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New MacBook Airs likely launching tomorrow

Screen Shot 2014-04-28 at 11.23.40 AM

Update: Here are the specs…

Apple is preparing to launch a refreshed line of MacBook Air laptops as soon as tomorrow, according to multiple sources. These sources say that shipments of new MacBook Airs have begun arriving in large quantities to Apple Stores across the country. Another source adds that Apple Stores are scheduled to re-arrange the placement of Macs in stores to focus on the MacBook Air tomorrow morning…

While a milestone MacBook Air update with a thinner profile, no fan, and a Retina display is in the works, tomorrow’s update is not that computer. Tomorrow’s 11-inch and 13-inch Airs are codenamed J41A and J43A, respectively, and their SKUs are simply a variation to the current MacBook Air SKU labels. For example, the entry 13-inch MacBook Air of today is known as “MD760LL/A”, while this week’s refreshed version is known as “MD760LL/B.” It’s unclear if Apple will even promote the updated Airs.

Tomorrow’s update will probably focus on adding Intel’s latest Haswell chips. These processors offer minor speed increases, and Apple will likely tweak the Air’s storage options to round-out the update. An earlier rumor indicated that new MacBook Airs could arrive this week. We’ll have additional details on this minor MacBook Air refresh as they come in, so stay tuned.

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Comments

  1. Mario Sabater - 10 years ago

    and… BANG new macbook air tomorrow!

  2. Jurgis Ŝalna - 10 years ago

    Perfect machines are getting even better!

    • Perfect? Screen quality on the MacBook Air vs the Retina Pros is atrocious. Laughable viewing angles due to using a TN panel, horrendous color gamut (67% sRGB), low screen resolution. Please tell me you are joking…

      • Michael Perry - 10 years ago

        Shh… don’t talk that fact objective speak… People don’t always like that because it might mean that Apple isn’t perfect (just like the airs). Now… the MBP Retina on the other hand is nearly perfect. If it could only be just a bit lighter I would be happy. As it stands now it’s still the best laptop I have ever owned/used.

      • Jurgis Ŝalna - 10 years ago

        Good point. Although I haven’t noticed it when I was playing with it for few days. Screens can improve. Although I had first generation MacBook Air. It was probably worst Apple laptop, but IMHO it had the best screen – bright and nice colour (disclaimer: not an colour expert).
        The new retina screens are somewhat darker and requires much more energy and computing power to run. On such a small machine it would be a serious hit.

      • Fabrizio Saglio - 10 years ago

        This is not a machine for graphics, enthusiasts, gamers and on, it’s a fast, robust, light pc do do what you have to do wherever you have to do and at any time (12h battery anyone?)
        i am a freelance, i am an the road on motorcycle 12h a day, i don’t need high res screens if it have other trade-offs, i can read terminal window as it is, i can handle router configuration pages, a higher res screen surely can fit more text but then you have to ill your eyes on it, ever tried to configure a router on an iphone? you surely can do it, but the experience is terrible.

      • The Macbook Air is not perfect until it gets an embedded LTE data chip in it so I can share a data plan with my iPhone and iPad. Wifi tethering sucks.

  3. If this is true, the new design is a long way off. Like the ability of your site to remember our details for leaving comments…

    • rahhbriley - 10 years ago

      Haa +1

    • Don’t forget the rMBP’s had a minor update in Early 2013, but by October they had announced the major Late 2013 update. So I see the same thing here, redesigned MBA will be announced in October like most of Apple’s OS X machines as of late.

  4. CJ Sheets - 10 years ago

    So incremental update. Nothing to see here folks, carry on.

  5. nonstoprug - 10 years ago

    MacBook airs already have Haswell chips. Need to update article.

    • late
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      antonyms: early
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      synonyms: late at night; More
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      In the same way that their is USB 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 and they are all still USB ports, each update is faster than the last. THIS IS LITERALLY THE SAME THING.

  6. tanmayatkekar - 10 years ago

    This makes me wonder if we will see the new fanless Airs at WWDC. Maybe they will ship along with Intel’s Broadwell chipset.

