Some More Details about the 11.6-Inch MacBook Air?
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KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
That's one example. Apple always has "production problems!" and demand is always "overwhelming!"
Give it a rest, Apple does controlled shortages to simulate increased demand which leads to what exactly ? You're right, more hype and more demand!God I hope not, If it's any good, I don't want to wait months for them to actually start ramping up production following a controlled shortage in order to make it seem like the demand is overwhelming.
Don't lie, Apple does this every time. You think by now they'd know to make a few extras... "we swear, we can't make them fast enough!"
Funny how they managed to make 14 million new iPhones, but struggled to make 4 million iPads...
My natural cynicism would tend to agree with you, but to be fair to Apple, screen shortages on both products would possibly be part of the problem in ramping up production. There are not many, if any, large scale launches of 10" slates because Apple hoovered up all the available supplies of the screens. Plenty of affordable 7" screens are available to manufacturers, which is why rivals are banking on this as being a viable alternative to the iPad.
MaxwellIreland
macrumors member
I'd be keen on getting the new air but only if it came with 4th standard ram and £999 or under.
Durnaurion
macrumors newbie
I agree. The iPad was a big risk and I'm still surprised how well it sells. Remember all the criticism that device received (and still does)? I really don't think Apple is holding back iPad production on purpose.
I also doubt that such a thing makes sense. Is it really better to drive the demand of a product up this way (assuming this works) than actually selling it?
nitropowered
macrumors regular
Boo core 2 duo...
But its way better than what I have now so I might end up buying it anyway
But its way better than what I have now so I might end up buying it anyway
clibinarius
macrumors 6502a
Hmm
I see this as a way to reinvigorate the line; it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if next april they get Sandy Bridge. That would dramatically cool down the computer because of the graphics capabilities, and since its 32 nm it shouldn't eat up nearly as much battery life as any C2D.
My guess is that this is a temporary computer to clear inventory until the real one comes out.
I see this as a way to reinvigorate the line; it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if next april they get Sandy Bridge. That would dramatically cool down the computer because of the graphics capabilities, and since its 32 nm it shouldn't eat up nearly as much battery life as any C2D.
My guess is that this is a temporary computer to clear inventory until the real one comes out.
Never say never, but there is no way the new Air will be plastic. Apple is clearly trying to move away from plastic and make everything metal.
Something you did mention that no one else has brought up yet is the idea that the Air will start at $999 but the whitebook will move down to $899 or $799. I was reading through an article recently and Jobs said one of his biggest regrets was not getting enough early penentration into the computer market against PCs years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they slash the price of the whitebook to get more people to jump over to Mac. I think Jobs sees the wisdom in settling for lower margins on the whitebook now knowing that down the road, those folks will eventually upgrade to MBPs, Airs, etc....
Something you did mention that no one else has brought up yet is the idea that the Air will start at $999 but the whitebook will move down to $899 or $799. I was reading through an article recently and Jobs said one of his biggest regrets was not getting enough early penentration into the computer market against PCs years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if they slash the price of the whitebook to get more people to jump over to Mac. I think Jobs sees the wisdom in settling for lower margins on the whitebook now knowing that down the road, those folks will eventually upgrade to MBPs, Airs, etc....
macbookpro13
macrumors member
I'd love to see how many people could distinguish between a C2D and i3 in a blind test. I get the feeling that most people just want to know they have the latest iX CPU from Intel and don't have any practical reason. But then again, most Apple fans are superficial so it makes sense.
Core 2 is absolutely fine until Intel gets their graphics up to snuff. There is nothing a Core 2 would struggle with that an i3 wouldn't either.
Core 2 is absolutely fine until Intel gets their graphics up to snuff. There is nothing a Core 2 would struggle with that an i3 wouldn't either.
Sam Mallery
macrumors newbie
CyberBob859
macrumors 6502a
Three scenarios:
1) White Macbook gets dropped (IMO, a bad move because Apple with have no "traditional" laptops to compete with Windows machines.)
2) White Macbook gets reduced in price.
3) White Macbook becomes an educational item (like the eMac used to be.)
I think it's #3 myself.
h1r0ll3r
macrumors 68040
Agreed. No more plastic laptops from Apple.....please.....they look heinous compared to the MBP. The MacBook is the turd of Apple's laptop family so it would make some sense to drop that down considerably, maybe around $500-$600
to get more Macs in peoples hands. Then, after a couple years, those Macbook owners will, most likely, upgrade to the fancier MBP/MBA as they would already be accustomed to the setup and be wanting better specs. Always thought the MB was a little over priced considering its specs so maybe that will be the guinea pig of their lineup.
entatlrg
macrumors 68040
That's one example. Apple always has "production problems!" and demand is always "overwhelming!"
Disagree.
Run away success products don't need 'controlled shortages'. Apple is the worst example of company's who does this. Controlled shortages are a form of creating hype Apple has no need for or interest in... their products are good enough to stand on their own.
