Intel Preps 1.7GHz and 1.8GHz Processors Suitable for Next MacBook Air

[captaincol]

Return the backlit keyboard

I will be straight on the line for these new AIRs. My RevA transformed my travelling life, but could do with the extra power. I did not buy the last very credible upgrade, and was a bit let down by the lack of BL keyboard. It is a very practical and classy part of the MBA experience, never mind the power hit. Hopefully the new ULVs will make that less of an issue.

That and my ipad tuck beautifully into a 20liter backpack without even noticing.
That is the way to travel.

 

[KnightWRX]

BL keyboard. It is a very [...] classy part of the MBA experience

My laptop does not have class nor does it represent my class. You guys put too much value into inanimate electronics.

 

[Adidas Addict]

I will be straight on the line for these new AIRs. My RevA transformed my travelling life, but could do with the extra power. I did not buy the last very credible upgrade, and was a bit let down by the lack of BL keyboard. It is a very practical and classy part of the MBA experience, never mind the power hit. Hopefully the new ULVs will make that less of an issue.

That and my ipad tuck beautifully into a 20liter backpack without even noticing.
That is the way to travel.

I missed the backlit KB so much I switched back to a 13MBP, never thought it bothered much until I had to do without it. I will skip the next MBA even if the bring the backlight back, as I assume it will have the same god awful screen that's in the current one. (colours and viewing angle are the worst I have ever had from any Apple laptop)

 

[epictempo]

My laptop does not have class nor does it represent my class. You guys put too much value into inanimate electronics.

Classiness is Apple's sole reason for premium pricing; seeing how they're number one now, the world thinks class is worth it.

 

[hcho3]

Yes, It's sandy bridge AIR!

Wait, it has an intel HD3000.

Intel graphic card sucks. I do not want to go forward on CPU and take backward on GPU.

 

[blow45]

My laptop does not have class nor does it represent my class. You guys put too much value into inanimate electronics.

huh? what? these are social conventions, wake up and smell the coffee.

 

[KnightWRX]

Classiness is Apple's sole reason for premium pricing; seeing how they're number one now, the world thinks class is worth it.

Hum. When I bought my MBA, there was no cheaper option on the market that had the same specs (and yes, I consider weight and size specs), so that's just your perception and you put too much value in inanimate electronics.

huh? what? these are social conventions, wake up and smell the coffee.

My goods do not represent my social persona. I do not interact in society based on the goods I own.

 

[2IS]

I currently have the maxed out 2010 13" MBA and I simply love the machine. But...I will say that it only takes a few minutes of a Skype video call to get the fans spinning pretty fast. The new CPU sounds great and I would consider getting an i7-based MBA, though it will be interesting to see how the new CPU/IGP will impact the overall performance. Also, crossing my fingers that Apple includes larger flash drives in the new MBAs.

If heat and fan speed/noise are your primary issues for upgrading to a SB MBA, save yourself $1789 by spending $10 on coolbook for your current MBA. Fan noise for me since running it is bearly above idle levels while skyping.

 

[drewyboy]

Right on

Originally Posted by apdg
Oh certainly, don't get me wrong, I feel we have some right to expect that a new generation of machine shouldn't involve taking a step backwards in something so central as GPU performance. I just mean that there are some business realities involved here that are forcing a sacrifice and Apple has deemed that the sacrifice will inconvenience a small enough sector of the potential customers of this machine that they're willing to go for it.

Funny how we just agree I have been fighting a lot of people lately explaining to them that decisions are not purely technically, they are dictated by business. After all engineers need the business guys to pay them salaries. You may enjoy reading this (http://bit.ly/laQ6Y8) on this very topic.

These 2 hit the nail. The larger group is the one that wants, at least see's iX.
Lets put on our (average) consumer goggles and look at the specs sheet.

2010 MBA:
Proc: Core2Duo .. thinks to self, didn't i have that on my last laptop like 3 years ago????
GPU: Nvidia 3....... lost interest, turns to sales guy, "hey can this play portal 2?" sales guy:"Yeah, the Nvidiai blah blah blah..." consumer zones out.

2011 MBA:
Proc: Sandy Bridge i5/i7.. thinks to self, that's what everyone's got, i think it's the newest and latest processor. (smiles)
GPU: Intel integrated..... again, lost interest, turns to sales guy, "hey can this play portal 2?" sales guy:"Yeah, kinda.... blah blah blah" consumer zones out. Thinks to self, I heard "Yeah". I'll get it.

