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Let's talk 2012 MacBook Air - what would you like to see?
- Thread starter Jobsian
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Yes, best computer ever for a portable - or even for any type
All proposed improvements would be great. The only improvement that is truly needed is wakeup speed. My wife's Pro wakes in about a second. My 2011 MBA takes about 4. Speedy, compared to my 5 year old Dell, but still needs tweaking by Apple.
13" MBA Core i7, 27" iMac Core i7, 15" MBP Core2Duo, 21" iMac Core2Duo, iPhone 4
Yes, best computer ever for a portable - or even for any type
All proposed improvements would be great. The only improvement that is truly needed is wakeup speed. My wife's Pro wakes in about a second. My 2011 MBA takes about 4. Speedy, compared to my 5 year old Dell, but still needs tweaking by Apple.
13" MBA Core i7, 27" iMac Core i7, 15" MBP Core2Duo, 21" iMac Core2Duo, iPhone 4
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Out of interest, why do quite a few people seem to really want 8GB RAM?
I do realise the infinitive was split. There's nothing that can be done about that now though.
I run both lion and windows 7 at the same time, that seems to use all 4 gigs of my ram.
Some programs for photo, video & web design work better with 8GB. More is always better.
- ARM processor - 15 hours battery life
- Carbon fiber body - bottom vents, better cooling capacity, and LIGHTER (2.5lbs)
- Retina display
- 8GB/512SSD
- HD camera
- SD slot with full-insertion- so the SD card doesn't stick out, worse thing about the Air.
Happy with the 2010 13", will probably wait till Haswell or ARM to upgrade again, but might buy the 2012 MBP in the meantime.
- Carbon fiber body - bottom vents, better cooling capacity, and LIGHTER (2.5lbs)
- Retina display
- 8GB/512SSD
- HD camera
- SD slot with full-insertion- so the SD card doesn't stick out, worse thing about the Air.
Happy with the 2010 13", will probably wait till Haswell or ARM to upgrade again, but might buy the 2012 MBP in the meantime.
Its already there in the 2011 MBA. If you're talking about illuminated keys, that would be cool
Don't know why you were downvoted, but I'm not sure we're close to seeing ARM in them just yet. Carbon fiber would be good for weight and strength, but it insulates a lot. Liquid metal a possibility?
CPU: Minor improvements with Ivy Bridge (1 year), substantial with Haswell (2 years).
GPU: Not a priority for Apple on Airs? Ivy Bridge and Haswell will show improvements.
RAM: 4 GB min, 8 max.
SSD: 128 GB min, 5-- max, hopefully. I could definitely see Apple holding the SSD options where they stand next year. Also might be between a rock and a hard place with SSDs. (Apple's crumbling relationship with Samsung and Toshiba's low quality.)
Battery: Longer. Improving 11" battery life should be a huge priority for Apple upon the next refresh, esp given the popularity of that model. Need to get both models up to 10 hrs so they can be marketed as "all day" machines.
LTE/4G/3G: Logical for an ultraportable, esp Airs which are sans ethernet port, though I doubt we'll see it. Apple might prefer that users tether to smartphone, but carriers don't make that particularly convenient.
USB3: Yes.
Form Factor: I don't think we'll see a change until Haswell arrives (2 years). MBA is still the best-looking ultraportable on the market, and will probably remain that way for the foreseeable future; no reason to change it.
Screen: I'd like to see a larger screen and reduced bezel on at least the 11", although it may be unlikely. Higher resolutions would be nice, but only if they take a retina approach. Higher quality (viewing angles) would be much appreciated.
Bezel: Although I don't mind it, dumping the silver bezel for black would probably be the best when it comes to user experience.
Chassis: I personally don't find carbon fiber visually appealing, and MBA doesn't necessarily need the weight improvement. I wouldn't be surprised if a black model were to debut eventually.
