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MacBook Air to get Penryn chip
Author: Gareth HalfacreePublished: 15th August 2008
The MacBook Air is likely to hit some impressive performance points when the Penryn-cored version is released.
The rumour over at CNet is that the ultra-thin sliver of sexiness that is the Air is due a refresh in the next few weeks. Quoting PhoneNews.com, the article states that an upgrade to move the Air to Intel's 45nm 'Penryn' Core 2 Duo processors from its current low-power custom chip based on the 'Merom' – a move which would bring the Air's performance closer to that of its more weighty brethren in the MacBook line.
The process won't be the only thing getting tweaked, either: rumour has it that the version of the Air equipped with a standard mechanical hard disk will be boosted to 120GB with the option to grab 160GB if you've got the readies.
The down side to all this performance tweaking is, of course, battery life. Although the Penryn core will bring improved performance, it will also dramatically increase power consumption. While it's likely that Apple will boost the battery capacity to compensate, it's still likely that we'll be seeing Airs lasting less time on battery and getting hotter in the process.
With US retailers already having been informed of the changes – despite the use of non-disclosure agreements, these snippets have a tendency to leak – we can expect to see the more powerful Airs in the coming months, in the US at least.
Will the extra power tempt you to get the slimline Air, or do you demand more modularity from your laptops – or at least a battery you can switch out without having to dismantle the thing? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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I wonder how it'll affect its flight capabilities..
even notebooks are getting Penryn..... my q6600 looks really out dated :(
or its cake cutting abilities...
Don't say that! I just got one. :(
If I were in the market for one, which I am not, then I would want one of the older ones.
If you head over the to apple discussion boards, you'll notice that nearly every Air post is regarding overheating issues and core shut downs.
Unless they just keep it as a die shrink with no increase in performance, then they'll have to make the air thicker to fit in a better fan.
(Just my opinion on the rumour mill though)
In responce to the purpose of the Macbook Air, its apples net-top, it competes with the eee, wind etc (at least specs wise).
Because people who need a small, under-functioned laptop want to pay 4x more than the others B). Don't get me wrong, it's a sexy piece of kit, but I'd much rather a Sony TX or Lenovo X300 any day.
accessory for Air: USB hub, DVD drive, charger
accessory for x300: charger or put a bigger battery and don't need anything else
(he types from his macbook pro that is really the only computer he uses aside from his test benches now)