This is what consumers think, at least your average joe. So, Proc always will trump in marketing to the large market. They've probably learned their lesson from saying, 2010 focus' on graphics. No body cares! Except us of course. Marketing can only do so much w/ saying they have nvidia graphics, but the latest Intel Core i7 technology w/ hyper-threading (basically giving you a quad core) and turbo boost can crunch the most computationally heavy programs! (See what I just did there... it's just easier)

 

[jclardy]

I really hope they update these soon. It would be awesome if it was during this summer so I could get a free iPod Touch as well

My primary use would be iPhone development on the go. My 15" MBP is great, but I am using more and more as a desktop machine hooked up to an external monitor.

My current reason for not buying an 11.6" is twofold, one is the slower CPU and the second is the lack of a high speed port.

An i5 and Thunderbolt would solve both of my concerns. Although I would still be waiting for some kind of combined thunderbolt/firewire 800 external HDD so I could use it with both my machines.

I'm not too worried about the HD3000 integrated graphics as before my 15" MBP I was developing on an Intel GMA 950 white plastic Core Duo macbook, so I think it could handle simple iPhone 2d/3d stuff in the simulator.

 

[striker33]

The biggest problem with HD3000 IGP is that its not supported by Apples hardware acceleration api so flash(youtube) is going to suck.

Yeah but no one with a Mac would use flash based YouTube videos.

HTML5 all the way.

 

[KnightWRX]

Yeah but no one with a Mac would use flash based YouTube videos.

HTML5 all the way.

Really ? I do. Works like a charm on my MBA with the GPU accelerated H.264 decoding provided by my superior nVidia IGP.

 

[AppleScruff1]

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)



Nope, the next 13" MBP just becomes more powerful. You need to realize that the 13" MBP has a greater capacity for heat dispation and battery. Those two things mean that it can always be considerably faster.

I realize that, but I would venture a guess that sales wise this new model will encroach even more on MBP sales. Currently the Air is a few generations behind on processor technology and it sales quite well. Once it's up to date it may sell even better. And I won't be surprised if the next MBP becomes slimmer and more Air like in appearance, so it will remain a hot running machine as it is today.

 

[asdf542]

Really ? I do. Works like a charm on my MBA with the GPU accelerated H.264 decoding provided by my superior nVidia IGP.

Wow, you have one of the three GPU's Apple supports for hardware accelerated video. You must feel special.

 

[SomeWhores]

The current air won't run Portal 2. At least not for long. It gets WAY too hot after about 5 minutes. I played it on my friends (13" 1.8GHz 4GB RAM) and the CPU got up over 190F after about 5 minutes.

The Air isn't for playing current games. Counter strike, Half life, Portal (the first one) and old games like that run awesome. However current games take too much power and the air isn't efficient enough at cooling to handle current gen games.

The Air will get more of a performance boost from the Sandy Bridge and integrated Intel graphics than a Core Two Duo and Nvidia card. If the intel graphics can power a 17" 1920x1200 resolution they can handle an Airs resolution.

 

[KnightWRX]

The current air won't run Portal 2. At least not for long. It gets WAY too hot after about 5 minutes. I played it on my friends (13" 1.8GHz 4GB RAM) and the CPU got up over 190F after about 5 minutes.

If the computer doesn't shutdown automatically, then it's not over-heating. These things are designed to run at 100% utilisation for extended periods.

 

[kjjnk]

Really ? I do. Works like a charm on my MBA with the GPU accelerated H.264 decoding provided by my superior nVidia IGP.

So what? His superior Intel CPU supports Quick Sync.

 

[apdg]

17W processors are only for 11,6" i think, for 13,3" they could use 25W processors (2.1 and 2.3GHz dual-core, 3.0/3.2 in turbo-mode, 500MHz Graphics).
The Graphics HD3000 core frequency is 650MHz for 35W/45W processors (actual MacBookPro's), 500MHz for 25W and 350MHz for 17W.

I was thinking about this as well. The thermal envelope for the 13" MBA is larger than that of the 11" thanks largely to a slightly bigger fan. Both processor options for each model have to have the same TDP or you'd end up with one version of a particular size with better battery life than the other. A discrepancy that would make the product descriptions untidy (unapple). So unless these are both for the 13 (doubtful, given the TDP of the current machines) they're both for the 11.

I don't know what speeds might become available for the 13 but it seems safe to predict that these will be our choices for the 11 and the 13 will go up a bit from there.

 

[KnightWRX]

So what? His superior Intel CPU supports Quick Sync.

So what ? Apple doesn't support it.

I don't care about hardware features if Apple doesn't provide the framework support for them, because then no one can use them on OS X. Exactly the issue with VDA... it's only supported on 3 models of GPUs, all nVidia. So any vendor using that framework doesn't support many of the currently shipping Macs (all iMacs, MBPs, Mac Pro...).

 

[SomeWhores]

If the computer doesn't shutdown automatically, then it's not over-heating. These things are designed to run at 100% utilisation for extended periods.

