According to a report from CNET, Apple’s Macbook Air, though recently updated, will be receiving a June refresh to include Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge line of processors. The report does not mention any further upgrades to the line, although I would suspect such upgrades as increased SSD sizes, and perhaps more RAM. According to the report, this knowledge has come from a source “familiar with Apple’s plans.”
Apple recently issued a major update to the Macbook Air line of portables, in which the machines gained new blade-style SSD’s, a somewhat thinner design, better displays, an additional USB port (bringing the total up to 2), and the nice glass trackpad that users of the other recent MacBook models have grown accustomed to.
Unlike the folks over at 9to5Mac who think that a June update is unlikely, I am quite confident that it will take place. The update would be in opposition to Apple’s usual cycle for the MacBook Air, however considering that often it takes more engineering and heat management to update the Air line of laptops (due to their astonishing thinness), as the heat output and power consumption vary (and often increase) in new chipsets, and also considering the idea that Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors bring less of a heat maintenance issue than previous processors (due to their smaller size and unique architecture), I don’t see any compelling reason for Apple to hold off on this update any longer than necessary.
The article also mentions the immanent update of the MacBook Pro line of computers, which they suspect will be happening in March – a theory that I can get behind, to to a large preponderance of reports from various sources (including Best Buy’s inventory system) indicating such, as well as the visibly declining stock levels of current MacBook Pro models.
I for one hope that these rumors are true. Hey – it’d be about time that users of the Air got an industry update in a reasonable time frame. If you want more info, or would like to read the original article, head on over to CNET for the full scoop.