Mac OSX Lion on MBA 11'

[EspressoLove]

Any thoughts when new MBA will be announced?

P.S.: I decided to go with 11 inch with 4 GB. It is much more cheaper, portable, lighter etc...
Then I'll wait for ACD refresh (720p webcam, HDMI in and something special from apple should be there probably, because I thought to connect PS3 to that display, but now it will cost me about 300 $ for a connector - no thanks, and then it is already at the end of the cycle)...

There was some talk about MBAs being updated in June @ WWDC ...

Yet I think Apple will wait till IvyBridge fall-winter 2011/2012.
It doesn't make sense to introduce anything new without Thunderbolt now, yet the standalone chip in '11 MBPs is big enough to create a headache for MBA redesign.
Ivy (Panther Point) might have it built in.

 

[BMWNEW]

There was some talk about MBAs being updated in June @ WWDC ...

Yet I think Apple will wait till IvyBridge fall-winter 2011/2012.
It doesn't make sense to introduce anything new without Thunderbolt now, yet the standalone chip in '11 MBPs is big enough to create a headache for MBA redesign.
Ivy (Panther Point) might have it built in.

The thing is: I've got a bithday on 28th of June, so if the new MBA is going to be updated in June, I would get a NEW one on a Birthday
But if there is not anything to update in MPA now, what for should I wait?
I think it is much better to buy it NOW (and then, in 2012 I would get a great chance to sell it and get a new one). Maybe it is much better to USE IT, then always wait?

And don't you think that Apple may introduce new MPA in June with Sandy Bridge? I thought it is POSSIBLE to put them inside so slim device...

 

[JMB1911]

i have 1.4ghz 11" air with 4gb. the mac os x lion developer preview is smooth as butter here.

any guess on how it will run on the 2gb machine?

 

[BMWNEW]

any guess on how it will run on the 2gb machine?

I am interested in that too...

P.S.: I have not decided yet. So many rumors about refresh MPA's in June... My birthday is exactly on 28th of June, so maybe it is better to wait???
Oh, I've been offered a new 13' Ultimate MPA for only 2000$ (Russia, my friends - it is very chip here. F.e. a new basic 13' MBA costs about 1700$ here (but it is from Premium Reseller with russian keyboard))

 

[EspressoLove]

I am interested in that too...

P.S.: I have not decided yet. So many rumors about refresh MPA's in June... My birthday is exactly on 28th of June, so maybe it is better to wait???
Oh, I've been offered a new 13' Ultimate MPA for only 2000$ (Russia, my friends - it is very chip here. F.e. a new basic 13' MBA costs about 1700$ here (but it is from Premium Reseller with russian keyboard))

Yeah, I hated Apple for that - they made devices so close to perfect, that I wanted my timing be perfect with them too ....

... then I was bitten twice - learned to wait a bit to see if there were rev.A issues ...

... then I learned that they sometimes omit features that were there (FW in UMBC, KBBL in '10 MBA) ...

... then I realized - it's only me - who blocks myself from enjoying what's there right now!

 

[hystery]

I wouldn't think you'll be fine with 1.4GHz if you're going with it next 2 to 4 years. Core2Duo is the last legacy processor meets Lion's minimum requirement. If you have at least 2GHz you won't be in trouble most of times, but 1.4 will be painful IMO.
Additionally Lion will be a major upgrade after a long time (Snow Leopard was like maintained Leopard) that it not too much to be concervative. Apple is trying to integrade iOS and Mac OS, and Lion is the first ever OS consumers will see the result of that, it might affect in good way or maybe bad way.

 

[johannnn]

any guess on how it will run on the 2gb machine?

That's what I have running Lion and it works great. Lion even uses less memory for me, e.g. Safari releases all ram when you close all open windows, you don't have to close the app.

 

[EspressoLove]

That's what I have running Lion and it works great. Lion even uses less memory for me, e.g. Safari releases all ram when you close all open windows, you don't have to close the app.

Snow Leopard itself is much worse in RAM management than 10.5 Leopard ever was.
Hope they fix it with Lion.

I covertly hope 8GB will become cheap enough soon to make BTO possible.
For now I just reboot every few days - with MBA it's not a huge nuisance

 

[BMWNEW]

Alright, guys, I have just decided to buy 11" Ultimate... But now found SB topic...
I would be so depressed if MPA would have a refresh in June...

 

[n1tut]

Having a laugh as usual. The basic 11.6" does everything that the average user needs, and does it bloody fast.

By all means buy an Ultimate if the extra cost is no consideration, but just check if your usage needs the extra power.

tut

 

[EspressoLove]

Alright, guys, I have just decided to buy 11" Ultimate... But now found SB topic...
I would be so depressed if MPA would have a refresh in June...

Let's say we don't treat depressions here ...

 

[steveostevie]

PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066 SDRAM); Clock Speed: 133MHz, Data Rate: 1066MHz, Throughput 8.53GB/s

That's about 40-50 times better than the best rate SSD can offer under ideal conditions, and up to 1000 times under more ordinary ....

[url=http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/5162/screenshot20110322at123.png]Image[/URL]

So no, no SSD today, even those much faster ones can make up for the lack of RAM

Although even then it's pointless to have the upgrade unless you use the extra memory reasonably often. Memory requirements will always go up but 2GB RAM will continue to get a fair bit done for the foreseeable future. I think people who genuinely have higher requirements tend to know that they do (for example, do you work at NASA / have you won an Oscar?).

Realistically, certainly at this point in time, most users should probably consider a 4GB upgrade, particularly on an ultraportable laptop, as peace-of-mind insurance for the future as opposed to a way to get much more performance out of it.

 

[kapolani]

Although even then it's pointless to have the upgrade unless you use the extra memory reasonably often. Memory requirements will always go up but 2GB RAM will continue to get a fair bit done for the foreseeable future. I think people who genuinely have higher requirements tend to know that they do (for example, do you work at NASA / have you won an Oscar?).

Realistically, certainly at this point in time, most users should probably consider a 4GB upgrade, particularly on an ultraportable laptop, as peace-of-mind insurance for the future as opposed to a way to get much more performance out of it.

More ram = more open apps.

Some people like to run many apps at once. I run Win7 to develop in while listening to my itunes and browsing the web etc.

I would always suggest get as much ram as affordable. In fact, I would recommend more ram than a better processor for the typical user.

 

[BMWNEW]

Thanks everybody!
I bought an Ultimate 11" MBA in Apple Store on Regent Street, London.
And I am extremely happy!

 

[Ivangf2]

That's what I have running Lion and it works great. Lion even uses less memory for me, e.g. Safari releases all ram when you close all open windows, you don't have to close the app.

I ve been looking throughout all the forum until I ran into your response. I have a MBA 13 late 2010 with 1.86 Ghz C2D, 128 GB and 2GB RAM.

The thing that i was worried is to run lion with this memory but it seems it ll run as smoothly as snow leopard.

I only use my mac for internet browsing, IM messaging, twitter, and sometimes I use iMovie and autocad and with snow leopard runs really fine.

 

[Anastacio]

Will it be unhealthy for the battery, if it is plugged into a power supply all the time, even when using it (at home) ?

 

[Ivangf2]

Will it be unhealthy for the battery, if it is plugged into a power supply all the time, even when using it (at home) ?

I guess so, what i do is to use my MBA without power supply the 5 or 6 hours that the battery holds energy and then plug it to recharge battery

 

[DesmoPilot]

You do realize when a computer runs out of memory it reverts back to the hard drive (in this case the hard drive is a SSD or "flash memory") which in essence makes buying 2gb of ram seem not so foolish.

Less writes to the SSD = longer life of SSD.