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MBA to get Sandy Bridge in June?
- Thread starter fyrefly
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The comment "mainstream" was clearly about the possibility of moving to shorter release cycles, not the validity of CNET. MBP = 208 days avg refresh, MBA = 336, as things currently stand. A June release date would put the MBA approx. 220-250 days since last refresh. Not implausible by any stretch.
And to your point many people jump in these discussions to say "no way", as a way to justify their purchase as a smart decision.
makes iPads as well.Man I hope this happens soon so people hate their c2d airs so much they sell it to me for cheap.
Only spec-whores will do that, and there can't be that many of those who have a MacBook Air in the first place. But good luck finding one - nothing would be better than getting a great, ultraportable Mac from an irrational seller who is desperate to get rid of his/her allegedly outdated computer. It's important to never give a sucker (or a ditz) an even break.
After all - specs DO matter!
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just got an 11" air and man, this thing is awesome. it was just going to be a toy to go along with my macbook, but i think it's going to replace it completely. biggest surprise is how the screen doesn't feel cramped at all.
hopefully when they upgrade the cpu they'll make the storage options 128/256gb for the 11". 256gb + a faster cpu would make this the perfect machine for me. as it is though, i'm still extremely happy.
hopefully when they upgrade the cpu they'll make the storage options 128/256gb for the 11". 256gb + a faster cpu would make this the perfect machine for me. as it is though, i'm still extremely happy.
Yes & No.
Whilst greater CPU processing is welcome, GPU performance is not just limited to gaming.
GPU accelerates iLife, OSX elements, Photoshop etc.
Also whilst we have discrete graphics we are not sharing any onboard memory, unlike integrated graphics.
A 2GB sandybridge chipset will be losing up-to 256mb of memory as it allocates it to the GPU giving you effectively 1.75gb for system as opposed to 2GB in current machines.
Not a major difference, but undoubtably one that will affect base performance even if its only slight. (not a big deal if your upping to 4GB).
As others have said greatest benefit will be battery life.
Currently just writing or browsing the web I get 5-6 hours on my MBA. I imagine a Sandy bridge would get 10% more battery life therefore 6-7 hours.
Very good points, but I don't think I'd be jumping the gun to say that most MBA users aren't heavy Photoshop users (at least not on that machine). Maybe I'm wrong, but that'd be my guess. I'd think people would take advantage of the processor speed increase more than the GPU slight decrease in performance.
The extra battery life AND extra CPU performance outweigh everything else for the scope of the machine (in my personal opinion).
The current models have integrated graphics, not a discrete card. We just get a nicer one (NVIDIA 320m). So we still have 1.75GB or 3.75GB of RAM for our applications.
I hope people who buy the Sandy Bridge realize they still only use 10% of their CPU 95% of the time and they could've enjoyed the Air all the time already instead of waiting... and waiting... and waiting.
You all know that the Ivy Bridge will follow soon right? It's like 20% faster than the Sandy! I mean, c'mon... you'd have to be a huge fool to buy the Sandy Bridge when it comes out, when Ivy is just around the corner. Don't waste your money!
Oh yes didn't realise that it too shared system memory.
Most people are not aware of the difference.