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Do you think there will be a price change in the next MBA refresh??
- Thread starter MBABuyer
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I don't think so, with the last refresh the prices went down a lot so I believe, as is apples history, that they will stay they for a while. However I would love if they decreased the prices on both models by $100
I do believe that 4GB RAM will become standard configurations at the current 2GB RAM configuration pricing.
$999 for an 11" MBA with a nice CPU, horrific IGP, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, and add one Thunderbolt port.
I actually believe to replace the optional 4GB RAM upgrade, Apple will add 8GB RAM for $199 more up from $99 for 4GB before. However, I wouldn't advise anyone to do it, as it will be so crippled with the Intel IGP that it will have no long-term viable use like the current Nvidia equipped MBAs.
Quite frankly the bottleneck will become the IGP which will eliminate uses and deteriorate long-term capabilities of an otherwise amazing Mac. Intel has really screwed over consumers terribly, and I welcome Apple's eventual boycott of Intel for AMD or ARM... the CPU is NOT the bottleneck in the C2D MBAs currently available, so it is senseless to handicap it so horrifically with the Intel IGP. I can always pray that the Intel IGP is as big of a flop with the next MBA as it was with the original and Apple abandons the thing forever.
$999 for an 11" MBA with a nice CPU, horrific IGP, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD, and add one Thunderbolt port.
I actually believe to replace the optional 4GB RAM upgrade, Apple will add 8GB RAM for $199 more up from $99 for 4GB before. However, I wouldn't advise anyone to do it, as it will be so crippled with the Intel IGP that it will have no long-term viable use like the current Nvidia equipped MBAs.
Quite frankly the bottleneck will become the IGP which will eliminate uses and deteriorate long-term capabilities of an otherwise amazing Mac. Intel has really screwed over consumers terribly, and I welcome Apple's eventual boycott of Intel for AMD or ARM... the CPU is NOT the bottleneck in the C2D MBAs currently available, so it is senseless to handicap it so horrifically with the Intel IGP. I can always pray that the Intel IGP is as big of a flop with the next MBA as it was with the original and Apple abandons the thing forever.
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Just wondering, what is the limitation of the Intel IGP?
Other than gaming, would the HD3000 be capable of driving the 27" Cinema Display effortlessly?
Just wondering, what is the limitation of the Intel IGP?
Other than gaming, would the HD3000 be capable of driving the 27" Cinema Display effortlessly?
High-end 13" might drop 100$ since SSD prices have gone down, though it depends on what else it includes (if the high-end has better CPU than the low-end, then price cut probably won't happen).
Yes.
Yes.
Doubtful there'll be a price-change this soon after the intro of the new "low-price" MBAs, but anything could happen.
I agree with Scottsdale that 4GB RAM should come standard for the same price, but again, who knows. It'll only happen if Apple can keep up their 30% profit margin with the 4GB of RAM and $999 price-point.
I agree with Scottsdale that 4GB RAM should come standard for the same price, but again, who knows. It'll only happen if Apple can keep up their 30% profit margin with the 4GB of RAM and $999 price-point.
Apple hardly ever changes prices. And I agree that after a huge price drop with the 2010s, another drop seems unlikely.
4GB standard? ... would be nice. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple stuck with 2GB though.
just gimme a juicy CPU and i'm more than happy. ... in June that is.
4GB standard? ... would be nice. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple stuck with 2GB though.
just gimme a juicy CPU and i'm more than happy. ... in June that is.
SD, your expertise,on this subject, led me to purchase 2 11" MBA's and upgrade to OWC 360 SSD's.I have been VERY happy with the graphics performance, they are AMAZING machines!
Honestly, I think the MBA is a no brainer for the vast majority of all Mac users whether they know it or not... in its current form with Nvidia's GPU.
Unfortunately, I believe the next MBA will be severely handicapped in comparison... I hope I am wrong, but I have almost zero faith in Intel's IGP. I wish Apple would dump Intel and move to AMD or ARM if they refuse to include a discrete GPU. In a perfect world, Apple increase the TDP as they did with the larger MBPs, and by using Intel CPUs and a discrete low power AMD GPU come in under 5W more than the current MBAs TDP.
I just dread Intel's IGP, and I think most are better off with current Nvidia based MBAs rather than hoping for a price break and getting stuck with an Intel IGP that will be behind the October 2008 MBA in terms of graphics capabilities. Even with ThunderBolt, 8GB RAM, and a backlit keyboard the cons outweight the pros... it takes a lot to make up for the Intel anti-competitive moves that screw us MBA users!
What is the big deal with SB integrated graphics besides slower gaming? Will 2D be any slower? I can imagine any negatives outside of gaming. I don't do CAD etc so I can't speak to that but to be honest I'm hoping the SB graphics improve battery life since SB is ULV and discrete graphics are removed.
I'll wait
I'm pretty sure you are talking about the 13.3" MBA, but if those specs are available for the 11.6" MBA... I think I would try to live with a sub-par GPU!
