Ok ok calm down - this is a thread aboutthe new CPU's offered by intel in the same package as used in the Air - not a 'lets slag off the air because I dont have one, and thus am not qualified to comment' thread. go here if you want that.
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Intel Unveils Update to MacBook Air's Custom Processor
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Ok ok calm down - this is a thread aboutthe new CPU's offered by intel in the same package as used in the Air - not a 'lets slag off the air because I dont have one, and thus am not qualified to comment' thread. go here if you want that.
"Once you got it, you'll FLAUNT it," I always say. Why would I spend $2600+ on an MBA? "Because I Can!" Once you go MBA, there is no other way... Heck, I might buy the new MBA in September.
swingerofbirch
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Nice stuff. So a 2 MB increase in the L2 cache and 1066 MHz FSB means a slight but definitely noticeable improvement. Add to that the lower TDP (20W vs. 17W) and hopefully Intel's GMA 4500MHD and it sounds like a solid update.
I also wonder if Apple would make a slightly premature leap to DDR3 SDRAM for the notebook line seeing as it offers lower power consumption and runs cooler. Would raise prices though. 800 MHz DDR2 would be second best. 4 GBs of RAM soldered onto the high-end 1.8 GHz would be nice too.
I also wonder if Apple would make a slightly premature leap to DDR3 SDRAM for the notebook line seeing as it offers lower power consumption and runs cooler. Would raise prices though. 800 MHz DDR2 would be second best. 4 GBs of RAM soldered onto the high-end 1.8 GHz would be nice too.
Yeah, it's pretty weird.
Part of this is because the buyer's guides are still factoring in release dates from before the switch to Intel. Apple is now constrained by Intel's releases, which are on a different cycle than the PowerPCs.
But we're overdue for a new generation of changes. I doubt they'll release them all at once; it's better to spread out your PR over time than use it all up at once.
Most Intel processors are overclocked slightly. I would imagine these will be 1.83 and 2.1 Ghz when they ship inside the Air - IF they do.
If Apple offered MBA with the 1.8 GHZ penryn, 1066 MHZ FSB, 4GB of ram (optional), the new 4500MHD, and 160 GB SSD, they would have a killer pro light portable.
I might even bite on that one instead of a new MBP. We'll see.
Most of my clients that purchase them are executive types. They just want something for email that they can throw in their briefcase, and edit the occasional word doc, while on the beach looking cool. At the exec level looking cool and shallow stuff like that can be suprisingly important to them. To each his own.
Oh man more Penryn news but the chips are the custom for lightweight notebooks. lets hear about Nehalem!
For people who need a very light platform that runs OS X.
The author Dr. Jerry Pournelle has one and he often comments how nice it is to have such a light machine that allows him to carry a computer with him literally everywhere.
My father is also about ready to move to OS X and he has decided he wants a MacBook Air for the same reason. His needs are absolutely minimal so the MBA will more then adequately meet them, but he wants absolute minimum weight possible.
I replaced my 2.0ghz BlackBook with a MBA that I got for $1300. I used my blackbook for DJing, and now my MBA is even better for DJing. Super light, fantastic LCD, and well fast enough for what I do. Sure the blackbook did everything I needed, but the MBA makes it that much easier and that much nicer to lug around. Plus its the best looking laptop i've ever seen in my life...hands down.
come on. it's a nice second computer and $1800 is not that much money. given what we spend on drinks at the weekend or for a simple dinner. many people are quite happy with it.
anyway, is there a chance that these cpu's find their way into other macs as well? like a tablet or a 10 inch Asus EEE like machine? leopard would run just fine on a dual 1,4GHz notebook.
Of course not.
I'm a bit perplexed about these questions.
I mean... what is the purpose of the white "standard" MacBook?
What's the purpose of the black one?
Everything what you can do on the "standard" black/white MacBook can be also done with the MacBook Air - except a (very) few things which require the FireWire interface: Video and/or audio editing which depend on a FireWire interface. And then, the MBA is thinner, it's of higher quality, it's of aluminum, it's got a backlit keyboard and, probably most important: It's lighter. Considerably lighter.
