Waiting for next update on MBA. Anyone?

[hcho3]

Core 2 DUO is very old technology and I feel that it would be so outdated by end of this this year or early next year. I am planning on buying MBA this summer to get Mac OS lion right out of the box.

what are the chances that apple will update MBA by this summer like June/July/August time frame? Anyone?

Any thoughts and inputs would be appreciated.

 

[orfeas0]

Core 2 DUO is very old technology and I feel that it would be so outdated by end of this this year or early next year. I am planning on buying MBA this summer to get Mac OS lion right out of the box.

what are the chances that apple will update MBA by this summer like June/July/August time frame? Anyone?

Any thoughts and inputs would be appreciated.

Product MacBook Air
Recommendation: Buy - Product recently updated
Last Release October 20, 2010
Days Since Update 106 (Avg = 336)

The current MBA was released 10/2010, so I'm guessing you'll see a new MBA AFTER november, unless they sell a lot and intel stops making c2d chips

 

[chrmjenkins]

Core 2 DUO is very old technology and I feel that it would be so outdated by end of this this year or early next year. I am planning on buying MBA this summer to get Mac OS lion right out of the box.

what are the chances that apple will update MBA by this summer like June/July/August time frame? Anyone?

Any thoughts and inputs would be appreciated.

Extremely sllim. I personally wouldn't be surprised if an update doesn't happen until Ivy Bridge, which puts it at Q1 2012 at the earliest.

 

[Hellhammer]

Possible? Yes. Likely? Maybe. Certain? No.

MBAs update cycle hasn't been very frequent so predicting the timing of the update is nearly impossible.

Extremely sllim. I personally wouldn't be surprised if an update doesn't happen until Ivy Bridge, which puts it at Q1 2012 at the earliest.

Intel will stop shipping C2D on October 14th 2011, so what would sell Apple in the meantime? They couldn't make any new MBAs for months.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Possible? Yes. Likely? Maybe. Certain? No.

MBAs update cycle hasn't been very frequent so predicting the timing of the update is nearly impossible.



Intel will stop shipping C2D on October 14th 2011, so what would sell Apple in the meantime? They couldn't make any new MBAs for months.

Apple can either persuade them to extend it for them or they could buy a glut of stock. Apple is no stranger to making huge supply deals ahead of time.

The problem I have with assuming there will be a Sandy Bridge ULV is the fact that they'd have to potentially add discrete graphics to maintain performance. That shouldn't be an issue with Ivy Bridge, which will have a fully capable DX11 graphics core.

 

[JonLa]

I'm fairly certain they'll have supplies of C2D processors if they want them - they can stockpile them after October if they like?

It may be an old processor, but doesn't it do everything the Air is designed for? Does the average user really need the power contained in core i7 for their everyday word-processing, web browsing, photo-trimming, imovie editing? I bet the C2D will be fine with that for a few years yet!

Equally - a Sandy Bridge processor with intel graphics will probably achieve about the same - no worse, but only slightly better.

The real question may be - how can they justify the price for such an old (and thus cheap!) processor, and will they update it with the macbook pro in a month or two, thus annoying everybody who buys it now.

I want one. Soon.

 

[BlackMax]

Extremely sllim. I personally wouldn't be surprised if an update doesn't happen until Ivy Bridge, which puts it at Q1 2012 at the earliest.

That was my concern. With the current Sandy Bridge chipset flaw the next release of the MBA could be some time away and with the move to a completely new architecture the next generation MBAs may have different issues or worse graphics performance (it will probably be integrated graphics) than what is provided by the NVIDIA GeForce 320M today.

Yes, the C2D has been around for a while, but it has also had a lot of time to mature and it is stable and runs well. We don't know much about the next architecture yet, so I chose to buy now and know exactly what I am getting.

This article helped me make up my mind: Why Apple saddled the MacBook Air with "gimped" CPUs

 

[topmounter]

I'm actually pretty happy with the 2.13GHz c2d in my 13" MBA... it seems to run fast and cool.

