Refreshed Airs + Lion on 7/14

[Patriot24]

It has been reported now that overnights at the retail stores are scheduled for the evening of the 13th. That lines up perfectly with the rumors for Lion's release as well as "mid-July" timeframe for refreshed Airs.

Methinks this is the real deal (finally)!

Source at the time of this post.

 

[bp1000]

I hope so, can't wait to get my hands on one, as well as being the first mac i own.

 

[iPadPhone]

Finally a source that doesn't appear to have sourced this forum!

I really want the new Air but i'm trying to resist from buying a Mac until I get back from my holiday at the end of July though so this is not good

 

[usman.rz]

I'm assuming the Apple stores will be selling them when they open on the 14th? I'm leaving town an hour after they open and I'd love to pick up a new MBA as I leave.

 

[tbobmccoy]

I'll be ordering mine at the theater watching a Harry Potter marathon with the wife leading up to the finale. Unless they come standard with max ram configs, in which I'll take a quick drive to pick mine up

 

[Patriot24]

I'll be ordering mine at the theater watching a Harry Potter marathon with the wife leading up to the finale. Unless they come standard with max ram configs, in which I'll take a quick drive to pick mine up

I really don't know what the chances are, but it would be great if 4GB RAM was standard. That would save me a custom order, $100, and a whole lot of nervous waiting (I'm not a fan of shipping - too many valuable things damaged over the years).

 

[tbobmccoy]

Yeah, I'd rather have a pickup at the Apple Store myself... I remember having to wait all day and then going to pick my MB up at the fed ex center... Not as fun as a store pickup!

 

[fyrefly]

I'm assuming the Apple stores will be selling them when they open on the 14th? I'm leaving town an hour after they open and I'd love to pick up a new MBA as I leave.

I would assume they'll have them as well. Especially since they've apparently been ready for some time, but all product launches have been frozen till Lion was ready for Mass consumption.

 

[Young Spade]

I really don't know what the chances are, but it would be great if 4GB RAM was standard. That would save me a custom order, $100, and a whole lot of nervous waiting (I'm not a fan of shipping - too many valuable things damaged over the years).

I doubt 4 gigs would be standard. That's more than the MacBook itself. Unless they upped the baseline RAM for that, they would either charge more for the air (which wouldn't make sense) or drastically undermine the staple MacBook.

 

[s.hasan546]

I doubt 4 gigs would be standard. That's more than the MacBook itself. Unless they upped the baseline RAM for that, they would either charge more for the air (which wouldn't make sense) or drastically undermine the staple MacBook.

the macbook is not their baseline anymore. The 13" macbook pro is, which now comes with 4 gb standard. I think if their is a 8gb ram option on the MBA than 4 gb would be standard.

 

[Young Spade]

the macbook is not their baseline anymore. The 13" macbook pro is, which now comes with 4 gb standard. I think if their is a 8gb ram option on the MBA than 4 gb would be standard.

The baseline is something that's 200 more than the standard?

1. A minimum or starting point used for comparisons.

I'm going to assume that means the cheapest. I can see why you make that point though.

In terms of RAM, don't get me wrong, I'm hoping they go with 4 gigs standard, that's less money for me to spend. However, if you think about it, there's no reason they can't have a baseline 2 gigs RAM, upgraded 4 gigs ram (with upgraded SSD), then have the 13 inches with better graphics cards, the same as they do with the MBPs.

Sadly I think they're going to launch with the HD3000s, as many people believe. You also have to take into account, in terms of RAM, that it's soldiered onto the machine, AFAIK that means they have to make a number of each model; you can't just upgrade the RAM yourself. Making a 8gb RAM machine would be great but they have to wonder how many people would actually buy it. If they would, most people would argue to just get a MBP so you get a CD drive, longer battery life, and a bigger hard-drive ALONG with more processing power.

I'm not directly stating one should do this, just giving the counter argument someone at Apple's board is going to bring up when this idea surfaces. Why make a small number of 8gb RAM MBAs that a small percentage will buy (since they'll be at least 1500 for that model, easy) when they could push a MBP with overall better specs for the same price?

 

[Apple Expert]

4gb should be the standard on all computers. In the article it's stating apple staff will upgrade the ram in certain machines. Probably Lion runs best on 4gb but could work on 2gb.

 

[Young Spade]

4gb should be the standard on all computers. In the article it's stating apple staff will upgrade the ram in certain machines. Probably Lion runs best on 4gb but could work on 2gb.

It should be, I agree. With what I do I can't see me using anything under 4 gigs and with classes starting up in a few months, I'll probably end up wanting/needing 6. Apple loves to maximize profits. Creating low baselines and forcing people to pay more to upgrade is just one thing they love to do. I hate it.

