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WWDC 2012 - Macbook Air refresh?

A

alphaxono

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2008
37
0
I wonder if the new Ivy Bridge ULV will be out by then and if Apple will update the Macbook Air at WWDC.

I am lugging around a 15 Macbook Pro 2010 and I really really want a 11" Macbook Air since I travel every week and my back is starting to feel the weight. I'm guessing Ivy Bridge will bring a bit more performance for my
future VM, hopefully 8 GB RAM and slightly bigger screen with less bezel.
 
alphaxono said:
I wonder if the new Ivy Bridge ULV will be out by then and if Apple will update the Macbook Air at WWDC.

I am lugging around a 15 Macbook Pro 2010 and I really really want a 11" Macbook Air since I travel every week and my back is starting to feel the weight. I'm guessing Ivy Bridge will bring a bit more performance for my
future VM, hopefully 8 GB RAM and slightly bigger screen with less bezel.
Click to expand...

I'd be surprised if they update the MBA at WWDC. I'd also be surprised (in a nice way) if the RAM is bumped and the bezel is narrowed.
 
alphaxono said:
I wonder if the new Ivy Bridge ULV will be out by then and if Apple will update the Macbook Air at WWDC.

I am lugging around a 15 Macbook Pro 2010 and I really really want a 11" Macbook Air since I travel every week and my back is starting to feel the weight. I'm guessing Ivy Bridge will bring a bit more performance for my
future VM, hopefully 8 GB RAM and slightly bigger screen with less bezel.
Click to expand...

It is a very safe bet that the Air will be refreshed sometime this summer with Ivy Bridge. When? That's anyones guess... I would have expected a few more rumours to have been leaked if it was "soon". Might be "late summer" with ML.
 
There have been no hardware announcements at the past several WWDCs ... six, if memory serves. While it's certainly not impossible, I'd say a significant release like upgraded MBAs isn't particularly probable.

Here's hoping I'm proven wrong!
 
jmoore5196 said:
There have been no hardware announcements at the past several WWDCs ... six, if memory serves. While it's certainly not impossible, I'd say a significant release like upgraded MBAs isn't particularly probable.

Here's hoping I'm proven wrong!
Click to expand...

Your memory may not be entirely accurate.

From the keynotes (at times hardware is announced during the week):
2011 - no hardware
2010 - iPhone 4
2009 - iPhone 3GS, 13" Macbook Pro (updates to 15"/17")
2008 - iPhone 3G
2007 - no hardware
2006 - MacPro
2005 - Announced move to Intel (sort of a hardware announcement, even if not new products)
2004 - New Cinema displays
2003 - PowerMac G5

That being said, it does seem that Apple is positioning WWDC back to a conference focused on OS and software development. Hardware announcements are moving to special events and store-only updates.
 
What this means is that now we have no idea when apple expects to release its products.
 
Personally, I would like to see a black bezel on the MBA. I'm fairly satisfied with the aesthetics of the current MBA's/MBP's, though I'm extremely curious to see what Sir Ive has been working on.
 
dlimes13 said:
Zero. The dual-core Ivy Bridge CPUs are not out until June.
Click to expand...

I should be a lil more specific I guess:

See I'm going to Africa at the very end of June and need a MBA to take with me. I'll probably get the i5 anyway but if new MBAs are released than those will obviously decrease in price on eBay.

Should I buy now or worth waiting?

Thanks dude!
 
Yixian said:
I should be a lil more specific I guess:

See I'm going to Africa at the very end of June and need a MBA to take with me. I'll probably get the i5 anyway but if new MBAs are released than those will obviously decrease in price on eBay.

Should I buy now or worth waiting?

Thanks dude!
Click to expand...


Buy now .. i also waited 2 months and got tired of waiting. The i5 is a create machine and it's totally unclear when the ivy bridge will popup, what the prices will be. it might take over 3 months before the ivy bridge airs will be widely available in the stores.

i'm only missing 8GB in my air instead of 4. If the ivy bridge will come out, i will take one of those. I just take my price drop loss.
 
Yixian said:
I should be a lil more specific I guess:

See I'm going to Africa at the very end of June and need a MBA to take with me. I'll probably get the i5 anyway but if new MBAs are released than those will obviously decrease in price on eBay.

Should I buy now or worth waiting?

Thanks dude!
Click to expand...

End of June, that's more realistic. I would only buy now if you can get a steal, since the new one's will be far and away better (Ivy Bridge, Intel HD 4000, USB 3.0, 8 GB RAM possibility), or a nice discount on current models. Wait until a week-10 days before you leave to make your purchase.
 
I will eat my sock if the next air has USB 3.0. No way it will happen. I'll believe that maybe the next thunderbolt display might have a USB 3.0 port on it.

Also, Apple recently has been fond of tying hardware releases to OS releases. That said, if there are going to be IB MBAs, they won't be out until ML is done, which is late summer (August / September).

