Next MacBook Air to Adopt Faster, More Power Efficient SSD?

[champ01]

Apple isn't locking down the bigger laptops that can support upgradability, they're doing this for the ultra-thin laptops.

Apple is doing everything you say it doesn't do.
Can you replace the battery on a MBP?

Believe me when I say that Apple wanted the MBP gone yesterday and replace them by these Airs as soon as that is possible.
Its great for most users but its downgrading the value of your machine faster by the months to come than previous models did.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Old thinking (circa 2003) The computer must have user serviceable/replaceable parts.

New thinking (circa 2011) A computer is just like any other piece of consumer electronics (TV's, DVRs etc.) It is what it is and nothing is replaceable by the consumer because of the simple fact that 99.9% of the consumers have NO desire to do so.

The remaining .01% of the "complainers" are dinosaurs.

I agree. I don't know anyone that's upgraded anything on their MBs (Pro, Air or otherwise) after their initial purchase.

I would guess that because by the time parts wear out, there are newer faster models, and the tech savvy people get newer faster models.

For me, I don't expect to upgrade a portable computer. I don't expect high-end specs - that's a trade-off I know I am making. I don't expect it to last forever - the more I drag it around places, the more likely it is it will be damaged in transit. My current MB has survived incredibly well given the number of bumps, bangs and drops it has suffered. An 11 inch MBA will be even more portable and will be taken to even more places (and so I expect it will experience even more bumps and bangs). Soldered parts make for greater durability to my mind.

 

[cheesymogul]

Old thinking (circa 2003) The computer must have user serviceable/replaceable parts.

New thinking (circa 2011) A computer is just like any other piece of consumer electronics (TV's, DVRs etc.) It is what it is and nothing is replaceable by the consumer because of the simple fact that 99.9% of the consumers have NO desire to do so.

The remaining .01% of the "complainers" are dinosaurs.

LOL!
Aren't we standing at the doorsteps of an imminent Great Depression 2.0?
From circa 2013 on your "new thinking" will look incredibly stupid, outdated and shortsighted...
Therefore real futurists and visionaries no longer buy any products that can't be fixed!

 

[*LTD*]

Seems the future of Apple notebooks might be built around the MacBook Air design, or at least take more pages out of the MBA play book.

Apple's really pushing the Air.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

"The Next Generation of MacBooks."

Indeed.

 

[UCF Sam]

Would love this... I was thinking about getting a 13 inch pro and adding an SSD because the current generation of sanforce 3 SSDs are so much faster that whats available in the Air. A 400MB/s SSD in the Air would put it back up there with the latest in SSD technology. As long as the technology is more reliable than current MLC SSDs, I'd fine with it being on the motherboard. Also, limited space doesn't bother me as I keep all of my large data (movies/music) on external drives. I was fine with a 32GB Vertex primary drive for years, 64GB would be more than enough for OS/Applications.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

This puts me (a definite 1st day buyer) out, if true.

Was going for the cheapest ssd (64), bearing with it for a year or so and then upgrading to something much (300) bigger myself. Unless the apple price of the upgrades are significantly cheaper this time, I am out

And I will be gutted. Truly gutted.

Buy a refurb NOW, that's what I have been doing, every 4/64 11" MBA I can get

 

[davie18]

Seems the future of Apple notebooks might be built around the MacBook Air design, or at least take more pages out of the MBA play book.

Apple's really pushing the Air.

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

"The Next Generation of MacBooks."

Indeed.

Yeah, maybe the MBP is coming to the end of its life and it will be replaced with a "Macbook Air Pro" or something similar.

 

[xlii]

Here's something to consider. Macbooks have an insanely high resell value. Rather than complaining about computers being locked down and unable to upgrade, buy a macbook and use it for 2-3 years and then SELL it rather than upgrading. Then buy a newer generation system. You'll be getting a much faster system anyway.

Case and point. I had a 2000 dollar macbook pro from 2009 and I just sold that thing for 1300 on ebay. 3 years and a loss of only 700 dollars is almost a steal. Put in a couple hundred dollars and I'm picking up a baseline 2011 macbook pro 15.

How's that for upgrade?

Mid 2009 to mid 2011 is only 2 years for 700 dollars.

 

[LoganT]

Aren't the SSDS already soldered onto the motherboard? Didn't they start doing this in the 2010 redesign of the Macbook Air?

 

[MacsRgr8]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Yep. Upgradability is a thing of the past. TBO, I have owned a couple of PowerBooks and MBP, and have never had the need to upgrade.
I have a friend's MBA 11' at home now, and having used it a couple of hours my 15" MPB Core i5 seems such a big fat piece of kit.
Woul love to own a MBA, highly anticipating this new model, alongside the Mac Pro.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

every 4/64

Please explain?

 

[johneaston]

Please explain?

I don't know much about computers, but I'm guessing he means 4 [GB RAM]/64 [GB SSD configuration].

Not hard.

