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New MacBook Air adds speed, storage

by Steven Sande Oct 14th 2008 at 2:30PM


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

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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...
 

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C.T.

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?

October 20 2008 at 2:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MobileMe - Not

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.

October 18 2008 at 9:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to MobileMe - Not's comment
CB

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.

November 23 2008 at 9:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
angel

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.

October 15 2008 at 5:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to angel's comment
dggraphics

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?

October 17 2008 at 11:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tdowling

I wonder what the heat will be like with the new GPU. And real-world battery performance, for that matter.

October 14 2008 at 5:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wsnoble

Still only 2GB of 'wired' RAM :-(

4GB would have had my checkbook open today....oh well.

October 14 2008 at 4:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ben

do we think we'll be able to upgrade 1st generation air hard drives?

October 14 2008 at 3:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to ben's comment
George

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.

October 15 2008 at 6:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
vandil

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...

October 14 2008 at 3:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Caspian

Can we get the 4 finger gesture in the old AIR? Apple any software updates today?

October 14 2008 at 3:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Willie

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.

October 14 2008 at 3:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Willie's comment
Joe

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.

October 14 2008 at 11:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jash Sayani

The Entry-level MBA and lower-level MB has almost the same config and a big price difference......

October 14 2008 at 3:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jash Sayani's comment
tdowling

Yup. Size matters to some people.

October 14 2008 at 5:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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