There might not even by any IB MBAs at all. Apple has been known to pass or skip generations of intel processors. How long did the MBA have a Core 2 Duo in it, meanwhile all the other Macbooks were rocking Core i-somethings?
 
oneMadRssn said:
I will eat my sock if the next air has USB 3.0. No way it will happen. I'll believe that maybe the next thunderbolt display might have a USB 3.0 port on it.

Also, Apple recently has been fond of tying hardware releases to OS releases. That said, if there are going to be IB MBAs, they won't be out until ML is done, which is late summer (August / September).

There might not even by any IB MBAs at all. Apple has been known to pass or skip generations of intel processors. How long did the MBA have a Core 2 Duo in it, meanwhile all the other Macbooks were rocking Core i-somethings?
Click to expand...

Ivy Bridge has USB 3.0 on the chipset. All Ivy Bridge Macs will have USB 3.0.

I'll eat both of my socks if Apple pulls something stupid to take them out.

Also, there will be an Ivy Bridge MBA. MBA is now a mainstream notebook, since the MacBook is now gone. The MBA before was an extreme luxury, thus, wasn't updated as often.
 
dlimes13 said:
End of June, that's more realistic. I would only buy now if you can get a steal, since the new one's will be far and away better (Ivy Bridge, Intel HD 4000, USB 3.0, 8 GB RAM possibility), or a nice discount on current models. Wait until a week-10 days before you leave to make your purchase.
Click to expand...

Thing is my budget is about £700 so I'll only be able to get a current model anyway, they run about that price on eBay (new) but I guess that'll drop £100 or so when the new ones *ship*, so I'll wait a bit and just see if there's a chance of them shipping in June, but from the sound of it that seems unlikely.
 
dlimes13 said:
Ivy Bridge has USB 3.0 on the chipset. All Ivy Bridge Macs will have USB 3.0.

I'll eat both of my socks if Apple pulls something stupid to take them out.

Also, there will be an Ivy Bridge MBA. MBA is now a mainstream notebook, since the MacBook is now gone. The MBA before was an extreme luxury, thus, wasn't updated as often.
Click to expand...

If the next line of MacBooks do not have USB 3.0 then Tim Cook should need Secret Service protection.

The Airs went mainstream when Apple slashed the price from above the 15" Pro to $1,299-.

If Apple wanted market share they could own what HP has within three years by -profitably- selling the 13" Pro for $899 and the !3" Air for $999. You can accurately peg the prices of everything else from this.

Dell would have left the consumer market, HP would be struggling to stay alive there, Sony, Toshiba and Acer would be gone, and only Samsung and Asus would in the game.
 
Apart from minor performance and battery boosts with IvyBridge, neither of which will probably affect you greatly, I say, get a current one, you can always sell it n for a small drop and spend a couple hundred extra (insert currency here) to get the new one once it is launched.

Besides, I recall getting my New MBP a couple of weeks after launch, it had massive overheating issues, so I had to replace it, so getting a new machine immeiately after launch may prove a problem, especially if you get it a week before you travel, and discover the issue mid-flight.

Although, I know you can claim a portion of the tax back at the airport if bought within 30 days of travel (in Australia anyway) so that is something else to consider.
 
oneMadRssn said:
I will eat my sock if the next air has USB 3.0. No way it will happen.
Click to expand...

Hope you like toe-jam, because USB3 is built into the ivy bridge chipset. Apple would have to specifically disable USB3 support, which they won't do.

It will cost them nothing to implement. It will be there, guaranteed, on ivy bridge machines.

Also: the only reason the 2010 MBA was stuck on the core 2 is because of the intel-nvidia legal issues which meant that they had to trade-off between having a decent GPU or CPU and GPU was considered more important. Sandy Bridge's GPU was MUCH more advanced that what they would have been forced to make do with if they went for a first generation I series CPU in the 2010 MBA.
 
Yixian said:
Thing is my budget is about £700 so I'll only be able to get a current model anyway, they run about that price on eBay (new) but I guess that'll drop £100 or so when the new ones *ship*, so I'll wait a bit and just see if there's a chance of them shipping in June, but from the sound of it that seems unlikely.
Click to expand...

If you don't need the computer to be super-fast, you might want to settle on a 2010 model, with Core2Duo processor.

Benefit: much better battery performance.

Either way, your best bet is Apple Refurb Store:
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/macbook_air/11
 
dlimes13 said:
Ivy Bridge has USB 3.0 on the chipset. All Ivy Bridge Macs will have USB 3.0.

I'll eat both of my socks if Apple pulls something stupid to take them out.

Also, there will be an Ivy Bridge MBA. MBA is now a mainstream notebook, since the MacBook is now gone. The MBA before was an extreme luxury, thus, wasn't updated as often.
Click to expand...

Will they be previously worn, or fresh from the drawer?:eek::D
 
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