 

[3bs]

I doubt that's it. Apple has always valued battery life. That's why the worst battery life their products advertise is 7 hours, and even those products often get a lot more than that in real-world use. An MBP/MBA/iPad/whatever with a dead battery, is nothing more than a slab of metal and silicon, and Apple knows this. They do whatever they can to improve battery life, and always have, so I doubt this would be solely to mess with 3rd party SSD providers...

Also, most people never upgrade a thing in their computer once they get it. Even many of us geeks. MBAs are mainly used by light users, and they're even LESS likely to do so. I don't see this as being a problem at all for most users.

What you're saying about the worst battery having a life of 7 hours is not true.. The 11'' air is 5 hours

 

[locust76]

Do we really want to move laptops to a point where they are completely unexpandable?

If they are expendable, then they don't need to be expandable. The MBA's price dropped so sharply with the recent versions, they might become expendable soon...

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

Yes- please hurry up apple and release these babies.

And please don't screw up the release.

 

[MrXiro]

Netbook= disposal computer.
Macbook Air = redefining the netbook.
Nothing wrong with it but calling a spade a spade.

 

[locust76]

Aren't the SSDS already soldered onto the motherboard? Didn't they start doing this in the 2010 redesign of the Macbook Air?

No

 

[Wild-Bill]

Backlit???

I don't care if Apple puts an SSD in there with "ludicrous speed". If there is no backlit keyboard I'll be keeping my $$$$.


Backlit-keyboard or BUST!

 

[kingtj]

re: moving towards unexpandable portables

My opinion is no, not really ... except that's not really a fair question.
What you should be asking is if we really want to accept ultra-thin/portable laptops that aren't expandable?

Not that long ago, people basically had to settle for laptops that were huge, heavy "bricks" if they wanted ANY hope of having a system with enough performance to rival a desktop machine. Now, things have come a long way (with Apple acting as one of the leaders in the push for a portable to really be as portable as possible).

Where we're at right now, you can either accept something with the thickness and size of, say, a Macbook Pro, and still be able to put standard memory sticks or hard drives in it --- or you can ask to go thinner and lighter than that, and reach the point where those items get proprietary and more integrated.

There's a market for both types, really. I like what they've done with the Air, except I think they need to make it a little more clear to new buyers that it's NOT upgradable. I bought my wife one, recently, and she loves it for web surfing, remote access into other machines to do phone support, etc. etc. But I didn't even realize, initially, that I wasn't going to be able to upgrade its RAM later. The 2GB built in is sufficient, but I would have really preferred it have 4GB.

It seems clear to me that if you purchase the Air, you have to consider it a "disposable" unit that you buy the 3 year AppleCare warranty on, and plan on getting rid of after that time period elapses. (Not that huge a deal when you consider how many people upgrade a portable in 3 years' time anyway.)

Do we really want to move laptops to a point where they are completely unexpandable?

 

[flottenheimer]

Really looking forward to see speed tests of the new Airs.
Hardwired SSDs or not, I'm ready to add to basket (it didn't prevent me from buying an iPad either).

 

[res1233]

What you're saying about the worst battery having a life of 7 hours is not true.. The 11'' air is 5 hours

Right, forgot about that. That's the one product that has that battery life, the rest are 7 hours or greater. 10 hours in some cases. However, I believe even the 11'' MBA should get more than 5 hours in real world situations. Apple seems to have been extremely strict with their new method for battery testing.

 

[iRobby]

I agree. I don't know anyone that's upgraded anything on their MBs (Pro, Air or otherwise) after their initial purchase.

I would guess that because by the time parts wear out, there are newer faster models, and the tech savvy people get newer faster models.

For me, I don't expect to upgrade a portable computer. I don't expect high-end specs - that's a trade-off I know I am making. I don't expect it to last forever - the more I drag it around places, the more likely it is it will be damaged in transit. My current MB has survived incredibly well given the number of bumps, bangs and drops it has suffered. An 11 inch MBA will be even more portable and will be taken to even more places (and so I expect it will experience even more bumps and bangs). Soldered parts make for greater durability to my mind.

exactly that is why TV Repairmen and shops are out of business it costs the same to repair or upgrade as to get brand new these days.

 

[meaty]

is this going to happen to the ones releasing soon? if so im just going to get an air now

 

[res1233]

exactly that is why TV Repairmen and shops are out of business it costs the same to repair or upgrade as to get brand new these days.

Especially with the amount of time computers tend to last nowadays. You can easily get a computer, and have it still working 5 years later, even a PC, although obviously that varies tremendously. Many people just keep a backup of their files, and if the computer dies, get Apple or whoever to put their files back on a brand new computer, and keep going. Computer repair rarely makes sense on a 5 year old computer.

 

[MacSince1990]

SSD soldered onto the motherboard hmm.
You trash your ssd with writes and that means that you also trashed your motherboard. Nice. Soldered ram maybe, soldered ssd nop.

Lol... that shouldn't be a problem with TRIMing, which I'm sure this supports.

The real worry is being limited to a 256 GB boot drive, but whatever, the MBA was never expandable in the first place; by the time 256 GB is a problem (external HDDs are always possible), it'll be too slow to bother with anyway.