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The MacBook Air I'd Get
- Thread starter ermir4444
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15.4" MacBook Air - Lightest Road Warrior
That's a grand idea!
I think a 15" MBA makes more sense than an 11" MBA. The whole point of the MBA is the same display size and full-sized keyboard with same performance characteristics as the big boys, yet while being as light as air. Focusing on speed via an SSD and ultraportability via wireless connectivity.
I believe a 15" MBA would be a hot seller. Think of all the people who don't care about a pointless DVD drive, ridiculous 10-hour 1.5 lb. battery, and performance that's unnecessary as what they really want is a 15" MBA... if priced well, the MBA has the most potential of any Mac notebook.
I think the design and features make the MBA the most amazing laptop ever. Broaden the range, remove pointless weight, and focus on a full experience in half the weight. I see a 15" MBA as likely if there are really two new models being introduced. 13" and 15" is the way to go.
Scottsdale, while I totally agree with your hopes (I've been arguing for 15" MBA's and/or higher resolution as well as less humongous bezels for a while), don't you think it is looking more and more like we'll have to wait another half year for the Air's to get the update we're waiting for?
The September event is going to be about iPods and iOS update for the iPad. Also some have argued that Sandy Bridge is the most appropriate update to go hand in hand with a thorough Air re-design, so could it be that all we'll see this fall, if anything, will be a minor spec bump, rendered unattractive because the real improvements are to come a few months later?
I personally wouldn't be satisfied with "only" a 20% improvement in CPU speed as well as 4 GB of RAM, if all the rest stays the same. The updates we're hoping for are really a big (be it long overdue) step. They're going to make the current MBP's with their heavy glass screens and volume-wasting tapered design look like dinosaurs, and even die-hard optical drive collectors might see the light. For Apple to go through such a revolution in their laptop design without a major announcement some time in the fall seems unlikely.
So as much as I don't like it, at this point I don't see anything substantial happening before 2011.
The September event is going to be about iPods and iOS update for the iPad. Also some have argued that Sandy Bridge is the most appropriate update to go hand in hand with a thorough Air re-design, so could it be that all we'll see this fall, if anything, will be a minor spec bump, rendered unattractive because the real improvements are to come a few months later?
I personally wouldn't be satisfied with "only" a 20% improvement in CPU speed as well as 4 GB of RAM, if all the rest stays the same. The updates we're hoping for are really a big (be it long overdue) step. They're going to make the current MBP's with their heavy glass screens and volume-wasting tapered design look like dinosaurs, and even die-hard optical drive collectors might see the light. For Apple to go through such a revolution in their laptop design without a major announcement some time in the fall seems unlikely.
So as much as I don't like it, at this point I don't see anything substantial happening before 2011.
Im giving it till October. Would have been waiting a year for one at that point. I didn't get one last October as the new version came out in June and i thought id wait for the next revision, as i knew i needed more RAM and SSD space. I assumed a Feb-Mar update but obviously here i am still waiting.
Well Steve did say something or another about something HUGE coming from apple before the end of the year. It wasn't the new Macbook Pros or iMacs and iPhones and Pads aren't due for an update until 2011....
We'll just have to wait and see.
18" MacBook Air with Radeon HD 5750, i7 processor and 10 hour battery life
EDIT: Forgot to vote, 13.3 for me
A 15.4" MacBook Air sounds ridiculous, in my opinion. If it sells well and offers an experience similar to that of a mid-range MacBook Pro, it'll cannibalize MacBook Pro sales. The MacBook Air has great potential as a netbook and ultra-portable killer, but this requires Apple to price it well. Apple will need to price it around one-thousand dollars and move the MacBook down to about eight-hundred dollars. Only the footprint needs to be reduced, so a 13.3" screen maybe fine, if it had a higher resolution...or an 11.6" might be fine too with the current resolution.
If I needed a very portable computer and it had to be a Mac, I'd the 11" Air.
But I'd rather get a hackintosh Sony Vaio X. (not really)
But I'd rather get a hackintosh Sony Vaio X. (not really)
I actually finally believe the MBA update is coming BEFORE end of year. The rumors really have me convinced this is the real deal.