 

[xkmxkmxlmx]

You also have to take into account, in terms of RAM, that it's soldiered onto the machine, AFAIK that means they have to make a number of each model; you can't just upgrade the RAM yourself. Making a 8gb RAM machine would be great but they have to wonder how many people would actually buy it.

I thought that is what the BTO's are for??? The standard the make across the board is the basic options, you want anything added to it, they build it for you and ship it out. They don't make a ton of prepackaged 4GB Air's, correct?

 

[Young Spade]

I thought that is what the BTO's are for??? The standard the make across the board is the basic options, you want anything added to it, they build it for you and ship it out. They don't make a ton of prepackaged 4GB Air's, correct?

They don't? Now if they don't disregard my previous post I always assumed you could just walk into an Apple store and get a MBA with 4 gigs of ram that day. If not, that explains why there are so few 4 gig MBA machines out in the wild (being sold anyway).

Now if you can build your own machine (I always thought it was just from what they had, if they didn't already sell it in the store, not some sort of build a custom unit thing) then 8 gigs might actually happen.

And again, I like playing devil's advocate. I tend to actually learn more this way and also engage in conversation with people who know more about the machines than I do.

 

[usman.rz]

I thought that is what the BTO's are for??? The standard the make across the board is the basic options, you want anything added to it, they build it for you and ship it out. They don't make a ton of prepackaged 4GB Air's, correct?

Actually, they have three different 13.3" configurations at the Apple store. The basic, the basic with the bigger SSD, and the ultimate. I guess only the ultimate has 4GB of RAM though...everything else is BTO.

 

[xkmxkmxlmx]

They don't? Now if they don't disregard my previous post I always assumed you could just walk into an Apple store and get a MBA with 4 gigs of ram that day. If not, that explains why there are so few 4 gig MBA machines out in the wild (being sold anyway).

Now if you can build your own machine (I always thought it was just from what they had, if they didn't already sell it in the store, not some sort of build a custom unit thing) then 8 gigs might actually happen.

And again, I like playing devil's advocate. I tend to actually learn more this way and also engage in conversation with people who know more about the machines than I do.

No, they don't. I believe the only ones you can get at most stores, are what is available (in any category, MBA, iMac, etc) as the stock options on Apple's website. As in, upgrade a hard drive, ram, processor, video card, or any change other than the stock option, then you will have to wait until the BTO (Build [it] To Order).

 

[kevin222]

No, they don't. I believe the only ones you can get at most stores, are what is available (in any category, MBA, iMac, etc) as the stock options on Apple's website. As in, upgrade a hard drive, ram, processor, video card, or any change other than the stock option, then you will have to wait until the BTO (Build [it] To Order).

No, they often carry the ultimate versions of their computers - I've bought two different ones from the store, so I can confirm that.

 

[Oppressed]

Hey look, a hint that could possibly point to 4 gigs of RAM as standard on new MBA.

For example, one person with access to the company's internal retail news network told AppleInsider that a new bulletin posted to the system this week is advising store management to perform RAM upgrades to certain Mac models on the showroom floors by Sunday, July 10th at the latest -- presumably in preparation for those models to be upgraded with Lion shortly thereafter.

 

[Adgeman]

No, they often carry the ultimate versions of their computers - I've bought two different ones from the store, so I can confirm that.

A member of staff at my local apple store said they normally have the entry level, a mid-range option and then the 'ultimate' but outside of this the other versions have to be purchased through the site.

 

[jackyyeow]

No, they often carry the ultimate versions of their computers - I've bought two different ones from the store, so I can confirm that.

How nice is that, I don't live the in state and from where I come from I just have to order ultimate version off their Apple store.

 

[Duke15]

Hey look, a hint that could possibly point to 4 gigs of RAM as standard on new MBA.

Yeah thats interesting, hopefully its 4gigs standard, but they probably just want lion to run smoothly in stores and thought it would be good to upgrade the ram

 

[Zeos]

I really don't know what the chances are, but it would be great if 4GB RAM was standard. That would save me a custom order, $100, and a whole lot of nervous waiting (I'm not a fan of shipping - too many valuable things damaged over the years).

I think they may have to make 4 gb standard just to satisfy Lion.

 

[Young Spade]

I think they may have to make 4 gb standard just to satisfy Lion.

You say that like the OS requires some large amount of RAM; the OS isn't demanding at all; yes they added a few features but for people with 2/4 gigs of RAM they won't see any slowdown or bogging of the system because of it.

They know there are a ton of MBs out there with only 2 gigs of RAM, they won't hinder the performance of those many machines.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I think there's a good chance 4 GB will be standard, considering they'll be saving money from other areas of Air production (like the recently discounted Intel processors).

I'm hoping this will also mean standard SSD storage upgrades across the board, but I'm extremely doubtful of this. SSD prices haven't dropped by enough, but I hope Apple surprises us.

I'm also eager to see what the battery life improvement, if any, will be.

Just a few more days. I'm excited.