I dunno, if I were apple, in the base 11" I'd put 2GB memory, a 64GB SSD and this i3 1.3 GHz chip, and punt em out at $999.
It would still be a very capable base model.
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New MBA rumours- my thoughts.
- Thread starter CountBrass
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I dunno, if I were apple, in the base 11" I'd put 2GB memory, a 64GB SSD and this i3 1.3 GHz chip, and punt em out at $999.
It would still be a very capable base model.
Well it's good you aren't Apple then, I guess. Here's to hoping 4 gigs is the baseline... although I seriously doubt it.
As I understand it it's a dual core physical but because it has dual threading, it's a virtual quad core in terms of power. I have seen various benchmarking pages that state the baseline MBP with the SNB processor is as fast as the fastest MBP with a C2D.
Lots of willy-waving and 'certainty' about an unannounced Apple product but let's give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
So let's say the new MBA really has a processor that is twice as fast as the current one and let's assume it will really have an i5 or i7 (ie the same is in the current MacBook Pros (ha!ha!).
First- I'm not sure that an MBA with 30 minutes battery life will be that useful and secondly I very much doubt for *any* use that the MBA (or any current generation machine, desktop or laptop) is processor bound- the graphics processor, mass storage, memory, network, system bus are where the bottlenecks lie- not in the processor (yes, I know, changing architectures allows you to improve some -but not all- of those areas).
So to return to my original point -which most of you have missed whilst quoting your fantasy performance figures- is that even if all the rumours are true (which they won't be) the new MBA (assuming there will be one this month) will be a relatively minor incremental improvement of the previous generation: exactly the same as all the other MBAs have been over the revision before them.
In fact I'll take it farther than that. If, by some miracle, the new MBA has performance comparable to the current MBPs and maintains -through some magical improvement in battery technology we haven't seen in decades and hasn't even been rumoured- to maintain the same battery life with the vastly increased power drain- then you're looking at a radically new machine.
And Apple's first attempts at anything: OSX, MBP, MP, MBA; always have serious design flaws or quality issues.
So to re-iterate: the new MBA (if it even exists) will either be a minor incremental improvement of the current MBA or it will be a wholly new product which will inevitably be plagued with problems and quality control issues.
So if you've sold your 2010 MBA in anticipation of the new MBA then, well, you've given me a good laugh (and the smart people a cheap MBA.
you are VERY confused. but at least your paying the laughs back.
Personal attacks - nice.
But then I find it hard to take you seriously now I know you're Danish.
you are VERY confused. but at least your paying the laughs back.
Not so much confused as trying to cover all of the possible responses: the mouthe-breather dumb-as-a-brick ones as well as the sensible ones.
I'm just astonished that so many people are seriously expecting a doubling of system performance in the new (still imaginary, still unannounced) MBA.
I can't think of a single case where that's happened with Apple's machines before: arguably the ppc to intel change might do it. The improvements have always been incremental and they will be this time as well. So common sense says you're just going to lose money (and be without your MBA) if you rush off to sell it on eBay because of this imaginary magical 2011 MBA that will be powered by Unicorns!
But, as they say, common sense is anything but common.
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CountBrass: there are people who didn't buy MBA yet and are waiting for the release so they can get either the newest unit, or older unit cheaper. This is mainly where exitement comes from... Sure, there are few who sold their units expecting that they'll buy MBA, but that may have been 2008-2009 MBPs, or MBs... And if someone wants to sell his/hers 2010 MBA, who are you to jugde them?
Well firstly I think I made it pretty clear that I was talking about people rushing to dump their current MBAs on eBay.
And secondly who are you to judge me judging them?
Personally I have no problem judging whoever the hell I like and will continue to do so: you have poor dress sense and your breath smells
To be perfectly honest I don't know if I would expect a i5 or i7 in the new unannounced MBA. If they do have the new processors I really think they will be using the consumers as guinea pigs to see how battery life, graphics and heat will effect the new MBA. Plus I don't think there are any solid numbers on the C2D watt consumption but from rumors I thought it was 12 watts and the new processors are 17w I believe, so I could see your lap or desk getting a lot warmer if you are watching HD or playing a game for a long period of time. Also someone on here said they have heard of trouble watching HD on a 11inch MBA, I haven't had any such problems and I watch off of netflix, youtube, etc.
I don't see why not. Sure it's a huge jump but the processor in the MBA right now were launched in 2008. Apple hasn't been doing "incremental updates" they've kept an older architecture probably in order to keep the nVidia chipset and keep the power usage down. But the base processor in the current 13" MBA was the optional upgrade in 2008. It's not unreasonable to expect something twice as fast 3 years later.