I don't feel the CPU needs ANYTHING. The current class SL9x00 C2D CPUs are amazing. I don't feel the Arrandale Core i7 LV nor Sandy Bridge would be bad selections at all. The important thing is to not get a slower ULV CPU, and to NOT get STUCK with Intel's piss poor IGP. We will not have either in a 13" MBA. I do believe the 11" MBA is possible, especially with the rumors pointing towards it. I believe that MBA would have the Intel IGP. I believe the 13" MBA would have the ATI 5430. I believe the 5430 is the ONLY discrete solution on the market right now PERFECT for what Apple is doing with the MacFive.
Apple showed us with the 21.5" iMac exactly where the MacFive IS going. We just had to look at the history and see that's the truth. Waiting a little longer wouldn't be a bad thing. However, the Sandy Bridge CPUs are not going to be much better in terms of CPU performance. They're only going to have nice IGP gains. Since I would pray that the IGP is turned off, I don't really care about Intel's worthless offerings.
I really believe an MBA with a 2+ GHz offering, ATI discrete GPU, 8 GB RAM BTO upgrade possibility, 256 GB Toshiba SSD BTO upgrade, 13" IPS display, new uniform .5" thickness mirroring design cues from iPad and iPhone 4 updates, and aluminum trackpad will give us an MBA really worth the investment... and Mac branding. The MBA is supposed to be light years ahead of the competition.
We can look at the past and keep our opinions about what the MBA should be based on where it was in October 2008. When the v 2,1 MBA was introduced, it absolutely positively BLEW AWAY EVERY OTHER ultraportable on the market! It wasn't even close. An MBA with a 5430 ATI GPU, Core i7 LV CPU, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB Toshiba SSD, 13" IPS display, and new design elements will mirror that sort of dominance IF the price point is acceptable.
I believe $2099/2199 with a $400 8 GB RAM BTO upgrade price would be right on for perfect performance to price. I don't care if they want to charge double that, or triple that... I just want a more powerful, non 10-hour battery MBA, that can keep up with the MB/13" MBP yet focuses on mobility to the max and that means being as light as AIR.
What more could we want from an MBA? Apple needs to make the MBA relevant and competitive in the way it was in October 2008, or it needs to drop the price considerably and make it a different type of product. I want them to keep it a luxury great Mac that's like a flagship offering of where Mac notebooks SHOULD BE in the next few years in terms of mobility, NO ultramobility.
I have hopes for this MBA in September all the way through early November. An MBA in January would possibly mean USB 3.0 OR LightPeak. It would also possibly mean Sandy Bridge, but who really cares... all of the Intel CPUs are plenty capable enough in terms of CPU performance capabilities. Where I want it to be focused is in all of the OTHER areas like GPU, RAM, drive space/speed, and etc.
Your wishlist for an upgraded MBA is the same as mine. I fear that our chances of getting all, or even most, of it range between slim and none, though. The prospect of an option for 8Gb of RAM, slim though it is, mades me salivate.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)
Macbook123: The MBP's don't have a "volume wasting tapered design".
Scottsdale: THe iPad doesn't have a uniform thickness, that's why they need those rubber-tipped plastic rings (which they inexplicably, refuse to sell) to display them in the stores.
Last thought: For anyone to to have a wish list of lots of items, including a battery life and a weight too, is getting into fantasy territory. If you pin down a battery life etc. you want, then the weight will be whatever it takes to accomplish that. If you pin down a weight etc. that you want, then the battery life will be the result of all the other decisions. Price, too.
I suspect that some of the weight and pricing predictions here are rather optimistic.
Macbook123: The MBP's don't have a "volume wasting tapered design".
Scottsdale: THe iPad doesn't have a uniform thickness, that's why they need those rubber-tipped plastic rings (which they inexplicably, refuse to sell) to display them in the stores.
Last thought: For anyone to to have a wish list of lots of items, including a battery life and a weight too, is getting into fantasy territory. If you pin down a battery life etc. you want, then the weight will be whatever it takes to accomplish that. If you pin down a weight etc. that you want, then the battery life will be the result of all the other decisions. Price, too.
I suspect that some of the weight and pricing predictions here are rather optimistic.
I agree that we are in fantasy land here. That's why I said that I think there is little chance that Apple will actually incorporate all, or even most, of the items on Scottsdale's checklist. It is fun to speculate about it, though, isn't it?