    • No. Too soon. You’ll upset your early adopters by telling them what they have will lose value that early on. Instead they could announce an updated Mac Mini since there is a large part of Apple’s fanbase that has been dying for an update, and it appears that it is now the oldest model as the Mac Pro has finally been updated.

  7. 8Gb of RAM is is still not enough, they should upgrade them to support at least 16Gb. Working on Aperture and listening to iTunes takes almost all of those few 8Gb.

    • Adrien Villez - 10 years ago

      Mine is 8GB but I changed it to 16GB! Its great! I can really see a difference once multiple apps are open (and I can see the graph on memory diag).
      Just because Apple said 8 that you can’t change it yourself.

      Here, this website is gonna tell you what kind of RAM your Mac is able to handle. After that, go Amazon.com like I did.
      http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/MacOS.aspx

      • Gab (@Gab_Gagnon) - 10 years ago

        The MBA’s memory is soldered to the motherboard. You can’t upgrade it yourself.

      • Exactly, I’ve upgraded RAM for all my Macs but the MBA is not upgradeable.

    • Gab (@Gab_Gagnon) - 10 years ago

      Except that a MacBook Air isn’t the machine supposed to support those tasks. Aperture is a heavy piece of software designed for pros. Apple has a Pro lineup, designed for pros. The MacBook Air is the new “MacBook”. It is designed to be ligthning fast for a student or for anyone that needs a laptop for browsing, media consumption, text editing, etc. If you want a computer that runs Aperture, the MacBook Air isn’t the machine for you and will never be.

    • This is a minor update – and Apple has chosen to focus on processor speed and SSDs. Since you cannot purchase a custom order MBA with 16gbs of RAM as of yet they probably won’t add that to this update. As a matter of fact the MBA only comes with 4gbs standard. That being said the Early 2013 update to the rMBP saw Apple change the standard configuration to include 16gbs of RAM – but this was available as an option in the custom build menu. Now, when they do release the redesigned MBA they’ll probably set the standard amount at 8gbs. Will you be able to purchase more? Most likely no. In the highest level model of the rMBP it comes with 16gbs standard and isn’t upgradeable to more than that. Since the MBA is not designed for Aperture usage they won’t be offering those specs. However, they will most likely upgrade the speed of the memory or flash storage. Then with the release of Syrah – the next OS X codename – they will improve upon Timer Coalescing and their flash storage handling to provide faster performance. All in all, none of that info about the next MBA should matter because you should just purchase a rMBP.

  8. Tom - 10 years ago

    It would be an understatement to say that this was unexpected!

  9. Will I never again see 17″ MacBook Pro’s??? Not everything in life must be smaller and smaller!

    • Gab (@Gab_Gagnon) - 10 years ago

      Apple always said that the 17″ MacBook Pro was the least popular notebook of the line. The Retina 15″ replaces it.

      • How dare they call it PRO? Editing Photography or Video for PROs on the road is hardly PRO with such a small screen.

      • Yeah, the 17″ didn’t sell well, even to “pros.” Love how the addition of 2 diagonal inches somehow makes the screen so much better for photo and video editing. I’m a pro photographer and video editor and I get along just fine with my 13″ and 15″ machines. Bigger is cumbersome, heavy, and defeats the purpose of being “portable.” You want a big screen, get a desktop.

    • They could do what they’re doing to the MBA, which is offering a 12 inch screen in the same form factor as the 11 inch model, by reducing the bezel. The next generation of rMBP could offer a 14 inch and 16 inch model in the current form factors.

  10. Jordan Biffle - 10 years ago

    As long as it’s not the MacBook Pro, then I’m happy.

  11. Jorge Huerga - 10 years ago

    Well, maybe putting all that super features like retina, lots of RAM and speedy CPU will exhaust battery, and this laptop is for portable at maximum, if you want a super laptop, buy an MacBookPro.

  12. Shame, by doing this it probably means there won’t be a new one at WWDC 14 but maybe they will introduce something new

  13. Thiago Santiago - 10 years ago

    Don’t the 2013 airs already have the Haswell chip?

  14. God bless Steve Jobs!

  15. #TechTrendsKenya - 10 years ago

    Reblogged this on techtrendske.