(The speed of Sandy Bridge should make up for at least a little bit of the GPU downgrade)
I'm pretty sure you are talking about the 13.3" MBA, but if those specs are available for the 11.6" MBA... I think I would try to live with a sub-par GPU!
(The speed of Sandy Bridge should make up for at least a little bit of the GPU downgrade)
Article : http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ext_month.html
Apple to begin production of Thunderbolt MacBook Airs this month
By Kasper Jade
Published: 11:00 AM EST
Apple nthis month will reportedly begin manufacturing the first updates to its rejuvenated MacBook Air line as the company looks to maintain the impressive sales momentum generated by the ultra-thin notebooks and limit the market opportunity for would-be competitors hoping to wedge their foot in the door.
Sales of the aggressively-priced 11.6- and 13.3-inch MacBook Airs got off to a hot start following their introduction last October, with Apple assembling roughly 1 million units within their first quarter of availability. During those three months, consumers reportedly chose the new MacBook Airs at a one-to-two ratio to the company's more established MacBook Pro offerings, making for one of the company's most successful Mac product launches ever.
However, shipments of the Airs declined 51 percent sequentially during the first calendar quarter of 2011 -- including a 40 percent month-over-month decline in February -- as Apple introduced new MacBook Pros that caught consumers' eyes, according to Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has proven sources within the Cupertino-based company's Far Eastern supply chain.
Kuo tells AppleInsider that his latest round of checks with suppliers and system builders in the region reveals that MacBook Air shipments are set to rebound during the current calendar quarter, fueled by an upgrade to Intel's latest Sandy Bridge microprocessors, integrated Intel graphics, and the expected adoption of the new Thunderbolt high-speed I/O technology that made its debut on MacBook Pros earlier this year.
Specifically, he said the new models will "go to mass production in late May," which corroborates an earlier report that cited reliable sources as saying Apple would be ready to publicly announce and ship to consumers MacBook Airs with Sandy Bridge processors during following month of June.
The upgrade should help boost Apple's overall notebook shipments between 5 percent to 10 percent sequentially for the current quarter, according to Kuo, reversing a 5 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011, which he notes was still less than the 11% average decline for notebook shipments from the top 6 OEMs worldwide during the same period.
In moving to Intel's 32-nanometer (nm) Sandy Bridge architecture, the mid-2011 MacBook Airs will jettison two-year-old Penryn-based 45-nm Core 2 Duo chips for the chipmakers' new line (below) of low-voltage and ultra-low-voltage Core i5 and Core i7 chips, which sport between 3MB and 4MB of Smart Cache and support a theoretical maximum of 8GB of internal system memory.
Should Apple follow its current trend of using ultra-low-variants for the 11.6-inch MacBook Air and low-voltage ones for the 13.3-inch models, consumers can expect to see new 11.6-inch MacBook Airs sporting 1.4GHz to 1.6GHz Core i5 and Core i7 chips and 13.3-inch MacBook Airs with 2.10 and 2.30GHz Core i7 processors.
In a report shared with AppleInsider last week, Kuo also noted that production of Apple's legacy white MacBook model has been on a steady decline since the start of the year, with shipments falling 10% and 50% in February and March, respectively. As such, it's likely that Apple will similarly need to make some form of announcement regarding the future of this offering sometime in the coming months.
I don't think the MBA will have a lower price in the US... but maybe in canada. The new iMacs are now the same price in canada as in the US (instead of a bit more expensive), so I think the new MBA will also follow that pattern and be a little bit less expensive (about 100$ less).
That is pure BS. 9400M is nowhere near as fast Intel HD 3000, even if it was heavily underclocked. The 9400M was underclocked as well BTW.
I have to disagree. What you are completely ignoring is the fact that if Apple uses the low and worse yet ultra low voltage SB CPUs, the IGP will be upwards of a 65% drop from the Nvidia 320m and even behind the 8400m.
We all know you get all hurt when someone speaks the truth about Intel, but stop using standard voltage chips with their much faster IGP and lower resolution 1280x800 13" displays they're driving to consider what the MBA with low and ultra low voltage SB will be capable of with the high resolution 1440x900 displays. You're not comparing the same level of IGP, and you're ignoring basic scientific evidence to pray for your Intel stock prices to not fall from the sky. Either that or you work for them or you just don't care about basic scientific reasoning?
I would say the best hope MBA lovers have is that the rumors are wrong, completely. Then Apple either sticks with the current model, uses a standard voltage SB, switches to AMD, or finds a discrete AMD GPU to pair with SB LV/ULV for the MBAs.
I wis I were wrong, but I believe the SB ULV Apple is rumored to use in the 11" MBA will be a solid 60% loss in graphics from the 320m... And the IGP in the 13" MBA might be approaching only a 45% loss. And it might be even worse considering the 13" MBA has a higher resolution to drive. Or perhaps Apple eliminates the high resolution display to compensate a little to make the Intel IGP not look like the most ridiculous step backwards in the history of computing!
