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Apple Updates MacBook Air Line With Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt and Backlit Keyboards

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Alongside today's launch of OS X Lion, Apple has also released updated MacBook Air models covering both the 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch sizes. As had been previously rumored, the new models are based on Intel's Sandy Bridge platform, sport Thunderbolt connectivity for peripherals, and see the return of backlit keyboards. The new MacBook Airs are offered in the following configurations:

11.6-inch
- 1.6 GHz, 64 GB SSD, 2 GB RAM: $999
- 1.6 GHz, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $1199

13.3-inch
- 1.7 GHz, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $1299
- 1.7 GHz, 256 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $1599

Build-to-order customers can also choose to upgrade to a 1.8 GHz processor and additional solid-state storage.
With up to twice the performance of the previous generation, flash storage for instant-on responsiveness and a compact design so portable you can take it everywhere,* the MacBook Air starts at $999 (US) and is available for order today and in stores tomorrow.

"Portable, affordable and powerful, MacBook Air is the ultimate everyday notebook," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "MacBook Air features our most advanced technology and is an ideal match for Lion, especially with its new Multi-Touch gestures, full-screen apps, Mission Control and Mac App Store."
Click to expand...
The new MacBook Air models are available for order today and will be available in stores tomorrow. All models ship with OS X Lion preinstalled.

Article Link: Apple Updates MacBook Air Line With Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt and Backlit Keyboards
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/20/apple-updates-macbook-air-line-with-sandy-bridge-thunderbolt-and-backlit-keyboards/
S

smiddlehurst

macrumors 65816
Jun 5, 2007
1,228
30
They've also killed the Macbook... which kinda makes sense actually. For the same money as the 11" MBA it seemed like an odd choice, the only model still dressed in plastic and the Air seems to be far more popular.

As for the Air itself that seems like a decent spec update and a very nice machine for the money. Shame they couldn't bump the SSD to 128Gb as standard but I guess for a lot of people 64Gb will be enough on this sort of machine anyway. Can't wait to see the reviews come in.
 
KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
RAM was upgraded for 3 of the 4 configurations, storage is the same accross the line-up, battery life remains the same, and the backlit keyboard is back, hopefully killing all the threads about it in the process.

I think the best news today is the Mac Mini getting a dedicated GPU in one of its configurations.
 
K

knth

macrumors newbie
Jul 19, 2011
2
0
R.i.p

R.I.P White Macbook
 

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S

Shivetya

macrumors 68000
Jan 16, 2008
1,669
306
Very sloppy of Apple, pages for Airs still refer to 320 graphics?

Yet I do not see anything but Intel built in 3000HD graphics

I wonder how bad the performance hit was for that one?
 
S

sicn

macrumors member
Mar 12, 2010
46
0
jackc said:
No RAM upgrade?
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem like it :-( Hoped a lot that I could replace my 8GB, 256GB SSD Macbook Pro with the lighter Air, but I need the extra memory.

Oh well, at least my credit card is happy.
 
T5BRICK

T5BRICK

macrumors G3
Aug 3, 2006
8,313
2,387
Oregon
Updated the Mac Mini and a thunderbolt display is on the main apple page now, but not in the store yet.

*edit* and now the thunderbolt display is in the store. Looks pretty cool. It's got an ethernet port.
 
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KnightWRX

KnightWRX

macrumors Pentium
Jan 28, 2009
15,046
4
Quebec, Canada
I

i5pro

macrumors regular
Jun 17, 2010
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NNJ
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I think the new mini server is awesome. Quadcore i7!!
 
N

newdeal

macrumors 68030
Oct 21, 2009
2,510
1,769
...

since there is no post about this THE WHITE MACBOOK IS GONE OFF THE ONLINE STORE (at least in Canada)
 
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