LOL, you didn't mention heat and fan noise once in your post, just speed, speed and more speed.
With the power and speed you speak of heat and fan noise come with that. Is the MBA capable to manage the heat from the added power? We're not sure. If I had to say one way or the other I'd say no, based on what I've read SB in it's current state would turn the little 11" Air into a frying pan.
Think SB doesn't run a (lot) warmer? Go read in the MBP forum, on the first page there's people posting who wish they'd of kept their C2D MBP's ... because of excess heat and really loud fans. I had a 17" MBP quad core for a short time, the fans roared and it ran much warmer than the C2D 15" MBP's in our offices....
Really? A 45W CPU and a 20W GPU that in turbo mode can suck up 90W+ of energy... and there was no Chassis changes, so the new MBPs get hotter. Wow. It must just be Sandy Bridge. It's the devil. Thanks so much entatlrg for enlightening us with your obviously superior knowledge on the subject.
I honestly don't see how a 65W+ CPU heating up a 17" chassis originally built to house 55W or lower, compares to a 17W CPU/GPU heating up an 11" chasis that was built to handle at least 20W (C2D+320m).
Now, also keep in mind that TDP is not everything, but baring any actual measurements of the purely theoretical SB MBA, using pure numbers (not just vague opinions), the current ULV C2D+320m consumes more than 17W so a SB MBA will presumably *not* heat up like a frying pan, as you seem to love to say in every thread.
Were you also one of the ones who was panning (rightly so) Arrandale last year and telling us all to wait for SB as "the answer"?
I'm not sure why you get off so much on spreading FUD about the SB processors. If you wanted to sound off about how the GPU will be 1/2 as powerful as the 320m, (when playing games), I'd be with ya. As that's a provable statement. But all this frying pan nonsense just reeks of an Ultimate MBA 13" 320m owner who doesn't want his new toy to become outdated.
Like this "Waa waa, I have one and you don't" statement builds you any credibility?
So "tick tock" the reality of it all is I've had my MacBook Air since it's release on October 20th, you still don't have one ... tick tock ... and what guarantee to do have that Apple will introduce a SB Air in July, couldn't it easily be July, August, September, October or even skip it and wait for the revised and cooler running Ivy Bridge .... tick tock ... you're still waiting.
Sure, there's a possibility the MBA could not be updated till the fall. Sure. Reliable sources have said June, but Apple could still change plans. And sure, Ivy Bridge will be cooler, but that's not till this time next year... and the MBA will then be 18+ Months without an update.
Bottom Line: If you have proof, kindly show us the testing that proves that a 17W CPU+IGP in a theoretical machine will heat up as much as a 65W+ CPU in a 17" Machine. Otherwise, enjoy your 320m machine and stop spreading FUD around about processors no-one's seen/benchmarked/tested, (except for a lone possibility in a Samsung machine running Windows).
Seriously, these 'wait for SB' and 'Future Proofing' threads crack me up. To begin with Apple is the most unpredictable company on the planet when it comes to product updates, and the rumors and speculation are rarely close.
See it. Like it. Buy it. Enjoy!!
My take on it is that most people who are asking these questions don't *need* a machine right now. So the general rule in computer buying "buy the best you can afford, and only when you *need* it, and don't look back" still applies.
If people don't need a MBA till the summer/fall, of course they should wait. SB or not, why spend $$ you don't need?
It won't be that big of a difference. You're exaggerating.
And every new release is always the "most exciting."
And there's no guarantee a new MBA is released in June.
Now I probably wouldn't have bought my MBA 11 the other day if it was full price plus tax. But ... this notion the new ones 8 months later are going to be so so much better is drinking a little too much kool-aid.
Intersting. Another recent buyer, poo-pooing the potential for a June release. (AKA hoping their investment isn't invalidated in a month by a new machine.)
I get it, I seriously do. But I don't get why people try to pass their feelings, or wishes off as "probability". None of us know. For sure not me. But also not you. But I'd rather bet on people who've accurately pin-pointed releases months in advance, than go with the people who obviously have a horse in the race of not wanting a new machine to come out right after they've just bought the "old" one.
Regarding power, though, SB is a full two generations ahead of C2D. There's lots of enhancements (though w/o an Nvidia GPU, there's also a downside). 44% faster could be a real thing. But only in CPU-bound testing.
The closest comparison is the 2010/2011 MBP 13". The 2010 2.4Ghz C2D base-model had a geekbench score around ~3400. The new i5 MBP 13" base-model (lower-clocked, mind you at 2.3Ghz) scored 5945. 3400/5945 = almost 57.6%, hitting right around that 44% faster mark, no?
Granted, the LV chips will be different, (Geekbenching Windows i5-2537M vs. OSX SL9400 gives you a less direct comparison, but the i5 chip is still 30% faster CPU-wise).
Thing is, we haven't seen them under OSX, and we haven't seen any of the 25W Parts which'll also have Turbo-Boost (if Apple doesn't cripple it), and if Apple goes with 17W/25W i7 chips, they'll have hyper-threading as well. That'll help make that huge jump in CPU power (and potentially mitigate at least some of the 40-50% drop in gaming power).
It still comes down to no-one knows. June/September/Sandy/Ivy, we don't know We can only help people try to make decisions, and spreading complete false-hoods doesn't help anyone.
