The 'Back to Mac' event brought some interesting news to light. Mainly the refresh of the Macbook Air, which was only two years old to begin with. Apple introduced two new models at the event, and somehow made them both thinner than the original. But the biggest news about the new MacBook Air is its storage. Gone are the HDD's or the SSD's and replaced with Flash Memory, which gives it the ability to boot up almost instantaneously. Both can support either 2GB or 4GB of RAM but you can not upgrade from that. The 13 inch model has a normal sized keyboard that is standard for Macs, while the 11 incher has a smaller keyboard that might take some getting use to.
These are clearly an upgrade from the original, and certainly fits a niche market for people who need a little more power than a iPad. If they had build 3G into the thing, I might have considered grabbing one.
The 11 incher starts at $999 and the 13 incher at $1299.
[Apple]
7 comments:
Actually, they both have full-size keyboards.
The 11 incher doesn't have an SD slot, but the 13 does. The processors are slower than my 4-yr-old Macbook, but the video card is mucho better. I was interested in the 11, but I think I'll get a 13" MacBook Pro with a faster processor and lit keyboard and double the RAM for $100 less.
I don't really need the portability of the air, and I won't be using the DVD drive much on the Pro, but I think the Air's uber cool, so maybe I'll get one eventually.
It is a full-size keyboard, but it is significantly smaller than other Macbooks.... If you're use to a normal Macbook keyboard, it will be an adjustment.
Personally I would rather have a Macbook Pro 15incher. I'm a big guy, and don't have a problem caring 5.6 pounds ;0)
" 11 incher has a smaller keyboard that might take some getting use to."
Both have the same keyboard:
"Full-size keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys (inverted “T” arrangement)"
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_air?mco=MTM3NjY1OTU
We're going to the Apple store tomorrow to compare.
Here's a wrinkle. I'm seriously considering a 13" MBP with a silent, quick, reliable 128G SSD. We have the iMac for pic/vid storage with external HD backup, so this might be a good compromise.
Engadget says "the 11.6" version is the "tiniest, thinnest, most lust-worthy laptops we've ever seen." As for the 13" version:
It definitely feels significantly bigger than the 11-incher, and we noticed the function keys are standard MacBook size, as opposed to the shrunken ones on the 11."
Let me know what you find out tomorrow.
"we noticed the function keys are standard MacBook size, as opposed to the shrunken ones on the 11"
Function keys, perhaps, but typing on the keyboard seemed the same as on my macbook & iMac.
The 11" air is very cool, but we thought it'd be too easy to get pushed off of furniture by a toddler. I'm ordering a 13" MBP with a SSD.
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