MacBook Air to Update This Week?

[hazmatzak]

btw: Regarding prepositions: When i'm writing "This is a MacBookPro" i'm using "a". But when i would write "This is a(n) MBP", the "M" when read is sounding like an "EM" - would i have to use "an MBP" or "a MBP"? For me it seems more fluent to use "an MBP". Serious question as i'm no native speaker and that bothers me for quite some time now...

Most people don't actually say the letters M B P "em bee pee", even when reading to themselves. They see "a MBP" and they think "a MacBook Pro", which is entirely proper. So "an" is less desirable in my book.

But some initialisms becomes words, like URL. When you're reading it, you might pronounce it "an earl" or "a yew are ell". So either "an URL" or "a URL" is defensible.

To confuse matters further, I'm sure there is no universal agreement on this, especially among native speakers 🙂

 

[guzhogi]

I wouldn't want Apple to get rid of the optical drive all together just yet. Main reason: video downloads from iTunes are still much worse than DVDs & Blu-Ray. Plus, even if I made a video in 1080p comparable to Blu-Ray (or at least a good enough for family viewing on a 42+ TV), do you know how long it'll take to download?

I could see Apple possibly making a BTO option where you can get either an optical drive or a second hard drive or battery.

 

[Neodym]

Most people don't actually say the letters M B P "em bee pee", even when reading to themselves. They see "a MBP" and they think "a MacBook Pro", which is entirely proper. So "an" is less desirable in my book.

But some initialisms becomes words, like URL. When you're reading it, you might pronounce it "an earl" or "a yew are ell". So either "an URL" or "a URL" is defensible.

To confuse matters further, I'm sure there is no universal agreement on this, especially among native speakers 🙂

Thanks for sheding some light on that issue - and i'm "glad" it's not that easy even for native speakers... 😉

 

[pubwvj]

Convergence

It is a spectrum:

PowerMac-MacBook-AirBook-iPad-iPhone

Apple should release the new AirBook with a touch screen and the option of using it as either MacOSX or iPOS and of course, the keyboard with its extra storage and ports should be removable... Voila: The middle child.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

+ 1 = 2

I hope you didn't need to use your MacBook to work that one out 😛

I'm sure I speak for everyone interested in buying a MacBook Air when I say FINALLY!

 

[tigres]

I hope you didn't need to use your MacBook to work that one out 😛

I'm sure I speak for everyone interested in buying a MacBook Air when I say FINALLY!

Correct you are. Those looking to replace theirs as well.😎

 

[gianly1985]

It is a spectrum:

PowerMac-MacBook-AirBook-iPad-iPhone

Apple should release the new AirBook with a touch screen and the option of using it as either MacOSX or iPOS and of course, the keyboard with its extra storage and ports should be removable... Voila: The middle child.

No pun intended.

 

[Digital Dude]

Mac Updates are far below the actual life cycles. Example: Apple hasn’t updated the 30-inch display since the turn of the century (when Steve had a full head of hair), so in my view, the ‘Buyers Guide’ is not really a reliable indicator.

 

[twoodcc]

yeah the macbook air needs a big update

 

[stanislas]

It is a spectrum:

PowerMac-MacBook-AirBook-iPad-iPhone

Apple should release the new AirBook with a touch screen and the option of using it as either MacOSX or iPOS and of course, the keyboard with its extra storage and ports should be removable... Voila: The middle child.

What the hell is a "Airbook"?

Concerning the Macbook Air update, it's about damn ****ing time.

I'm just really wondering though, at all those people who "hate the Air", who "want it to die" etc. What do you care? Honestly?? Don't want one, don't buy one. Personally I think the 17" MBP is completely useless - barely portable but still smaller than a real desktop machine - and you'd have to pay me to carry one about... But hey, some people like it, it sells, I couldn't care less. I'm happy for all those people whose needs are met by it...

Why do you take time to go on a forum to trash a computer you don't need/ have no plan buying and insult people who like it?? Oh yes. You're trolling. Sorry, I forgot where I was for two seconds: the internet. The big bright place for people who have nothing to say and nobody willing to listen to them.

