XP). I've left photo manipulation and music storage on my iMac, though, but that's mainly just because of the larger storage and screen. It's a remarkably powerful computer given the size, and if they are able to boost the processor power without increasing size/weight, I'm in!
 
rittchard said:
The only thing my MBA hasn't been able to handle are a couple of hardcore 3D games, and even in that arena it's been remarkably powerful (I use Bootcamp to go to XP). I've left photo manipulation and music storage on my iMac, though, but that's mainly just because of the larger storage and screen. It's a remarkably powerful computer given the size, and if they are able to boost the processor power without increasing size/weight, I'm in!
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I don't understand. If you have a MBA, aren't you already in? :)
 
rittchard said:
The only thing my MBA hasn't been able to handle are a couple of hardcore 3D games, and even in that arena it's been remarkably powerful (I use Bootcamp to go to XP). I've left photo manipulation and music storage on my iMac, though, but that's mainly just because of the larger storage and screen. It's a remarkably powerful computer given the size, and if they are able to boost the processor power without increasing size/weight, I'm in!
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Thanks for the info! When I have time for 3D games, I boot up my seldom used desktop PC in the spare bedroom anyway. Given my usual computing missions, this might be the way to go. Especially if the new Macbooks/Pros don't come out until after the back to school promotion ends and the new MBA does.
 
And to take make room for the bigger battery, Apple decides to remove all ports and replace it with 1 proprietary connector connected to a PCI-E x16 interface; this connector features a splitter that will allow DVI-I, 3 USB, FW400, FW800, mic, and stereo. :rolleyes:
 
Will the MacBook Pros and MacBooks also be updated alongside the MacBook Air? I've been waiting for so long to get a MBP for college and can't wait much longer :(
 
Great to finally get 45nm processors in the Air, but I'd much rather see an option for Penryn ULV (ultra low voltage) chips at ~1.4Ghz. Plenty of power for the basics, and 10W TDP instead of 17W for 1.6Ghz+ Penryn LV (low voltage)
 
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