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gjarold

macrumors regular
Nov 14, 2007
123
0
LOL, you're funny! (You're joking right?)

Imagine that retina display would suck the battery right out of the Air's at this stage of the game. Someday, but not yet.

The current ipad has more pixels in its display than the "new" (not new, or interesting in any way) macbook air.
 

philxor

macrumors regular
Dec 21, 2010
181
0
Maybe next year we'll see a Retina display in an Air or 13" MBP. I'm not interested in a 15" 5lb laptop so whenever they build a 13" version I'm on board.
 

jsolares

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2011
844
2
Land of eternal Spring
The current ipad has more pixels in its display than the "new" (not new, or interesting in any way) macbook air.

Graphics have not advanced to the point where running a retina display will not impact performance or battery life.

If they were to release an MBA 11/13 Retina now, it would perform badly in 3D, maybe decently in 2D, and last an hour less on battery.

I'm not sure if even Haswell would be the time for a retina MBA, maybe Broadwell...

----------

Its a good update. Hopefully they offer an 8gb bto option on the 13" base model.

It seems the BTO in the 11 and 13 are i7 AND 8GB of ram, really makes me want to sell my 13" to get an 11" with i7 and 8GB of ram.
 

gjarold

macrumors regular
Nov 14, 2007
123
0
Graphics have not advanced to the point where running a retina display will not impact performance or battery life.

If they were to release an MBA 11/13 Retina now, it would perform badly in 3D, maybe decently in 2D, and last an hour less on battery.

I'm not sure if even Haswell would be the time for a retina MBA, maybe Broadwell...

----------



It seems the BTO in the 11 and 13 are i7 AND 8GB of ram, really makes me want to sell my 13" to get an 11" with i7 and 8GB of ram.


Look, let's just call a spade a spade:

They have leftover panels and parts and they need to flush them out of their supply chain. If those parts weren't there, you'd have an actual 2012 MBA, instead of a pretend 2012 MBA.

If you're a shareholder, this may be good news- after all, what else are they going to do with non-retina displays in a retina world ?
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,026
7,868
I think this was a decent upgrade. The price is lower, USB 3.0 is standard, there are more accessories for the Thunderbolt port, and there are 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD options. The Air is selling well, and the chassis isn't even two years old. We'll get more radical updates in the future.
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,026
7,868
The current ipad has more pixels in its display than the "new" (not new, or interesting in any way) macbook air.

And if you'll notice, it is also slower at updating graphics. While some higher resolutions would have been nice (maybe 1600x900), I'm not too surprised at the lack of a Retina Display. They are trying to breath new life into the MacBook Pro, and so it got the attention this time around.

There are finally larger RAM and SSD options in the MacBook Air. That's news.
 

AlanShutko

macrumors 6502a
Jun 2, 2008
804
214
Do you need that much ram? I'd really like a 256GB HD, but I don't use that much ram in my air...

On my current 2GB MBA, I'm usually running 2.5-3GB of virtual memory. So I need more than 4GB right now on my normal workloads. I'd also get the big SSD... I don't need it right now (since I've been shoehorning stuff into 128GB but storage needs always go up.

In both cases, I'm sure I'll need the capacity before I upgrade to a new laptop.
 

gjarold

macrumors regular
Nov 14, 2007
123
0
We are in a retina display world.

Devices without dense displays are not interesting. Maybe for OLPC or some $99 giveaway device with a new bank account ... anywhere else, retina or fail.
 

glitch44

macrumors 65816
Feb 28, 2006
1,121
156
The current ipad has more pixels in its display than the "new" (not new, or interesting in any way) macbook air.

And the current ipad runs noticeably than the iPad 2. It also doesn't have as powerful a processor as an i5 laptop, so it has less heat to dissipate.
 

jsolares

macrumors 6502a
Aug 8, 2011
844
2
Land of eternal Spring
Look, let's just call a spade a spade:

They have leftover panels and parts and they need to flush them out of their supply chain. If those parts weren't there, you'd have an actual 2012 MBA, instead of a pretend 2012 MBA.

If you're a shareholder, this may be good news- after all, what else are they going to do with non-retina displays in a retina world ?

You're pretty sure about that? they're pretty good with inventory.

Do you need that much ram? I'd really like a 256GB HD, but I don't use that much ram in my air...

Not really :D, which is why i'll probably wait for haswell if not broadwell.

We are in a retina display world.

Devices without dense displays are not interesting. Maybe for OLPC or some $99 giveaway device with a new bank account ... anywhere else, retina or fail.

The 11 and 13 Air are already dense displays, but yeah they're now behind Asus lol, 1080p would've been middle ground.

----------

Any other company besides apple currently have "retina" displays on their laptops?

Asus with their 1080p 11" ultrabook perhaps.
 

EmaDaCuz

macrumors regular
Apr 30, 2012
152
55
11" with 128GB/4GB, count me in.
If the specs are still 64GB/2GB, I will go for an ultrabook or maybe a MBP.

EDIT: Still 64GB on the entry level...
 
Last edited:

DJLanglois

macrumors member
Aug 21, 2008
39
0
Someone who knows much better than I do, please answer my two questions! :)

1. Do you think that the new bottom-end 13" Air will be able play recent-ish (but not hugely resource-intensive) games like Civ V, Diablo III, and so on, reasonably well?

2. As far as I can tell, the update to the Airs was pretty minimal. Does now seem like a 'bad' time to buy? (I have a 2009 low-end refurb white Macbook that still runs fine. I'd like to upgrade, but it isn't urgent. So I don't want to update at a bad time.)
 

urkel

macrumors 68030
Nov 3, 2008
2,795
917
Any other company besides apple currently have "retina" displays on their laptops?
There are some that come close but, for most people, Retina is more a "want" than a "need". I'm fine going non-retina but I just wish their cinema monitors were priced more reasonably because if I'm doing Pro work then I'm most likely at a desk.
 

PeterJP

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2012
1,136
896
Leuven, Belgium
Hi,

The MBA update looks decent: faster CPU and SSD, bigger mem and SSD, same tiny form factor. The 11" will most likely find its way to me in a 8+256GB config.

The NewGenMBP looks really really good but it's way way too large for what I want it for. If they would also have announced a 13", I could've been tempted. With the retina display and much more powerful interiors, I could consider getting a laptop as big as a 13". The MBA 13", no way.


Peter.
 

kylera

macrumors 65816
Dec 5, 2010
1,195
27
Seoul
Holy crap, an additional $100 for 8GB of RAM!!

Then again, over the long run, that would determine whether I can use the Air for an additional year or two...
 
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