 

[GodWhomIsMike]

Likely Processors for the new Macbook Air

Intel® Core™ i7-640UM Processor (4M Cache, 1.20 GHz) - 18W (2C/4T)
Intel® Core™ i7-620UM Processor (4M Cache, 1.06 GHz) - 18W (2C/4T)
Intel® Core™ i5-520UM Processor (3M Cache, 1.06 GHz) - 18W (2C/4T)

Possible, but probably not likely (because of the 25W power requirements):

Intel® Core™ i7-640LM Processor (4M Cache, 2.13 GHz) - 25W (2C/4T)
Intel® Core™ i7-620LM Processor (4M Cache, 2.00 GHz) - 25W (2C/4T)


What I do not understand now is why Apple didn't go for the i7-620LM and i7-640LM in the 13" Macbook Pro models. At 25W, they are more efficient (and cooler) than the i3-mobile processors (35W) and equally as efficient as the 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo P9600 processor (25W). On the marketing scene, they could have labeled it as having "Core i7 power with 10 hours of battery life, in a tiny lightweight 13" laptop." The 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo P9600 MSRPs for $348.00, where the 2.00GHz Core i7-620LM MSRPs for $300.00.

 

[mr.steevo]

Likely Processors for the new Macbook Air

Intel® Core™ i7-640UM Processor (4M Cache, 1.20 GHz) - 18W (2C/4T)
Intel® Core™ i7-620UM Processor (4M Cache, 1.06 GHz) - 18W (2C/4T)
Intel® Core™ i5-520UM Processor (3M Cache, 1.06 GHz) - 18W (2C/4T)

Possible, but probably not likely (because of the 25W power requirements):

Intel® Core™ i7-640LM Processor (4M Cache, 2.13 GHz) - 25W (2C/4T)
Intel® Core™ i7-620LM Processor (4M Cache, 2.00 GHz) - 25W (2C/4T)


What I do not understand now is why Apple didn't go for the i7-620LM and i7-640LM in the 13" Macbook Pro models. At 25W, they are more efficient (and cooler) than the i3-mobile processors (35W) and equally as efficient as the 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo P9600 processor (25W). On the marketing scene, they could have labeled it as having "Core i7 power with 10 hours of battery life, in a tiny lightweight 13" laptop." The 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo P9600 MSRPs for $348.00, where the 2.00GHz Core i7-620LM MSRPs for $300.00.

Hi,

The graphics tied in with the i7 is the problem. The 13" Macbook Pro does not have enough room for a dedicated graphics card and the i7 has a low preforming graphics card.

s.

 

[Anuba]

What the hell is a "Airbook"?

Concerning the Macbook Air update, it's about damn ****ing time.

I'm just really wondering though, at all those people who "hate the Air", who "want it to die" etc. What do you care? Honestly?? Don't want one, don't buy one. Personally I think the 17" MBP is completely useless - barely portable but still smaller than a real desktop machine - and you'd have to pay me to carry one about... But hey, some people like it, it sells, I couldn't care less. I'm happy for all those people whose needs are met by it...

For the record I don't "hate" the Air, but... some people need a desktop-replacement style laptop for heavy duty work on the road. The MBP 17" isn't the most portable machine in the world, but it beats lugging a rack mounted Mac Pro around.

I use my MBP 17" for audio and graphics production and the 1920x1200 resolution is essential. Without that I might as well use pen, paper and a toy piano. The MBA is too weak for driving a bunch of audio tracks and software synths, it doesn't really have the oomph for After Effects / Flash / heavy Photoshop work, and the tiny screen and abysmal resolution is the last nail in the coffin. Add an extra final nail for the lack of connectivity. If I bought an Air it would only be to surf and maybe write emails and Pages documents, and for that I might as well get an iPad for a fraction of the price. If the MBA doesn't have the power I need, it becomes about as useful as an extra light bowling ball. Yay, it's easy to carry around...! Now what?

It's also my understanding that the MBA has a rather frail construction, I've seen nearly as many horror stories about broken hinges as back in the Titanium PowerBook days. I've also seen a lot about heat problems, which further hurts its potential as a workhorse for power hungry apps.

But hey, if the MBA fits the bill for some people I'm happy for them, just like you should be happy for MBP 17" users. 😉

 

[mcmlxix]

I’ve wondered if the MBA would be shelved with the advent of the iPad, but the iPad isn’t robust enough or have enough productivity apps…yet.

If they couldn’t fit an i5 + discreet GPU in the 13” MBP, how are they going to fit it into an MBA. It’s C2D unless they've figured something out.

My guess of a modest, but more forward refresh would be 4GB memory, 3G, and longer battery life.

Not that I care about the MBA. It’s TOO light for me…maybe not in a backpack, but on my lap it falls off.

It could end up getting some iPad technical treatment with A4 or similar tech advancements.

A4? What, and port OSX for ARM and back to fat binaries? Technically possible, yes. Probable, [insert terse Stevism here].

MBA is cool but i was hoping for some news on the white(hopefully black again) macbook update!

