Where does all this hope come from?i am thinking more like unannounced sandy bridge (CES 2011) Core i3 CPUs
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There will be no core ix CPUs + discrete GPU for any of the <= 13" Apple notebooks for the foreseeable future. The TDP does not match their current design standards. Give that dream up.
Almost nothing *requires* 8GB of RAM, but everything would speed up with 8GB of RAM. I have a 13" MBP and even when doing light things my 4GB of RAM gets used quickly.What are you doing on an 11 inch screen that requires 8GB of RAM?
4 GB is still standard fare since late 2007. If you need more than something this small might not be what you're looking for. Get a SSD too.
The battery life has less to do with the OS and WAY MORE to do with the hardware. The embedded processors and such. There are some design decisions that minimize battery use in the sense that they don't work the processor as much (like no garbage collection) but really...
Forget all this iOS nonsense. These machines are going to be Macs and they're going to run OS X. 10.7 is not going to be a fusion of the two OSes.
Win 7 Pro in VMWare would run much better with 4GB of RAM, but assigning more than 2GB to it on a machine with only 4GB total RAM would be asking for trouble.
And to the 8GB doubters, we were having this same conversation 3-4 years ago about 2GB of RAM. So, if I wanted my shiny new MBP from this year to last for a while, 8GB of RAM will become less of a "nice thing" and more of a requirement as time, OS utilization (10.7, for example) and the demands of everyday programs (Office, the Adobe Suites, etc.) increase.
Where does all this hope come from?
it is the same hope one day blu ray will come to mac
2 x 4 GB still hasn't broken the $100 barrier. It's getting easier with everything now being DDR3 but it's not where 2 x 2 GB was 3 years ago at $79.99.
This can't be said enough. There is absolutely no reason for me to EVER have a 17" MBP. I'd never purchase one for myself. There is no feature set that would make me want a 17" laptop.
Does that make it a fail? No. It means someone else is going to buy it.
Just a recompile. Look, Apple had MacOS X versions that were running on Intel processors for about four years before the first Intel Macintosh was released. ARM and x86 are much more similar than PowerPC and x86. If Apple wants to sell a laptop with an A4 processor and full MacOS X, they will. No problem at all. I doubt they _want_ to do this, but it is very easily possible.
I had a look at Intel's latest price list. Their top of the range Atom processor for $63 has two cores, four threads, 1.8 GHz. Sounds really good. Until you realise that with these two cores, four threads, 1.8 GHz it runs about as fast as the very very oldest Core Solo processor :-(
I think a major role of the MBA was to get people into the stores. It is a really really nice computer. And for a lot less you get a 13" MBP which is almost as nice. If you go to the Apple Store to look at the MBA and leave with a 13" MBP, then Apple has achieved its goal.
RAM was cheap back then. Not that long ago, 2x2GB of DDR3 SODIMMs were all +100$. Now it's 80-90$ (still quite a lot). FYI, even DDR2 is 70 bucks for 2x2GB (both, DIMMs and SODIMMs). IIRC all RAM prices went up at some point. 2x2GB of DDR2 was +100€ like year ago
2x4GB is going down all the time, I've seen some deals for around 130 bucks. Few months ago, you weren't able to get that for less than 200$.
Don't get your hopes up people.
If it sounds too good to be true, then it's probably not true. I predict there's gonna be a lot of complaining after the event on wednesday. There's no way that Apple is gonna come out with a new product that's both vastly improved in terms of functionality (user upgradeable RAM, faster CPU, more powerful GPU, more USB ports, a new SD slot, etc.) while simultaneously cutting the price by a few hundred dollars. It just ain't gonna happen. Many of the upgraded features may happen, *OR* there may be a significant price reduction, but not both. That's my prediction anyway.
If it sounds too good to be true, then it's probably not true. I predict there's gonna be a lot of complaining after the event on wednesday. There's no way that Apple is gonna come out with a new product that's both vastly improved in terms of functionality (user upgradeable RAM, faster CPU, more powerful GPU, more USB ports, a new SD slot, etc.) while simultaneously cutting the price by a few hundred dollars. It just ain't gonna happen. Many of the upgraded features may happen, *OR* there may be a significant price reduction, but not both. That's my prediction anyway.
Disappointed that such a lightweight laptop cannot get more than 8-10 hours... I was hoping for 12+ hours with the updated version... oh well.
An 11.6" screen is closer to the old non-HD format 12" screens than to the 10-11" you are probably thinking of. If they crank up the pixel dpi slightly can end up with about as many pixels in display as in the 13.3" screen. For example, there are 1366 x 768 11.6' models on market now compared to 1280 by 800 for current MBA 13". While a small decrease vertically, it is a small increase horizontally. At 1,049,088 versus 1,024,000 , it is actually an inrease in number of pixels. That's much tougher on older eyes and corrected vision for reading info off the screen if not scaled, but not loosing much info. However, if that allows them to shave 0.3-0.8 lbs off the system weight then there are many folks who are going to take that trade off.
For pictures and general imagery it would work just as well. (i.e., witness recent iPhone4 commercials proclaiming how good pictures look when there are more pixels in the screen. )
Likewise at strictly 11" screen might shrink below full sized keyboard width. The 11.6 with HD 16:9 (or 16:10 ) like proportions is still wide enough not to impact the matching keyboard.
