More Claimed MacBook Air Specs: 8-10 Hour Battery, NVIDIA 320M, Upgradeable RAM and SSD

[FoxyKaye]

I wonder if the new MacBook air will come preloaded with the new proposed lion os?

I doubt it, unless there are a ton of developers under heavy NDAs who have managed to keep their mouths completely shut over the past year. My guess is that the first developer preview of 10.7 will be released along with some of the new feature highlights, with the goal of getting it out the door by next year's WWDC or thereabouts.

 

[Brinkman]

I think the new air will actually be squared off all around, not the wedge like design we have now.

 

[lewis82]

We probably won't see iOS on Macs. It would need to be an iPhone emulator, since it's not the same architecture. It would need a lot of processing power to do so.
And asking developpers to build their apps for X86/X86-64 would be asking a lot, as they would probably have to spend a lot of time optimizing the apps for different instructions sets and such.

And I mean, I have an iPod for when I want to use iOS and a Mac for OS X. iOS is meant to be used with touchscreens, on small portable devices, a mouse or trackpad would not be a good way to interact with it.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

I think the new air will actually be squared off all around, not the wedge like design we have now.

Like a super squished MBP. Maybe about 1/3 the thickness? Wishful thinking I guess.

 

[gorgeousninja]

Hmm...this is going to be another fail for the Air if they dont get that price sorted out.

The air may be 'magical' but its price is just laughable. It needs to be HALVED to actually make it worthwhile (especially in Europe where we'll be paying almost another 50% of the price on top!).

I've never been a huge fan of the Air. It just seems that to get the formfactor and weight, they have had to comprimize performance, build quality and basic common sense (why would you ship a laptop with just 1 usb port, and why in this day and age are they not providing 4GB RAM as standard!).

For me, the air would need something more along the lines of the following specs to make it be worthwhile.

• i5 or i7 processor
• Minimum of 4GB RAM (DDR3)
• 2-4 USB 3 ports (again, futurerproof your damn hardware like everyone else!)
• changeable battery
• upgradable ram
• upgradable hard drive
• should ship with something like an option of say 250GB SATA or 64GB SSD (giving you a choice)
• Maybe an SD/memory card reader? I can see the Air being useful for family vacations and photographers on location.

I can understand the 1st gen air being expensive. Its new, it cost money to research, etc - but subsequent models should be much cheaper (providing there are no huge mind blowing changes, which from what we've seen so far - there are not.).

I'm sure I'm probably going to annoy one or two people with this post, but if the Air is to be taken seriously, it really needs to be considered as a slightly expensive netbook (I'm talking $500-$700) and not an under performing crippled machine that costs more than the MacBook Pro .

I'm really hoping it cures cancer, and turns into a flying car, cos otherwise its another BIG fail just like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad were, and another thing when are Apple gonna show some love to OSX? Wednesday right? Not even TODAY!! FAIL, FAIL!

 

[GodWhomIsMike]

13.3" 1440x900, 4GB, 128GB SSD, 2.4GHz, 320M, <$1300 ... tempting.

Unless the 13.3" MacBook Pro gains a 1440x900 display too.

The air with those specs becomes quite tempting over the 13" MBP, because of its lighter weight and smaller size.

But, if it has those specs and is approaching the $2K mark, I would rather get a 13" MBP (2.4 GHz, 4 GB ram, 320M) from MicroCenter for $999 and buy a 240GB OCZ Agility 2 SSD drive for $459, and upgrade it myself. $1458 for that combo. Maybe kick it up to 8GB of DDR3 ram for $150 on top of that. So, $1608, and you got a 2.4GHZ Macbook Pro with 8GB DDR3-1333 ram, 240GB OCZ Agility 2 SSD drive (up to 285 MB/s read, and up to 275 MB/s write speeds), and the GeForce 320M. Should be a quick little monster.

 

[alent1234]

Hmm...this is going to be another fail for the Air if they dont get that price sorted out.

The air may be 'magical' but its price is just laughable. It needs to be HALVED to actually make it worthwhile (especially in Europe where we'll be paying almost another 50% of the price on top!).

I've never been a huge fan of the Air. It just seems that to get the formfactor and weight, they have had to comprimize performance, build quality and basic common sense (why would you ship a laptop with just 1 usb port, and why in this day and age are they not providing 4GB RAM as standard!).

For me, the air would need something more along the lines of the following specs to make it be worthwhile:

• i5 or i7 processor
• Minimum of 4GB RAM (DDR3)
• 2-4 USB 3 ports (again, futurerproof your damn hardware like everyone else!)
• changeable battery
• upgradable ram
• upgradable hard drive
• should ship with something like an option of say 250GB SATA or 64GB SSD (giving you a choice)
• Maybe an SD/memory card reader? I can see the Air being useful for family vacations and photographers on location.

I can understand the 1st gen air being expensive. Its new, it cost money to research, etc - but subsequent models should be much cheaper (providing there are no huge mind blowing changes, which from what we've seen so far - there are not.).

I'm sure I'm probably going to annoy one or two people with this post, but if the Air is to be taken seriously, it really needs to be considered as a slightly expensive netbook (I'm talking $500-$700) and not an under performing crippled machine that costs more than the MacBook Pro .

in the PC world these things are called subnetbooks and have been around since the 1990's with the same compromises. people who travel a lot seem to like them even though geeks hate them. the people who use them need a simple email/ms office laptop that is light.