I was a little nervous since my 15" MBP w/ a 2.4GHz c2d would get unbelievably hot.

 

[TheRealDamager]

I'm way more happy with the 13" ultimate than I thought I would be - it is my main machine, no question.

I'm not sure when the original Airs came out, but it was a LONG time ago. I know the timeframe between that original intro and the current batch doesn't necessarily translate to release cycles moving forward, but I'd be very surprised to see a refresh before late 2011.

 

[Hellhammer]

The problem I have with assuming there will be a Sandy Bridge ULV is the fact that they'd have to potentially add discrete graphics to maintain performance. That shouldn't be an issue with Ivy Bridge, which will have a fully capable DX11 graphics core.

Ivy Bridge IGP will have 16 EUs, only 4 more than the current IGP does. Of course we don't know yet how well it will perform but judging by the amount of EUs, it doesn't sound too promising. Anand wasn't too excited about it, he doesn't expect it to be as big bump as Westmere to SB.

Even then, it will lag behind the real, discrete GPUs since Intel isn't the only one who improves their GPUs.

The real question may be - how can they justify the price for such an old (and thus cheap!) processor

SL9400 - 284$
i7-2617M - 289$

They cost a lot compared to the performance they give.

 

[hcho3]

So. I guess... I should buy now. huh?

 

[Hellhammer]

So. I guess... I should buy now. huh?

Yes. MBA was updated only couple of months ago so it's safe to buy now.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Ivy Bridge IGP will have 16 EUs, only 4 more than the current IGP does. Of course we don't know yet how well it will perform but judging by the amount of EUs, it doesn't sound too promising. Anand wasn't too excited about it, he doesn't expect it to be as big bump as Westmere to SB.

Even then, it will lag behind the real, discrete GPUs since Intel isn't the only one who improves their GPUs.

Yes, but in absolute numbers, that's theoretically 33% more performance (assuming clock for clock). The current IGP is approaching viability, much more so than previous IGPs.

 

[leowyatt]

So. I guess... I should buy now. huh?

If you definitely want a MBA then yes buy now.

 

[hcho3]

If you definitely want a MBA then yes buy now.

Sorry if I sound picky, but I don't need MBA right now. However, my needs are for school and work. 11 MBA is perfect for my needs. Although I don't need it right now, I can wait until summer so I can take advantage of back to school promo and Mac OS Lion to be bundled in with my new MBA.

Because I expect Lion Upgrade to cost anywhere between 50-100 dollars and I can get iPod touch for free. That's why I am waiting. I was hoping that apple will update by June/July/August time frame. Maybe, I am hoping too much. Again, I don't buy MBA to sell it in 1-2 years. I plan on keep them around 4-5 years and beyond.

 

[iExpensive]

if you want to keep it for 4-5 years+ you should definitely wait, there's no place for a C2D in 2014.

 

[hcho3]

if you want to keep it for 4-5 years+ you should definitely wait, there's no place for a c2d in 2014.

k k.

 

[fyrefly]

if you want to keep it for 4-5 years+ you should definitely wait, there's no place for a C2D in 2014.

This.

Also if somehow the MBA is not updated by August, then make sure you get one with 4GB of RAM is you want to keep it for a while. 2GB of RAM will not cut in 2014 either.

 

[bobr1952]

Humm--there are a few Mac products but what is the Mac product showcased on the Mac page? (was on main page until Verizon took over)

That would certainly seem to show where the MBA stands in the update queue--at the bottom.

 

[skiltrip]

This.

Also if somehow the MBA is not updated by August, then make sure you get one with 4GB of RAM is you want to keep it for a while. 2GB of RAM will not cut in 2014 either.

2GB of RAM barely cuts it in 2011, nor did it cut it in 2010. Over 25% of that is taken right away by OSX and it's programs, leaving you with approx. 1.4GB of RAM to actually use.

