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Impressive battery performance if it proves to be as good as they say. I will take that type of battery performance over speed any day. 12 hours is amazing on a laptop.
 
Incredible battery life and super quick ssd? I'm getting this!

I honestly don't understand the fascination with a retina MBA. If you want retina buy the rMBP. For what I need, and I assume others who travel extensively with their MBAs, battery life is much more important than a retina display.

To me it shows that people have bought into Apple's marketing hype that Retina = superior, non-retina = inferior. It was a noticeable upgrade going from iPhone 3GS to 4, but in my usage the rMBP display has yet to wow me.
 
I wonder if the extended battery life has anything to do with the optimizations in Mavericks.
 
Incredible battery life and super quick ssd? I'm getting this!

I honestly don't understand the fascination with a retina MBA. If you want retina buy the rMBP. For what I need, and I assume others who travel extensively with their MBAs, battery life is much more important than a retina display.

To me it shows that people have bought into Apple's marketing hype that Retina = superior, non-retina = inferior. It was a noticeable upgrade going from iPhone 3GS to 4, but in my usage the rMBP display has yet to wow me.

I completely agree with everything you said except about your claim that most people have bought into "Apple's marketing hype"

I am sure that even you have seen the Retina display on the Macbook.
It is a stunning display and a lot of us would want a display as gorgeous on our Macbook Airs. I would gladly pay the extra money for one.
 
I am really interested in how battery will perform under truly heavy usage with demanding software such as cinema 4d, after effects, premiere/fcp, zbrush & of course renderings while connected to iphone via bluetooth for internet access along with an ipad as secondary monitor via wifi on dedicated vpn

Although it may be interesting. If that is somebodies typical workload then they are buying the wrong computer for the job.
 
40% better graphics performance, a little speed increase and much better batter life sounds like a good improvement to me. Only thing I would have wished for was 16gb of ram and a black boarder around the screen..
 
Looks like the battery life, combined with the energy saving features of Mavericks [still hate the name] and the new Safari application etc, will increase battery performance even more.

I will wait until they give the MBP's the same treatment along the release of the new OS before I consider an upgrade.
 
There is a rMBA --- the rMBP.
:rolleyes:


EDIT: Besides, they need a differentiating factor for the rMBP to sell.

Yeah there IS a rMBP but it isn't a macbook air. I love the macbook airs and would never consider buying a MBP.

Many of us just prefer the macbook air model. Personal preference.

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With all due respect sir ..im curious as to why you dont see the RMBP as an alternative to your wish for a RMBA... they are the same thickness granted the RMBP is not tapered but the RMBP has a smaller footprint and a bit more powerful :confused:

It's all just personal preference. Some of us prefer the MBA models over the MBP models and would love to see a retina display on the Air models.
 
Although it may be interesting. If that is somebodies typical workload then they are buying the wrong computer for the job.

definitely wrong, serious jobs are not to be done in anything less than a maxed out rMBP15 with double TB displays -or- a desktop. but is also definitely great taking the mba to extremes while on the go and sporting great battery life while at it
 
The whole point of the Air is portability. Nearly doubling battery life is HUGE.

I love my ipad mini for surfing the web and I am creative on it. But when I travel and want to do serious video editing, the air is an awesome tool.

I've been making due with the ipad...but am definitely considering one of these MacBook airs.
 
I have the 2011 MBA and I still don't think that generation is too slow. In fact, it's still one of the snappiest computers I have ever used. Of my friends who have the 2012 model, I didn't notice much improved useability speed.

However, as awesome as the battery life was on the 2011 model, it wasn't quite enough for me to leave the power brick at home when I spend 10-12 hours per day at school. Having a 12-hour battery life alone is enough for me to want this new model.

I am curious though, under what conditions did Apple come to the 12-hour battery life estimate. With all the power-saving features of OS X 10.9, I wonder if that will be necessary to achieve the alleged 12-hour battery life? Or, if it gets 12-hours under 10.8, how much of an improvement will 10.9 be? How much of an improvement will 10.9 be for the 2012 or 2011 MBAs?
 
There was a lot of battery optimizing in OSX Maverick. Anyone know if the 12 hours 13" MBA rating was made on ML or M?

10.9 Mavericks - not ML (10.8) - The new OS has quite a bit of refinement to improve energy efficiency on a granular level. This may improve battery life on older models as well but not sure as it may be tied to the granular efficiency tweaks that Haswell has over Ivy Bridge and older chips.

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WHAT? No touch screen MBA ? Wheres the innovation ? Who cares about battery life?? thats it im moving to android .

:rolleyes:

/S

I have a feeling you're being sarcastic ;)

58% (13" 2013 vs 2012) battery life improvement is an amazing feat in one generation. That goes with an increase in Geekbench of 1000 pts (13" 2013 vs 2012).

PS - I've played Diablo 3 (unfortunately), Skyrim, Civ 5, and completed all quite happily on my 2012 - Having a laptop that lasts another ~5 hours and gives better graphics than my current rig makes me envious.

As an Android (as well as Apple) user here, you are welcome to your religious beliefs but give credit where it's due...

:p
 
#%€! you Apple! Where's my octocore touchscreen retina coffee makin' MacBook Air?

I'm keeping my Asus Eee PC...
 
Incredible battery life and super quick ssd? I'm getting this!

I honestly don't understand the fascination with a retina MBA. If you want retina buy the rMBP. For what I need, and I assume others who travel extensively with their MBAs, battery life is much more important than a retina display.

To me it shows that people have bought into Apple's marketing hype that Retina = superior, non-retina = inferior. It was a noticeable upgrade going from iPhone 3GS to 4, but in my usage the rMBP display has yet to wow me.

Eye strain is where you should really notice the difference. Going back and forth between a few machines makes it really noticeable for me. If I only had the budget to swap them all out.....
 
The real reason to get this year's model is if you need longer battery life. 5 to 9 and 7 to 12 are huge differences. Close to double.

If you're always on the road, this is a no-brainer upgrade. For those who mainly use their laptops near power sources, there is no need to upgrade.

Yeah, I think both 2012 and 2013 units turbo boost to roughly the same speeds anyway, so if you're sitting at a desk and not concerned about power consumption, speeds will probably be similar.

And if you're a power user constantly causing the CPU to turbo boost, then you won't see nearly as much of a battery life increase either, for the same reasons.

But these could be great for students, road warriors who do a lot of light office work on flights, etc. You could even take the new MBA on a weekend trip without bothering to take the AC adaptor.
 
I was hoping for a retina MacBook Air, but they announced this instead. I have even more reason to skip out on this model. I'll settle with the previous generation instead. :(

Why would they make that? At this point I don't think the MBA even has IPS in it's monitors. Just a slightly higher res than then base MBP. A rMBA would just cannibalize sales of a rMBP and cost them more to build and decrease the battery life.

This update was exactly as it should have been. The only difference I would have liked to see was inclusion of some of those Haswell GPUs they announced a few weeks back.
 
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