At one point the earth was flat too, times change. You had an old intel IGP once that sucked, welcome to the club, so did every other laptop owner on the planet. It has absolutely no bearing on the current discussion.
You were unhappy that your first MBA overheated and ran too hot, but you want Apple to add a discrete graphics chip with a TDP of 10W or more to a chip that already has a TDP of 17W with the integrated graphics on die?
So now you're getting a dramatically faster CPU, as well as an integrated 3D card with performance on par with the outgoing 320M within 17W when previously you had a Core2Duo which ran at 17W combined with a second chip that required more cooling at over 10W.
The 9400M was a piece of junk, the HD3000 beats it by a very large margin, if you want to make up nonsense like this to support your position, try to at least make it vague enough that you can't be called out on it.
If you think SB is only slightly faster than a Core2, you need to do some more research, claiming the IGP is terribly inferior points to that as well.
As someone that does own one, I can tell you that this entire paragraph is false.
The GPU does not cause "lag" when connected to an external screen. I'm running one right now at 2560x1600 off a mini-displayport -> DVI-D DL adapter.
Apple has been pushing the envelope in terms of performance per watt, battery life, and compact form factors for the last several years, this is exactly the type of thing they would go for. The fact is AMD is also doing the same thing, integrating Radeon IGPs into multi core CPUs for small form factors.
I'm sorry but that's just hysteria.
I doubt it.
I think you need to go read a little more about the Intel IGP HD 3000 and how the ULV chip will fare vs. the standard voltage used in the 13" MBP. The ULV SB is what all of the sites are mentioning for the MBAs... and they're not clarifying that the 13" will have a different LV CPU.
I will not sit and throw back words all day, but I think you need to read up a little more or even just go to the 13" MBP forum information on what happens with the Intel IGP even when connecting an external ACD.
All will be realized when the new MBAs are introduced.
The Samsung has a 1.4-GHz Intel Core i5 2537M CPU with HD3000 graphics and a 13.3" screen running at 1366x768. It's a bit like combining the internals of the smaller MBA with the larger screen.
Looking at the test results, the Samsung has the edge when it comes to CPU tasks. But check out the graphics:
3DMark06: Samsung 2188, MBA 11" 4290, MBA 13" 4611
WoW autodetect: Samsung 14fps, MBA 11" 48fps, MBA 13" 56fps
WoW native: Samsung 7fps, MBA 11" 31fps, MBA 13" 24fps
I don't know what WoW settings were used but 7fps is far from playable. I can wait a bit longer for number-crunching tasks but if you don't get enough fps, there's no way to play 🙂
This has been my point ever since the 13" MBP was released. The C2D with Nvidia 320m is a well rounded Mac, and the Intel IGP seriously limits certain games, apps, and even performance when connecting a 27" ACD. The 11" MBA flies even when attached to a 27" ACD.
The Intel HD 3000 is not a standalone GPU, and people don't realize that it's under clocked severely in ULV SB CPUs. If it were the same IGP as the 13" MBP it would be bad, because the 13" MBA has a higher resolution display to drive. But the thing is the 13" MBAs will get either LV and possibly even ULV CPUs with a much poorer performing HD 3000.
I am not going to jump on these new MBAs. It will probably take me a few months of reading real-world reviews and information about real-world performance from people using the apps and etc that I use on a daily basis. I don't have a lot of faith. I also believe the backlit keyboard, upgraded RAM, upgraded Flash was all part of the plan when the last MBA was introduced as Apple knew it was going to have a heck of a setback when it had to lose the Nvidia GPU.
For as much crap as C2D gets from those who want the latest and greatest CPU, I don't think they realize that it still does everything just a little slower... but the loss of the Nvidia GPU means complete lack of ability to do things the October 2010 MBAs are both incredibly capable at. Yes, it's an ultraportable, but the Nvidia GPU is a heck of an alternative to Intel's worthless IGP.
I hope I am wrong and Apple pulls a miracle with some amazing drivers, and it solves all of the problems with the Intel HD 3000 on the 13" MBP at the same time... and the ULV CPUs will somehow have an Intel HD 3000 that is over clocked as to not be a complete dog. However, I am expecting the worst, and I have very little real world hope because I have done a lot of research on it.