15" model: Doubtful. I imagine MBPs will begin appearing with smaller form factors/SSDs somewhere down the road; a 15" model would then be marketed under the Pro brand rather than Air.
Camera: Bring in line with MBP's facetime HD next year.
OSX Lion: We'll probably see Siri integrated into Lion at some point.
GPU: Not a priority for Apple on Airs? Ivy Bridge and Haswell will show improvements.
RAM: 4 GB min, 8 max.
SSD: 128 GB min, 5-- max, hopefully. I could definitely see Apple holding the SSD options where they stand next year. Also might be between a rock and a hard place with SSDs. (Apple's crumbling relationship with Samsung and Toshiba's low quality.)
Battery: Longer. Improving 11" battery life should be a huge priority for Apple upon the next refresh, esp given the popularity of that model. Need to get both models up to 10 hrs so they can be marketed as "all day" machines.
LTE/4G/3G: Logical for an ultraportable, esp Airs which are sans ethernet port, though I doubt we'll see it. Apple might prefer that users tether to smartphone, but carriers don't make that particularly convenient.
USB3: Yes.
Form Factor: I don't think we'll see a change until Haswell arrives (2 years). MBA is still the best-looking ultraportable on the market, and will probably remain that way for the foreseeable future; no reason to change it.
Screen: I'd like to see a larger screen and reduced bezel on at least the 11", although it may be unlikely. Higher resolutions would be nice, but only if they take a retina approach. Higher quality (viewing angles) would be much appreciated.
Bezel: Although I don't mind it, dumping the silver bezel for black would probably be the best when it comes to user experience.
Chassis: I personally don't find carbon fiber visually appealing, and MBA doesn't necessarily need the weight improvement. I wouldn't be surprised if a black model were to debut eventually.
15" model: Doubtful. I imagine MBPs will begin appearing with smaller form factors/SSDs somewhere down the road; a 15" model would then be marketed under the Pro brand rather than Air.
Camera: Bring in line with MBP's facetime HD next year.
OSX Lion: We'll probably see Siri integrated into Lion at some point.
Intel would have to undo their current policy of forcing Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPUs to come with their integrated graphic solution and nVidia would need to jump back into the market. And considering how Intel's HD 3000 isn't that much worse then nVidia's Geforce 320M, I find it very unlikely that Intel's Ivy Bridge integrated graphic card won't beat the 320M.
I'm under the impression the GPU can already do that as my Mac mini has the same GPU as the 13'' model/high end 11.6" and it can drive the Thunderbolt Display and a 24" Cinema Display.(But the 999 model has the same GPU as the 599 Mac mini and that has a Thunderbolt and HDMI port, so I think even the low end MacBook Air can support it) but the issue is the Thunderbolt port doesn't support daisy chaining, so we'd need their the ability to Daisy Chain displays or more ideally another Thunderbolt port.
I'm hoping for
-Ivy Bridge i7 @ 1.8 GHz and 1.5Ghz
-Standard 4GB RAM / Maximun 8GB RAM
-Standard 128GB SSD on the low end 11.6"/13", 256 SSD on high end 11.6"/13" and 521GB as BTO all with increased read/write performance.
-(micro)SD card reader on 11" model
-2 Thunderbolt ports on 13" model and 1 Thunderbolt port on 11.6" both supporting daisy chaining
-USB 3.0(although I have my doubts Apple is going to implement this on any Mac)
-7 hour battery for 11.6"/10 hour battery for 13"
-HD camera
If we got the majority of those, I'd feel the urge to upgrade my 2010 Core 2 Duo model.
Out of interest, why do quite a few people seem to really want 8GB RAM?
I do realise the infinitive was split. There's nothing that can be done about that now though.
Virtualization. Windows 7 likes ram. This is the only reason why the MBA is not even a consideration for me at this point.