IMO Apple was just being cheap by sticking 2GB in the MBA instead of 4.

 

[hcho3]

Humm--there are a few Mac products but what is the Mac product showcased on the Mac page? (was on main page until Verizon took over)

That would certainly seem to show where the MBA stands in the update queue--at the bottom.

Verizon iphone= Feb/March

iPad= March/April

MBP= April/May

iPhone=June/July

iMac= June

MBA= July/August???? MAYBE?????????????????

 

[gri]

Product MacBook Air
Recommendation: Buy - Product recently updated
Last Release October 20, 2010
Days Since Update 106 (Avg = 336)

The current MBA was released 10/2010, so I'm guessing you'll see a new MBA AFTER november, unless they sell a lot and intel stops making c2d chips

As far as I know (based on previous comments here in MR) Intel stopped the C2D with the end of last year... (Edit: see above, someone says October 2011 - in anyway relatively soon)

Waiting for a return of the backlit keyboard.

 

[TheRealDamager]

Verizon iphone= Feb/March

iPad= March/April

MBP= April/May

iPhone=June/July

iMac= June

MBA= July/August???? MAYBE?????????????????

Seriously, you've had a avalanche of feedback that this is highly unlikely. Seems to me that you need to either go ahead and get one now, or resolve yourself to waiting for the next rev (whenever that happens).

 

[kolax]

The Core 2 Duo processor is fine and plenty power. And the reason Apple stuck a Core 2 Duo in there was so they didn't have to use Intel's integrated GPU. I'd far rather have a Core 2 Duo that was slightly slower than graphics being compromised.

Only thing I'd wait for if they were ever to be included is an antiglare option and backlit keyboard.

Apart from that, performance is fine! You aren't going to be using the Air for rendering hours and hours of video are you?

 

[C64]

if you want to keep it for 4-5 years+ you should definitely wait, there's no place for a C2D in 2014.

Why? If your needs don't change, it really doesn't matter. Software that runs fine on a C2D now doesn't suddenly need a lot more CPU power in a couple of years. Current versions of software from 4 years ago still run perfectly fine on 4 year old computers.

The exceptions are pro-tools, software that really needs as much CPU power and memory it can get, and more heavy photo/video editing, compiling, etc. But if you require something like that, you will a) not be looking at a MacBook Air, b) know perfectly well you will need to update a lot sooner than in 4-5 years. So if you already know that the C2D now is not fast enough for your needs, buy a MacBook Pro and be prepared to upgrade in a year or two.

But with normal use, most people hardly ever stress their C2D CPUs and only use a fraction of its capabilities. That there's a new CPU model doesn't suddenly mean it old one becomes any slower. Turn on the Activity Monitor, do your things, and check the CPU usage. Sure, it might spike every once in a while, but overall it's sleeping most of the time. And this is true for most people. Even though everyone likes to consider themselves a pro-user, this doesn't mean they actually need the best that might be soon available.

Most of the speed you need comes from the RAM (2GB is cutting it close when you multi-task a lot; 4GB is enough for normal use — also with newer software the upcoming years) and the SSD. Why do you think that most of the people who use the Air don't notice that this supposedly outdated C2D is too slow? Because they only use a fraction of it. They just notice how lightning fast the drive is. And even if their RAM runs out, the SSD is fast enough so that swapping to it doesn't really seem all that different from simply having more RAM.

Bottom line: things change. The time that you needed to upgrade every year to run the latest software is long behind us. People tend to look at individual specifications, which is understandable, but it's shortsighted to not look at the whole picture. Apple knows that many people don't need an i7 CPU. But they will notice a fast drive and proper GPU for video. And that's exactly what the Air packs. So, don't worry too much about having the latest CPU model. Instead, look at what you'll be using it for, and if you buy it just to have certain specs, or to actually get your work done.