Apple announces MacBook Air refresh, all-new US-made Mac Pro

Jos

Jos

Posts: 3,073   +97
Apple announced an entirely new line of MacBook Airs at WWDC 2013. The company refreshed its skinny laptop with the latest and greatest from Intel -- namely, their new Haswell processor. Particularly, the refreshed laptops will use the ULT variants...

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m4a4

m4a4

Posts: 2,130   +2,121
TechSpot Elite
US made? Isn't that code for "assembled in the US but parts made in china" or "parts made in US but assembled in china" or something like that? (so basically a deceiving label?)
I forget which on it was...
 
G

Guest

It will most likely be "Assembled in the U.S. Parts from China, Designed in California" Other companies are starting to do the same, like Lenovo in North Carolina.
 
Jad Chaar

Jad Chaar

Posts: 6,482   +976
m4a4 said:
I doubt that. With equivalent hardware, I'd say they are about the same (provided you don't use an OS biased renderer)
Click to expand...
I remember reading a benchmark a year back that shows the Retina MBP demolishing a gaming laptop in Photoshop performance, I cannot find it though. When I do, I will post it.
 
Jad Chaar

Jad Chaar

Posts: 6,482   +976
m4a4 said:
Ummm... that showed a $2k Windows machine destroying a $4k Macbook. I don't get your point....
Not only did it destroy it in performance (in respect to power to price ratio), but it has a worse processor and still kept up...
Click to expand...
That was not the benchmark I wanted to show. It is not a fair battle. A 670M vs a 650M... that is why I removed it. I am still looking for the past benchmark in which apples to apples were compared (650M vs 650M), not apples to oranges (which was done in that link I first provided).
 
Nobina

Nobina

Posts: 2,809   +2,514
JC713 said:
m4a4 said:
Ummm... that showed a $2k Windows machine destroying a $4k Macbook. I don't get your point....
Not only did it destroy it in performance (in respect to power to price ratio), but it has a worse processor and still kept up...
Click to expand...
That was not the benchmark I wanted to show. It is not a fair battle. A 670M vs a 650M... that is why I removed it. I am still looking for the past benchmark in which apples to apples were compared (650M vs 650M), not apples to oranges (which was done in that link I first provided).
Click to expand...
The best benchmark would be to take a PC and install Windows and Hackintosh, then you can compare.
 
VitalyT

VitalyT

Posts: 5,281   +4,551
Quite disappointed about Macbook Air. I was looking forward to seeing a worthy upgrade for my Dec-2011 Macbook Air 13", but it didn't happen.

What I was hoping for was to see the following:

1. Better screen, to get one of these: 1600x1050, 1080P or retina. Instead, the screen was borrowed again from 2 or 3 generations from the past. Even when the last iMac came out half-year ago there were a number of improvements in the screen quality. How come we get nothing again for Macbook Air?

2. Option to get 16GB of RAM. Didn't happen.

3. Full support for Wi-Fi AC. Instead, we got cut-down 3-channel version of it. Why???!!!

So, the SSD has been upgraded, Wi-Fi is better now, better battery life. That's all good, but none of these will offer a noticeable improvement in my day-to-day use to justify an upgrade.

Other ultrabooks are coming out to offer a far better spec, like Sony's new Vaio Pro 13", which I'm now thinking of buying. It has pretty much the best 13'3" 1080P touch-screen display, the kind you just wouldn't want a better one.
 
m4a4

m4a4

Posts: 2,130   +2,121
TechSpot Elite
JC713 said:
That was not the benchmark I wanted to show. It is not a fair battle. A 670M vs a 650M... that is why I removed it. I am still looking for the past benchmark in which apples to apples were compared (650M vs 650M), not apples to oranges (which was done in that link I first provided).
Click to expand...
The problem is that it is apples to "oranges" because of the apple tax. I don't care if OSX runs faster or not, you cannot find a Mac that will beat an equivalent PC for a similar price...
 
Jad Chaar

Jad Chaar

Posts: 6,482   +976
VitalyT said:
Quite disappointed about Macbook Air. I was looking forward to seeing a worthy upgrade for my Dec-2011 Macbook Air 13", but it didn't happen.

What I was hoping for was to see the following:

1. Better screen, to get one of these: 1600x1050, 1080P or retina. Instead, the screen was borrowed again from 2 or 3 generations from the past. Even when the last iMac came out half-year ago there were a number of improvements in the screen quality. How come we get nothing again for Macbook Air?

2. Option to get 16GB of RAM. Didn't happen.

3. Full support for Wi-Fi AC. Instead, we got cut-down 3-channel version of it. Why???!!!

So, the SSD has been upgraded, Wi-Fi is better now, better battery life. That's all good, but none of these will offer a noticeable improvement in my day-to-day use to justify an upgrade.

Other ultrabooks are coming out to offer a far better spec, like Sony's new Vaio Pro 13", which I'm now thinking of buying. It has pretty much the best 13'3" 1080P touch-screen display, the kind you just wouldn't want a better one.
Click to expand...
They didnt even put in a 1080P webcam.
 
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Jad Chaar

Jad Chaar

Posts: 6,482   +976
m4a4 said:
Heh, I just saw actual pictures for the mac pro. I guess they were going for the trash bin look...
Macbin?
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I think it is a neat little idea. But seriously, what is so wrong with a tower (old Mac Pro)? That looks professional... The only reason people will buy the new one is because of the updated specs.
 
VitalyT

VitalyT

Posts: 5,281   +4,551
Just out of curiosity I got in touch with our local Apple retailer who offered me an excellent trade-in on my Dec-2011 Macbook Air of 500 euro. This one is tough to resist, and I probably will do the swap for the latest now...
 
m4a4

m4a4

Posts: 2,130   +2,121
TechSpot Elite
JC713 said:
I think it is a neat little idea. But seriously, what is so wrong with a tower? That looks professional... The only reason people will buy the new one is because of the updated specs.
Click to expand...
It seriously looks like a trash bin. And it looks inconvenient.
Think about it, most desktops are meant for rectangular PC's (and would look better with one). This would either stick out like a sore thumb, or not fit well at all. But that might just be my opinion
 
Jad Chaar

Jad Chaar

Posts: 6,482   +976
m4a4 said:
It seriously looks like a trash bin. And it looks inconvenient.
Think about it, most desktops are meant for rectangular PC's (and would look better with one). This would either stick out like a sore thumb, or not fit well at all. But that might just be my opinion
Click to expand...
I was talking about the old Mac Pro being professional. There was nothing wrong with it.
 
captaincranky

captaincranky

Posts: 16,314   +5,101
m4a4 said:
US made? Isn't that code for "assembled in the US but parts made in china" or "parts made in US but assembled in china" or something like that? (so basically a deceiving label?)
I forget which on it was...
Click to expand...
You forgot the part where the plant will only create about a half dozen American jobs, all of the work will be done by robots, who curiously don't have to file an income tax return.

In any case, maybe Apple will bribe someone high up in the NSA to declare this turd, "weapons grade", like the G-4 was, and get a whole practically free theme for an ad campaign on the coattails of that declaration.

Other than that, I visited "the beautiful product page", and came to this conclusion. This monstrosity looks like R2-d2's evil twin. Not only that, the picture of it with its insides spread out, looks like R2-D2's evil twin whipping open its raincoat and flashing its junk on a street corner .....
 
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