That is very true, and the top of the range late C2Ds are actually more powerful than the base i3. I think its more to do with people just wanting the latest technology.
This sounds a bit too simplistic to me. If it were that simple, Intel would never have introduced the "i" series. If you talk performance, you're right that a base i3 does not outperform a top of the line core 2. But after that : look at the price : the base i3 is 1/3 the price of a powerful core 2.
When you look at i5/i7, prices are more up to par with core 2 duo, but performance per Watt of the Arrandale lineup is far superior in that case too : i5/i7 is clearly superior in this price category.
Eidorian
macrumors Penryn
I use the credit card for points, then pay it off with my positive balance savings account.
We're not all poor and living paycheck to paycheck. Some of us do make a very decent living indeed.
It doesn't take much as long as you're not living paycheck to paycheck or using debt to cover other debt. If you pay off that balance at the end of the month you do get that fraction of a percent of interest from savings unless you have other ideas to put that money to work.
If this companion notebook is cheap enough I might take a look. It's miserable when your 2007 notebook is at 2.2 GHz or faster though. h.264 decode is becoming very important. Get with the times Apple. Apple has place itself completely as a companion device and not the heavy hitter. I don't need a Mac Pro and the iMac is far too limited. I guess Apple wants my money regardless what I think of their dull devices and pathetic updates.
cult hero
macrumors 65816
Are you kidding? The whining on this forum will be in full force unless the new MBA has:
1. AT LEAST an i5 (although there better be an option for a quad core i7).
2. Discreet graphics in the form of something like an ATi 5870 with 2 GB of memory.
3. 512 GB SSD.
4. Blu-ray crammed in.
5. 16 GB RAM standard.
6. Screen resolution of 2560x1440 (they'll settle for 1920x1200 on the 11.6" model)
7. 48 hours of battery life.
8. Firewire.
9. AT LEAST 10 USB 4.0 ports.
10. Lightpeak.
Did I miss anything? Oh yes, the price for these "underpowered machines" will need to be at $599.99 and $799.99 respectively.
Otherwise, I suspect we'll see a lot of this right after the announcement:
"Whaaaa... whaaaa... whaaaa... I was ready to buy one but it's 8GB short of the RAM I need because I use an ultra portable as a rendering farm. Thanks Apple for skipping this rather huge demographic.
""
Apple forgot about me again. I need to run Crysis on my ultraportable and watch my blu-rays on an 11.6" screen. Thanks for ruining Christmas Apple."
KnightWRX
macrumors Pentium
You can forget number 2, so people expecting number 1 want a gimped laptop. The fact is, C2D is hit if you want the nVidia GPU, otherwise we'd be stuck with an Intel POS that's not supported by half of Apple's frameworks...
And really, what's so great about the Core ix stuff ? It's not even a requirement. C2D and Core i3 are pretty much equivalents.
URFloorMatt
macrumors 6502
The MBPs were updated just six months ago. Updates have historically come in the 8-10 month range. Anyone expecting an update to the MBP line will probably be disappointed.
Mr. Retrofire
macrumors 603
Core iX
If Apple wants to use a separate flash memory, they need Intels newest controller, which supports the ONFI 2.0 specification.
http://onfi.org/news-events/onfi-breaks-speed-barrier-for-nand-flash/
http://onfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/onfi_2_0_gold.pdf
The newest controller works only with the Core i3, i5 or i7 processors.
And the mysterious port should be Gigabit-Ethernet, because if you have no docking station, you need a fast network connection for future cloud based services. WLAN is not just enough.
If Apple wants to use a separate flash memory, they need Intels newest controller, which supports the ONFI 2.0 specification.
http://onfi.org/news-events/onfi-breaks-speed-barrier-for-nand-flash/
http://onfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/onfi_2_0_gold.pdf
The newest controller works only with the Core i3, i5 or i7 processors.
And the mysterious port should be Gigabit-Ethernet, because if you have no docking station, you need a fast network connection for future cloud based services. WLAN is not just enough.
Zoboomafoo
macrumors 6502
I think they mean the eject key will become the power key, on the keyboard, not that they'll add some monstrous black power button
I read this and all I could think of was the Old Spice guy. Look at your laptop, now look at me. Back to your laptop, now back at me.
deconstruct60
macrumors G5
LOL. Why????? (other to get folks to go click on new page and display some more ads) The current top end MBA comes with a 2.13 GHz C2D. That means there is no change in CPU other than making the "better" version's CPU now the entry level one. I wouldn't be surprised to see the MBA mutate into something similar to the MB where there is just one "sub" model offered. No 'better' , 'best' versions.... just the one lower priced one. That's it.
Apple will change the case, bump the graphics with a 320m , shrink the screen. Most of any battery life increase will come from the smaller screen.
The 320m will contribute slightly too.
the 2.13 GHz C2D is $300+ in price. Any talk of $999 (and lower ) price points is the drugs talking. I am not going to be surprised if this comes in at exactly the current price if they put a SSD in there by default.