11" MacBook Air:
$999
1366x768 11" LCD
4 GBs of RAM (8 GBs optional, +$129)
64 GBs
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core low-end i5 Processor
6.5 Hours of Battery Life
$1199
1366x768 11" LCD
4 GBs of RAM (8 GBs optional, +$129)
128 GBs (256 GBs optional, +$199)
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core mid-range i5 Processor
6.5 Hours of Battery Life
13" MacBook Air:
$1299
1440x900 13" LCD
4 GBs of RAM (8 GBs optional, +$129)
128 GBs (256 GBs optional, +$199)
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core mid-range i5 Processor
8 Hours of Battery Life
$1599
1440x900 13" LCD
8 GBs of RAM
256 GBs (512 GBs optional, +$399)
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core high-end i7 Processor
8 Hours of Battery Life
$999
1366x768 11" LCD
4 GBs of RAM (8 GBs optional, +$129)
64 GBs
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core low-end i5 Processor
6.5 Hours of Battery Life
$1199
1366x768 11" LCD
4 GBs of RAM (8 GBs optional, +$129)
128 GBs (256 GBs optional, +$199)
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core mid-range i5 Processor
6.5 Hours of Battery Life
13" MacBook Air:
$1299
1440x900 13" LCD
4 GBs of RAM (8 GBs optional, +$129)
128 GBs (256 GBs optional, +$199)
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core mid-range i5 Processor
8 Hours of Battery Life
$1599
1440x900 13" LCD
8 GBs of RAM
256 GBs (512 GBs optional, +$399)
Intel Ivy-Bridge Dual-Core high-end i7 Processor
8 Hours of Battery Life
I really want the MBA to be my next computer. Currently rocking a 13inch MBP and this is what I would need (or want) in order to make the switch:
6-8 GB of Ram - I don't care what anyone else says. I don't do very intensive work and OSX (even Snow Leopard) eats Ram. I don't want to be worrying about this in my next purchase.
thunderbolt to ethernet adapter - when is this going to be offered by apple? I'm shocked honestly that it isn't available now. I absolutely require an ethernet port for work and I'm willing to use an adapter but I'd like to keep my much more valuable usb ports as well as have high speed gigabit ethernet.
better battery life - Not a huge deal but it would be nice. If the 13inch MBA could get 8 solid real life hours off the battery I would be happy.
usb3 - I'd be happy with a thunderbolt to usb3 adapter really, but having it built in would be a plus. Again the main point is I really hope Apple decides to actually make use of this super fancy thunderbolt port that they made such a big deal out of. It could be so useful but right now it is basically the exact opposite...
That's about it really. I love the design of the MBA and I think cpu performance is well beyond what I'd require at this point. Apple seems to like the MBA product line (unlike the 13inch MBP line, or the mac mini for example) so here is to hoping they don't gimp it...
6-8 GB of Ram - I don't care what anyone else says. I don't do very intensive work and OSX (even Snow Leopard) eats Ram. I don't want to be worrying about this in my next purchase.
thunderbolt to ethernet adapter - when is this going to be offered by apple? I'm shocked honestly that it isn't available now. I absolutely require an ethernet port for work and I'm willing to use an adapter but I'd like to keep my much more valuable usb ports as well as have high speed gigabit ethernet.
better battery life - Not a huge deal but it would be nice. If the 13inch MBA could get 8 solid real life hours off the battery I would be happy.
usb3 - I'd be happy with a thunderbolt to usb3 adapter really, but having it built in would be a plus. Again the main point is I really hope Apple decides to actually make use of this super fancy thunderbolt port that they made such a big deal out of. It could be so useful but right now it is basically the exact opposite...
That's about it really. I love the design of the MBA and I think cpu performance is well beyond what I'd require at this point. Apple seems to like the MBA product line (unlike the 13inch MBP line, or the mac mini for example) so here is to hoping they don't gimp it...
From my experience Windows 7 is much more ram efficient than OSX. I can easily use Win 7 with 1 GB or ram. Right now in Lion I have only one program open (chrome with 2 tabs) and I'm using 1.7GB of ram.
