New MBA models...

[Mobius 1]

So Intel HD 3000?

Come on, we've been waiting 4 this and we get a HD 3000?

 

[Variant]

Shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who was paying attention to the rumours.

 

[revelated]

Seriously?

The current MacBook Air is *FINALLY* a viable machine. They have fixed 99% of the inherent issues with it. The 11" has a few issues, but generally speaking these are solid machines that literally destroy the competition in almost every way.

• Backlight is back. The # of people trading theirs in and selling them is proof positive that the backlight was extremely sought after.
• A decent processor.
• Fair BTO options. Unlike the wide disparity seen on the Pro and the earlier Air, you now have quite comparable machines across the board except for storage capacity, mostly.
• Apple relented and will sell Lion on a USB stick instead of the totally asinine approach of download only.

The ONLY thing you can complain about is a graphics card? In a machine not really designed to do that much that really requires more graphics power?

Is it really that hard for people to understand that if you want POWER...get a Pro. If you want MOBILITY...get an Air. And now, the Air is a mobile powerhouse with "just enough" power to actually be a value. If you want to run Crysis on full settings, get a Pro. Or better yet, get a PC laptop, since it'll probably do a better job...and deal with the 3 hour battery life.

 

[Mobius 1]

but it's an intel GPU

 

[WardC]

I would say the Intel 3000 graphics on the MacBook Air is fine considering it is designed to be a lightweight web browsing machine for the most part, able to display high resolution photos, light photo editing.

This is not a hardcore gaming PC people...you should know that by now. For purposes of heat dissipation, I think it would be impossible for Apple to include a Radeon 6970 2GB discreet graphics card in there.

 

[revelated]

but it's an intel GPU

And I summarize my last post:

Why do you care?

 

[Sinnthetic]

but it's an intel GPU

Waah we cant play Crysis anymore waaah D:

 

[iSayuSay]

but it's an intel GPU

SO?? It's better for most people because it's a cheaper solution. And you see the price has been decreased compared to last year. What can you do with Geforce 320M anyway? Play Crysis with Enthusiast setting on 11"display?

People who bought MBA would be happy just to be able to play 1080p videos with no lag and Intel IGP can do that just fine. And yeah, Intel HD3000 can play crysis in a low setting, but with 3 FPS lower than 320M, maybe you can notice that?

 

[gp1699]

it runs angry birds just fine!!

 

[darngooddesign]

but it's an intel GPU

Since the frame rates appear to be a little better than the NVidia...so what.

 

[seong]

but it's an intel GPU

Just because it's an Intel GPU doesn't mean it's gonna suck THAT bad....unlike the GMA 950. I had it for three years. Nearly killed me in the middle.....
It was, and still is, the most overrated issue. If it was that bad, people on youtube must be pissed by now, but they are not. Look at the gamings. They are better than 320m, believe it or not.

 

[KPOM]

but it's an intel GPU

And what's your proposed solution? Apple can't use the NVIDIA 320m since Intel won't license it for the Core iX chips. If you add a discrete GPU, you'd need to make the case bigger, and Apple hasn't even figured out how to do that with the 13" Pro, much less the 11" or 13" Air. Perhaps someone will make use of the Thunderbolt port and release an eGPU for those situations when someone wants to run extreme games. Until then, we're stuck with Intel graphics.

 

[iSayuSay]

In most aspect, Intel GPU can even beat 320M .. it even play better on Crysis, OP should stop being a fanboy and do some research !!

Intel did some mistakes with GPU, but anybody can change. ATI once used to be suck w/GPU .. look at what they do now dude

Intel can make excellent GPU if they wish to, they have enormous cash to begin the research in that field

 

[hcho3]

If you are serious about gaming, then perhaps you should look at elsewhere. MBA is up to 2.5 times faster than previous model. That is a big leap forward. Apple cannot do anything about intel GPU. It's built in with Sandy Bridge processor. Why don't you make a nice CPU and GPU for apple then?