Any way you cut it, a C2D CPU with Nvidia GPU provides a far superior overall user experience for the greatest number of consumers. While using C2D CPUs might perform certain operations slower than SB, it still performs those operations. With SB, games are lost entirely, OpenCL is gone, and running higher resolutions requires more of the system resources and that is just the start of it. Apple built OpenCL right into the OS due to the great benefits Nvidia's GPUs offered, then Intel couldn't compete fairly so it had to pull dirty evil deeds to stop the embarrassment as Nvidia spanked it when freely competing.
Intel is an anti-competitive company that is robbing Apple customers of a capable graphics experience via illegal and immoral actions against Nvidia. I wis Apple users would unite in a boycott to force freedom of competition as that is the only way to stop Intel's deplorable actions.
3DMark 03 (MBP 9400M - i5-2537 - 320M)
5759 - 6980 - 11831
3DMark 05
3930 - 4331 - 7759
3DMark 06
2079 - 2788 - 4706
PCMark Vantage
2429 - 5775
Cinebench R10
3022 - 3880
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-320M.25099.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9400M-G.11949.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-3000.37948.0.html
That is comparing your ULV CPU to a full-speed 9400M. MBA's 9400M runs at 300MHz which is 33% slower than the one I used in this comparison. Subtract 33% from the scores of 9400M and you get the performance difference between 2009 MBA and 11" SB MBA.
Those numbers also show that the drop from 320M would be around 35-45% when using ULV SB, not +65% like you claim.
The Intel HD 3000 isn't great but I think your numbers are a bit exaggerated. Evidently, Intel will be using PowerVR graphics in Cedar Trail Atoms so there is hope that Intel will outsource the IGP development in regular CPUs too.
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Well, a 30-40% reduction in graphics capacity in exchange for comparable increases in CPU performance seems unacceptable - especially to those driving 24 or 27" cinema displays with their AIRS and working graphically. I imagine that Apple will not allow this much of a step back in the next update.
Next year, assuming a discrete GPU makes it way back in, would be a better time to jump on the SB bandwagon. Maybe by then I'll have saved up enough for some aftermarket SSD upgrades!
Apple allowed the graphics reduction to happen with 13" MBP. Yes, the ULV and LV chips are slower but seriously, if someone buys 11" MBA to do graphics intensive work on 27" ACD, then he must accept that the performance will suffer.
Nobody will take away your 320M MBA. If you really need it for your "graphics intensive" tasks, then don't upgrade. Simple as that. Currently, there is no viable solution that would provide better GPU performance in MBA form factor.
What "back in"? MBA has never had a discrete GPU, and never will.
Hellhammer, I appreciate what you've managed to say without resorting to name-calling.
Intel integrated graphics are generally under-performers. No one is arguing with that. But they are poor only in context; they are superior to any integrated solutions from 2+ years past, as technology is wont to be. It will do a fine job pushing MBA pixels and HD cinema display pixels.
The 320M option exists. If the new MBA has a graphics solution that falls short in comparison and you want better GPU performance, grab a MBA when prices drop. If a Sandy Bridge solution will lower TDP and manufacturing costs, that will make more sense to the general ultra-portable audience (see my post here for some actual numbers: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12512989&#post12512989).
The gamers and high-intensity graphics users among us (and I am one of you) need to recognize that there are machines better designed to do what we do. The MBA is not. We'll continue to do whatever we want with our machines - gaming included - but should not let that create unreasonable expectations for future updates. Can we fantasize about the perfect low-power gaming ultra-portable? Of course. Should we get angry when dissenting opinions and observations consider uses other than our own? Of course not.
Many Folks appreciate the 320m for light gaming.
Anyway, on your point...I have to agree for the most part. While Im critical of SB IGP...graphical oriented tasks should be done on a dedicated machine (desktop/Macbook Pro). If anything, people can make a value proposition when the new one comes out...
1. 2011 SB:
More Powerful CPU
Decreased Graphical Processing
Possibly lower TDP and better battery life
TB
Backlit Keyboard
2: 2010 C2D:
Less powerful CPU
Better Graphical Capabilities
Great Cost Savings (perhaps)
Im personally hoping to grab a 2010 C2D 13inch for ~1000.00
Anyway, on your point...I have to agree for the most part. While Im critical of SB IGP...graphical oriented tasks should be done on a dedicated machine (desktop/Macbook Pro). If anything, people can make a value proposition when the new one comes out...
1. 2011 SB:
More Powerful CPU
Decreased Graphical Processing
Possibly lower TDP and better battery life
TB
Backlit Keyboard
2: 2010 C2D:
Less powerful CPU
Better Graphical Capabilities
Great Cost Savings (perhaps)
Im personally hoping to grab a 2010 C2D 13inch for ~1000.00
^^my bad on the discrete GPU. I realized the 320M shares RAM and offers marked power savings but wasn't sure about the architecture.
Yes, I don't think many will look to the 11" for serious graphics work or 3D gaming. And, if one does plan on playing allot of games on their AIR then perhaps the 2010 refurb would be a sweet thing to pick up after the SB refresh.
I'm most concerned that the Intel IGP will reduce just the simple fluidity of OSX when pushing to an ACD. Smooth minimizing, running multiple spaces, scrolling through pics and pdfs, etc.