 

[neoelectronaut]

11 inch portable mac for $999 or $1099? Sold. I miss the ultra-tiny 12" powerbook.

 

[mstur]

I want an Ultra-SIM slot !!

So for all of you out there who have been waiting for a new Air for the past year+, is this what you wanted? Worth the wait?

Any small Macbook Air definitely should get an onboard 3G - or better 4G/LTE - connection...

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Soo expensive. Sure it doesn't have a 320m in it, but the Dell Vostro v13 starts at 1/2 the rumored price of the 11" Air.

 

[oTaRu]

I don't think there's much point in that, since the 13 inch is plenty portable as it is. The difference between 2.7 and 4.5 pounds won't make a big difference, unless you have some type of arm problem? Plus, it's nice to have all your stuff in one place. I definitely wouldn't spend $1000+ on an 11 inch if I already have a more powerful, portable 13 incher.

If you're planning to complement a 15" laptop, then that makes more sense.

True. I was actually thinking of selling away my 13" to get this one if the price is right... But after some thought, I think I will just keep it.

 

[69650]

I cannot see the logic in continuing to have 3 different 13" models in Apple's laptop range. If this rumour is correct and we see an 11" & 13" MBA with significantly lower prices, I suspect they may discontinue the 13" MBP.

 

[bobgorila]

My money's on Sandy Bridge - it would let a super-thin macbook make fewer compromises.

Also, an 11" just doesn't feel right to me somehow - too much fragmentation of the line. Likely a fantasy concocted by netbook lovers.

 

[ts1973]

If 320M than we get Core 2 for sure. Bit of shame imho. This is 2010 (soon to be 2011) : core 2 has been dead for almost a year now (even though they're still very capable cpu's).

 

[flopticalcube]

Soo expensive. Sure it doesn't have a 320m in it, but the Dell Vostro v13 starts at 1/2 the rumored price of the 11" Air.

Core 2 Solo (as an optional upgrade from Celeron M) and a 2GB ceiling along with Intel X4500 graphics, they should be as ashamed as Apple selling that in 2010.

 

[Hellhammer]

Soo expensive. Sure it doesn't have a 320m in it, but the Dell Vostro v13 starts at 1/2 the rumored price of the 11" Air.

Vostro v13 is more like a netbook than an ultraportable like MBA is. You can't really compare them, the Dell has Core Solo and Intel graphics so of course it's cheaper.

 

[Adidas Addict]

I cannot see the logic in continuing to have 3 different 13" models in Apple's laptop range. If this rumour is correct and we see an 11" & 13" MBA with significantly lower prices, I suspect they may discontinue the 13" MBP.

They won't discontinue their best selling laptop.

 

[geox]

1. the mockup is effing awesome
2. cpu most probably will be i5/i7 CULV

regular i3's/c2d's tdp dont allow for 8 -10 hrs of battery life

wonder if there will be a bootcamp update for this

 

[Shanpdx]

Standard Voltage CPUs?

2.1/2.4GHz speed and 8 to 10 hours of battery life and $1099 price point -> looks like these are standard voltage CPUs, can they fit (heat) in MBA form?

 

[Shanpdx]

regular i3's/c2d's tdp dont allow for 8 -10 hrs of battery life

15"/17" offers 8 to 9 hours of battery life (at least in paper if not in real world scenarios ), Core i3 also can offer - only thing you need bigger battery which means more space needed in MBA

space is the reason they are going away with regular HDD/SDD and going with some kind of on board storage capabilities ...

 

[peterdevries]

It'll need a fugly plastic part poking through the exterior like the 3G iPad to allow the radio signal to be received by the antenna.

Unlikely to happen imho.

The antennae of the current macbook pro's are situated partly in the hinge, which is black plastic.

 

[iSee]

...I'm wondering about the SDD sizes. Hopefully at least 128GB for the base models.

I think that's unrealistic for the base... maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but I think that the upgrade size will be around that -- I thnk the max SSD capacity will be 120-160.

 

[jamesnajera]

My Prediction,

A HDMI MacMini with less interfaces = New Macbook Air.

 

[headfuzz]

It'll need a fugly plastic part poking through the exterior like the 3G iPad to allow the radio signal to be received by the antenna.

Unlikely to happen imho.

The antennae of the current macbook pro's are situated partly in the hinge, which is black plastic.

True, but you're referring to wifi and Bluetooth antennae. The wifi iPad does not have a black piece of plastic to allow for a stronger radio signal, presumably due to the fact a user is always going to be within a reasonable distance of a wifi base station (as their ranges are measured in tens of metres at best) and it is therefore not necessary.

That's not the case with a 3G radio signal, and the 3G iPad has a fugly black plastic part embedded in an otherwise attractive aluminium chassis accordingly.

 

[Shanpdx]

I think that's unrealistic for the base... maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but I think that the upgrade size will be around that -- I thnk the max SSD capacity will be 120-160.

more like 80GB/120GB SSD, the next revision of intel SSD are going to be $100 for 80GB and $200 for 160GB retail when they are released in next few months...