Apple.com leaks confirmation of iLife '11, new MacBook Airs, more
Updates to Apple's official online forums reveal at least some of the products due to be unveiled at today's "Back to the Mac" event, including iLife '11 and a new MacBook Air.
New sections on the Apple Discussions page added Wednesday include iMovie '11, iPhoto '11, and GarageBand '11, all part of the iLife software suite. There is also a forum titled "MBA (Need official name)" which will likely be the discussion home for the newly redesigned MacBook Air.
Finally, there is also a mystery space on Apple.com's forums that does not reveal what product it represents. It simply carries the title "Reserved 10 20."
In addition, Engadget early Wednesday pointed to and confirmed a report from AppleInsider regarding a new, smaller MacBook Air with an 11.6-inch display. Last week, AppleInsider first reported that Apple would unveil the smaller notebook at its event Wednesday.
Engadget confirmed many of the details reported by AppleInsider, but also offered new alleged details on the imminent notebook update and its hardware specifications. They include:
A smaller 11.6-inch display.
2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible).
2GB of memory in the base configuration.
No optical drive.
Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader on the left side; USB and power on the right.
The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros.
Although smaller due to the 11.6-inch display, it's still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air.
A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA's keyboard -- the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA's rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn't see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4).
AppleInsider will have full live coverage of today's "Back to the Mac" event, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.
New sections on the Apple Discussions page added Wednesday include iMovie '11, iPhoto '11, and GarageBand '11, all part of the iLife software suite. There is also a forum titled "MBA (Need official name)" which will likely be the discussion home for the newly redesigned MacBook Air.
Finally, there is also a mystery space on Apple.com's forums that does not reveal what product it represents. It simply carries the title "Reserved 10 20."
In addition, Engadget early Wednesday pointed to and confirmed a report from AppleInsider regarding a new, smaller MacBook Air with an 11.6-inch display. Last week, AppleInsider first reported that Apple would unveil the smaller notebook at its event Wednesday.
Engadget confirmed many of the details reported by AppleInsider, but also offered new alleged details on the imminent notebook update and its hardware specifications. They include:
A smaller 11.6-inch display.
2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible).
2GB of memory in the base configuration.
No optical drive.
Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader on the left side; USB and power on the right.
The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros.
Although smaller due to the 11.6-inch display, it's still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air.
A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA's keyboard -- the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA's rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn't see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4).
AppleInsider will have full live coverage of today's "Back to the Mac" event, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.
Comments
Whatever the Eject key on a Macbook Air actually does, it surely does not deserve its own hard key. Given that keyboard real estate is so precious why not drop it?
I agree. Apple has never been in the business of adding things are superfluous. Plus, the iPad is an "instant on device" and it only has one (ok two) buttons, and it lacks the one thing that a notebook could obviously use as a power button - the lid!
I'm personally excited.
2) Why does it need Instant On when people seem to simply close the lid put it to sleep. Apple’s made their HW and OS very power efficient in this mode, at least compared to Windows and other vendors PCs.
3) I hope the OS Restore Disc finally comes on an SD card.
4) I see no word of a mic in/out port or a new iLife ’11 app. Interesting.
1) I don?t get how this can have instant on with Mac OS X. Even with that SSD it should take 12-18 seconds to boot up.
2) Why does it need Instant On when people seem to simply close the lid put it to sleep. Apple?s made their HW and OS very power efficient in this mode, at least compared to Windows and other vendors PCs.
3) I hope the OS Restore Disc finally comes on an SD card.
4) I see no word of a mic in/out port or a new iLife ?11 app. Interesting.
1. Then it isn't using an SSD. Remember it's not supposed to have a hard drive at all? The I/O is the bottleneck, so what if Apple just put a 16GB NAND chip on the logic board for the OS? By the way, this needs to happen across the board for their computers. OS on the on-board NAND and everything else on the HDD.
2. Maybe instant wake?
3. This needs to happen for all software. And the death of the built-in ODD, but one step at a time.
4. New app just hasn't had a forum made for it yet (*gasp* Tallest Skil being an optimist?!). And the built-in mic will be "good enough for casual talkers".
I am kind of Apple-d out at this point on the gadget front.
You need a drink. Have a nice glass of cider.
Whatever the Eject key on a Macbook Air actually does, it surely does not deserve its own hard key. Given that keyboard real estate is so precious why not drop it?
Control-Shift-Eject turns off the screen. Handy for battery conservation.
1) I don’t get how this can have instant on with Mac OS X. Even with that SSD it should take 12-18 seconds to boot up.
Only way I can see is a snap shot is held in a special place that somehow eases into the actual state as the SSD or what ever loads.
A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA's keyboard -- the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA's rumored instant-on capabilities
Where a button sits still says not much about instant-on capabilities.
Whatever the Eject key on a Macbook Air actually does, it surely does not deserve its own hard key. Given that keyboard real estate is so precious why not drop it?
You're right. I never though of this! No optical drive, so why an eject key?
1)
Why does it need Instant On when people seem to simply close the lid put it to sleep. Apple?s made their HW and OS very power efficient in this mode, at least compared to Windows and other vendors PCs.
My thoughts exactly. I'd hate to pay extra for such a superfluous feature...
1. Then it isn't using an SSD. Remember it's not supposed to have a hard drive at all? The I/O is the bottleneck, so what if Apple just put a 16GB NAND chip on the logic board for the OS? By the way, this needs to happen across the board for their computers. OS on the on-board NAND and everything else on the HDD.
2. Maybe instant wake?
3. This needs to happen for all software. And the death of the built-in ODD, but one step at a time.
4. New app just hasn't had a forum made for it yet (*gasp* Tallest Skil being an optimist?!). And the built-in mic will be "good enough for casual talkers".
1) Yeah, I did mean NAND, not SSD specifically. I wonder if that is good enough for Instant On. Take the iPhone, Touch and iPad. They all use a much smaller and lighter OS and use on-board NAND and take 2x as long as my MBP to boot up. I don?t think the C2D over ARM will speed that process up enough to call it Instant On, but perhaps I?m just being pedantic about the terminology.
2) From sleep it happens so fast that I would call it instant, but for hibernation I do have to wait about 5 seconds for everything to be copied to RAM from the SSD.
3) I?m with you on removing the ODD. That is what I did with my MBP, replaced with OptiBay setup. I?d have thought that Apple finally added an SD card to all their machines so late in the game for this very reason, waiting for the ideal time to make the change over, but I also would have thought the MBA would have had some different option in that area at the start, even if it was on a USB flash drive.
4) Correction: I meant 3.5mm headphone/mic port. I wrote mic in/out instead.
You're right. I never though of this! No optical drive, so why an eject key?
Doesn't the MBA have the ability to mount external drives over wifi and thus would have them mounted thus require or at least justify a dismount / eject key? I could be totally wrong never having played with one.
Doesn't the MBA have the ability to mount external drives over wifi and thus would have them mounted thus require or at least justify a dismount / eject key? I could be totally wrong never having played with one.
I think it's more targeted at the SuperDrive accessory myself.
You can't stick an i3 in there instead?
Core 2 and a real GPU is better than i3 and Intel's crap. Get over it.