? Space if wasted by tapering the edges, and you can convince yourself by observing the images here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Core-i5-Teardown/2212/1
and comparing them to the images here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Core-2-Duo-Model-A1211-Teardown/593/1
In the unibody case, "bumpers" are between e.g. optical drive, hard disk drive, and motherboard and the sides of the MBP, as the edges don't have sufficient height to accomodate some of these components. Everything is snug in the old MBP.
Grab your iPad. Set it sideways next to your MBA... see the difference? Need a photo? It's a huge difference compared to the MBA. No, it's not perfectly uniform thickness, but in comparison it shows us where I THINK Apple is headed with all of its products. More towards uniform thickness, while maybe not uniform, more towards it as to not waste space unnecessarily on tapering.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)
"volume wasting tapered design"
I'm not sure the word you mean to use is "tapered". A doorstop is tapered. Some mens's shirts may be tapered by a tailor, if the wearer has a very v-shaped body.
I am not sure that it's that easy to say why a bumper is employed. Has anyone on this forum ever detailed a laptop design? Protection from physical shock is not a bad thing. Having a little air all around for ventilation, is not a bad thing. Shaping a case's perimeter on the internal side while keeping strength in mind to, is not unthinkable.
The person who asked if trimming off all the bezel, wouldn't also shrink the battery on a computer that can't afford to lose any, was spot on. Grabbing onto one factor and making the most extended opinion possible about it, as if problem-solving could be that simple, doesn't work.
It's multifactorial. There's easily a dozen factors being juggled in a notebook design. Changing any one of them affects the others.
Complexity-facing design solutions aren't always good, but attempts to solve design problems by saying "It's simple, you just..." are always wrong. Because design reality is complex, no matter how "simple" the results may seem.
There are no great bargains to be had in weight versus battery life *. Or in size versus battery life **. A battery weighs per cubic inch, what it weighs, and produces as much power per cubic inch as it produces. Unless you find a better battery type, or do one more tweak to battery management.
** Or unless Apple mimics the solar batteried Ccasiio G-Shock watches, and uses all the bezel for a solar cell.
* Or unless there's a significant weight-saving to be obtained from this Liquid Metal material that Apple has now licensed.
A new thought: How does this noncrystalline Liquid Metal material like to be formed? That is, not final form, but what kinds of fabricating methods does it lend itself to? And then does that affect.....
"volume wasting tapered design"
I'm not sure the word you mean to use is "tapered". A doorstop is tapered. Some mens's shirts may be tapered by a tailor, if the wearer has a very v-shaped body.
I am not sure that it's that easy to say why a bumper is employed. Has anyone on this forum ever detailed a laptop design? Protection from physical shock is not a bad thing. Having a little air all around for ventilation, is not a bad thing. Shaping a case's perimeter on the internal side while keeping strength in mind to, is not unthinkable.
The person who asked if trimming off all the bezel, wouldn't also shrink the battery on a computer that can't afford to lose any, was spot on. Grabbing onto one factor and making the most extended opinion possible about it, as if problem-solving could be that simple, doesn't work.
It's multifactorial. There's easily a dozen factors being juggled in a notebook design. Changing any one of them affects the others.
Complexity-facing design solutions aren't always good, but attempts to solve design problems by saying "It's simple, you just..." are always wrong. Because design reality is complex, no matter how "simple" the results may seem.
There are no great bargains to be had in weight versus battery life *. Or in size versus battery life **. A battery weighs per cubic inch, what it weighs, and produces as much power per cubic inch as it produces. Unless you find a better battery type, or do one more tweak to battery management.
** Or unless Apple mimics the solar batteried Ccasiio G-Shock watches, and uses all the bezel for a solar cell.
* Or unless there's a significant weight-saving to be obtained from this Liquid Metal material that Apple has now licensed.
A new thought: How does this noncrystalline Liquid Metal material like to be formed? That is, not final form, but what kinds of fabricating methods does it lend itself to? And then does that affect.....
I voted for the current screen size. In my opinion, it allows for the best combination of portability and screen along with full size touchpad and keyboard. I would like to see a more squared off design to allow for better ventilation/cooling and maybe just maybe room on the logic board for a discrete GPU (a boy can dream) or other features such as more RAM (possibly honest to goodness DIMM slots .. that might be stretch) while keeping the battery size the same or possibly larger. I'd also like to see a higher resolution on the display -- esp, if they move to 16:9 format.