C2D ULV power consumption is 10W http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_(microarchitecture). The latest, ULV i7 power consumption is 17W. http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/intel-adds-to-ulv-processor-line-with-1-8ghz-core-i7-and-i5-opti/
A 70% increase in power drain is going to severely decrease battery life. (Unless the new batteries have magic fairy dust powered by over-heated imaginations, of course).
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Yes but my point is that even if that is true then unless the CPU is the bottleneck (which not even the people arguing against my points have tried to claim) *and* it remains the bottleneck when you double its performance (ie you don't just move the bottleneck to somewhere else) then you won't see a doubling of performance of the MBA just by doubling the power of the cpu.
In actual fact the bottlenecks in modern machines are pretty much anywhere *except* the cpu.
As a machine, even if the guesses being thrown around are true, you won't see anything like a doubling of performance. I wouldn't be surprised if the difference is barely noticeable.
This is including the GPU, so it will be compensated by there not being a separate GPU.
Yes, for every day use, the CPU probably won't be the bottleneck, because in that kind of usage, there won't be a bottleneck.
However, when people speak about doubling the performance, they're talking about maximum performance, which is essentially just spec chasing (no one is denying that). Granted, the SB machines WILL see a hit in GPU performance, which is already the bottleneck in gaming. For those who want to game on the MBA (I still can't understand why), the bottleneck will actually become worse.
Personally, I am upgrading to a SB MBA, simply because using certain programs (likely due to poor optimization for Mac, or just poorly written code), both my CPU and RAM would often get maxed out. This isn't just professional software either. I've managed to put my old 11" machine at nearly full load (on the CPU) using just Skype and Safari (I point the finger at Skype).
Isn't the 320m only using 6w? still your saving a 1w and having better graphics? IDK I think I would rather give up a little processor to have a better graphics, IMO.
The current 11 inch Air uses a 10 watt CPU and a 10-12 watt GPU (underclocked?)
The sandy bridge processors have a 17 watt TDP for both CPU and GPU.
That's a total power SAVINGS of up to 5 watts!
The current 13 inch Air uses 17 watt GPU and the same 10-12 watt Nvidia 320M
Apple could easily (at the same processor cost) include 25 watt sandy bridge CPUs while saving up to 4 watts of power.
11" MBA Base CPU:
Intel® Core™ i5-2537M Processor (Dual Core, 1.4 GHz(2.3GHz turbo) 3M Cache)
11" MBA BTO CPU:
Intel® Core™ i7-2657M Processor (Dual Core, 1.6 GHz(2.7GHz turbo) 4M Cache)
13" MBA Base CPU:
Intel® Core™ i7-2629M Processor (Dual Core, 2.1 GHz(3.0GHz turbo) 4M Cache)
13" MBA BTO CPU:
Intel® Core™ i7-2649M Processor (Dual Core, 2.3 GHz(3.2GHz turbo) 4M Cache)
There have been tons of threads discussing this.
see above
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But then I find it hard to take you seriously now I know you're Danish.
Wow... This is all getting completely out of hand.
Come on guys - its just a laptop!
Where are you getting overclocked numbers from? Here is the information I'm seeing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...ocessing_units#GeForce_300M_.283xxM.29_series
OP, you need to do your homework.
research the 2010 and 2011 13" MBPs' specs, performance, power draw, and battery life. (note: Apple's system for estimating battery life was switched from 2010 to 2011, so you can't use their numbers.)
research the MBA CPU question: power draw, battery life, performance.
research the Sandy Bridge CPU line.
etc.
you should then, hopefully, realize that many of the assumptions you've made are simply unfounded. ... except, of course, your assumption that people on here are simply making completely unfounded assumptions. (but that's cheating)
research the 2010 and 2011 13" MBPs' specs, performance, power draw, and battery life. (note: Apple's system for estimating battery life was switched from 2010 to 2011, so you can't use their numbers.)
research the MBA CPU question: power draw, battery life, performance.
research the Sandy Bridge CPU line.
etc.
you should then, hopefully, realize that many of the assumptions you've made are simply unfounded. ... except, of course, your assumption that people on here are simply making completely unfounded assumptions. (but that's cheating)
From Intel's website...
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54619
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54615
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54610
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54611
But now that i think about it Apple'll probably use these for the 11 inch
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54620
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54617
I'm not disagreeing with the ixx information I'm taking about the graphics being overclocked?