Personally, I really don't care that much about how cool the thing looks.
I do, however, care about weight and battery runtime.
While the MacBook Air is already a considerable improvement over the MacBook in terms of weight (2 pounds = 40%), the new Low Voltage-Processors could also provide some in terms of battery runtime.
Anyhow... if it were just about "cooler" look on the beach, thoses exec guys could have purchased the black- or the Pro-version MacBook since 2006...
I really doubt that.
Sony is offering the Viao Z at competitive pricing, it has all of the above mentioned features + Blu-ray and it only weighs a few ozs. more than the MBA.
firewire: agreed
gigabit: they offer usb ethernet
four usb: Not gonna happen. They may squeeze out one more but, you are not going to get four.
The title of this thread seems misleading, did Intel specifically say it is a processor designed for the MBA?
Bobjob: How do you use it for DJing? The single reason I don't get it is because you only have the one USB and a very small hard drive. Where do you store your music? So then you use a USB hub for you audio card and storage drive? You've had good performance? Have you used it at all for video mixing?
That is the one reason I am hoping for a firewire port on the next go around - then I will buy it an a heartbeat.
FireWire is not necessary.
USB could do it.
Apple could probably even deliver the USB Target Disk Mode via firmware update.
That's why Apple offers an USB Ethernet adapter.
There are also some Gigabit adapters available which might be considerable faster (maybe not as fast as integrated of course, due to USB limit)
That's why you can buy USB hubs almost everywhere.
Just for curiousity:
Why would you get a MacBookAir, if you plan to connect 4 (!) USB devices regularly?
I do not see all this coming anyway. I mean... why would Apple call it the "Air" MacBook, if they're adding ports and more ports in the next revision. The future is pretty much wireless*, and Apple has promoted wireless connectivity for years... often being among the first or earlier vendors to adapt it throughout their entire product line (as with 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n and Bluetooth).
I think (and I'm pretty sure, Apple is with me on this one), with prices for Bluetooth and 802.11 wireless products having come down, future use of wired external connectivity (USB, FireWire, Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA) will be more and more confined to
a) "cheap" products (that is not what Apple is about)
b) professional / high-performance applications (that's not what the MacBook Air is about)
No, they didn't.
On the contrary, this isn't "custom" at all, as it's listed in Intel's official price list.
Without the full array of printer drivers and languages, you should have at least 30-40 GB of free space on your hard drive.
This should equal a lot (!) of music
I have like 15gigs of music, probably 8 gigs that I actually DJ with. I use Traktor 3 with a behringer BCD3000 that plugs into the air through usb and has it's own outpus. from there it's off to the mixer and then the JBL EON's. It works just as good as it did with my macbook, maybe a little more fan action but nothing too major. I've never mixed video at a show, and I don't use Serato. I have plugged in my CDJs into my macbook and used it with Traktor but I have yet to try with the Air, I don't see why it wouldn't work though. I'm sure the air could handle it. I went to this trendy retail store that features DJ's every week and this guy was using Traktor Scratch on a MacBook Air connected to two turntables and he was jamming and it looked super clean. I wish it had a firewire port and to be fair I wouldn't have bought it for 1799 + tax, but cause I got it for 1300 I couldn't resist. I'd definitely look into it though, it's a bomb machine.
what's your setup right now?
I'm on a macbook pro 2.0 + two technics 1200 going in to The Rane/Serato TTM57sl mixer. I use a 250gb firewire drive for all my audio/video files (even with video - the 250 is overkill) I use about 30gb of it for audio and 10-15gb for video.
My audio setup:
TTM57sl - DBX Driverack - 2 QSC 2450/4050 amps - Cerwin Vega Earthquakes/JBL MRX 15s.
I do a lot of large events
Problem is you really shouldn't max out a hard drive like that - you're going to run into performance issues and I'm talking about audio and video files.