I personally wouldn't run them until shut down. That's just me, while I know it doesn't exactly hurt anything I'd rather the fans be on to cool the machine rather than the hardware forcing a shut down.

But you're right, if it doesn't shut down it's not over heated. For most tasks the air is sufficient. Everyone will bitch and moan about losing Nvidia to Intel graphics but... Intel integrated will be completely fine for most users needs (generalizing, but I feel its fair-ish).

 

[KPOM]

Yes, It's sandy bridge AIR!

Wait, it has an intel HD3000.

Intel graphic card sucks. I do not want to go forward on CPU and take backward on GPU.

We've been down this road countless times. Given the constraints of the MacBook Air design, there isn't room for a discrete GPU, and Intel won't license third party chipsets for the Sandy Bridge processors (or any Core iX chips, for that matter).

The primary audience for the MacBook Air isn't the hard core gamer (as it is for the Dell Alienware line). It simply requires adequate graphics for everyday tasks. The older IGP used in the Arrandale chips wasn't adequate, so Apple stuck with Core 2 Duo plus the NVIDIA 320m. That the NVIDIA 320m is capable of light gaming is a bonus.

Anyway, now in mid-2011, the Core 2 Duo is looking extremely aged, since competitors are now 2 generations ahead with the CPU. The HD 3000 in the Sandy Bridge chips, while slower than the NVIDIA 320m, is adequate for everyday use in OS X, so it is logical that Apple with go with the Sandy Bridge CPU.

 

[Shanpdx]

it would be awesome if apple able to put 25W 2.0/2.3 Ghz i5 in 11" MBA

MBA 11"/13"/15"?? - 17 to 25 Watts
MB 13"/15"?? - 25 to 35 Watts
MBP 13"/15/17" - 35 to 45 Watts

now the Pro in MBP makes sense - MBP becomes desktop replacement machine

Ivy bridge might have all the answer and intel new direction might help ...

 

[FutureChips.org]

These 2 hit the nail. The larger group is the one that wants, at least see's iX.
Lets put on our (average) consumer goggles and look at the specs sheet.

2010 MBA:
Proc: Core2Duo .. thinks to self, didn't i have that on my last laptop like 3 years ago????
GPU: Nvidia 3....... lost interest, turns to sales guy, "hey can this play portal 2?" sales guy:"Yeah, the Nvidiai blah blah blah..." consumer zones out.

2011 MBA:
Proc: Sandy Bridge i5/i7.. thinks to self, that's what everyone's got, i think it's the newest and latest processor. (smiles)
GPU: Intel integrated..... again, lost interest, turns to sales guy, "hey can this play portal 2?" sales guy:"Yeah, kinda.... blah blah blah" consumer zones out. Thinks to self, I heard "Yeah". I'll get it.

This is what consumers think, at least your average joe. So, Proc always will trump in marketing to the large market. They've probably learned their lesson from saying, 2010 focus' on graphics. No body cares! Except us of course. Marketing can only do so much w/ saying they have nvidia graphics, but the latest Intel Core i7 technology w/ hyper-threading (basically giving you a quad core) and turbo boost can crunch the most computationally heavy programs! (See what I just did there... it's just easier)

On the dot! I used to be all religious about technology and used think of some companies as evil, etc. This changed once I was exposed to reality at work. This is the reality. You can have the best product and fail if you can't market it, and vice-versa. There is a funny story a professor once told me (don't ask for a reference, its just in my memory):

This happened >50 years ago.

A guy walked into a board meeting of Ford motor company: "I have designed this small radio which we can fit in a car. If we put this, people can play music on while they drive."

Random board member: We are in the business of making cars, we don't make toys.

Henry Ford: Wrong! we are not in the business of making cars, we are in the business of making money.

To me, this sums it all up

 

[twoodcc]

sound great! the macbook air needs a processor upgrade big time! maybe announced at wwdc?

 

[mirko.meschini]

I was thinking about this as well. The thermal envelope for the 13" MBA is larger than that of the 11" thanks largely to a slightly bigger fan. Both processor options for each model have to have the same TDP or you'd end up with one version of a particular size with better battery life than the other. A discrepancy that would make the product descriptions untidy (unapple). So unless these are both for the 13 (doubtful, given the TDP of the current machines) they're both for the 11.

I don't know what speeds might become available for the 13 but it seems safe to predict that these will be our choices for the 11 and the 13 will go up a bit from there.

I think this because now 11,6" runs with 10W processors + 12W 320M (a little downclocked) so about 20W of total power, the 17W processors are ok with an increased battery life. For 13,3" they use 17W + 12W about 27-29W, so 25W processors are suitable. 1.4-1.6GHz i5/i7 for 11,6" and 2.1-2.3GHz i7 for 13".