My point... any OS needs lots of ram for virtualization, so I do agree more ram would be nice for that.
built in 3G is really high on my list. It would also nice to have a built in ethernet port. but keeping the current form factors should be the prime objective.
A real GPU option, more RAM, card reader on the 11", better battery life on the 11", HD camera, and 3G. They'd all be nice.
But...
Seriously though I couldn't care less, the 11" MBA is the best notebook I've ever used... and I've used a lot!
But...
Seriously though I couldn't care less, the 11" MBA is the best notebook I've ever used... and I've used a lot!
Yeah i was surprised that didn't come out alongside the new Airs...
I bet Apple thought of it but that they deemed it too expensive. If even a point-to-point Thunderbolt cable has to cost $50 because of the active chips in the connectors, then what about something that actually does something? They wouldn't be able to sell it for $29 like the current USB ones and I guess the market would be too low then.
Also a WHITE model
I hope that the 2012 model will include a SIM-card slot and also have a WHITE alternative model. And better battery time.
I hope that the 2012 model will include a SIM-card slot and also have a WHITE alternative model. And better battery time.
I think there was a rumor about that some time back, but couldn't keep the whites to Jobs' liking a la iphone. Can't remember the origins of it.
My top items:
- 8Gb RAM. Major thing. Doing anything but casual surfing (ie, work) quickly fills up my 4Gb I have today. Sure, it works fine, but 8Gb would give much better work environment where I can leave my apps that I use a lot open all day.
- GPU. I got the 2010 Air and the 320M is ALMOST enough. I can play games, but there is stuttering when lots of things happen. Framerates are acceptable but not as high as I'd like. Just a bit more oompf and I'd be happy. Hope Ivy Bridge sorts this
- Improved battery life. This is a minor thing, but the battery does drain quite fast, especially when used with a 3G modem om the road.
- Better screen (oled?). Also minor, I like the screen on my current Air, but viewing angles and color representation could be a bit better. Love that it hasn't got glass though - not as glossy as the Pro.
Other than that, I'm extremely satisfied. CPU is enough most of the time even on my C2D, haven't even tried the i7 but can't imagine I would need more than that. Size and form are excellent - card reader can be used in USB the few times you need it, and I have little use for a 3g modem. Will very likey upgrade when the next Air comes out.
- 8Gb RAM. Major thing. Doing anything but casual surfing (ie, work) quickly fills up my 4Gb I have today. Sure, it works fine, but 8Gb would give much better work environment where I can leave my apps that I use a lot open all day.
- GPU. I got the 2010 Air and the 320M is ALMOST enough. I can play games, but there is stuttering when lots of things happen. Framerates are acceptable but not as high as I'd like. Just a bit more oompf and I'd be happy. Hope Ivy Bridge sorts this
- Improved battery life. This is a minor thing, but the battery does drain quite fast, especially when used with a 3G modem om the road.
- Better screen (oled?). Also minor, I like the screen on my current Air, but viewing angles and color representation could be a bit better. Love that it hasn't got glass though - not as glossy as the Pro.
Other than that, I'm extremely satisfied. CPU is enough most of the time even on my C2D, haven't even tried the i7 but can't imagine I would need more than that. Size and form are excellent - card reader can be used in USB the few times you need it, and I have little use for a 3g modem. Will very likey upgrade when the next Air comes out.
11" discontinued. Both models replaced with smaller form factor 13" thanks to very thin bezel.
$999 with 64GB and 4GB
$1,199 with 124GB
$1,499 with 256GB and built-in 4G
10h battery life.
Also hoping for significantly better GPU performance in Ivybridge vs Sandybridge.
$999 with 64GB and 4GB
$1,199 with 124GB
$1,499 with 256GB and built-in 4G
10h battery life.
Also hoping for significantly better GPU performance in Ivybridge vs Sandybridge.