This morning at the WWDC, Phil Schiller took the stage and announced updates to the popular MacBook Air lineup. What’s in store? Here we go!
New 11-inch MacBook Air
Two updated models, both have 1366 X 768 displays, 1.7GHz dual core i5 processors, and 4GB RAM, and the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip.
The $999 model will have 64GB of flash storage, while the $1099 model will double the storage, at 128GB of flash storage.
New 13-inch MacBook Air
Both updated models will carry a 1400 X 900 display, 1.8GHz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, and the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip.
The $1199 model will rock 128GB of flash storage, while the $1499 model will bring 256GB of Flash storage to the table.
Both the 11-inch and 13-inch models will have USB 3.0 ports, and an updated FaceTime camera capable of 720p resolution.
Details
New Intel Core i5 and i7 processors:These integrate a faster processor, more powerful graphics, and a memory controller into a single chip. Apple says the new Intel HD Graphics 4000 offers up to 60 percent faster graphics. Which they say will improve performance in graphics apps such as games, watching movies, and FaceTime calls.
Faster All Flash Storage: Contributing to the thinness and light weight of the MacBook Air, this has been improved. It is now available in sizes up to 512GB, it is up to 4X faster than a traditional hard drive, and faster than the previous generation MacBook Air.
Battery Life and PowerNap: Get up to 5 hours usage on the 11-inch models, and 7 hours on the 13-inch. From Apple’s website: “And with Power Nap — a new feature coming this summer in OS X Mountain Lion — you’ll continue to receive new email and calendar invitations while MacBook Air is asleep. When it’s connected to a power source, it can download software updates and make backups with Time Machine. So when you come back to your MacBook Air and open it up, it’s on in an instant. And everything is right there waiting for you.”
USB 3.0 ports: MacBook Air now comes with two USB 3 ports, so you can connect the latest USB 3 devices which can operate up to 10 times faster than USB 2. This is in addition to the Thunderbolt port also on the machine.
720p FaceTime Camera: With the new 720p FaceTime HD camera, you get three times the resolution of the previous FaceTime camera. And the widescreen format lets you includes more people into the shot.