Aren’t MB updates typically in Sept-Oct? If they can figure out the i5 + discreet GPU conundrum by then (just take out the optical drive), I’ll buy one, but those with 13” MBPs will get cheesed off.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Sweet. Now I'm faced with the dilemma "Should I upgrade or not?".

I've got the current generation MBA with the stock SSD. no complaints. It did take me a while to transition from the 12" Powerbook to the MBA, but I absolutely love my MBA. I have a Mac Pro that does the heavy lifting for me.

It will be interesting to see what the new specs would be. I may also contemplate getting one with a standard HDD and put my own SSD in there, as Apple's SSD offerings are a bit on the slllllloooooowww side, compared to retail SSD offerings.



Now, if I only had this "upgrade" dilemma with my Mac Pro. 🙄

 

[koyou]

For the record I don't "hate" the Air, but... some people need a desktop-replacement style laptop for heavy duty work on the road. The MBP 17" isn't the most portable machine in the world, but it beats lugging a rack mounted Mac Pro around.

I use my MBP 17" for audio and graphics production and the 1920x1200 resolution is essential. Without that I might as well use pen, paper and a toy piano. The MBA is too weak for driving a bunch of audio tracks and software synths, it doesn't really have the oomph for After Effects / Flash / heavy Photoshop work, and the tiny screen and abysmal resolution is the last nail in the coffin. Add an extra final nail for the lack of connectivity. If I bought an Air it would only be to surf and maybe write emails and Pages documents, and for that I might as well get an iPad for a fraction of the price. If the MBA doesn't have the power I need, it becomes about as useful as an extra light bowling ball. Yay, it's easy to carry around...! Now what?

It's also my understanding that the MBA has a rather frail construction, I've seen nearly as many horror stories about broken hinges as back in the Titanium PowerBook days. I've also seen a lot about heat problems, which further hurts its potential as a workhorse for power hungry apps.

But hey, if the MBA fits the bill for some people I'm happy for them, just like you should be happy for MBP 17" users. 😉

I don't think Macbook Air is designed to handle such heavy work as yours. MBA is made for people who travel frequently. Those people usually only need to work on word processing such as writing reports or proposal, or sometimes preparing presentations. If you're going to run some power hungry apps on your laptop, I don't see any reason that you will go for a MBA.

 

[gwsat]

This rumor of an impending MBA update is exciting news, if true. I am typical of many longtime Mac owners who don't have an MBA but would buy one in a flash if it were upgraded sufficiently. I'll go for one if it is offered with 4Gb of RAM and a glass trackpad. I am hoping for more but can probably live with just that.

The bashing in this thread of the MBA and of the judgment of those who buy it, by posters who have never owned one, left me shaking my head. Did those posts seem to anyone else to smack of the politics of envy?

 

[xgman]

It will be interesting to see what gets updated if this comes out especially since an article on hardmac this morning seemed to think otherwise: (sorry if someone already posted this)

"With some delay over competitors, Apple updated part of its offer for notebooks, (re)creating performance gap between each products:

* Macbook Pro 15" and 17": important revision: powered by Core i5 or i7, Geforce GT 330M, HD display in option, ...
* Macbook Pro 13": almost no evolution, longer battery life time and slightly faster integrated chipset, but they remain powered by Core 2 Duo CPU, making the gap with their grand brother rather big now.
* MacBook Air: no revision, and probably no update in the near future.

So, we have now 3 types of products, really different in their design and performance, and this is most likely not entirely a choice made by Apple, but rather the consequence of other external factors (financial and technology):

1. Moving to Core iX CPU will require to have a dedicated GPU, as Intel integrated chipset are far being the current NVIDIA GF 9400 M powering the MacBook and some older MBP models. In addition, such discrete GPU would need some dedicated space on the motherboard, something not necessarily easy to find on a 13" model.
2. Heat management is another challenge. For now years, Apple was installing a single fan to eject the heat outside of the enclosure, this was also true for the older MBP 15" model based on a GF 9400M without any discrete GPU. So, discrete GPU = 2 fans
3. The MBP 13" and the MBA are both small enclosure hardware, requiring smaller battery, so potentially reducing lifetime of usage if components are draining too much energy.

The latest point is especially of concern for the MBA, and this is most likely the reason why it did not evolve much for now months. To expect any important improvements, Apple will have to wait for new hardware solutions, probably with the release of Intel Sandy Bridge, its future mobile architecture, the only solution to get Core iX in MBP 13" and MBA. It is still unclear if the integrated chipset will have evolved enough to be able to compete with the three-years old GF 9400 M.

