The first wave of Intel Ultrabooks are coming. A leaked photo of the Acer Aspire 3951 Ultrabook has the ultraportable market buzzing this morning. As the first legitimate 2011 MacBook Air alternative for Windows users, the Aspire 3951 will be an eminent threat when it launches this October. Not only will it nearly match the MacBook Air in size and dimensions, the Ultrabook will be priced less than £849.
Tagged ‘Sandy Bridge’
At this point in the game Apple might want to consider a second career as a music producer because its latest creation, the 2011 MacBook Air, is a bonafide hit. DigiTimes is reporting that shipments through Apple’s supply chain for yesterday’s refresh have already topped half a million units. Don’t expect a slowdown either, the company expects volume “to remain strong throughout July and August.”
Joining the new 11-inch MacBook Air this afternoon is the 13-inch refresh. Right off the bat you’ll notice a faster 1.7 GHz dual-core i5 processor, 4GB of memory and 128GB of storage headline the new models. Deciding between the entry level 11-inch MacBook Air and the new 13-inch is now a much more difficult decision.
The new MacBook Air, reportedly set to emerge later this month, will see the return of the backlit keyboard according to a new rumour. AppleInsider claims to have sources close to the project who’ve told it that the next version of the ultra-thin laptop will bring back the feature.
It’s generally thought that the new MacBook Air will arrive shortly after the release of Mac OS X Lion this month. There are strong suggestions that it will include a Thunderbolt port, a bump to Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor and new high-speed flash memory.
Bringing back the MacBook Air backlit keyboard would be a welcome inclusion as the first generation of the machine included the feature only for Apple to ditch it when the current model was launched in October 2010.
Out TBC | £TBC | Apple (via AppleInsider)
The mid-2011 Mac refresh is now slate for July, somewhere around the July 14th mark. With Apple’s financial results conference call scheduled for 19th, Apple is expected to release the new line up just days in advance of speaking with investors. Your Sandy Bridge flavored MacBook Air is just weeks away.
Cosmetically the 2011 MacBook Air should only differ slightly from the 2010 model — replacing its Mini Display port with Thunderbolt. Internally, Apple will choose from three of Intel’s new lower power Core i5 and i7 processors ranging in speed from 1.7 to 1.8 GHz. Unlike the 2011 MacBook Pro refresh, all chips will use two cores.
With the new iMac and new MacBook Pro both rocking upgraded CPUs and Thunderbolt ports, the MacBook Air looks like a prime candidate for the next overhaul…
The first benchmark has been registered for a 2011 iMac (iMac12,1) packing an Intel Core i5-2400S processor clocked at 2.50 GHz. This processor offers four cores and scored an impressive 7367 mark on Geekbench 2.1.13 (32-bit). To put this score into perspective, the Mid 2010 iMac running the Intel Core i3 550 3.2 GHz two core processor score 5834 on the same test.
The iMac was refreshed back in June 2010 and it seems it’s time for a new one. Whispers from stores says current iMac supplies are running low.
With Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips out and Thunderbolt nestled happily in the latest MacBook Pro, it definitely seems like the right time for a new model. Fingers-crossed we’ll see some movement in the next few weeks.
In the meantime click the headline and jump into the comments to let us know what you want from the next generation iMac.
Out TBC | £TBC | Apple (via Crunchgear)