Rumours have been heating up regarding a refresh for Apple’s MacBook Air, Mac Mini and Pro ranges over the last couple of weeks and it looks like a Thunderbolt MacBook Air is only weeks away according to 9to5mac.
It’s thought that Apple is holding off releasing them now as they would like to bundle their new operating system OS X Lion alongside the new and Thunderbolt-enabled devices.
They are expected to be in stores by July 14th – 5 days before Apple’s financial results conference call which is scheduled for the 19th. They are expected to release the new line just days in advance of speaking to investors.
First to get the refresh is the MacBook Air. Cosmetically the new model shouldn’t differ at all apart from replacing the Mini Display port with a super-fast Thunderbolt port.
Internally the Air will get three new Intel i5 and i7 processors, but importantly won’t be making the jump to quad-core. The chips are expected to range from 1.7 to 1.8 Ghz in speeds.
At the high end, Apple will apparently use the Core i7-2677M, a two core chip running at 1.8 GHz with turbo boosts of up to 2.9GHz, 4MB cache and a low 17 watts of power drain.
At the low end is the Core i5-2557M, a two core 1.7 GHz chip capable of 2.7 GHz turbo boost, with 3MB cache and using 17 watts of power.
The mid-2011 MacBook Air refresh will coincide with the release of Apple’s new desktop operating system, OS X Lion. According to 9to5Mac, updated Sandy Bridge Mac Minis and new Mac Pro towers will follow the MacBook Air refresh later in the month.
July is quickly becoming a busy month for Apple with new devices and service planned throughout. Exciting times if you ask us!
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Tags: 14th, day, Intel, July, Macbook Air, Processors, refresh, release, Sandybridge, Thunderbolt