I am sick to death of hearing people complain about the C2D. Blame INTEL for their stupid licensing on the i3 - i7 series. You guys who live and die by hardware specifications don't get it.
I get 5 hours of battery life from my current 13" MBP. The 3D is pretty good (320m destroys the X4500). I find the people who want the i3 over a C2D the funniest of all.
Portable computers are all about tradeoff. Can you fit dedicated graphics in? What does that do to the cost? What about the heat? How much does it affect the battery life? How does it affect the form factor?
I have the old one with all the bells and whistles. Here is what they need to do, in order:
1. Cut the price. Although I am very happy with mine, with no performance problems, a lot of people can't afford to pay for what on paper is "bad specs"
2. Cheaper SSD/standard SSD: given the above that may seem contrary, but I love having the SSD. Its so fast and quiet. and 245 gigs? I have 40 gigs of music, 30 gigs of photos, 5-6 gigs of documens and apps, and the rest is free space.
I never thought 256 would be enough for me. I use the MBA as a secondary computer. But guess what? If dont have my aperture library and vault, a ton of my movies, or a bunch of archived DMGs, I have very little actual data. A lot of people could get by on 256 gigs. In fact, I rarely notice that stuff is "missing" in my day to day.
3. Increase the cooling. My MBA only has problems when streaming
movies: it gets hot, and slows down.
4. Move the performance perception 1 tier higher (as in "low" to "med"). This will help with the sticker shock. I say perception because seriously, my MBA handles 90% of what most people consider computing. That is email, typing, cruising the internet, watching movies, making presentations, and music.
5. Fix the hinges. They get a little wobbly after a year
6. Cheaper external DVD drive: move from 100 to 80 or even 65 dollars.
7. Bundle some simple, fun games with it. Braid and Defcon are not processor intensive but fun as hell.
Problems people perceive that aren't there for me
1. 1 USB drive: I've rarely needed to connect more than one thing at a time. But I don't print off my MBA either.
2. Expensive: It is, but totally worth it. if you are thinking MBA, don't hesitate. I take mine everywhere, it still gets 8 hours battery life 1 year later if I dim the screen and turn off the wifi
3. Lack of upgradeability: I've never felt a need to.
As a primary computer, you'd need to live a "simple" or cloud digital lifestyle. As a secondary, get dropbox and enjoy the MBA. I like mine way more than my ex powerbook.
1. Cut the price. Although I am very happy with mine, with no performance problems, a lot of people can't afford to pay for what on paper is "bad specs"
2. Cheaper SSD/standard SSD: given the above that may seem contrary, but I love having the SSD. Its so fast and quiet. and 245 gigs? I have 40 gigs of music, 30 gigs of photos, 5-6 gigs of documens and apps, and the rest is free space.
I never thought 256 would be enough for me. I use the MBA as a secondary computer. But guess what? If dont have my aperture library and vault, a ton of my movies, or a bunch of archived DMGs, I have very little actual data. A lot of people could get by on 256 gigs. In fact, I rarely notice that stuff is "missing" in my day to day.
3. Increase the cooling. My MBA only has problems when streaming
movies: it gets hot, and slows down.
4. Move the performance perception 1 tier higher (as in "low" to "med"). This will help with the sticker shock. I say perception because seriously, my MBA handles 90% of what most people consider computing. That is email, typing, cruising the internet, watching movies, making presentations, and music.
5. Fix the hinges. They get a little wobbly after a year
6. Cheaper external DVD drive: move from 100 to 80 or even 65 dollars.
7. Bundle some simple, fun games with it. Braid and Defcon are not processor intensive but fun as hell.
Problems people perceive that aren't there for me
1. 1 USB drive: I've rarely needed to connect more than one thing at a time. But I don't print off my MBA either.
2. Expensive: It is, but totally worth it. if you are thinking MBA, don't hesitate. I take mine everywhere, it still gets 8 hours battery life 1 year later if I dim the screen and turn off the wifi
3. Lack of upgradeability: I've never felt a need to.
As a primary computer, you'd need to live a "simple" or cloud digital lifestyle. As a secondary, get dropbox and enjoy the MBA. I like mine way more than my ex powerbook.
You're going to come on these forums and rage about how kewl your new Windows box is.
We know. We get it.
Why? Uncle Steve loves iOS... it's rapidly becoming his fattest cash cow.
Sadly a "Real Computer" with a full blown OS is fading from Apples road map with the speed of an F16...
With the transformation from Apple Computer to Apple Inc, the only thing that matters anymore is wringing out every last dollar from the customers wallet. Computers be damned Apples brainwashing everyone within reach that they are no longer relevant.
Agree. I have 8GB in my current laptop and besides of course being much better with VM's my laptop is built for the future.
I believe it when I see it. Microsoft's biggest cash cow is MS Office, not Windows. Guess what's still around?
And all that matters anymore? I'm sorry, was there some point where Apple was not a for-profit business?
True, but it's getting there: http://www.datamemorysystems.com/_memory-information/DM50_223-1_x_2.asp