New MacBook Air adds speed, storage
Sweet! Even the MacBook Air got a boost, 9 months after the first release in January. As with the rest of the MacBook line, the new Air features the Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU and the Mini Display Port. The MacBook Air now supports DVI, dual-link DVI, and VGA video output. It will connect to the new Apple LED Cinema Display and can drive other displays up to 30 inches in size. Unlike many of the other MacBooks, it doesn't have the new glass trackpad.
The big deal from today's announcement? The top level MacBook Air now has a slightly faster CPU, faster memory, and a 128 GB solid state drive. The details are below, more to follow as we get a chance to play with one.
Entry level MacBook Air
Price: $1,799
Specs:13.3" LED-backlit display, Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU, 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 6 MB L2 Cache, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 Memory, 120 GB SATA hard drive.
Form Factor: Same as existing model
Top level MacBook Air
Price: $2,499
Specs:13.3" LED-backlit display, Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU, 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 6 MB L2 Cache, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 Memory, 128 GB solid state drive.
Form Factor: Same as existing model
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tnkgrl said 2:34PM on 10-14-2008
The Air is also switching from a PATA ZIF hard drive interface to a standard SATA interface - still 1.8", most likely still 5 mm.
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George said 2:43PM on 10-14-2008
The move to an S-ATA hard drive interface (from P-ATA) is wonderful as it allows greater upgrade options. I would love to get an Air. I would love it even more if I could keep all of my data on it and not have to rely on an external drive for storage (and another external drive backing up *both* of those). Toshiba will soon be shipping a 240 gigabyte, 5 mm, 1.8" form-factor hard drive that should drop into these Macbook Airs.
I see the Macbook Air as adequate for a one-and-only primary computer, never mind Apple's suggestion that it's more of a supplementary computer. Benchmarks show that its performance is largely comparable to the 1st gen. Macbook Pro. That's what I'm using right now, and I find it more than adequate for my needs. So moving to a Macbook Air wouldn't be an upgrade in performance, but it would be a major upgrade in portability and convenience. The greatest downside to moving to the Air, in my opinion, is the limited screen resolution. But that's a tradeoff for portability, and an external monitor can supplement at home.
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vasu said 2:47PM on 10-14-2008
It also looks like the processor is a real Penryn and not the frankenstein chip that was in there before.
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Jash Sayani said 3:03PM on 10-14-2008
The Entry-level MBA and lower-level MB has almost the same config and a big price difference......
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puhsitch said 5:36PM on 10-14-2008
Yup. Size matters to some people.
Neil said 3:03PM on 10-14-2008
UK price has increased by £100.
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William Stewart said 3:14PM on 10-14-2008
I have a first generation MacBook Air. Does anyone know if the new four-finger gestures will be included in some sort of software update? The specs on the Apple website (http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html) now list "four-finger swipe" which I don't think was there before. If it was I have never known how to do it and four fingers don't seem to do anything at the moment.
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Joe said 11:50PM on 10-14-2008
I have the multi-touch macbook pro with ubuntu linux installed. There is a driver available that does multi-touch and can show up to 5 fingers (http://touchd.sourceforge.net/). I think the old multi-touch trackpads should get the gesture updates.
Caspian said 3:22PM on 10-14-2008
Can we get the 4 finger gesture in the old AIR? Apple any software updates today?
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vandil said 3:24PM on 10-14-2008
Switching to an Nvidia chipset means there's a whole new motherboard inside the MacBook Air. If the new multi-touch gestures are dependent on hardware found only on/in that new motherboard/chipset, then a software update for the original MacBook Airs may not be possible for adding the 4-finger gesture support.
I'm not saying it can't be done as a software update... but that it might be tough to implement if there are hardware dependencies...
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ben said 3:55PM on 10-14-2008
do we think we'll be able to upgrade 1st generation air hard drives?
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George said 6:13AM on 10-15-2008
No, still no hard drive upgrades on the original; still no home-upgrades on the new ones either. The battery is relatively accessible. The hard drive is not.
-wsn said 4:19PM on 10-14-2008
Still only 2GB of 'wired' RAM :-(
4GB would have had my checkbook open today....oh well.
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puhsitch said 5:37PM on 10-14-2008
I wonder what the heat will be like with the new GPU. And real-world battery performance, for that matter.
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angel said 5:13PM on 10-15-2008
actually, I remember that gestures could have been added by software. I remember that feature like it where added with LEOPARD and as the AIR already has multitouch I think a software update is actually possible.
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dggraphics said 11:34PM on 10-17-2008
Four finger swipe is completely possible via a software update. The MacBook Air And MBP share the same Multi-Touch enabled trackpad. It supports up to 10 separate finger inputs.
They will probably add it via a Software Update, but probably not for a while. Guessing 10.5.6?
or they may not, but someone is working on it now just to be sure.
Someone with a new MB or Pro wanna post the new AppleUSBMultitouch.kext and the new PrefPane?
MobileMe - Not said 7:20PM on 10-18-2008
I purchased a MacAir (Original) and find that the ONE USB port is one too short for real use. If you connect the DVD/CD drive (Only works on the MacAir) you can not use an external mouse, printer, scanner, etc...
Apple's DVD/CD drive uses a lot more current than normal (Within Spec) USB port and most external (Powered or not) USB hubs do not work with it.
Since I purchased my MacAir one day before Apple came out with their announcement of the NEW MacAir, I am really torqued off.
This is my last Apple product, and I have been purchasing Apple products since the Apple II.
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CB said 10:10PM on 11-23-2008
There has been a return policy of two weeks (or a
discount) if you buy a product that has just been updated. At least, that is what happened with my iPod.
C.T. said 7:13PM on 10-20-2008
You are never going to buy another apple product because they improve their product? Is that really their fault that you bought it one day earlier?
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