In conclusion, Intel is probably the main responsible factor for the lack of evolution for this 2 products. By preventing NVIDIA to develop competitive chipset for its current mobile platform, Intel prevented Apple to look for true alternative for the Core iX-based hardware. this could well be the reason why the relationship between Apple and Intel re not as warm as 2 years ago."

 

[mnb]

Yawn. Who buys Airs other than pretentious people who think it looks good? Why would anyone spend more money for less power, less functionality and thickness that is 80% of the MacBook Pro at its thickest point, which is the critical benchmark.

Apple should yank the optical drive from the MacBook Pro 13, add another hard drive (large mechanical + smaller SSD is the way to go) and make it a bit thinner with an i5 or i7 and a bigger fan. Now I would pay a premium for that.

Yeah, that MBP 13" wouldn't run hot at all! 🙄

It's funny how people that don't have a use for something always see it as entirely worthless, even though others may have uses they do not see.

Why is the Mac Book Air worth making?

It's incredibly light. Far much more so than the MBP 13.

While at it's thickest point it's 80% that of an MBP, at it's thinnest, it is much smaller. When space is at a premium, this difference becomes HUGE. Instead of measuring the max thickness, measure the displacement volume and compare.


What I'd like to see in a Mac Book Air (reasonable expectations):

4gb ram
256gb ssd
processor speed bump

 

[ihaveNFC]

+1.5Lbs on a 13" MBP isn't hurting anybody, unless your like... 80Lbs?

I agree, but I'm not really concerned about the weight. I'm focusing on what it is I need the laptop to do. (I've got an iMac at home to handle all the other stuff.)

As it seems with every post, it comes down to personal need. For me it's portability. For you, perhaps cost or function (or both). Sure some ppl buy the Air to show off, but that argument could be said for almost everything anyone can buy.

 

[ihaveNFC]

The bashing in this thread of the MBA and of the judgment of those who buy it, by posters who have never owned one, left me shaking my head. Did those posts seem to anyone else to smack of the politics of envy?

Great point(s).

 

[gri]

update

Not sure. According to some on the forum (Scottsdale in particular) they might follow the 13' MBP with a C2D and dedicated graphic card. If hey could have put an iX into the 13' MBP they would but according to Jobs it would have compromised too muh on the graphics end due to the Intel/Nivida licence war. Now, the C2D runs out at the end of the year so it seems unlikely to me that they would do a minor update (RAM and HD size) lasting 6 month were everybody can already anticipate a major update (new processor, graphic, likely RAM and HD) early 2011. Would I buy a C2D now knowing the processor is obsolete in less than 6 months? No. Of course I also just got a refurbished MBA which might be just too late to return so I can happily wait another 6 months...

 

[gwsat]

What I'd like to see in a Mac Book Air (reasonable expectations):

4gb ram
256gb ssd
processor speed bump

I think that's "reasonable expectations," too. If Apple will offer all of that in an undated MBA, I'll be buying one of them.

 

[Yinmay]

Looking forward to the MBA update. Hopefully an i7 LV or ULV, 4GB, and larger SSD. The icing on the cake for me would be 2 USB ports.

Why I think the MBA should get an iX:
I understand why Apple favored better GPU over iX on the MBP13. The MBP13 is more of a well rounded entertainment machine, it's very popular among students, people who do light gaming, a bit of photoshop, etc.
The MBP13 is often used as the main and only computer.

MBA owners on the other hand either have another machine, or don't do anything graphics intensive. I use my MBA to work when I'm traveling: emails, word, excel and powerpoint. I did a bit of photo editing using iPhoto and that's about it.
Other than playing videos, which the integrated graphics of the iX line handle flawlessly, I doubt the MBA needs more graphical power. But a more modern iX processor would help a lot when working with large spread sheets, and may be more power efficient.

The only thing I'd trade a MBA/iMac combo for is a MBP13+external display had they managed to put an i5 + 330 in it.

A bit off-topic but I hope the next MBP13 update brings discrete graphics, it'd help differentiate it from the MBA and create a more distinct purpose for each: those looking for a portable well-rounded entertainment machine and those looking for a very portable business machine.

 

[robeddie]

What I'd like to see in a Mac Book Air (reasonable expectations):

4gb ram
256gb ssd
processor speed bump

Agreed. At the very best, the MBA will match the 13" MBP specs.

Anyone who is thinking i5 or i7 is foolish. Anyone who even wants an i5 or i7 - assuming that means it comes with the intel IGP - is not going to be happy when they start using that POS.