The Members Forum

A little more than a week ago, it was reported that MacBook Air retail supplies were dwindling. This has historically indicated a new product or refresh, and now there is chatter suggesting that the new version will indeed be the 11.6″ version we heard about back in July.

A source credited with “pinpoint accuracy” in the past by Apple Insider claims that the new 11.6″ laptops have been in manufacture for about a week. But will it simply be a smaller version of the existing laptop, or something new? I’m going to go with new.

The MacBook Air simply isn’t compelling any more — if it ever truly was as anything more than a fashion item. For compact computing, the iPad and netbooks have really pushed the limits for portability, and tablets are going to be huge over the next six months. And although the Air is still an impressively svelte machine, it’s not really much smaller than a 13″ MacBook, though it certainly is lighter.

So they’ve got to do something new. A whole new internal layout is in order — probably borrowing a lot from the iPad, but using a Core i3 processor with more RAM, hybrid graphics, and a few of the usual accessory ports. I think they’re going to put something out that’s only a little thicker than the iPad when closed, and resembles the design of that device and the iPhone 4 (i.e. sharper edges). Apple Insider also speculates (and I agree) that a non-traditional storage system will be used — there’s no particular reason to use actual jacketed 2.5″ SSDs when you can integrate storage on the board. It won’t be user-replaceable, but that hasn’t stopped Apple before.

Crunchgear has the details HERE!